Pogo’s Advice
By
Dr. Jimmie R. Applegate
“We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us”
Walt Kelly via Pogo
The Republican candidates for POTUS are skewering each other to the delight of the Democratic National Committee and the Obama campaign. The conservative candidates appear intent on doing the “down and dirty” work for their liberal, progressive Democrat opponents. And they appear to be letting bloated egos interfere with their primary goal—to replace a big government, big spending incumbent who supports an ever increasing national debt of $15.194 trillion compared to a GDP of $14.66 trillion (2010). If these are not sufficient reasons to put a new occupant in the Oval Office, how about the growing share of the national debt placed on the backs of our children, grandchildren and the yet unborn? Walt Kelly hit the nail squarely on the head with this exchange between Pogo and Albert.
“Albert: We’re gonna secede and start a new country.
Pogo: Why in the worl’?
Albert: So things will be more equal for all and we’ll all share
more better.
Pogo: In that case I better eat the other half of my sammitch
afore you shares the whole thing………”
The Republican seekers after the Grail readily attack each other in debates, town hall meetings and in millions of dollars’ worth of TV ads. They, mindless to the damage they are doing, challenge each other’s qualifications and experiences with half-truths and with words and positions taken out of context in efforts to knock down and drag out their opponents. They sound more like Iranian President Ahmadinejad everyday with hostile and unwarranted comments full of bluster and defiance. American citizens deserve better than that.
The candidates should focus on their qualifications, experiences and ideas to uphold, honor and respect the Constitution of the United States, to add jobs, to limit spending and reduce debt, to limit the scope of the federal government, to return power and responsibility to the states, to increase the energy independence of the United States, to control and protect our borders, to restore the constitutional separation of power doctrine and to emphasize the independence and exceptionalism of the American people.
President Tom Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was quoted as saying “I was very disappointed with the intramural carrying on within the Republican Party….I think it’s just been foolish for Republicans to carry on that line of attack because they aren’t doing anything but setting up the ad base for their opponent.” I couldn’t agree more. Americans are tired of hostile political discourse and they deserve better from candidates regardless of their political persuasion.
I began these thoughts with a quote from Walt Kelly’s Pogo and so it is appropriate to end with a quote from the introduction of another of Kelly’s Pogo books (The Pogo Papers, 1953).
“Traces of nobility, gentleness and courage persist in all people, do what we will to stamp out the trend. So, too, do those characteristics which are ugly……… There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tinny blast on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.
Forward!”
Pogo told us what the problem is, now let’s hope the candidates wise up and do something about it by focusing their stump comments directly on their analyses of, and solutions to, the critical issues of today. Let voting Americans citizens judge the candidates on what they say, rather than on the innuendo and allegations made by opposing candidates.