Choices choices...

I had a conversation with my sister over the weekend about the election. We had had several political discussions over the summer and I thought we were on the same page but she went rogue on me. *sigh* I asked her why she voted the way she did (on an absentee ballot) and she replied that it was based on one aspect of a candidate's economic plan...an extreme aspect of the plan, I might add. I was stymied but the more I thought about it, the more I had to acknowledge that there are likely many more Americans who will take a candidate's "plan" at face value and vote based on a single aspect of the whole. What I want to ask them is "don't you realize that any change in policy the new president wants has to be passed by Congress? Do you really think an extreme policy change will be passed by both the Senate and House?" A change in policy will be revised repeatedly until a compromise is reached that will be very "middle ground" in nature. Sheesh.

Does the general public have no concept of how policies are developed and passed? There's a reason why checks and balances exist and you have to be realistic when you hear a candidate's "plan" for his/her term in office.

I found it interesting that one of the local periodicals, The Corridor Business Journal, had a similar article in it. The writer quoted a few economics faculty from local colleges and all agreed that "[Presidential candidates] design a campaign around the idea of 'Here is where we've been for eight years and here's where I want us to go'. But once in office it's hard to change the reality of challenges with the (federal budget) deficit or the (trade) debt and global cooperation prospects. That's going to greatly impact what they're going to do." and "No one has a magic wand.....It's much more complicated." Nicely said.