No Good Choices?

With a week to go before the midterm elections, I suspect that, whoever wins or loses, the real story for 2014 will be how the political discourse finally became incoherent. Consider, for instance, the Senate race in Iowa where GOPer Joni Ernst seems to be ahead. Ernst is a typical Tea Bagger, a paranoid gun fetishist who nevertheless is ahead because of her defense of social security. I hesitate to heap praise on someone like Ernst but I have to say that she offers a more active defense of social security than some Democrats. Does that seem weird? No weirder than when the Obama administration proposed cutting Social Security in the name of savings. It's unfortunate that the President has surrounded himself with Wall Street and Beltway insiders and has become increasingly isolated from the people who voted for him in the first place. If the Democrats lose, it will be because people don't buy the way the talk a lot of "New Deal" nostalgia on the campaign and behave like GOPers when they get elected.

Illegal Immigration Falling Off

Remember during the summer when the GOP and the Media were making a big deal about the surge of illegal immigration from Central America? Now media outlets are reporting a drop in illegal immigration. The credit supposedly goes to increased border security. Notice how GOPers are no longer talking about the "illegal surge."

The problem is that increased enforcement is only a temporary solution. We need immigration reform. But it seems that politics in America no longer tries to solve problems.

Ebola: The Red Death

The Ebola epidemic is being described as the biggest health emergency of our time. Once again the deprivation of the public health system by bad economic policies is making matters worse. Ebola is a disease that could be easily contained if there were enough resources. Like AIDS in the 80's which could have been stopped except that the right-wing political establishment labeled it a "lifestyle" problem. The neglect of public health is endangering everybody. Infectious diseases, like tuberculosis and whooping cough, that a few decades ago seemed extinct, are now returning. If these diseases come back, everyone will be at risk, regardless of wealth or status.

Why You Should Vote Democratic

With the unemployment rate below 6% and with gasoline prices falling to nearly $3 a gallon, it's fair to say that the economy is improving to as much as it could under the circumstances. With many so-called progressives continue to complain about how "disappointed" they are with President Obama, their complaining isn't going to do accomplish anything. The problem with the Left is that they have gotten into the habit of complaining without do anything.

The President's decision to delay action on immigration reform is a mistake to be sure. But stop and think what will happen if the GOP gains control of the entire Congress? There will be no immigration reform then. Sometimes, you have to take the lesser evil.