We are headed towards a presidential election that will absolutely polarize the U.S. You could not find two candidates that represent two more opposite sides of the spectrum. You have President Barack Obama that is very much a liberal. I do not use liberal as a derogative term here, but there is a very clear distinction in his politics. He is on the side of larger government, higher taxes, and distribution of wealth. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, is making a point to say that he will get rid of as much financial regulation as possible. He is also proposing lowering taxes. This is a very right-wing stance.
Now, what they say and what they do are two totally separate things. I don’t know that Obama will really try to raise capital gains to 45% or if this is simply negotiation tactics to raise taxes in another way. I don’t know that Romney will really try to repeal all bank regulations or if this is something he is saying to encourage money from wall street into his campaign coffers.
I wish there was a middle ground. I wish that there was a candidate that said, “government is getting too big, but we need to avoid another financial meltdown in the future so I am going to bring back Glass-Steagall. I understand that the unemployment numbers are absurd, and it isn’t all because of Bush and Europe. I will do everything possible to encourage small business and never raise capital gains taxes. Health insurance is essential to have for all Americans. I will offer a public option that competes with the rest of the industry, but will not be required. People can opt in, if you will.”
We are a strong country. We can be both fiscally and socially responsible! We need a candidate that will change campaign finance so that we can feel comfortable knowing our elected officials are working for us and not their campaign donors. We need candidates that are more worried about their constituents than they are the “party.” You can argue yourself to death about the validity of a two-party system. Whether it is healthy or not for our country, it shouldn’t be as important as the voters. As of right now, it is.
Oh ya, and Wall Street is NOT the enemy. We need to recognize that there were mistakes made that we can eliminate in the future and move on. Demonizing people who make money helps no one. We have to admit our own mistakes that brought upon the mortgage crisis/recession. People knew and or should have known the mortgages they were taking out were bad ideas. Blaming the banks is very much hypocritical. When I purchased my house, my mortgage broker pushed a 1yr Arm on me. Guess what, I said NO. We all had that chance.
The Lobbyist Effect 