Middle class caught in middle
Matt Pearl
Many of you who read this column frequently understand my critical views of many who hold positions of leadership in this nation.
You might not agree with them, but that’s another issue.
Having hit the highlights of both the Republican and Democratic debates so far, I have to say that everything I hear disappoints me from Right to Left, Left to Right.
I’ll start with Trump, because he is the singularly most interesting figure in this race. He’s interesting, because we all thought he would have dropped out by now — instead, he has one of the only campaigns that seems capable of getting a camera pointed in its general direction.
The Republicans, Trump included, are running on fear. Fear of ISIS. Fear of Mexicans crossing our borders. Fear of terrorism, economic collapse — the proverbial sky is falling, and Chicken Little needs your vote this fall.
On a separate stage, the Democrats are threatening imminent doom from climate change, the artist formerly known as global warming. Fear gets wrapped in a rhetoric about CO2 and fossil fuels, but again it is fear that each candidate is using to motivate voters to take up his or her cause.
Why does it always have to be about fear?
Have we Americans grown so dull-witted that the only language of persuasion we understand is that of self-preservation? That’s the only issue upon which anyone is running: fear.
Bernie wants you to be afraid of corporations swallowing up hard-working people.
Hillary’s message is similar, but her hands are tied: big corporations are keeping her ailing campaign afloat.
“The Donald” enjoys a fear campaign tied to Islamic extremism, as do the rest of the Republicans. We were already afraid of terrorism, right? So what does it hurt for the GOP to market a candidate who will be tough on terror?
Ben Carson talked enough about God that America started to view him as a crazy person. I could have warned you, Ben: that only works in rural America. The Left is only interested in protecting your religious freedom if you’re not Christian, Mr. Carson.
I guess Chris Christie will hang around for a while, but we appear to know the major players in this one.
Caucuses and primaries will tell us something in the coming days, and I do believe the Cruz campaign will gain steam against Trump through the late winter and spring.
And, worst of all, the whole bunch is handing out expensive promises like IOUs. Our nation spends more than it earns and has borrowed more than it can currently repay.
Well, conservatives say we need to spend less, and then they don’t.
Liberals say raise the taxes on rich people, which leads to assets being hidden overseas and invested in countries other than America.
And we know where the burden lands, right?
It lands on you and me: the middle class.
Oh, well. At least we know what to expect in this election.
