Agrees with columnists
I’m not a big fan of either Steve Chapman nor Leonard Pitts. They both strike me as ideological liberals with most of their writings, but from time to time I find myself actually agreeing with something they write. I found myself agreeing with both of them in the Thursday issue of The Dispatch.
Chapman — I have thought that politics was too polarized for a long time. Democrats & Republicans both. The hard-liners don’t seem to be able to compromise on anything. Neither party has all the answers and both should be willing to “experiment” with ideas to see what actually works as intended, and be willing to admit it when the other side’s ideas are better. The voting public needs to take this road as well, but too many voters are woefully ignorant on the facts of most issues. Politicians need to realize that they work for us; they do not rule us. That was Obama’s biggest problem. He thought he was like Saddam Hussein, the law was whatever he wrote on a scrap of paper.
Now for Pitts — Something is very wrong with the GOP and the Democratic party as well. Will Rogers once quipped that he wasn’t a member of an organized political party–he was a Democrat. The two-party system works best. Three or more ensures that a candidate with less than half the votes can get elected, and that means that more people vote against a candidate than for. I don’t think that’s what our Founding Fathers had in mind for this Republic. As the old commercial said, “What’s a mother to do?”
I think open primaries is a great idea. The top two vote-getters go into the general election, regardless of party affiliation. The other good idea is to just have a general election where all candidates run at the same time, but that is harder to accept. Too many people don’t care who or what a candidate is. It’s that letter behind their name on a ballot that counts to them. To be best, some people, those ignorant on issues and who just vote party, should not be allowed to vote if they can’t do any better than that.
We have to work together, compromise, try different new ideas to see which work and which don’t. Be willing to admit when bad, unintended consequences crop up, and do something to fix them. We need less government regulations and interference in our lives and more personal responsibility for our actions.
Cameron Triplett
Brooksville
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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