The Write-In Candidate

The Youtube Dog-And-Pony-Show "Debate"

Just what we need even more than technologically illiterate candidates: technologically illiterate candidates who think they are technologically literate.  The result is the pathetic dog-and-pony show we saw on CNN the other night, in the CNN/YouTube debate, in which regular citizens asked questions of the candidates, by video, and the candidates responded, supposedly unable to dodge the public the way it dodged the media.  While the debate was a step forward, it was little more than a single, small step.

To begin with, anyone who didn't have digital recording equipment, a broadband connection, and the knowledge of how to record and upload web video could not participate.  That eliminated about 95 percent of the electorate from the question pool.  The media made sure to cull the remainder into the typically long-winded format that lacks focus, and which allows for evasive answers or attacks against straw-man arguments.  We did see a split on Iraq, with Biden on the right side of the party, a few fringe candidates urging immediate congressional action, and Hillary Clinton standing right on the bullseye, raising political centrism to a new level.  Clinton shined best when she explained how she would have envoys scope out other nations for her before arranging high-level meetings with their leaders, an obvious byproduct of her years in the White House.

The Democratic political favor economy would collapse at this point if Clinton were not the nominee.  She will have to alienate her own party before her currency would become worthless.  Look for a rerun of 1984 (again), with a Mondale-style commandeering of all delegates despite only small pluralities, which will leave Edwards in the role of Gary Hart, winning primaries but not delgates, and Obama in the role of Jesse Jackson, with a loyal fan base but not enough of one in any jurisdiction to wield any power.  Virtually every Democratic primary is run this way, except in years like 1992 where the favors are used to stay out of the race rather than to win it.  Bill Clinton was able to enter the vacuum created when Mario Cuomo refused to cash in his favors.

As for the debates, if the candidates want a true "YouTube" debate, let them stop wasting time on the road, get behind their PCs, on their own, operate their own webcams, and debate each other by posting videos and responses to each others' videos, with the public allowed to comment (maybe limit that to the first 5,000 comments).  Let them argue the way YouTubers do with each other, in freestyle fashion, without advisors, makeup artists, consultants, or any other interference.  Let's stop rewarding them for spending millions on television advertising and make them come out to the internet on their own to speak for themselves.  Let them see what two-way media is like and how it can enhance the political process.  They claim to want to govern all Americans, yet how can I believe that if they won't even use the tools that allow them to talk directly to those they claim to speak for and want to represent?

Ray Gordon is a write-in candidate for every elected office in the United States.  The Candidate Has Issues appears every Tuesday.

Social Security Discriminates Against Women And Minorities

Civil Rights laws did not govern the workplace until 1964, with the passage of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Consequently, when Social Security was built, it did not factor workplace discrimination into the equation.  This omission costs women and minorities billions of dollars every year in the form of lower benefits that can be directly attributed to discrimination. 

Study after study after study shows that, over the course of their lives, women, minorities, and whistleblowers earn less money than their male, white, and nonsnitching counterparts.  Since social security benefits (retirement and disability) are tied to earnings, each class of oppressed worker is victimized twice, first by the actual discrimination and the resulting lost income, and again in retirement through a reduced retirement benefit (or disability benefit if they are disabled).  This is an obvious injustice and yet another reason why workers don't become whistleblowers.  Disabled workers, who are least able to protect themsleves, also suffer, and all who suffer are those who need equitable retirement benefits the most. 

The solution to this is simple: a universal retirement and disability benefit for Social Security recipients.  These benefits should not be tied to employment, because employment is not a meritocracy.  You cannot say that the system rewards hard work because it does not reward it equally, and it rewards those who do not rock the boat or fight discrimination, so it also does not serve the public interest.  In a Democratic presidential race with a black candidate, and a female candidate, as well as a candidate whose wife is suffering from cancer as the three frontrunners, each can identify with the injustice, yet because each is wealthy, they will never be personally affected by this.  You, however, will be, and they will be impacted if you tie your vote to an issue like this instead of which candidate raised the most money this month. 

As the universal write-in candidate, I recommend protest votes in my name in any election where no candidate supports this issue. 

Ray Gordon is an internet publisher and a write-in candidate for every elected office in the United States.  Write his name in as a vote if you want to protest the lack of viable candidates in any election.