Senator Obama

Senator Obama in his op-ed article (9/13) stresses the importance of education for the future of our country, with the emphasis of the long-term benefits to our nation. He did not address the need for educating those that had already fallen through the cracks of the present educational system: the poorly educated voters.

When Henry Louis Mencken (who died in 1956) observed that "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public", he unintentionally

provided the direction that the Republican Party of the twenty-first century chose to follow in

its political campaigns.

The Republicans sold us a "compassionate conservative" that led us into two wars, provided huge tax breaks to the richest people and corporations, while at the same tine he let the poor people of New Orleans, and the rest of the country wallow in misery. The Republican president destroyed the economy, brought us into a recession, and presided over the highest gas prices ever.

The Republican Party did very well underestimating our intelligence, but the Democrats were too timid and too gun shy to step out and start educating us about the lies that the President's party was spreading daily. Senator Obama and his party should start a massive educational effort NOW.

Make people aware that voting over 90% with the President, does not make McCain a maverick. That choosing a poorly qualified woman to succeed him as President, if he does not finish his term, is just a gimmick designed to hide his consistent voting record against granting women rights. And, most importantly, if he really thinks that the Alaska governor is the most qualified person in this country to be President, what are going to be the qualifications demanded by him for nominees to the Supreme Court.

Senator Obama, you have only six weeks left to try and educate us why we should not have four more years of Bush or McBush. So start now and keep at it every day and every hour.

9/15/08

Intelligence, or the lack of it

When Henry Louis Mencken (who died in 1956) observed that "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public", he must have had in his mind visions of Florida in the twenty-first century. He probably foresaw butterfly ballots with tailing chads flying all the way to Washington and being ignored by five political appointees, sitting in the Supreme Court, who imposed upon the rest of us an incompetent, ignorant and less than truthful politician, as an appointed President.

And if this wasn't scary enough, he might have envisioned Tallahassee and the nincompoops that inhabit the Florida Legislature. I doubt that even he could have believed that the majority Republicans would defy their party and move up the primary date, risking the loss of half their delegates to the national convention. They were, of course, eagerly supported by their Democratic colleagues that stood to lose all their delegates.

That was the same body of political hacks that offered us a very expensive "tax cut" that was embraced by the Florida public. We are going to pay for it not only by higher fees on just about everything, but also by diminishing services in every field, from police protection to education. On second thought, is it possible that the Republicans gleefully engineered the cuts in education as a furtherance of their political agenda: an uneducated, ill informed and egocentric public is more likely to vote for Republican candidates.

While the American public may be less than intelligent, the leadership of the Democratic party must be the bottom of the barrel. Every political pundit in the country is aware of the importance of electoral Florida, but the Democratic Party is oblivious to this fact. If they keep alienating the Democratic Florida voters, the Republicans may carry the state, and the general election, and validate the cynical wisdom of H. L. Mencken.