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In a blog post for Politics365, Dr. Wilmer Leon speaks on the policies being debated by President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Dr. Leon, an expert in Political Science, says that both of these men are more focused on personal attacks and rhetoric than on policies that actually make a difference. In fact, he says that some of their points of contention are as old as the country itself:
The fundamental debate of the 2012 election is nothing new. The debate of how much power to give the national government goes as far back as theConstitutional Convention of 1787. The Federalists argued for a real division of power between the national and state governments. They wanted a centralization of power in a strong national government. The Anti-Federalists feared a tyrannical national government and argued for greater localized power with stronger state governments. A stronger national government meant order and uniformity but required higher taxes to support it. Stronger state governments would protect the rights of the individual by keeping decision making closer to those who would bedirectly impacted by them.
Dr. Leon then says that the state of the economy today calls for a more evolved conversation, since the issues being faced by the American people are not much different from those of the Great Depression. He says that the matters of racial and economic inequality should be more important than petty issues, such as Romney’s tax returns and Swiss bank accounts. He also says that President Obama is not touting his record when it comes to job creation and is instead being reactive to Romney’s attacks and avoiding the jobs issue altogether.
In 2012 Americans find themselves facing financial problems similar to those of the Great Depression. America also finds itself facing record home foreclosures, racial disparities in home ownership, racial disparities in wealth accumulation, disproportionate levels of incarceration based on race and 8.2 percent unemployment. All issues similar to the ills that the Great Society was enacted to address. According to Bread for the World, “We live in the world’s wealthiest nation. Yet 15.1 percent of people living in the United States live in poverty… More than 48 million Americans—including 16.2 million children—live in these households.”
In the 2012 presidential race Mitt Romney and President Obama have not focused their campaigns on articulating these issues and providing real solutions to these problems. They are too busy engaging in the politics of personal attacks and character assassination, not the politics of policy.
Dr. Leon says that the American people should take the lead in rejecting rhetoric over real policy discussions. He says that we have a right to demand that our presidential candidates are addressing real issues, and that if we wait for too long, we’re going to get a set of debates that amount to very little when it comes to truly impacting the state of this country.
The point is, as Americans watch the ads and listen to the rhetoric, real debate about real issues is not taking place. Romney’s not telling Americans what he stands for; he just talks about what he’s against. Meanwhile the president is allowing himself to be defined by his adversaries, instead of standing behind a productive first term. The President is not campaigning to win; he’s campaigning not to lose while the American people continue to suffer.
To read more of Dr. Leon’s thoughts, you can visit here. He makes very strong points in his article, but there is also the question of whether or not both presidential candidates are optimizing by discussing the issues that are going to get them elected, rather than the ones that matter the most. Although President Obama has seen steady job creation, the poor jobs numbers don’t produce a favorable response from his constituents. Every month, when the weak numbers come in, President Obama appears to be trying to explain them away, to no avail. Perhaps by keeping Romney on the defensive, President Obama can then maintain an advantage when it comes to public perception, which is all that matters when you’re trying to get votes.
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Norma Rae UAW
July 22, 2012 at 3:18 am
I think that Dr. Leon is right in his conclusions and his whole thesis. But his framework is wrong. His whole viewpoint is based on giving credit to the American public. That most people are as intelligent and think as much about these issues as he does. Wrong. Most of us Americans barely are above the 6th grade level of reading and literacy. Even those who are above the intelligence limits of general population are not immune to society group think. When a co-worker, family member or friend likes or dislikes someone for whatever reason most sheep sadly follow suit without standing on their own opinion. It doesn’t matter to most Black People that Barack Obama hasn’t done s**t for Black People other than being Black. It doens’t matter to most White people that every policy Mitt Romney enacted while Governor is the same exact thing Barack Obama did as President or that he is a member of one of the dumbest Cults and newest Religions in existence because he is White. Watching these two men debate each other eventually will be like watching some sad un-funny sketch comedy on Saturday Night Live because they both have the same core policies on Class, Wealth and The American Consumer. Regardless of what they say, their policies tell the truth. But relying on our flawed educational system which graduates illiterates every year from Public Education. No one will care about their policies while the ever important biggest question will become “who would you like to have a beer with more?” The people at the top benefit from the stupidity while quietly whispering into the average Americans ear’, if you play by the rules and just ride out your suffering a little bit longer we might let you in. The people at the bottom either feed off the bloated system from being co-dependant, meaning they really don’t want change or are told to shut up because look over at some third world country and you don’t want that do you? The weird thing no one wants to accept is that it is coming whether they like it or not. The system or a government cannot sustain itself without making things or a manufacturing base. That idealogy might help the people owning the factory get rich for a few decades but ultimately the people who buy the product will run out of money because they have no jobs, can’t afford the product or can’t afford Higher Education to get out of their class disparity. End of America. The Code Word Translations – Right to Work? Means we don’t like employee rights, minimum wage requirements so you can actually afford a place to live and eat and I don’t like being called a modern day slave owner by outsourcing jobs to sweat shops and slave labor camps. I would rather hire an American Slave. Too Many Government Regulations? – Means I don’t like OSHA requirements, so what if you lose an arm or leg working in my crappy factory. So what if I dump enough toxic waste in your drinking water to set the lake on fire from chemicals. Tax Cuts for the Rich? – Means, I want the benefits of an Army protecting my c**p overseas and domestically (Police)a Fire Dept and social Class structure set up for me and mine only to win but I don’t want to pay for any of those benefits. The big question becomes what are Black People going to do when the thing collapses. No more Medicaid, Social Security or Prison Idustrial Complex warehousing millions of damaged Human Beings with no social struture or skills? Do you think White People are going to take care of you when it crashes? Praying didn’t stop Slavery for 400 years, it ain’t gonna save us now either.