LD Jackson
Political Realities
For months, we have all been waiting for what is almost upon us.
The vaunted, first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses are nearly here and in a couple of hours, we will know the results. The New Year’s weekend was awash with the news of what the candidates are doing. A lot of money is being spent on advertising and on polling, in an effort to persuade the voters to vote for one candidate or the other. Even though I am supporting Ron Paul and expect him to win or place very high in the caucuses, it is clear he has an uphill battle to win the nomination. In my opinion, everyone but Mitt Romney has an uphill battle. I never cease to be amazed at how the former Governor of Massachusetts is able to shed any criticism thrown his way and continue so steadily in the polls. If any of the other candidates manages to muscle him out of the nomination, it will be a miracle.
I have been browsing through some of the news stories that have been coming out of the campaign and something has struck me rather odd, although not completely unexpected. With Ron Paul’s rise to the top-tier of candidates, first, second, or third place, depending on the poll you are watching, much of the criticism about him is his foreign policy. There is really no need to go into the details, as I am sure the readers of Political Realties are very well aware of how Paul stands on foreign policy. Given the condition of our economy, as well as the amount of debt and unchecked spending forced upon us by the political leaders in Washington, why is more attention not being given to what should be done to correct those issues?
I am sure everyone has heard by now that Iran tested a surface-to-surface cruise missile this weekend. It seems that has shifted the focus even greater on foreign policy. Rick Santorum, in an effort to cut Ron Paul off at the knees, has made yet another bold statement, telling NBC’s Meet The Press yesterday that “Iran will not get a nuclear weapon under my watch”. That sentiment is good and grand, but what about our own country? Will Iran have to be dealt with in the future? The answer to that is likely in the affirmative, but I ask again, what about America?
I am not so naive as to think we can completely ignore the intentions of other nations, but should we not be more focused on how to correct our own course? How can we seriously contend to be a player on the world stage, if our own stage is collapsing under the weight of the bad financial policies and decisions that our political leaders continue to enact? It matters not if they are Republican or Democrat, I see very little difference in the end results. We are still broke and with the unwillingness of the aforementioned political leaders to make the hard choices that are needed to right the ship, I see very little reason to believe things will change.
So, in a couple of hours, we will have the first real contest of the nomination race out of the way. With the possibility of Ron Paul actually winning Iowa, the pundits are already out in force, making statements like “Iowa really doesn’t matter” or “if Paul wins Iowa, it will threaten their credibility”. All of this and the focus is still on his foreign policy. So much of the news is about Iran and what they may or may not be doing, when it should be focused on the problems that are alive and well in our own country. No wonder we never see real and substantive policy change coming out of Washington. What else should we expect?
Keep an up to the minute watch on the Iowa Caucuses results here.
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