Can the American electorate ever have an election without Red Herring issues?

Question

Issues of major importance always seem to be ignored during election time. Issues like the trade deficit, run away government spending, the declining dollar on the international exchange market, the middle-east policy all lose importance as politicians debate red herring issues like abortion and gay marriage to draw voters.
A red herring issue requires little if any knowledge, just a personal opinion. Will the American voter ever require some substance in a political debate or election?

Answer 1

Under a system of seemingly opposing values and party loyalty, the political pendulum swings back and forth, but the fundamental direction in which our country is moving never varies by more than a degree or two.In this manner, people are polarized into opposing groups that offset each other and the status quo is maintained.

Free-thinking individuals need to step outside the left/right paradigm and not blindly follow any political party. They need to consider each candidate based on their record of honesty and integrity and their support for American values such as the constitution of the United States and rights and freedoms of the individual, with a record that can only be established by actions that support words.

Answer 2

Retitle your question to: Do either policital parties in the U.S. try to distract people from real issues until the election? Then you will have a real, intelligent question. Obama and Hillary are figthing each other on the I'm black/you're white, I'm a man/you're a woman, I'm more liberal/a democrat, I'm a Christian/you might be a Muslim that coverted to Christianity and/or pretending to be a Christian. The 2 party system is corrupt, allows for minimal/no compromizing, and accomplishes nothing productive. Let's sum up both sides of the argument. Democrats/Liberals: Anything goes, everyone should have the right to do whatever they want, whenever they want, and we should only control how we regulate big business, the environment, and any other random issue 1 person can come up with. Republicans/Conservatives: Christianity is right, everything else is wrong. Let big business do what it wants, let the states rule themselves, and the national government should stay out of the way. Both of those summaries are total BS. Money and power are the 2 issues that need to be addressed. Politicians are responsible to the voters/"people" that voted them in ... period, end of story. As long as both of the 2 parties engage in whatever corrupt/immoral issues that benefit them and not the people they represent, the U.S. will continue to decline and collapse of it's own violition. Ethics and morals are things of the past; and until we can restore doing what is right, we will continue to destroy ourselves. Every nation will fall given enough time. Adhering to 1 extreme or the polar opposite will guarantee that collapse. "Ce la vie" is not an effective means of government or way of life. Some people will desire to have more than others, human nature. Work for what you want, aspire to be the best you can be, and accept that nothing is perfect. Edit/Follow-Up: Another Clinton is office equals let's try to placate the dictators/tyrants/ego-maniacal powers that control their countries without fear of reprecussions and knowing that the U.S. won't actually act on anything outside of our own borders. Another Clintion in office also equals let's destroy/reduce funding for the U.S. military to the point that we don't have the ability to defend ourselves or actually enforce policies we enact against foreign governments. Hilliary is using Bill as a stepping stone to try and become President of the U.S.A. A true, strong woman that was subjected to the immoral personal actions Bill did while in office would have walked away from him and dropped him like a bad habit. Explain to me how a person that had to move from Arkansas to New York to get elected into the U.S. Senate because of Watergate involvement is a respectable/legitmate candidate to lead a country. Let's bring up the socialism issue. Government regulated healthcare for all, at a "reasonable"cost. Probably a good thing. Taking money out of people's paycheck for refusing to buy into this "mandatory" system if it gets passed? Does it take stupidity, ignorance, or outright complancency to allow somoene with those beliefs to be the next potential P.O.T.U.S.?

Answer 3

IMO, one of the reasons for this is because of Big Media, and their coverage of such things. They are more interested in heated controversy over emotional issues than in rational debate over substantive issues.

Thus they jump on stuff like Pelosi's airplane, the poor illegal aliens, and other sideshow stuff, but never really address hard issues like trade deficit or Constitutionality of federal outlays or anything like that. There is no substantive debate over how much entitlement outlays should increase annually, but the media will show Democrats complaining about the President's "cuts" that are actually 6.7% annual increases - but lower than their desired 10-12% annual increases.

The Big Media have become tabloid journalists, and are often very biased in what they do report.

Because they fail so miserably in this aspect, many people who rely on them for information are left with very little truth to go on, and much heated and misleading rhetoric.

Ben Franklin would be disgusted at how the free press has failed the people.

Answer 4

No - your "Red Herring" issues are the ones that grab the headlines, lead to heated debates (like abortion), etc. Most Americans do not even know what a trade deficit is or how it came about.

Answer 5

No.

Since campaigns became an entertainment event on TV, what was left of meaningful discussion ceased to matter.

That's why Rudy will never be elected, looks like a forensic proctologist. Hillary looks like she should be selling Avon door to door. That leaves prettier candidates such as McCain (or the politician who used to be John McCain) and beautiful Obama.

Answer 6

Amen. Wouldn't you love to be the person who wrote the questions and supervised the debates. They should quit giving that job to a media celebrity.

Answer 7

No, I'm afraid the sound bite mentality has taken over, and the lowest common denominator rules. Thanks to Faux and Flush for their contribution to society.

Answer 8

No...we let them off the hook...they focus on things that don't matter so they don't offend peeps.