Time for Some Adults in Politics

We are fully into the presidential campaigns. Between now and next October we are going to be bombarded by promises, and accusations. I have no candidate at this point. Some are interesting, some aren't. Some are electable, some aren't. I don't think unelectable candidates are irrelevant by the way. The existence of Duncan Hunter on the Republican side is very important. He bring conversation about important issues that more well known candidates will ignore if allowed. Security and immigration among those issues.

What I am looking for is which candidate Republican or Democrat will give me the feeling they are an adult. I severely doubt I will find it on the Democrat side, but it is possible. I use the word adult because as adults we have to consider trade offs and results of our actions. Too many of our leaders today want to live in never never land.

So you want the war in Iraq over. How do we do it? Do we just come home? What happens then. I am not going to delve too much into this as I have written about it before. What about health care. You want a single payer system. OK what happens then. What in your plan will problems that have occurred in the past every time a socialized system has gone in? What about the inevitable rationing of care that accompanies the systems of Europe and Canada? You say you want to bring down costs. How can you do that? Price and cost are not the same. You can mandate a price, but if it costs a certain amount today for an x-ray how will your plan bring that down?

Lets say you agree with John Edwards that there are two Americas. Fine, what part of his plan will end that? How will his brand of protectionism stop companies from moving jobs? Some say we will punish them if they do. OK what happens then. When they pickup and move ALL of the jobs, what then? What is the next action? We have a right to know. The left is not alone here. We on the right believe in markets. I'm not sure all of the Republicans do. I say make them explain why markets work. We need a better reason than that is what you need to say to get the Republicans to vote for them. If you want to cut taxes further, great why? Do you want to pass a balanced budget amendment? Good I am for it, but how are you going to get the Congress to abide by it. Congress has a thousand ways to hide spending. How is your plan going to change that? Those congressmen and women need to go to their voters every two years with their hands out for money and votes. Unfortunately they will game the system to cover their tracks. How are you going to change the environment to make it harder? The president cannot change the rules of congress, but they can make let the people know what tricks are being played on them.

Adults need to do the right thing even if it hurts them personally in the short term. If the next President does the right things they may not win a second term. What candidate is willing to take that risk for the sake of their country? I am not sure I have an answer to that, or if there is an answer. The next seventeen months will answer that. I fear too many of the existing candidates are going to reveal themselves as adolescents. It is a pity. We need to ask the questions that will bring that out though. The mainstream media will not, the citizens need to.