Friday, February 5, 2016

The Democratic Debate - Live Free or Die

Live Free or Die
The View from the Middle

Who would have thought that New Hampshire and Bernie Sanders would have the same motto – “Live Free or Die”?  Of course, the New Hampshire founders were mimicking Patrick Henry and his famous line, “Give me liberty or give me death”, while Bernie was channeling Karl Marx.
Marx promised his “free stuff” with lines like, “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”  Let me translate that into modern language. “Trust me, and I’ll take care of you.”  How did that work out for the Russian people?  So what if a few million people had to be slaughtered to get the rest of the country to buckle under. 
This brings me to last night’s Democratic debate.  I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version.  It was a battle to see who wanted to give the government more power and control over our lives.  Healthcare is a given.  Both Bernie and Hillary want a single payer system.  They only differ on how to get there.  Neither moderator had a follow up question like, “Are you sure this is the right approach given that our government is such a model of efficiency and integrity?”
At some point in time they both talked about having the government take over the banking, pharmaceutical and energy industries. This actually gave me chills as I imagined our government mucking up those businesses.  No question of waste, fraud or abuse here!
Just for laughs, I thought I would list a few questions that Chuck and Rachel could have asked between hugs for the candidates if they really wanted Americans to learn something about Hillary and Bernie:

-What do you plan to do about our debt?  This administration will have doubled the nation’s debt in its eight years in office and we are scheduled to return to trillion dollar annual deficits by 2022.  Aren’t we mortgaging our children’s futures so that politicians can get elected today?
-What if you were given absolutely solid evidence that privatizing the VA would improve the services to our military at a lower cost?  Would you be in favor of that?  Why or why not?
-Bernie, through your tolerance of Hillary’s e-mail situation, are you suggesting that all future Secretaries of State, Senators, etc. should have their own private servers in their homes?  Should this be the new normal?
-Hillary, why do you think companies, lobbyists and billionaires donate so much money to political campaigns?  Don’t you think they will expect these donations to buy them access and influence?  Really!


There are many more good questions that could have been asked, but weren’t.  After all, Chuck and Rachel had to leave time to hug it out at the end.   So, they asked questions like, “Hillary, are you 100% sure that nothing will come of the investigation of your server?”  What kind of question is that?  He gave her the answer in his question and teed her up for a monologue about what a victim she is.  Oh well, gotta have time for those hugs.

4 comments:

  1. I needed a humorous perspective on that "debate".

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  2. If the United States Postal System is any evidence of how the government will run any industry we're in trouble.

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    1. Paige - Totally agree. Also how about the IRS, EPA or the DMV. Make up any three letters and you'll probably hit a failing government organization.

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  3. Bernie math doesn't add up.Hillary is teflon(with all due respect to all the pots and pans out there.To hear some of our young adults commenting on The Bern,it is embarrassing.Lemmings.....Great work Kevin.Keep it coming!John Flowers(not Karly).

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