OpinionDecember 21, 2000
SPEAK OUT
WELL, PRESIDENT-elect Bush owes a great debt of gratitude to two factors: Ralph Nader and his Green Party and the U.S. Supreme Court. Those two factors gave him the election. THE DIRECTOR of the nonpartisan committee for the study of American electorate and a veteran worrier about voter apathy said, "Nothing would be more destructive of what remaining faith Americans have in their political process than to drag the election of the president, the highest office in the land, through protracted and largely tit-for-tat battle in the courts." Voter participation rose to 51 percent this year, slightly up from 49 percent in 1998. ...
Factors: Nader, court
WELL, PRESIDENT-elect Bush owes a great debt of gratitude to two factors: Ralph Nader and his Green Party and the U.S. Supreme Court. Those two factors gave him the election.
Voting kinks remain
THE DIRECTOR of the nonpartisan committee for the study of American electorate and a veteran worrier about voter apathy said, "Nothing would be more destructive of what remaining faith Americans have in their political process than to drag the election of the president, the highest office in the land, through protracted and largely tit-for-tat battle in the courts." Voter participation rose to 51 percent this year, slightly up from 49 percent in 1998. But that did not reverse a serious problem of citizen disengagement. Not only that, but we fuss because people don't participate. It's obvious that if voters turned out at 75 percent or more, the system couldn't handle that many voters. Some wouldn't have time to vote due to the polling hours. The voting system has not finished its work yet.
Don't plow my street
THE JACKSON street department in general does a good job of keeping our streets passable during snowy and icy weather. But it fails miserably when it plows one pass through the snow on residential streets, which leaves huge, hard icy stacks of snow at the end of driveways. In most cases, a car cannot clear these rock-hard mounds. Frequently it causes extensive damage and creates car repairs for the car owner. In addition, these icy rocks take forever to melt and are impossible to break up without heavy-duty machinery. This practice has created these problems only in the past few years. Stop it. Don't plow residential streets. Traffic will break down a few inches of snow in a day or two. These icy rocks take weeks to break down.
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What will they do now?
I'VE JUST read David Limbaugh's column. I'm wondering what poor old David and Peter Kinder and Rush Limbaugh are going to talk about now since Bush is in. All they could do was run down Clinton. Now let's see if they will run down Bush or push him up to high heaven. I also notice in the paper the person talking about how good John Ashcroft was. Ashcroft lost Missouri by 30,000 votes. Why should they think about a recount? How could Carnahan win by 30,000 votes and then Bush beat Gore in Missouri? I think Missouri is as crooked as Florida about counting votes. We'll all know one of these days that we've got the wrong guy in as president.
Close eye on Bush
ANYBODY WHO can't see the economic growth of the last eight years and the rapport Clinton has had with foreign leaders has to be deaf, dumb and blind. Let's hope we don't have a depression in the next four George W. Bush years. Al Gore won the popular vote overwhelmingly. I think Republicans had better shut their mouths and wait to see if Bush can accomplish any of the big promises he made. Let's hope he doesn't follow in his father's footsteps: "Read my lips." Especially with his Social Security plans and his health plans for senior citizens. He promises to succeed where all before him failed.
Economy goes up, down
I CAN'T believe George W. Bush hasn't even been inaugurated yet and is being blamed for the slowing economy. Our economy has good and bad cycles. I remember well that the economy was showing signs of improvement when George Bush Sr. was defeated by Bill Clinton, but the Democrats took the credit for the upswing.
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