There are several questions that must be asked and answered before the American people can make in informed decision about the future of this country.
The guests on the various talk shows have opinions based on the economy they want to see in place and the people they want to benefit from that economy.
When Mitt Romney and Romney supporters are asked questions such as: What do you think should be done to create jobs? The typical answer is something like, the American people need to elect a president who knows how to create jobs. This is true. But having created jobs incidental to making money is not the same as stimulating the economy to create enough jobs to put tens of billions people back to work with good-paying jobs.
Speaker John Boehner is trying to convince voters who don't like Romney--or the kind of president he might become--to vote for him anyway just to get rid of Barack Obama. I guess that means vote against Obama for whatever reason voters have not to like him--even if they belief the President was dealt a bad hand by President G. W. Bush and Republicans in Congress have limited his ability to play even that bad hand.
Talk show hosts need to ask questions that will give voters a chance to understand specifics of what the guests are talking about. They should demand that guests answer questions or not come on the show. Unfortunately, many will choose not to come.
One problem we have in our political and economic discourses is using terms such as socialism, communism and capitalism that have negative connotations. What the words mean is often defined by the failed ways an economic system has been implemented in certain countries. If we use that method of determining the merits of economic systems, democracy would be a bad word based on how it is beginning to be practiced in the United States. Rather than labeling political and economic systems, we should be talking about what the system intends to do for the people. That's more important than what the system is called.
Karl Marx said that a society should expect from every person according to ability (that includes those near the lower end of the economic range) and provide to every person according to need. Those words might easily have been spoken by Jesus. Is it a concept whose practice is not limited to economic systems that are labeled communists? Until recently, America taxed according to people's ability to pay and share the wealth of the wealthy with less fortunate Americans according to needs. Of course, there are those who say some of those in need are just lazy. That is often true. But should we punish all people who are in need and want jobs because some of them are just lazy? (Come on churches, I need some help.) What should be done with those who are lazy. Now, let's not blame those who are in need because of the failure of schools. Shouldn't there be some kind of second chances for them?
I would like to hear or read political candidates' visions of America. What do they want to see happening to, by and for the American people--all of us? Can these things happen automatically? What must happen within the society to make sure these things happen? Should people in the American democracy work as a team? How can we do that? What will be the evidence that the society is functioning as envisioned? What would be evidence that an economic system is functioning properly?
Should a society provide jobs for every person who wants a job? Businesses say they are not hiring because of uncertainty that people will buy their products. But how can uncertainty be reduced if people don't have certainty about jobs that enable them to buy things? I still don't understand why the work that does exist cannot be shared with the unemployed during recessions. Why can't it be phased in over a time? For every 15 workers that share one-half hour each day, a company could hire another worker for 7 1/2 hours per day. Even promises to do it would get out more voters, and strengthen unions' ability to increase membership and negotiate fairer compensations for their labor.
A vision is needed of what an ideal America looks like in terms of what all Americans are doing; things such as being gainfully employed, being effectively educated, participating in the government and community affairs; what they have such as homes, stable families, secure retirements and health care; how they relate to each other in the workplace, within the home, within government, within and among organizations and institutions; and how they will seek, perpetuate and optimize the best of what is believed it should mean to be an American.
There does not seem to be anything conservative or liberal about these aspects of a vision of America. I don't believe either liberals or conservatives want people to be poor and homeless. Neither believes that only certain children should receive a quality education. Neither believes that children should have parent who are too young or too poorly prepared to guide, protect, motivate and be good role models for them. And neither believes that every American can be born a genius or have the talents, desires and opportunities to become wealthy.
Conservative and liberal should practice their ideologies in determining how they will choose to love their individuals lives, who will be their friends, what organizations they will join, what religious faith they will follow, what political party they will support, where they will live, the kind of entertainment they enjoy, the kind of language they will use and other things they will choose to do. But they should not seek to force their beliefs, behaviors and other choices on others. What may be right and compatible with traditions and dispositions of one person or group may not fit well with other people.
Wanting to get more than one's fair share of a nation's wealth is neither liberal or conservative. Both liberals and conservatives would like to be rich. And there are poor people among both conservatives and liberals. Our problem is getting from our present state in America to a mutually desired state. And it requires the same kinds of thinking, attitudes and commitments that will be necessary to keep us there. More questions and comments are needed that relate to these conclusions.
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