- Last month I spent a week in the
Dallas area, and during the stay I had some interesting conversations with
people. Many of the conversations were with a retired couple in which the
husband is collecting a pension from working as a highly skilled "blue
collar" union worker. They also state that they are "true" conservatives.
This man has serious fears on what may happen to his pension after
seeing so many other retired workers loose out by either being suckered
into bad choices or seeing their former companies collapse, leaving them
out in the cold. One wonders what ever happened to the fine pension plans
offered by corporations with kept promises that employees and workers
could count on. But I guess that was in a different world.
Probably the one thing that stuck out most was the extreme hatred in
that area for George W. Bush. I am used to that in Mexico, but if
anything, what I found in Bush's home state was that the hatred level
seemed even higher. That includes everything from trade treaties, stem
cell research, border security, Iraq and most of all, the moving of so
many good paying jobs "off-shore".
Another thing that surprised me was the abundance of either bad or
incomplete information in the general media. In this couple's case,
without Internet access, they are at the mercy of the local printed media
and mainly the "main stream" television media.
As an example, when I brought up the subject of bad and poisoned food
imports from China (like the pet food scandal), the comment was "Yeah,
that's the problem with NAFTA". But what does NAFTA have to do with China?
What the general US media is doing is only putting forth cherry picked
"facts" to spout positions instead of trying to educate the public in an
even handed manner to better understand issues. Printing only one side of
facts adds up to the same as simple lying in my opinion.
I found a strong lack of general faith in the federal government, and
if faith in G. W. Bush is lacking, faith in the US congress is even lower.
And many kept asking who is really running the US now? And belief in the
honesty of the corporate structure in the US is nothing to write home
about either. Of course, politicians living up to promises is lowest on
the list.
I was rather amused by the choice of one retired, white woman picking
Obama as her choice because both Hillary and McCain are "too liberal".
Interesting.
There were agreements on some matters also. Border security as it is,
is a joke. But there was no agreement on what to do with 12 million
illegals. Maybe run Eichmann trains? On the other hand, it was agreed that
most of these people were "invited to come north" by the companies that
hired them. And illegals are great for union busting and are easy to
abuse.
Also agreed on was one of the largest boondoggles, ethanol from corn.
Simply a sop to pick up the farm vote when you consider that in most
cases, it takes more energy to make ethanol than you recover from that
fuel.
What I came off with was the feeling that most of the published
"facts" that are being fed to the US public are being modified to "prove"
agenda's position. And, of course, it is an election year. Some of this is
to be expected. But to simply be for "change" without knowing what
direction the change will take you reminds me of how Hitler was elected in
the beginning. He was elected for "change", and the vote was not as much
for him as against the existing administration. Yeah, they got change all
right. This is in fact an old and continuing story.
And speaking of free trade, there was surprise when I pointed out
that if you deducted the cost of oil purchased from México, the trade
balance between Mexico and the US would be reversed, with the winner the
US. Free trade works, as long as it is on an even playing field and
concerns only trade issues. But when political "side agreements" come into
play, the whole process becomes corrupt. And remember how the US accepted
being kept out of many important markets in Japan by allowing Japan to
retain many trade barriers without objection while the US maintained an
open market. Something like the China / US problem in currency values.
Level playing fields? Who's fault is that?
On the other hand, a return to the Smoot Hawley era in the early
1930s would be a disaster.
It is going to be an interesting election in the US this year. But
what many are looking for is a box on the ballot labeled "none of the
above".
_____________________________________
Richard N. Baldwin T., a HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com)
contributing columnist, lives in
Tlalnepantla, Edo de México. E-mail at:
R1041643422@aol.com
By
Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com