All Politics are Local

You've heard the saying: "All politics are local?"  I have often wondered about this issue, but recently, I have been thinking about my taxes burden, my house, where I live, and the laws that are in place here.  We get very focused on the national elections when we choose our president, but what really matters is in our local elections and the choices of judges. The judges are the ones who interpret the constitution.

I have been a bit frustrated about how we learn the competence of the judges. I reviewed one of our voting information books, and the review of the judges was based on lawyers interpretation of whether or not the judge came prepared to court, whether or not they were competent, etc. It's not a discussion at all about their values, their judgments, etc. I want to know how the judges rule on certain cases. Are they likely to view the constitution as a "dead" document where we are to follow it by the letter of the law? Or,  are we more likely to view it "living, breathing" document that is adjustable by circumstance and by the "zeitgeist?"

There's a very informative discussion on yahoo about the electoral college if you are interested:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-romney-could-tie-electoral-college-just-explain-194537108.html#more-id

Democratic National Convention

Once again, I'm into listening to the DNC this week.  It's been a bit harder to catch all of the speeches, but I am able to watch some of the key speakers online. It's amazing how former President Bill Clinton can still inspire so many people. He was quite engaging and an enjoyable speaker. Many pundits were talking about how long his speech was, but it didn't feel that way. I have not been impressed with his sense of self-importance, however.

He did touch on some topics that address the "values" of America. Certainly the issue of whether or not being successful is a shared experience rather than an individual one is an important distinction between Republicans and Democrats. It's a good thing to think about. Do we attribute our success to the fact that America is built on individual's work? Or, do we attribute our success to shared effort?  The fable of the Little Red Hen is an important narrative exposing this "american value." Where does the family fit in to this narrative?

Obama speaks tonight. I am looking forward to hearing his speech.

Republican Convention: part deux

I really enjoyed watching the Republican Convention this past week. I think it's fascinating how the pundits and news reporters discuss what we saw. If you didn't see it, you would have a completely different perspective of the convention depending on who you watch or which station you spend more time listening to. Some of the pundits say that Governor Romney was inspirational and knocked it out of the park. Others say that he didn't get past his "wooden" persona and is out of touch with the regular people.

Some of the people I find caustic and rude. I got to watch a bit of Mrs. Romney's speech and thought she did a lovely job describing her husband as she saw him.  However, I read one reviewer that still believes that the privilege she experienced while going to school, living in a basement apartment, and scraping by isn't the same as others who live in poverty because she always had a back up system of her family. When people don't have family to back you up, or your mother is on drugs and you are raised in foster care, those who haven't lived that life can't relate to those who can.

I wonder if that's true?

Republican Convention

I am really enjoying the Republican convention this week. It's very interesting to listen to values they espouse as "American Values."  It's an interesting thought that an entire group of people can agree on values. I find it even more interesting as I listen to NPR unpack their speeches the next day. Mara Liasson (whom I very much admire) pointed out that Ryan's speech discussed how Obama's stimulus didn't save one of the GM plants. However, Liasson indicated that the plant was scheduled to be closed before Obama took office. It's an interesting question.

I love it that there are "fact checkers" who are validating these speeches. If the fact checkers point out that the plant was scheduled to close BEFORE Obama took office but didn't close until a few months AFTER he took office, should Obama be held accountable for not being able to close the plant?  True, he claimed that he could save jobs and keep plants from closing, but does that invalidate Ryan's statement?

Intellectual Laziness

I find it interesting that during an election season, many pundits, candidates and their supporters are charged with intellectual laziness. It's an interesting situation when we are charged with determining who is to lead our country. I think that our values speak louder than our intellect when we are determining such things, and I think that the candidates and their election team like to take advantage of us for the same things.

For example, I was just looking at a democratic website asking Romney to share his tax returns. He already shared his last year returns according to law, so why should more matter? Are his tax returns critical to making a decision about who is going to be a good president?  Personally, I am more curious about what kinds of laws he passed or signed into law in the state of MASSACHUSETTS when he was governor. Why are we not getting more information about that?  Conversely, why are we not hearing about  Obama's policies that he signed into law? What about the ones he requested but didn't get signed because of congress? I am still curious about why he brought us into the war in Afghanistan when we are now seeing soldiers being killed by their "trainees."  Why are we not talking about that? Why are we not talking about closing Guantanimo?

Our founders made sure that the President doesn't have too much power, but we certainly attribute a great deal of power to our president. There are many things that the president can control, but there are a great deal of things that he cannot since the Congress has much to do with what bills get passed, etc. Why are we not asking more questions about how the President can work with Congress? How well did Romney work with the MASSACHUSETTS state legislators? What's Obama's record?

Our values may be getting in the way of making a good decision in this election. I read an article recently in Salon.com that described our fascination with these "side stories" a matter of intellectual laziness. Is it? Can you find some evidence of intellectual laziness in some of the news stories about the upcoming election?

Sex Education in the Schools

The Governor just vetoed the Sex Education bill that passed during our legislative session. The bill required schools to teach abstinence only. However; right now, Utah has an "opt in" policy that means parents have to CHOOSE to allow their children to participate in the sex education in the schools.  They are still pretty strict in what they can teach, this bill just took the limitations one step further.

First, the supporters of the bill provided a pretty good argument that sex education should be taught by the parents and that students who learned abstinence only (according to their studies) tended to delay sex for longer.

The opponents of the bill suggested that the children should be armed with all the information they can get in order to NOT get STD's or get pregnant.

Where do you stand on this? Are you glad the governor vetoed the bill? Do you wish he hadn't?  What do you know about sex education and premarital sex?

I'd LOVE to hear from you!@
s

Proposition 8 ruled unconstitutional

We just heard over the news that Caliornia's supreme court has ruled that the popular vote to pass California's Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. This brings up an interesting question. We are NOT a democracy. We are a representative government. A democracy requires rules by popular vote. However, we are also bound by the constitution.

If, the people vote on something like Gay marriage, then the courts over-rule it...which is considered more valid. The courts or the people's views?