17.4 MB / 25 min. Walking round the pond observing a possible serial killer while making other observations and likely being observed, as well. Guerilla cell phone marketing, math problems, Jimmy Carter, cement trucks, bedraggled and more.Today is Presidents Day here in the U.S. (this is Present Steve talking to you now), and so I would like to take this opportunity to shine a proverbial spotlight on the hypocrisy of our current national holiday system (granted, not everyone gets the day off on Presidents Day â me, for example â but nevertheless â).My BEEF is this: We have Presidents Day to pay homage to the service of past presidents. Mainly the Founding Father types â Washington and Jefferson being the two most invoked by current politicians blowing hot air into the mediaâs whorish microphones. We have Memorial Day to remember the men and women who served in our military and purchased farmland so our children can plant their seeds of freedom and whatnot. We have July 4 to celebrate our independence from the Big Bad British Empire (BBBE). We have Labor Day for no apparent reason other than to give families one last summer hurrah at the beach before school starts again. Then we have a number of additional holidays primarily recognized by bankers and government employees, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Flag Day and Veteranâs Day.AND YET, neither our politicians in Washington nor at the individual state level find it appropriate to designate ONE DAY EVERY TWO YEARS for a National Election Day.This, of course, stands in blatant contradiction to THE RHETORIC, namely that our right to vote is the backbone of democracy â a means of exercising our freedom, and so on. Granting an election day holiday would certainly make it easier to be a good patriotic citizen, and without question result in higher voter turnout. I mean, is this a NO BRAINER, or what?WHAT, apparently.The question is: WHY?One can only assume that a significant number of politicians feel it wouldnât be in their best interest for THE OTHER HALF of the population to vote. Pun intended, yes, but it also refers to the actual statistics. In the 2000 presidential election, for example â arguably the most important election in our countryâs history â turnout was 51.3 percent. And, keep in mind, thatâs a percentage of REGISTERED VOTERS. Iâm not going to do the math, but we can safely assume that well under half of the total population is going to the polls.So, again, who in society would benefit most from an election day holiday? The corporate executive, who can easily push his meetings back to 10 am? Or the employee of the slaughter house, who has to be clocked in and slicing chicken gizzards by 7 am or else heâs docked pay? Hmmm â okay, so clearly the lower class, working class folks will be the most likely to vote, if they were not in the habit of voting before âLow wage, low skill workers are who weâre talking about, here. And if Iâm not mistaken, these are the types of jobs that have been shifting in recent years â either to illegal immigrants or nations overseas. China, for example. In other words, many of these âworking classâ people have been laid off, which probably makes them rather unhappy with their elected officials. More likely to vote for a challenger, as opposed to an incumbent.So, by this logic, it would not seem a partisan issue, as many democrats in particular would attest, but another classic example of the ever-rising dominance of corporations over public policy.Corporations give money to politicians who, in turn, grease the rails for outsourcing low wage jobs (while promising theyâll help keep jobs at home). The white collar people are happy, because they have cushy jobs and their 401Ks are growing nicely. So they tend to vote for incumbents â democrat, republican or otherwise. So everyoneâs happy.NOT.Well, those in the lower tax brackets will always have the military, I suppose. After all, it seems WAR will continue to be a growth industry for decades to come â

[ Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:26:00 GMT ]

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