12...I mean, 6 Steps to a Better USA

A thoughtful article by Glenn Beck. It's interesting to see something in this election-crazed time of the year that's not about parties, but about good politics. I'm finding myself disagree more and more sharply with the protectionist/isolationist economic agenda coming from pols like Hillary (and even my man Obama), and the wishy-washy open ended commitment to a war of unfathomable cost on the other.

Is it so impossible to believe that we could actually have a political entity that looked at things and said "this is fucking crazy...let's hear what the economists have to say about free trade and how it may or may not create higher-paying jobs in the states, and what the pitfalls of universal care and Social Security are without jingoism, and how we're going to deal with climate change before it's too late, and what the war is going to cost us and for how long particularly without Iraq actually paying toward their own recovery...and make decisions based on THAT." I have a feeling/hope that Obama is that sort of guy - certainly, more of that guy than anyone else running - who could actually be a well-reasoned moderate and work with the right people to make things happen. Hilldawg tried to hit him on his advisors' statements he may not be 100% against NAFTA, and that he will make a realistic estimate on a drawdown/pull out of Iraq based on data he does not have access to as a candidate - both positions I would applaud him for if they were true. He has shown this sort of judgement with the way he's handled the race/Wright scrum - brave, honest, and well-balanced - so I'd like to project that judgement to other decisions he'd make as president.

But this is not an Obama post. Cause if there were someone I *knew* would be that sort of well-reasoned guy/gal - you know, the types of pols from the pre-Nixon era - they'd have my vote in a second. That, and if they didn't hide behind the skirts of their surrogates, that'd be another one in the plus column.