Funmurphys: the Blog

Promises, Promises

John Kerry is running an ad here in Missouri about how George Bush doesn’t care about healthcare but John does, and so much so he has a plan. The plan sounds wonderful of course – something for everybody, but it does have one big problem. The plan requires legislation to be passed for it to be implemented, and John Kerry is running for President, an office that can only veto legislation. I suppose it’s bad form to point out that Kerry has been a Senator for almost 20 years and so has had ample time to try to get this plan passed yet somehow has managed to propose nothing in his long yet unmentioned Senatorial career. I suppose it's too bad that big John has been so busy this year to show up for votes, let alone do all the hard work in actually crafting legislation, but once he's President apparently then he'll have time he needs to work on legislation.

Now John Kerry isn’t alone in this odd habit of politicians who run for executive offices; just about everybody who runs for President or Governor runs on a legislative agenda. Even the Libertarians do this, although they mainly talk about the laws they'll repeal, not pass. When candidate George Bush was running for President, he made tax cutting the main message of his campaign, and after his election he had to work with Congress to get tax cuts passed -- ones to be honest that were not exactly what he first proposed but what he was willing to accept.

Our lack of understanding is shown in other races, where for instance we vote for members of the House or any state office based on abortion when the only people who matter on that subject are US Supreme Court justices, and the President and Senate since they select and confirm Supreme Court justices. And that doesn't include all the platitudinous promises politicians dish out -- like how they'll lower crime without providing details (a colorful costume complete with cape usually springs to my mind) or they'll be good for families -- usually through shared values or somesuch, although they never explain if I'm supposed to adopt their values, or they'll adopt mine, or if it's even sanitary to be sharing values.

The problem isn't the politicians, it's the electorate that keeps voting for the politicians. We're the ones who lap up all these feel good but can't be implemented promises. The perversity of the electorate doesn't end there. The one thing all Americans can agree on is that our Congresspeople should work tirelessly for our interests while other peoples Congresspeople should work for the common good (which surprisingly enough is amazingly similar to our interests).