26th New York

On May 24, 2011 the people of the 26^th congressional district of New York elected a new congressional representative.  Some people have read a lot into this (usually supporting their own views) and some have downplayed it (to disguise the abuse to their positions), and many people just don’t care.  The first two groups are normal but that third group is growing and should be examined.  You and I know what is going on but does anyone else?

Forget how you feel about George Bush but one thing that everyone agrees with is he excited electors.  In 2004 his people liked to point out that he grabbed more votes than any person who ever ran for president.  Democrats missed the fact that their own candidate, John Kerry, had more votes than anyone ever had who opposed an incumbent President.  The point is, people voted.

Now the 26^th happens and few people care. Why?  I believe both political parties are at fault and neither knows it.  They are traveling on the same tracks they have used for two centuries without realizing that the world uses computers and the internet.  And the news media, for the most part, reports what it is told by the two parties instead of asking us.  Gee, what a novel concept, interview people for a story.

Look at the normal 26^th NY Republican.  Conservative? Yes, but in a Rockefeller way, not a Palin rhetorical disconnect.  They had a history of some very solid Congressmen including soldiers from the Revolutionary War and a Secretary of State under President Grant but were embarrassed by Chris Lee who solicited women on Craigslist by sending them semi-nude pictures of himself and possibly transgender women though he was married at the time.

At the same time they hear leaders of their Party walking lock-step with a TV and Radio network, making statement diametrically contrary to what those same people  had said a few months earlier, and complaining about overspending when their President had squandered a federal surplus.  It is embarrassing to have your Party leaders tell you that winning an election is far more important than supporting your nation or even being civil to your neighbor.

That is where the story is, that is where the truth sits, not the Ryan plan to dismantle Medicare and eventually Social Security.  The people of the 26^th will vote against that on their own.  Why doesn’t the media tell everyone that the election was not changed by the candidacy of Jack Davis because he wasn’t a Democratic tool.  Hell, he was a lifelong Republican before he ran as a Democrat two years ago and in 2011 attempted to be the candidate of every Party but only the Tea Baggers would have him.  People of the 26^th know this but it wasn’t reported by the media.  I guess it was too difficult to look at a voter registration document.

No, the people of the 26^th N.Y. are just fed up, like people all over the nation.  The Daily Show and Colbert Report have become the only reliable news sources, Congress people only respond to the media and polls conducted by lobbyists, Ryan can only be elected by those dumb enough to vote during a Wisconsin ice storm, the group interested in Palin or Bachman running are the same promoting Trump, stand-up comedians.

We get it, you talk to us like we were eighth graders but in the end;

1. we graduated from more than the eighth grade,
2. your funding of education has reduced eighth graders to seventh graders, and
3. few politicians or reporters today are smarter than a fifth grader.