The American Presidential dirty campaign

As an American, I have never seen such a dirty campaign as this one. 
Both sides have blatantly lied, and have created false deceptions about the other.

The American campaign for the presidency is well underway.  Both sides working very  hard to win  the necessary votes to assume the presidency. 

Each candidate is dragging up dirt on their opponent – information that is not relevant to anything, but for a single purpose and that is to discredit the other.  This type of behavior is on the level of a 5 year old.  

I, personally,  am not sure either man is fit to lead. 

America is disengaging from the military conflict in Iraq.  We were told there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  To date, no such weapons have been found.

The US and Great Britain went against the advisement of the United Nations, with no evidence of any WMD, and against world opinion to bring about this war.  The only thing that is known is that Saddam Hussein  had systematically used lethal gas against Iran and his own people a number of years ago, and his secret police committed an appaling number of autrocities.  But no weapons of mass destruction have ever been found, not by the UN Inspectors, nor the military forces,  and that was the sole justification for going to war.

Each candidate is pointing the accusatory finger and trying to place blame.  

More confusing, is that neither man is addressing the core issues of this country.

Our economy is still badly injured and severally weakened by the exesses of the 1990’s. 

There are a number of corporate executives that finacially raped their companies into bankruptcy, their employees lost all of their 401K retirement money.  None of these men have been brought to justice for their illegal actions.

Tax cheating in this country is costing this country 254 billion dollars per year.  Social programs and school fundings are being cut because the money is just not there.  Neither man is addressing this.

American companies are still allowed to move their headquarters to off-shore countries where their profit cannot be taxed.  American jobs are still being moved overseas and the American unemployment rate is alarming.   Neither candidate will talk about this.

We are still without a national health insurance and medical costs are rising at horrid rates.  A stay at the hospital will push a family straight into bankrupcty.  The cost of a private health insurance policy is completely beyond the financial means of the average American. Neither candidate dares mention this.

We send billions of dollars in financial aid to countries that tell us to go to hell. And, nobody wants to discuss this.

In the year 2001, 19 high-jackers took control of four US aircraft.  Two of those aircraft slammed into the World Trade Center.  One plane crashed into the Pentagon, and one plane crashed into the ground.  We still do not have a complete security plan inplace to prevent another such occurance. 

Another thing both candidates have in common is they are courting the National Rifle Association (www.nraleaders.com).  The NRA is the most powerful lobby in congress.  The NRA wants all gun control gone.  No criminal check, no registration, and no limit to the number of guns a person can purchase.

The National Rifle Association is also demanding that any citizen of the United States, whether criminal, or insane, be allowed to carry a gun at all times – without a permit to carry.

In clearer terms – what the NRA wants, the NRA gets.  35 states have now enacted more than liberal conceal and carry laws.

In 1994, then President Clinton, signed into Executive Order, a 10 year assault weapons ban.  This ban was primarily designed to keep AK-47s off American streets and out of the American homes.  While on the surface this ban looks like a step forward, it was really designed to protect the American made versions of the same weapons (http://www.vulcanarmament.com/index.html).

Vulcan, and other companies like it, continued selling. 

The NRA is demanding that this ban be lifted.  And, the ban will be lifted because it is the will of the NRA.

No matter what the cost in human life is, regardless of the statistics that clearly indicate the mere presence of a gun in the home, increases the likelyhood of a deadly mishap by 43 times.  For every one criminal that is stopped by the use of a gun, 140 deadly mishaps and accidents happen.  The greatest share  of victims are children followed by women and all with a high degree of lethality.

Violent crime in this country has been dropping at a steady rate for the last 35 years.  Gun sales in the last 10 years have jumped in logrithmic proportions.  There is an estimated 80 million firearms are in the hands of less than 6% of this country.

The former president of the NRA was asked why this country has such staggering violent crime.  He answer was two words long:  Mixed Ethnicity.  The implications of this statement are graver than one can imagine. 

The same man said that the First Amendment, which gives us freedom of speech, is out of order – this carries even greater gravity.

Those who oppose the NRA and speak out are either publically branded as a lair – such as Michael Moore has been.  Or threatened with bodily harm by NRA members, myself included. One US Senator has received death threats for her opposition to the NRA.

Now, both presidential candidates are romancing the NRA trying to win their support in the up coming election. 

Another reason I feel that neither man is fit to lead – their priorities are the gun votes, not their country’s problems, nor its’ people. Against the protests of Law Enforcement and against the protests of  94% of America about the relaxed firearm laws in this country – all that matters to the candidates appears to be only  the gun votes.

Michael Berglin