Voter Ignorance

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a public forum being hosted by the local Tea Party. The guest speaker at this function was a state official seeking a primary victory so he could be the Republican candidate in November for the US Senate. This candidate was not very impressive but neither were the forum attendees.



Election to the United States Senate places the victor into the ranks of the most powerful group of 100 citizens in the world. The issues facing this formidable legislative body are not local community focused but rather are national and international in scope. The forum attendees did not seem to realize this fact.



After a brief talk of less than 15 minutes, the candidate, for more than a hour, turned to the audience for questions and there were many. However, only a single inquiry had anything to do with an issue of national/international impact. All the other questions were on local educational issues, local funding issues and local development issues. In a strange dichotomy the audience applauded all references to a reduction in federal spending and then sought confirmation from the candidate that federal money would not be diminished for some particularly favored program.



Overall, not a very encouraging evening. It was good to be able to examine a US Senate candidate but it was depressing to see how poorly informed my fellow voters appeared to be.



Shifting to reality oratory, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently said, "We are far from being out of the woods. Many Americans are still grappling with unemployment or foreclosure or both." The Chairman cited "very weak hiring" and a "troubled commercial real estate market" and a "lack of sustained rebound in housing" as issues still having a negative impact on any meaningful American economic recovery. This type of Bernanke presentation is honest and open but did not suggest a solution. A few paranoid commentators have suggested that Bernanke was merely setting the foundation for a federal value-added-tax (VAT) to be placed on all retail purchases made in the American economy. There is no question that the economy remains weak but how a VAT can relieve economic weaknesses is more than just unclear.



For a conservative, there is one very recent piece of good news. Another liberal Democrat Congressman has "opted" to retire. Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak is stepping down after 16 years in the House to "spend more time with his family". This is a notable sentiment, but reality is that political attacks on him, many orchestrated by the Tea Party, have rendered his election very doubtful.