Further Political Reflections

 I had not anticipated doing three discussions in a week, but in all honesty I have been on a roll and wanted to get some thoughts down while they were still fresh.  In a lot of ways, these latest discussions are almost like a type of manifesto, but they would need further development as most of what I have expressed has been initial extemporaneous sentiments.  A true political manifesto will back up those reflections with substantiation to give them an air of legitimacy, and in time I may actually do that too.  But, for now, it is just reflection.  A couple of more issues I have been grappling with are local in nature and are also things that strike a personal chord, and I wanted to share those today. 

I live, as you know by now, in a city called Hagerstown in Maryland.  I know Hagerstown well, as I grew up in this region and especially remember visiting here a lot when I was a kid and my grandfather lived only a few miles away in Martinsburg.  As a community, Hagerstown has a lot of potential - it is on the doorstep of the DC/Baltimore metro areas, it is within less than an hour of three other states, and its historical significance cannot be underestimated - you can literally throw a rock from my front yard and probably hit something that is historical.  And, aesthetically it is a charming town - Hagerstown is quaint, it is not densely populated, and it is the perfect distance from both the mountains and the ocean.  The potential that Hagerstown has is amazing - resources, networking, etc.  However, the unfortunate thing for Hagerstown is that it is practically isolated from the very areas it could benefit from, and the local government here doesn't seem to give a damn.  The cost of living is astronomical, and local job prospects here are negligible at best, given that almost everyone that lives here has to work in areas that require a significant commute.  Those two factors are what facilitate this particular discussion today, and I wanted to begin by noting a relevant thing from a local politician who I personally like, but he has come up somewhat disappointing regarding these facts. 

Neil Parrott is a local businessman, and he has served as a delegate for the Maryland legislature.  He is a Republican, fairly conservative, and for the most part I would agree with the majority of what he platforms.   But, he isn't perfect, and one area that got my attention with him recently was when he posted his platform positions on his campaign website - Neil is running for the 6th District Congressional seat for the House of Representatives, and it is a seat occupied for many years by a very elitist rich Democrat named David Trone. Trone is a leftist, and a bad one too - he is so out-of-touch with his constituents right now that it is frankly a tragedy, but thankfully he is vying for a Senate seat that I hope he loses and will not be seeking re-election for his House seat.  Parrott and Trone have ran against each other before - in 2022 they competed for the House seat, and for some odd reason Trone won it when Parrott was ahead in the numbers, because Parrott rolled over and played dead when I am certain he should have won.  That unfortunately began to make me question Parrott, and as I did so, I began to look into his campaign positions.  What I found was actually shocking, and I want to share that now as it is seriously important to us here as a region.  Regarding funding for a public transport system, Parrott had this to say on his campaign website - "Private solutions like Uber, Lyft, Bird, and Lime should be utilized more so that we spend less tax money paying for underutilized public transportation options."  There are so many issues with this statement, and I want to get into them now.  First, anyone who knows Hagerstown will attest that the public transport system here is practically nonexistent - they do have a city bus, but it only has four routes and is not practical for most people to commute.  That is the first issue I have.  Secondly, "private solutions" like Uber are very expensive, and to be honest, they can handicap the person who is trying to work a menial job to pay their rent if transportation is not readily available.  Parrott labors under the assumption here that everyone is independently wealthy and thus, like him, can take this for granted.  This could cost him dearly in the election if he doesn't modify his position.  This means that public transportation options are not "underutilized," but they honestly are inadequate to meet the needs of people who would benefit from it because they are not readily available in Hagerstown and smaller communities.  Also, given that Parrott's potential Congressional district also includes Frederick and a part of Montgomery County, this doesn't make sense - Frederick and many Montgomery County communities are very well-served by efficient public transportation infrastructure, and thousands of people depend on it as a cheaper commute option to their jobs, medical appointments, etc.  The public transport options in that part of the district are also plugged into the bigger Metro bus/train system there, which means work options are more abundant as people can easily commute to DC or Baltimore for good jobs.  If Parrott tries to eliminate that, it would cripple the local economies and would exacerbate the unemployment rate as well as the cost of living - he is frankly delusional if he thinks it is a good idea to get rid of those public transportation options.  Maybe if he had to work in a job he was overqualified and got paid less money, he would be more empathetic to the needs of real people.  A new proposal has been out there in recent years called the Maglev, which is high-speed rail which would actually connect Hagerstown to these larger metropolitan areas and open up more opportunities for people.  If Parrott is on this trajectory with his position on public transportation options, he would more than likely advocate for the same stupidity that Rick Scott did in Florida by blocking a similar high-speed rail system which would have connected Tampa to Orlando and Miami - like an idiot, Scott refused the money allotted then and it went essentially into Gavin Newsome's pocket in California.  I agree with conservative media commentators like Ben Shapiro who say that the big issue with Republicans is that they know how to snatch defeat out of the hands of victory - the 2022 mid-terms proved that.  It seems like Neil Parrott, as nice of a guy as he is personally, may be falling into that same trap - say anything to get elected, and then roll over and die when faced with a challenge which affects real people.  This is one reason why I generally have no love for Republicans either - they are Establishment hacks for the most part who are out of touch with what real people face every day, and the system remains broken because many Republican politicians don't have the balls to stand up and say "Enough!"  Donald Trump is a refreshing exception, and thankfully he looks poised to win this year.  But, the reason I have been an independent for years now is because the Republicans are a paper tiger and a eunuch political force - I recall the loudmouth Republican Senator from Iowa, for instance, back in 2010 I believe saying she was going to "make them squeal" in regard to the forced ACA (Obamacare) mandate that was foisted upon Americans then, but she did nothing, and she still runs her mouth but is effectively neutered politically.  This is another reason why earlier I laid out my ideas for term limits and salary reductions for Congress - elitist Democrats and emasculated Republicans both need a lesson in humility and perhaps that is where the fat needs to be trimmed rather than regarding public transportation options.  Congressmen make way too much money that they don't work for, and that should stop.  And, hate to say it, but if Parrott intends to maintain this status quo, he should not be elected to office then.  Time to get real leaders who hear the voice of their constituents and not aspiring superstars who want to run their mouths and do nothing.  A third-party option is needed, in other words.  

Besides public transportation issues for Hagerstown in particular, another issue is rental prices.  Over 60% of the American population has to rent their homes, and home ownership is becoming less realistic for many than it used to be.  As a result, some "blue" states such as Maryland have astronomical tax rates and thus the cost of living is practically unaffordable.  Yet, politicians - Democrats and Republicans alike - favor higher-income people over average citizens who are just trying to survive.  The rental costs in Maryland are astronomical - for a 3-bedroom mobile home like mine here, it costs on average almost $1400 a month now, and due to the fact that the politicians are against rent caps which would help make housing more affordable, it creates issues for many people.  I myself have struggled to pay rent now for over 2 years, and to be honest, it gets scarier as each month passes.  I found out recently why this is the case - the Washington County Commission here, while majority Republican, has a lot of rich realtors sitting on it, and they hate the idea of limits on rent increases.  So, despite the fact noble efforts were made to get a cap on rents legislated, the rich realtors block it, and rents continue to be almost unrealistic to meet for the average household here.  In essence, it seems like in lieu of greed, these politicians are almost forcing people to be homeless just so they can make more profits, and they are too stupid to understand that eventually it is going to come back to bite them too - if people find this area too expensive, they will move elsewhere and thus it will impact the local economy negatively. That means that greedy politicians who happen to be real estate professionals are going to lose money.  They need to understand that limits on rental costs would actually benefit them as well, as people generally are attracted to areas with more affordable living expenses and in time it benefits all. My advice for any politician of any political persuasion is to take a basic Economics course as a requisite for holding office, and then to take a salary cut for a while and have to deal with what many of their constituents face.  I guarantee you that once it starts to affect them personally, they will change their positions on things.  I did not see whether or not Neil Parrott has a position on rent caps or not, but it is something that is crucial for him to address.  Those two issues - public transportation options and rental regulation - are what I wanted to address.  Whether you are Democrat, Republican, or anything else, these are the real-life adversities many of us face, and our leadership needs to have more empathy and less rhetoric in dealing with them.  But, perhaps I am expecting too much - they are politicians after all, and many of them are stupid, so they will never get that.  Yet, it is good to just air the grievance regardless, because it resonates with the common citizen who has to work to pay their bills everyday.  In time, those common citizens are going to decide enough is enough, and I see the tide reversing as hopefully common sense will come back.  Let's pray it happens soon.

Back to term limits, there are two very important reasons why I support them.  First, politicians say anything to get votes, but then many of them don't deliver.  This is true regardless of political party. The average American deserves better than that, and we need leaders with the testicular fortitude to make promises they can keep.  Second, many of these politicians have been in office as a lifelong career and they don't have a proven track record, yet they get paid (by the taxpayer) these crazy large salaries to do nothing.  If the average person did what many of these career politicians do - sit and collect money for nothing - that person would be fired from any job.  Therefore, it is time to maybe fire some elected officials who are dead weight and don't give a damn about their constituents - we need to get rid of them, and not vote the same thing in again.  Until we do that, our country is not in a good place - as Trump has said in many of his speeches, America is in a state of decline and if that isn't reversed soon, America as we know it may cease to exist.  I see many people starting to wake up to this thankfully, and it probably took a planned pandemic like COVID as well as a doddering puppet like Biden in the White House to motivate people, and it seems to have worked.  Let's hope enough momentum is gained to turn things around. 

That concludes today's political discourse, and you can take it as you will.  Some will agree, some will probably hate me for stating the obvious that they want to deny, and it's to be expected.  However, there needs to be a new chapter in our nation, and as we celebrate our independence tomorrow, let's keep that in mind.  Thank you, and hope you all have a wonderful celebration of the 4th of July with your families.