Tuesday, November 14, 2006

A Time for Reflection



Now is the time for reflection and self-examination.

What do you want from your government?

What do you want to happen in Iraq? How can we achieve what you want there?

What do you want from Republicans now?

What do you want from Democrats?

What do you want for the economy, health care, the homeless, and so on?

What is your part in effecting all this, and making our country better?

2 comments:

philosotramp said...

What sort of questions are these Mr Rock? I was under the impression that you just had an election? If this is the case surely you are aware of what the manifesto was of the candidates? did you not know what you were getting into? Do you just vote democrat or republican based on name? and then tell them what to do when they get in? If so, why would they listen to you when they are in power?

On another note, what is your concern with globalisation? its been happening for atleast 500 years. And U.S.A benefits more than any other nation. I dont see your concern for this because its not like global warming or war. Its just that I noted it in your last post and in one of your reply comments (cant remember where so I have put it in here, hope you dont mind). So if you could throw us another insight into your country from your perspective, would be great.

Phil

Rock said...

Phil, thanks for your comments. You said:

What sort of questions are these Mr Rock? I was under the impression that you just had an election? If this is the case surely you are aware of what the manifesto was of the candidates? did you not know what you were getting into? Do you just vote democrat or republican based on name? and then tell them what to do when they get in? If so, why would they listen to you when they are in power?

I don’t quite know what you are getting at, but I did try to answer some of this with a new post, which you’ve already seen by now. Basically, I view the electorate as having influence over their politicians, before and after elections. If we conservatives demand conservatism from our conservative candidates, before and after the election, then we can expect them to respond, or be booted out of office next time. This is what happened this election. Make no bones about it, conservatives voted conservatives out of office, for not being conservative enough. Bush and the Republicans were not living up to their promises.

Plus, I want America to get past labels, and ask of their government what they want them to accomplish. To do this, they must be clear about what they want. The best time for reflection, I believe, is after such a massive change as this was, the switching of party control over congress. Now, what do we really want as a nation? We need to be clear on this. Why did we vote the conservatives out of office? What do we now want from the Democrats? Did we vote just for change? Or, did we vote for fiscal responsibility? To leave Iraq? What exactly do we want, and why? Then, when we are clear, we can communicate what we want from our politicians. Now, after the “voter revolution” they will be in a mood to listen to their public.

On another note, what is your concern with globalization? It’s been happening for at least 500 years. And U.S.A. benefits more than any other nation. I don’t see your concern for this because it’s not like global warming or war. It’s just that I noted it in your last post and in one of your reply comments (can’t remember where so I have put it in here, hope you don’t mind). So if you could throw us another insight into your country from your perspective, would be great.

I’m not sure I’m smart enough to understand all the ramifications of globalization. If it’s been happening for 500 years, tell me about it. I see that the U.S. used to manufacture everything from radios and TV’s to steel, and now most of this work is done overseas. I see textiles all made overseas. I even see computer programmers operating out of India, and computer help phone lines, all overseas. We’ve lost our manufacturing base, though we have grown into a great service-oriented economy. Is this good, or bad? I’m not smart enough to answer this. I just know that wages are stagnant, despite a booming economy. Wall Mart has taken over the world, with low pay and no unions. Again, is this good?

Some people say yes. I sincerely would like to be educated on this matter. I understand capitalism and am a free-market guy, but globalization means wages go down, along with the benefits that prices go down too. Educate me someone.

Thanks,

Rock