Much to my dismay and regret, I spent one year of my 28-year career in the hospitality industry. I worked at a huge hotel resort complex: eight dining rooms; three swimming pools; six bars; bowling alley; riding stable; ski slope; river boat rides. You get the picture. It was the six 10-hour days and the 60-hour work week that made it unbearable, but, hey, I was a kid at the time.
One of the property’s mainstays was tour group/convention business, mostly corporate or “association” bookings. When such a customer signed their contract, they had two options. One was the “American Plan.” That meant the guests could only eat in certain dining rooms, from specified menus, at designated times. This was obviously the least expensive option. The other alternative was the European Plan [read “a la carte”], which meant the guests could eat anywhere, any time, and order any menu item, while the group sponsor picked up the bill. Like the old 1940s’ swing music song, “It’s good work if you can get it…”
From an ideological standpoint, this is how I see the November Presidential/Congressional elections shaping up.
The liberal side, backing Obama, really has no decisions to make. Like Alexander Dumas’ characters, The Three Musketeers, they have a simple philosophy: “One for all, and all for one.”
In the liberal mindset, there is no such thing as being “too liberal.” A connection can also be made with Cole Porter’s 1934 song and later Broadway musical, titled “Anything Goes.” A further advantage liberals have in the upcoming presidential/congressional elections can be compared to yet another Broadway musical, the classic “West Side Story.” Who hasn’t heard the following lyrics?
“When you’re a Jet [lib], you’re a Jet [lib]
You’re a Jet [lib] all the way
From your first living breath
To your last dying day.”
To put it simply, the liberal/democratic advantage is their solidarity. Same menu, no choice, everyone eats in the same dining room…the American Plan.
I have to ‘fess up here, and admit I was once a – gasp – liberal! But, I was raised in a working class family that valued education and personal achievement. It was only during my Ivy League college years, where I was exposed to Marxist/Socialist professors, that I assumed a liberal view of life. When I graduated and entered the real world of holding a job, paying the bills, and raising a family, I quickly learned the “error of my ways.”
The Republicans/conservatives, on the other hand, remind me of the old Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon series, titled “Fractured Fairy Tales.” The conservatives just can’t seem to get their act together, nor can they separate the wheat from the chaff. Republicans/conservatives are looking at the elections like a European a la carte menu.
Republican candidate “A” says he’s going to ban abortion. Does anyone really believe that “A” can single-handedly pass a law that will overturn Roe v. Wade? Certainly not, but it “sounds” good. Republican candidate “B” says he’ll pass tariffs on Chinese goods. Yeah, right. That $39 Blue-Ray player will now cost the consumer $99. Republican candidate “C” says he will implement a “Flat Tax.” Fat chance…
Notwithstanding the current irrelevance of the TEA Party, conservatives will just about guarantee Obama’s re-election. The reason is that conservatives are too concerned with qualitative matters. Is the candidate conservative “enough?” Is he “too conservative?” Sadly, conservatives are overly obsessed with what I call “Societal Issues.” To further worsen the conservative position, such societal issues will turn off Independents, many of whom simply won’t vote because they can’t identify the “ideal” candidate.
I don’t even know if I can say this on Yahoo, but “societal issues be damned!” I could care less if two gays or lesbians get married! I could care less if a woman gets an abortion! I could care less if kids are allowed to pray in school, or if the Manger Scene can be displayed in front of the County Courthouse! When the driveway is cracked and the roof is leaking, which one do you fix first? Deal with the most important problem! You fix the driveway later, when you can afford it.
The single thing that is driving our country to hell in a hand basket is the liberal fiscal policy!
We accumulate more national debt every hour than the GDP of many countries! We are $14 trillion in debt and Red China owns our souls! Under Obama, the Federal Government has added 200,000 more employees, who produce nothing for our economy, with more to come! And, who pays the salaries of all those 200,000 government employees? You and me, brother. What do we get from all those tax dollars? An automated answering system, and a rude employee on the other end who can barely speak in an intelligible fashion, when we finally do get to speak to a human!
And don’t take this as a stab at immigrants…many Americans can barely conjugate a verb! A sad testimony to the NEA and the AFT, and how the liberals, on bended knee, seek their millions in campaign contributions. Mention “pay for performance,” and the teachers’ unions have a collective coronary infarction! They epitomize the ultimate “entitlement mentality,” while foisting their liberal views on school children.
The conservatives need to rally behind one candidate, and not nit pick about his record. We need to stop the bleeding. We need to get government out of our purses and wallets. We need to stop government from following the premise they are “smarter than we are,” and let Americans make their own decisions on what kind of car to drive, what home heating method to use, what our kids can eat at school, and how to handle our own health issues!
Even though it’s lost its momentum, let’s not forget what the TEA meant in TEA Party: taxed enough already!
If conservatives and independents don’t rally behind a single candidate, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves for four more years of the travesty known as “Hope & Change.”
