The Lesser of Two Evils: Social Reform or Socialism?

I usually don't pay a whole lot of attention to politics because they can be very scary. Once in awhile I'll listen to candidates running for office and what I hear usually makes me cringe! But with the current Presidential campaigns gearing up and the election looming ahead, one can't get away from it, it's everywhere! But what I've been hearing recently is that our country is actually run by a small handful of influential people with money and the means to buy their way in politics. One way to do that is to buy and control all news media, such as news paper companies and television news shows, that way Americans or we the people, only hear what they want us too, therefore influencing how we think and how we vote.

Before the 2012 election there were a couple of articles about the candidates in the Parade section of the Star Ledger, a local news paper. After reading the first article about Mitt Romney in the Parade, I was a little confused and a bit unnerved. I guess it was meant to introduce Mitt Romney and his wife to the rest of us in the uneducated population, I found it a bit one sided and the things that were meant to give me a warm fuzzy feeling concerning Mitt and his wife, Ann, only made me more apprehensive! The questions supposedly asked by readers sounded a bit contrived and the answers short and didn't really address the situations mentioned. One of the questions that bothered me the most was where he talked about his financial wealth being dictated by a "blind trust" and his banking may not be done solely in the United States, he said if he's elected president it would probably remain the same.

Another question dealt with an allegation that President Obama may be un American in regards to his politics, implying that Obama was following European standards of government, heavy handed and almost like a dictatorship. We, the ignorant and uneducated, got a big surprise when we found out that Obama was heading toward socialistic reform, not social reforms, a president with a Communistic outlook and back ground!

Later someone brings up Romney's faith and his tithing to the Mormon Church, which again sparks concern. His wife goes into this whole thing about being happy to tithe and crying when they do, but this brings to mind a story from the bible entitled "The Widow's Offering" in Mark 12:41-44 which reads "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything- all she had to live on." In my mind the Romneys represent the wealthy as depicted in this bible story. So if this was meant to draw us unsuspecting God fearing church goers into the Romney fold, it missed the mark! Then the questioner goes on to ask if the whole tithing thing isn't a form of socialism, to which Romney replies that helping each other is a basic in society, which may be somewhat biblical. The rest of the article is slightly less upsetting, something about opening up the White House to the public and holding concerts there and grandkids running up and down the halls.

Then on the heels of the Romney article is another issue of Parade featuring his opponent, the man already in the White House, President Obama. The article basically follows the same formula as the previous one, with questions from readers around the country being answered by the President and the First Lady. As in the earlier article about the Romneys, the questions are very vague and the answers really don't give any definite resolutions. Then somehow the article ends on the subject of the First Kids going to camp and being missed, along with First Lady not getting angry with the President.

My guess is the newspaper wants or feels it has to give equal time to both of the major candidates and this is their attempt at doing that. So after reading the articles I'm left with this feeling of confusion, almost dread. The debates were no better; the candidates mainly wasted the time interrupting each other and never really gave any clear answers or solutions to anything. The one with Vice President Biden was the worst, he was out and out rude and Ryan was almost saintly with his patience. Biden came off like an idiot, so with behavior like that how can they expect to gain support for a second term?

On the one hand we have a black communist socialist and on the other a white socialist, so down just what road is America traveling? Would Romney have been the one to put God back in the place He once held in America or are we being duped once again and our downfall as a nation getting closer? So I guess what it boils down to; is the age old practice of picking the lesser of the two evils, which is pretty much standard for elections. I can't help thinking our time as a great nation claiming to be the "home of the brave and land of the free" is drawing to an end, almost reminiscent of all the times the Israelites turned away from God and ended up in captivity under brutal rule. Without God we could easily lose our status as a World Power and end up like so many of the other nations in the world under a dominating ruler!

I am all for social reforms, but certainly not ready for socialism!