It's well over a year away and yet the candidates for the Presidential election are already hitting the state of Iowa with their promises of change, peace and prosperity.  What will be interesting is to see just how many of them remain in 6 months.  How much money they can raise, how many people they can get to support their ideas and what the public opinion of them is.

The battle to be first in the primary and caucus states continue.  Do most of the people of the states that have these battles really care?  Nope, not much.  They like the dollars that the candidates bring into their communities but in reality they don't pay much attention to the messages being passed.

Sad to say, but true, is that most candidates are looked at for non political reasons.  Are they attractive?  Did they come to my area?  How do they sound on tv and do they seem to have a good personality.  But, the most impressive is the one that looks good.  Few people really pay attention to the message of someone that is not attractive on tv.  Remember Ross Perot?  The "talking heads" of the day thought he was going to sweep the convention, that his message was one the public wanted to hear.  Not so, he was not attractive and his voice was unpleasant to listen to.  The guy was done before he started in the view of the general public.  Kinda fun to prove the "talking heads" wrong, but a costly run for Mr. Perot!

Then there are those that enter the race to position themselves for a position in government following the election, either as a cabinet member or an ambassador to some country they probably have never visited.  If they enter and then drop out and back one of the leaders and that leading candidate actually wins the election the drop out has a good shot at one of the above mentioned positions.  Welcome to the political world.

Iowa usually sees all the candidates, they travel the state, shaking hands, having dinners, breakfasts and lunches with people from communities they won't remember a day later and make promises of the changes they will make to improve the quality of life in the little town they are in, and the next day, it's politics as usual…."where can I go to get a couple more supporters that will bust their butts talking to all their friends and family and convincing them that I am the best candidate for the Presidency?"

It's a costly game that rarely brings any benefit to the general public.  If you really want to make a difference, pay attention to the senate and house candidates, contact them, find out where they stand on issues and keep them honest.  They are the ones that vote to increase your taxes, to add more ridiculous laws to the books, to take away more and more of your freedom of choice and to impact your daily lives.  The President is there, but he doesn't have the same impact on you that the congressional candidates do.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Is there anytime of the year that people dislike more than the dreaded tax deadline day?  It's the day that those that have to pay taxes make sure that they hit the post office before midnight….or file an extension.

Let's think about taxes for a minute, what are your thoughts on the taxes in the United States?  Do you feel they are fair and equitable?  Do you wish there were a "flat tax" that would make everyone pay taxes?  Do you think there should be a national sales tax?  Do you feel the tax rate is too high or not high enough?  What services would you be willing to forgo if your taxes were lowered and some of the "programs" were eliminated?

It would be logical that most people would say they don't want to give up the services they recieve from the government, such as roads, lights, water, parks, social security, police and fire and a number of other services.  But what about the road being built to nowhere?  How about the rain forest in the middle of the farm belt? 

What are your thoughts about the mindset that if the government doesn't spend all the money they take in (and more)  the next years budget is cut?  All that accomplishes is  to make sure all the funds government can get ahold of is spent, much of it on unneeded programs and projects, just to spend the money so to assure themselves that when budget time comes around next year they can show that it took all the money and then some to continue to fund the "good of the people?"  How stupid is that??  Why not put some money into the savings for the country? 

Why don't congressional leaders and other officials realize that it's not ok to  spend every dime they get, but actually save some money and not raise taxes on the general population?  They can't live way above their means on their personal business without risking filing bankruptcy.  You can't go to your neighbor and take their money away from them to cover your bills just because you chose to spend more than you make so why should the government be able to do it?

So, pay your taxes and when you really get tired of paying for things that some congressional member dreams up to make sure they spend every dime in the federal (or state) budget, contact them, tell them you are upset.  If they don't listen, then vote for someone else until the message is clear that those that pay the taxes are tired of being ripped off for the ego trip of others!

Just my thoughts.