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Maybe they should sing for support
Desperately needing a break from local news commentary of late, I thought I'd take a swing at some national issues. (Pardon the pun). € Voting season kicked off this week. No, not the presidential election - it's been dragging on for years now. I'm talking about “American Idol.” Forget Obama and Clinton on stage, I want to see Chikezie and Asia'h. I'm not interested in what Rush or Russert have to say. What about Seacrest and Simon? If the word “dog” isn't used in a debate, it's just not worth watching. All kidding aside. I'm not at all a fan of “American Idol,” but sadly there are Americans who can name all 12 contestants in this year's competition but probably can't name 12 U.S. presidents - much less have knowledge about the issues that are vital to 2008's other vote-driven contest. The presidential election has everything to do with making the right decision for our country and the rest of the world. So, heading into a presidential election in November, should we be concerned that more people are paying attention to the Fox network's popular program than current events in the news? You bet we should. For example, “American Idol's” Feb. 12 episode drew 31.2 million viewers while ABC, CBS and NBC evening news programs combined attracted only 25.49 million viewers for one night that same week. The final episode of “American Idol” in 2007 received more votes (74 million) for its winner than our current president, George W. Bush, received in his 2004 re-election (62 million). Maybe we should just have the remaining presidential candidates perform their best renditions of a pop song in order to get a majority of the country interested. Let's just hope it's not Barry Manilow night when they do. (Apologies to my wife, who is a fan.) Or better yet, let's have Simon Cowell moderate the next round of debates. “That foreign policy plan is atrocious. It's by far the worst I've heard yet tonight,” he would say in his snootiest British accent. € You know what else really grinds my gears? The amount of hope this nation is putting in the economic stimulus package. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the check I'm going to receive. I will cash it, and I will spend it. Unfortunately, it's going to pay off previous economic stimuli my family generated in 2006 and 2007 by way of credit card purchases. I imagine that there will be a lot of that going on as this nation last year had a total estimated consumer debt (not including mortgages) of $2.46 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. I never realized that “free” T-shirt and frisbee I got as a freshman in college was going to cost several thousand dollars in compounding interest over the last 14 years. Oh well, live and learn. Now back to the economic stimulus plan. Are we robbing Peter to pay Paul with this plan? I was speaking with a faithful reader Wednesday morning, and since then I've come to the conclusion that there is certainly too much faith in this effort. The timing of it also is pretty coincidental considering that we're in an election year. Talk of our economy going into a funk started well before talk of offering a tax rebate to stimulate spending. Of course everything you can buy with the checks that we'll be receiving later this year is made overseas, unless you use the cash to eat out every night, dry clean your whole wardrobe or landscape your entire property. In order to truly stimulate the U.S. economy, maybe the check should come with a caveat that the money must be spent on U.S.-made goods and services. That would never fly however - it wouldn't be very American. € One last thing. Rather than further deepening our national debt in order to stimulate our cooling economy, why not put members of Congress on equal footing with the rest of the country as it relates to their healthcare and other benefits. It's my understanding that federal benefits are platinum level when compared to healthcare available in the open marketplace, where most American workers are forced to find their coverage. If that doesn't get them moving on healthcare and Social Security reform then nothing else will. Edward Terry is editor of the News-Topic. Reach him at eterry@newstopic.net
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