Two major political events have occurred that have further solidified the general election campaigns in Missouri.
Republican U.S. Rep. Todd Akin was elected to oppose incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in the upcoming senator’s race.
That was followed by Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s choice of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice presidential nominee for the GOP presidential campaign.
Both the election and the nomination were bold and dramatic, making the choices for voters much clearer in Missouri on two major ballot choices.
Yet, listen to the campaign rhetoric from both parties, only a few days after the choices above were made. In essence we are being told, “If you vote for him (or her), we will go over a spending cliff of catastrophic proportions.” Or on the other hand, “If you vote for him (or her) we will have a social revolution with the same catastrophic results.”
Based on campaign rhetoric alone, some potential 130 million voters in the November 2012 general election must decide which cliff is worse or better. And of course the tens of millions of nonvoters (who are otherwise eligible to vote) couldn’t care less and leave it all up to others to decide.
Which of the two cliffs do you choose to head toward? Or in fact is there a third looming cliff, the one of stalemate as we have it now in our federal government?
We the people decided to head one way in 2008. In 2010, nationally we decided to head a different direction, sort of. Now it is 2012. Are the choices at least clear enough today from either side or even the middle?
Making a decision relying simply on campaign rhetoric is no good. Instead, voters’ decisions will require some work.
We suggest that voters begin their homework now. The “mute” button might help. The results, in our view, are very important for America.
Opinion
Our View: Independent thinking required
- Opinion
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Our View: Spying on us
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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Our View: Pass on the legacy
Forty hungry members of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry began gathering corn at the Rader farm near the village of Sherwood when they were ambushed by a guerrilla band of about 70 Southern sympathizers.
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Our View: Big Brother looms large
The federal government, working under the cloak of secrecy, has been having a heyday at the expense of all Americans.
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Our View: Disgraceful military assault
We want to make one thing clear: A sexual assault is not a sex scandal. Nor can the rise in sexual assaults in the military be justified in any way.
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Elliott Denniston, guest columnist: Right-to-work laws only hurt workers
Middle-class workers have been fighting an uphill battle for the past 30 years.
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Your View: Food drive efforts
Branch No. 366 of the National Association of Letter Carriers along with the National Rural Letter Carriers Association, the American Postal Workers Union and the U.S. Postal Service would like to thank all the area communities that participated in the 2013 Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
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Your View: More about tax credit
The Globe’s editorial in “Our View” (May 10) may have left readers with a few inaccurate impressions.
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Other Views: Sickening disparity
Don’t feel bad if you don’t understand the wide, sometimes huge, discrepancies in fees hospitals charge for the same procedure. Or if you don’t understand the arithmetical magic the hospitals use to arrive at those fees.
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Carol Stark: America in need of more 'momisms'
Several years ago, I attended a writing workshop where one of the sessions was called “Tell it to Mom.”
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Our View: Keep learning
Donna Maus, a biology teacher from St. Mary’s Colgan High School in Pittsburg, Kan., told a group of top students, their parents and their teachers something we think everyone needs to hear.
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