Thursday, October 25, 2012

The Obligatory Political General Election "Every 4 Years" Entry...

Will someone please wake me up after this election is over, please.  If there's anything I've observed this past Election Year is how much this country lacks critical thinking skills.  If my education level was considered "sub-standard," I'm highly highly terrified about the level of education this younger generation has access to.  Then again, ranting about education and the current state of education is really another topic to tackle at a latter time.

Actually a little more on the topic of education:

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but this whole "No Child Left Behind" program to me was a plot to deprive current and future generations access to imperative skills needed for life: Leadership skills which includes critical thinking.  If we create or revamp the education system into something based upon subjective test scores and revolve around the results of those scores, wouldn't the opportunity to develop one's self into a well-rounded individual be less prevalent?  EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE needs to develop leadership skills.  As a current member of my high school's alumni board of directors, (and as VP) I inquired about what was taught at the "Leadership" class and who was able to have access to the class.  I found the answer to be quite disturbing.  Students who are heavily involved in student government make up about the majority of the class.  I pointed out to the teacher that leadership skills MUST be taught to ALL students; not just those serving on student government. 

Going back to the upcoming election, I'm ranting and raving again about our inept political system.  In my opinion, the current system IS broken, and IT NEEDS TO BE DESPERATELY REVAMPED.  I reside in California where there are at least 5-7 Presidential tickets to choose from, yet the news, media, and debate only covers TWO candidates. The public is now tricked into thinking that they can only pick between the two.

Ever play that game where you're given a choice between Option A and Option B where each option offers a benefit and an undesired result simultaneously?  Normally the kid who doesn't want to respond would reply "neither choices" or "I choose C" to which the other kid who initiated the game goes, "NO, YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN A OR B."  What made it more disgusting was the fact that one of my adult Bible study group would often play that game.  In a lot of ways this is how our upcoming election is presented.  People who refuse to vote for A or B would be ostracized, being accused of "wasting their vote."  It's been twelve years already, and Democrats still hold a grudge against the Green Party, accusing them of "costing" Al Gore the election.  In 2008, I ranted about how all the publicity on the "1st Black Presidential Candidate" vs the "1st Female Presidential Candidate" was inaccurate since the 2008 Green Party's Presidential Candidate was Cynthia McKinney who is a female of African American descent.  Yet, very few people knew who Cynthia McKinney was that year.  On top of that, she served Congress longer than Barack Obama. 

Now this election year, the Green Party candidate was arrested at the site of the 2nd Presidential Debate all because she wanted to be included in the debate.  Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson was entered as an American Elect candidate for one of the states and was denied though the Americans Elect organization collected and filed enough signatures.  Yet one of their 1st debates was via some online crappy conference call while the other debates between "Candidates A and B" was covered on all the major networks. 

So this so-called "wasting votes" is by design.

One of my former professor,  Froben Lozada was asked by my classmate to differentiate between "left wing and right wing."  Lozada sarcastically told us that he was going to write the name of the example of "left wing."  (He wrote "Ronald Reagan" on the board)  The class was somewhat confused as Reagan was considered a "conservative moderate" then.  Lozada then told us he was going to give us an example of "right wing."  (He wrote Reagan's name down again)  At that point, Lozada switched topics to sports.

I'm paraphrasing Lozada from memory since this was almost 20 years ago:

So it doesn't matter whether its baseball, or football, or basketball, especially in professional sports.  They're all under the same umbrella of their respected leagues.  The owners of the teams figured out that a rivalry will sell more tickets.  The league knows that a rivalry sells more tickets, so they too encourage that rivalry.  The more intense the rivalry is, the more money is to be made.  Now if we change league to AmeriKKKan (his emphasis to spell it with "KKK") politics, and Democratic and Republican Parties to "Team Democrats," and "Team Republicans," do you not see a rivalry to sell more tickets?  In this case, to pick a "winner" and to raise campaign money.

In Malcolm X's Autobiography, he was asked about one of the elections and he likened the election process to choosing whether to be maimed by a fox vs being maimed by a wolf.  (This was written in 1962, FIFTY YEARS AGO!!!)

A short while back, one of the automakers was in negotiation with the State of Wisconsin to build an assembly plant.  During the negotiations they were offered financial incentives, corporate and business tax breaks.  Yet at the end of it all, the company opted to open their plant in Canada because their study concluded that the cost in educating and training the workforce in Wisconsin exceeds the financial incentives offered.  That is the testimony of the current state of public education in this country.

Yet both Candidates A and B are promising jobs if they're nominated as President.  The most logical question to ask next is "what kind of jobs?"  We hear buzzwords like "innovation," and "forefront" and "frontrunner," but is the education system built to prepare people to create an industry to live up to those labels?  A year ago when I purchased a pizza, i was charged $21.30 and had a $100 bill with me.  I gave the young lady $101.30 to her expecting $80.  Instead she gave me $78.70, contemplated with the $1.30 which eventually in confusion and disgust literally threw back at me.  I wanted to ask her which school she graduated from so I knew that if and when I had kids to not enroll them there.  And that's just for basic cashiering.  It's scary to think of that same lady working on something like alternative energy.

So for this election if you hadn't already submit your vote, I plead whole-heartedly, please use your inner-leadership skills and take the time to research each candidate presented on your ballot.  Who knows, you may actually find a candidate that's more of a fit to your own personal ideology.  And contrary to what other pundits may say, it is NOT a "wasted vote." 

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