One of the sad things one realizes as one gets older is that all the crap one accepted as being the way the world worked, could have been changed.  It wasn’t the way the world worked… It was the way those benefiting from that arrangement, wanted the world to work.

One of the worst realizations about life, is that when one reaches this level of wisdom, one is already depleted of energy  and doesn’t possess enough force to fight for it…..

Our world is made up of forces constantly fighting each other.  The way things are, is the way the stronger forces keep it…   If the forces that were weak, ever bonded together to overcome the force that dominates…  things change…, As a metaphor it is very similar to how our world will reverse polarities very soon (if it hasn’t already)….

In other words, the 60’s revolt against the draft…. would never have happened unless people revolted against the draft.  The fight to protect the environment, would never have happened if people didn’t fight to protect the environment…..

I was reminded of this, listening to Sam Latham on WDEL’s Rick Jensen show while talking to John Flaherty who was filling in for Rick.  Sam represents the AFL-CIO and his role is to promote jobs in Delaware… That is his role, and he fills it well…

Some listeners may have heard that 50% of Delaware’s building trades union workers are out of work..  That is a lot. One would certainly feel for them and would like to help them get work if one could… We all live in fear of suddenly losing our job, and at our backs we here the words, “what if it was you” and naturally want to do what we can to help a brother out…

While enunciating emphatically, Sam said… “He cared only about jobs,  Not clean water, not clean air, but jobs.”  He was making a point.  Later he said.. ” Of course I care about those two; just not now; Now we need jobs.”….

If it helps Sam, it is a good thing he spoke that way.  His job is to drum up jobs, and his cadre is shrinking as each day passes.  High paying jobs get termed; low paying jobs get hired….

The point of this election however, is not jobs in Delaware.  It is not energy in Delaware.  It is not about getting rid of shysters hiding in political closets, who pretend not to recognize themselves on literature supporting them, but supposedly done by an independent organization….

Nor is it about poisons raining down on you. Nor is it about sucking White Clay Creek dry in the summer time. Nor is it about a loud clanging, louder than your morning alarm, that goes on 24/7 and never (it’s in their contract), stops.. Never. Stops.

This election is not about any of those… It is about something far more important… Much more than all of that….

It is about … you…

Let me define.  You need to vote for what will make your life better… Because you are you… I know it sounds simple, but it is rather profound, so work with me here. 🙂

  • If your life would be better by having one of these jobs, you need to vote for Polly.  Your life will be better.
  • If your life would be better by having this deal go through, as would be that of the heads of the University, you need to vote for Polly.
  • If you live would be better by having this deal go through, as would be that of any in the building trades, or contractors, you need to vote for Polly….

Too obvious you say?   But, …

If your life would be better by not having 24/7 clanging louder than your alarm, you need to vote for Amy Roe.

  • If your life would be better by not having cancer in 10 years, (true average exposure time around power plants), you need to vote for Amy Roe.
  • If your life would be better by having beautiful White Clay Creek still flowing and not diverted to the power plant in summer, you need to vote for Amy Roe.
  • If your life would be better by having less deep earth elements on  your car, patio furniture, pets, and lawn, you need to vote for Amy Roe.
  • If your live would be better by having another employer in that spot on the STAR campus, instead of an industrial plant which will chase away more  sophisticated new high quality jobs than it could attract,  you need to vote for Amy Roe.

In other words there is a myriad of people with a myriad of interests out there…   All of them mean something to each person…  If I value jobs more than anything, I can’t really fault you for valuing your health over anything… And vice versa…  You don’t know me and if I value putting jobs before environmental concerns, then I have a history for wanting to do so… I’m certainly not stupid, and neither is Sam Latham.  Nor is Amy Roe…

(I’m not yet convinced that doesn’t apply to Polly Seirer or Vance Funk considering how easily they got played …. or caught…. )

But other than those two possibilities  🙂 , people for the most part, are not stupid.  Everyone votes on the concerns they have for their own lives….

So how does one determine which is right and which is wrong?  Pretty much by the numbers… We count the votes and say … “it appears that those who care enough to vote, want this town to go in this direction….”   If the town goes in that direction, there WILL be a minority that does not agree….  But there WILL be an even bigger majority who thinks going there is the correct direction, and since more feel that way than don’t, … that is the way we should go….

Yes. This is too simple. Yet it is very profound….  For across the study of history, whenever a majority of citizens wants to go towards a certain way, the profundity is that it usually works out for the best.  Not always, (Prohibition) but history always tends to work better, when things are decided by a majority… In my past, when I found myself on the losing side, I still could see the gains  in other arenas, that happen because of the vote… True, they don’t happen according to my priorities, but they still happen nevertheless…. and the good that was promised by the other side, came about.

Which brings us to the center.  How we convince those deciders is  the  prime issue.  If one side, then another side makes their passionate arguments, it is done to try to convince  the merits of their presentations to those voting …  Then those voters vote…..

That is why too much money, is an attempt to obfuscate the balance that this discourse provides.  If one gains a monopoly on the argument by buying out the media, by putting only one side’s ideas into people’s minds, one is damaging the brand called democracy.  One is trying to grab power, to make outcomes based on trickery, untruths, and lies.   Lies are very ineffective if allowed the opportunity to be proven wrong.  In fact, if lying is ever proven beyond a doubt,…  it usually backfires upon the liar.  All then side with the victim about whom the lie was told…

But if one hears only one side because of a monopoly on the media… bad decisions get made…. Even though that lie can make rational sense in light of all arguments presented,  without it’s opposing view getting air, it can never get BUSTED!

When one tries to create a monopoly on the conversation, one violates the good decision making process our elections provide… When one wants to win so bad, enabling themselves to put their decisions in effect without having the necessary vetting required,  there is a very high probability that the decision made, will turn out to be rather costly…

If it was good, it would have been voted on by the electorate anyway…

So…  are “one, two, or even three new jobs” to one, two, or even three Delawareans worth your death 40 years earlier than otherwise? Could be…  or … could not be… But you need to decide that, and no one else.

That is why this trickery performed in order to influence the election of Newark’s mayor, is so troubling….

  • One more reason to vote for Amy Roe.