On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 12:17 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote:
> Even if I agreed with all of the what ifs, attempting to predict the > future isn't news, and none of the above directly relates to the items > on the agenda at the convention. Of course things might happen during > the convention that are newsworthy, just as they'd happen absent the > convention. It frankly isn't newsworthy that there are racist > delegates. My guess is there are also people there who like guns and > don't want their taxes raised, too. > > I recall you stated earlier that you felt the conventions and the > debates are important because they highlight the differences between > the parties. But the differences don't matter. Setting aside why > others may or may not choose to watch them, my reason is simple: > Neither candidate will lift a finger to help me or anyone I know. If > Obama is reelected, I will be unemployed, in debt, have no health > care, pay too much for gas and food, and be generally f*cked. If > Romney is elected, I will be unemployed, in debt, have no health care, > pay too much for gas and food, and be generally f*cked. I don't need a > convention or a debate or live streaming coverage to tell me what I > already know. > Well, when delegates walk out of a state delegation, and a candidate is denied having his votes read out loud, and a significant fraction of the party feels it is being disenfranchised, and is considering not voting in November, that is all usually regarded as news. If you were gay or lesbian you might think these conventions, and elections, would make a difference, since Romney wants to bring back DATD and will fight to keep DOMA; if you were a woman you might think it is important because Romney is running on a platform that calls for the criminalization of abortion, even in the case of incest and rape; if you were of college age you might think it is important because Romney wants to change the policies that make more federal aid available - and if you were under 26 you might think it is important because President Obama's health care bill, that Romney wants to overturn, allows young adults to be covered under their parent's health insurance (my 23 year old daughter is benefiting from this right now; after a year slaving at a non-paid internship in her field she just got a pretty good paying job in part because the employer did not have to pay for her health insurance). And, despite common cynicism, most of the kinds of policy positions that nominees announce at conventions and repeat on their stump speeches in the fall find their way more or less into actual government policies when they get elected. Bush talked a lot about his education plan in 2000, and then we got NCLB; Obama talked a lot about health reform in 2008, and we got ACA. You can be sure that if Obama is relected the Bush tax cuts will be repealed, the federal government will redirect subsidies from the oil industry to green technologies, and a bill will be seriously put forth to deal with immigration, including a path to citizenship. If Romney is elected you can be sure the Bush tax cuts will be extended, regulations on financial institutions will be relaxed, and the Affordable Care Act will be gutted. No president can solve every problem, they can't get you or my sister a job, or snap their fingers and get this economy recovering faster from the worst downturn in almost every living person's life, or reverse global warming or eliminate crime or get people to freakin take turns when merging onto the Oakland Bay Bridge. But just because neither Obama nor Romney will solve every (or even most) problems does not mean that there are not meaningful and dramatic and practical differences between the two of them. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
