GOP Debate 11/10/15

I haven't watched all the GOP debates. But I watched Tuesday night. I'm not sure what convinced me to do so other than I had access to cable for the night and it seemed entertaining.

I had been thinking earlier in the evening and even commented on Twitter that we need to judge candidates based on how much we think they'll help small towns, farms, and Main Street. We hear so much about foreign policy and economic matters involving big banks and Wall Street but we never hear much about the people that grow our food or the small local businesses that employ so many Americans.

We also see the electoral maps lit up across the South in favor of the GOP while the candidates and party leaders are consistently from Massachusetts, Ohio, Wisconsin...never Georgia, Kentucky, or Louisiana. The Floridians we are presented are always funny talking folks from the coasts or maybe Orlando. There's never a fish & grits eating "Flardan" on the ticket. I guess a Republican president from Micanopy just isn't feasible.

But I digress.

Here's the point I wanted to make. Buzzwords. Those fancy little terms that make you tingle all over, make you want to stand up and cheer the candidates that use them, donate to their campaigns, put their signs in your yard...oh the buzzwords were mighty tonight.

How many times did you hear about smaller government? A lot. The problem is, when the candidates were asked about decentralizing government, there was never any plan on how that would happen. And there was sparse comments about returning governing power to the states. Thee was talk about some actions to be taken in Washington but basically there were several people proposing to make government smaller by making it bigger. And we don't need to send anyone to Washington that has that kind of plan. Because big Republican government isn't any better than big Democratic government.

When we take power from Washington and give it back to the states, where the Constitution intended it to be, it's closer to the people. If we want a republic, the power needs to be as close to the people as possible. If we want an empire, then we need to keep power centralized in Washington.

As the campaigns progress, pay more attention to the true substance of what people are saying and less attention to how they say it. Don't be fooled by fancy rhetoric that is designed to scratch the itchy ears of the masses on the right, people who hear a man give one good speech they agree with and suddenly decide that guy should be president. If you read ABG regularly, you aren't among the mindless masses. You're probably more interested in truth and are willing to listen for substance. So listen well, and share what you hear with others. Don't be swayed by buzzwords. Be someone that sways others.

And be sure to come back next time.