Election Promises

It's election time again and the candidates are promising us wonderful improvements. Of course, they're lying through their teeth in order to get our vote.

I haven't voted in many years because I have such disdain for politicians but I voted early this year for our mayor. We need a change from mediocrity (much less than mediocrity) and one of the candidates seems a tad more honest than the others so I filled in the blank next to his name. Those who follow our local politics more closely than I do have said he doesn't have a chance in hell but maybe my one little vote will do the trick.

I recently drove along the main street in my area of the city and felt every pothole and patch in the road shake my car to bits and I again wondered why we're building a new sports stadium when our roads are in such bad repair. I don't really expect a new mayor to see the logic here and forego a stadium to repave main arteries in the city but we do need a mayor who can actually run a city. The present mayor is a buffoon, not bad but just useless.

It's interesting to watch the posturing and promises pouring from the lying mouths of candidates. It's no different in every level of government. They make promises they won't keep, they disparage the other candidates while their own closet is full of scandal, and they answer questions with convoluted replies that don't answer the question. It's a freak show that is truly sad because these are the people we put in charge of our lives.

One of the reasons I like President Obama is because he promised great changes in health care and he immediately set about doing just that. It was a revelation to watch the process and see how dedicated he was in pushing the change through. It's not a done deal yet, though.

It irks me to see the rabid crowds of political supporters who gear up in silly hats and scream in ecstasy whenever their politician opens their mouths. They look so silly but I think they really believe their man/woman is the new messiah. How do they feel when he/she proves to have feet of clay and does nothing for the people he/she serves?

We need politics and politicians to keep our world running, maybe not smoothly but at least with some order. They are a curse and a blessing at the same time. I think the only thing that keeps them half way honest is the free press and the small group of people who make it their business to keep tabs on what is and isn't being done. Watch one of those boring city council meetings some time and you'll see what I mean. And then give thanks to that little group who do their best to keep council from completely destroying our city.

Am I confident that a new city council will be any better than the last one? No, but hope is eternal, isn't it?