[img]1640|right|Arthur Christopher Schaper||no_popup[/img]Polling for the next President has turned into habit of political pundits who want to avoid the present. On countless websites, conservative and liberal, advertisements and petitions are asking our thoughts about who will be the contenders. One attack ad has tied New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to Texas Gov. Rick Perry as anti-choice, anti-woman.
I have peered into so many polls it is appalling, not to mention unappealing. Why would anyone spend so much time wondering who the next President will be when the current President is doing all sorts of things, many not apparent?
Frankly, I am mixed-up about the whole thing, that people are pondering the future when they should be pounding the present President. The federal government cannot implement its own healthcare mandate, and by executive order, President Obama is backing away, piecemeal, from his terrible law. He has waffled on gay marriage. He gaily signs executive orders on gun control while refusing to enforce our nation’s immigration laws.
Nevertheless, the hard-wiring of human beings requires news of the next flair, a new phase has drifted into our electoral process. People are bored easily, more so because of Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, Flicker.
Whatever happened to “I want my MTV?”
Who will be the presidential candidates in 2016? Christie vs. Hillary?
Who cares?
This advanced polling is polarizing in its peculiar pettiness. Who knows who will run? How about asking,
• Who is running the country now? How do you feel about what those people are doing?
• Do you know your U.S. senators? You have two.
• What about your congressman? Mine is Henry Waxman (D-South Bay). He knows that I have problems with him, but he never lets me share them with him in public. Nor does he allow anyone to challenge him. Must be worried about something. . .
(Visit waxmanwatch.blogspot.com)
So why are people all put out about the next Presidential election?
Democrats want to get rid of Abominable Obama as fast as they can. He has become the George W. Bush of the Democratic party, ruining the liberal brand by exposing how state-sponsored everything means nothing but bad for the individual, for local leaders, anyone who cares about his civil liberties.
Instead of looking into the future, voters, pundits and activists need to pay attention to their current leaders in City Hall and their school boards. Obsession with federal races has caused voters to neglect the greater good our local leaders can do, and the greater damage they get away with.
How many city council members have opted to raise taxes instead of cut spending? How many residents have yelled at their city leaders for pandering to city employee unions instead of representing the best interests of the city?
The City of Bell should serve as the warning for a sleepy, do-nothing, don’t-care voting electorate. Robert Rizzo ran through city coffers like aqua-vitae with a midwife – really fast, and enjoying every minute of it. “Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughter,” Mr. Rizzo snidely warned his conspiring City Council colleagues, all but one of whom drew six- figure salaries while the city was going bankrupt, the police were seizing vehicles for easy cash and residents wondered what happened to their basic services.
When the Los Angeles Times demanded that Bell city leaders come forward with their pay, and Mr. Rizzo acknowledged that he had been raking in $800,000 a year, he abruptly resigned. Two days, weeks, not even months later, he was stealing with red hands from city coffers, with the help of colluding councilmembers and a deluded electorate.
Then I look at Downey with its all- Republican City Council. No two communities so close together could be so different. A golf course thrives next to the Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall. Friends who live in Lynwood love Downey. “Don’t get me started,” one protested when I started talking about the fun in Downey. “Please get started,” my friend replied. Aerospace, green space, space to breathe, safe streets, public facilities facilely serving the public. Gotta love limited government, local control.
Stop pandering to polls, stop pondering the future President. Pay attention to the present. Look at the local leaders. People need to pay attention to politics. What happens in Washington does not often stay there, but what happens in your backyard stays with you, whether you like it or not, and you can do something about it.
Arthur Christopher Schaper is a teacher-turned-writer on topics both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A lifelong Southern California resident, he currently lives in Torrance.
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