Pennsylvania

IntraState Discontent: Suggestions To Break Up States Growing, But Unlikely To Occur!

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A movement to break up states, and therefore create more Senate seats and overcome the influence of urban areas on rural and suburban populations, is starting to grow.

The suggestion has been made to create a new state of Southern California, consisting of 13 million people and 13 counties, but not including Los Angeles.

California is not the only state which has experienced this kind of movement. It is actually very common, at least in people’s imaginations.

Florida has seen the debate over creating a separate Southern Florida state. Upstate New York and downstate Illinois have long wished for separation from New York City and Chicago.

Northern Virginia has thought of itself as separate from the rest of Virginia, with the influence of Washington, DC over the area. And western Pennsylvania has wished to be separate from Philadelphia influences over state affairs.

Northern Ohio with Cleveland has long seen itself as different from Southern Ohio and Cincinnati, and Michigan is often seen as Detroit and a separate western Michigan.

And of course, the giant state of Texas has often been seen as multiple states, with the rivalry of Houston vs. Dallas-Forth Worth; the influence of Austin and San Antonio as the most liberal part of the state; and the Panhandle of Lubbock and other communities as totally different from the others.

So in theory, if all the wishes expressed for separation were to occur, we would not have 50 states, but more likely, at least SIXTY-ONE states!

But is this going to happen at any point in the future? Don’t put betting money on it!

The Energy Crisis After Japan And The BP Oil Spill

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The crisis over future energy supply has ratcheted up as a result of the Japanese nuclear power plant disaster, after the fifth greatest earthquake ever recorded, which also caused a massive tsunami in northern Japan.

This, plus the British Petroleum Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico make it very obvious that the United States is faced with a major problem with no easy solution.

Can we really expect nuclear power plants to be safe enough with the danger of a nuclear accident as at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979, and the Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union in 1986?

Can we really find a solution to nuclear waste, finding an appropriate location in our nation for an extremely dangerous supply of material that no one wishes to have in their state boundaries?

Is Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee correct in saying we should not turn against nuclear power because of Japan, because after all, we don’t turn against airplanes because of a plane crash? Are these two tragedies, a nuclear disaster in an earthquake zone, and a plane crash, equivalent?

The answer to all of the above is obviously NO, and when one realizes that if there was an earthquake in California or New York or many other locations, millions upon millions of people would be in harm’s way, and unable to evacuate out of the danger zone!

Nuclear power cannot be the answer to our energy crisis in the future, and we had better learn from what has happened in Japan, but will we, since the motivation of profit governs everything that politicians consider, including public safety!

Meanwhile, however, it is obvious that the BP Oil Spill demonstrates that we have to be prepared to destroy wildlife, our water supply, our soil, in the name of having oil companies earn obscene profit in the name of their shareholders, instead of considering the danger to the environment and human beings!

The answer is that we must, somehow, utilize wind, water and solar power in the long run, and spend the investment money to make these cleans sources of energy the future!

If we could go into space and the moon within a decade, why can’t we invest in research to get away, over time, from oil, whether from oil drilling off our shores or supplies from other unstable countries; and also move away from nuclear power, before it destroys us completely in an earthquake disaster certain to come, at the least in California and the Pacific Coast, or in the Midwest, or even in the New York metropolitan area, all places where it could indeed occur!

The energy crisis requires strong, innovative leadership to think of the long term future, not just short term profits!

The Ultimate Battleground For The 2012 Presidential Election: The Midwest!

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As a result of the Midterm Elections of 2010, it is becoming clear that the 2012 Presidential Election will be ultimately decided in the Midwest, an area of the country suffering more heavily from the Great Recession, and also an area that is losing a significant number of seats in the House of Representatives reapportionment that will take place, as a result of the Census of 2010!

Even though the Midwest is losing electoral votes because of a smaller relative population as compared to the growing Sun Belt, it still contains states that are among the top ten states in population plus others that are in the next ten states in population!

It is also an area that can presently be described as “purple”, rather than “blue” or “red”, but has moved in the direction of the Republican party in the midterm elections due to the economic hard times and the tendency to blame the party in the White House for the poor economic conditions!

With all of the key Midwestern states electing Republican governors except for Illinois, and many state legislatures and House seats going over to the GOP, it poses a massive problem for the Democrats and President Barack Obama as they look at the electoral scene for 2012!

However, two of those states historically are particularly crucial in a Presidential election–Ohio and Missouri!

Ohio has been the decisive state for the Republican Party, as every Republican President since the first one, Abraham Lincoln, to the last one, George W. Bush, has won Ohio! At the same time, it means that if Ohio goes to the Democrats, as say Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Barack Obama in 2008, the chances of Gerald Ford and John McCain were therefore dashed!

Missouri, if anything, has been the true bellwether state, as every single time since 1900, except 1956 and 2008, the winner of Missouri has become President! And even Dwight D. Eisenhower came close to defeating Adlai Stevenson in Missouri in 1956, and Barack Obama came extremely close to defeating John McCain in Missouri in 2008!

Since the Atlantic Coast of the nation–New England and the Middle Atlantic–is seen as solidly Democratic except maybe for New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, and the Pacific Coast also seen as solidly Democratic, while most of the South, maybe all of it including Florida, Virginia and North Carolina, are seen as solidly Republican next time, and much of the Mountain West and Great Plains also solidly “red”, it will be the Midwest which will decide the electoral winner again next time!

So the Democrats and Barack Obama will have to make inordinate efforts to appeal for support in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and cannot afford to lose much of this area if the party and Obama are to win in 2012!

That is one of the reasons why the Democratic Party is planning its national convention in the Midwest in 2012, with St. Louis, Cleveland, and Minneapolis as the key competitors for that honor!

So despite declining population percentages, the heartland of the nation again will be the central focus in the upcoming national elections in 2012!

The Contrast Between Rand Paul And Joe Sestak

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This past week, two names became large factors in politics.

In Kentucky, libertarian Rand Paul, the son of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, upended the Republican establishment by soundly defeating Trey Greyson, the establishment Republicans’ favorite, backed by Kentuckian and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak defeated the administration backed candidate, Senator Arlen Specter, for the Democratic nomination.

Paul, a newcomer to politics backed by the Tea Party Movement, proceeded to self destruct when he made controversial statements about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 on various interview shows. He then blamed the “liberal” news media, complained about not having a “honeymoon”, claimed “exhaustion”, and canceled an appearance for today on Meet the Press, becoming only the third person in the 62 year history of that news show to cancel after accepting an invitation to appear!

One has to say that if he has “exhaustion” from just having to defend his libertarian views after winning the nomination, and if he cannot handle the stress involved in running for office, then you have to wonder if he stable enough to be a United States Senator or, imagine this, become a candidate for President of the United States! 🙁 As Harry Truman once said, “if you can’t stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen!”

Paul is obviously a gift that keeps giving to Jack Conway, his Democratic opponent, and the likelihood of Paul “crashing” may very well take the Tea Party Movement and the libertarian view of government down with him!

At the same time, Joe Sestak, who had a 30 year career in the US Navy and reached the level of two star Rear Admiral, and is the highest ranking former military office currently serving in Congress, proved he was able to overcome the Democratic “establishment” and the Obama Administration, which favored Specter and gave no aid to Sestak.

Sestak has reveled in his victory and is constantly seeking publicity and interviews, and with his naval background, he seems on paper to be an excellent choice to defeat former Congressman Pat Toomey, a favorite of the Tea Party Movement, for the Senate seat.

The contrast between these two victors last Tuesday could not be more different, and indicates the likely future of both in the fall campaign! It will certainly be interesting to follow these two Senate races!

Arlen Specter’s 30 Years In The Senate Come To An End!

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Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania has had his distinguished 30 year career in the Senate ended by Democratic primary voters, who elected Congressman Joe Sestak as a sign of change that they see as necessary!

Specter, who only switched to the Democratic Party last year, failed to accomplish his goal to have a sixth term in the Senate, but it is clear his time was up, as there was no realistic way that he would have been renominated if he had remained a Republican!

Always an individualist and maverick with the tendency to be moderate to liberal, depending on the issue, Specter often showed courage in his years in the Senate, and his willingness to back President Barack Obama on the economic stimulus and health care legislation was crucial to the passage of both bills!

For that, of course, Tea Party people and conservatives hated his guts, but Specter will go down as a man of great ambition and ego, and often demonstrating a difficult personality, but also at key moments doing what many would term the “right” thing to do!

His career was distinguished enough, and he dealt with enough controversial issues over three decades, that we can see that he will be well remembered, and will have historians and biographers want to research and produce scholarly works on the impact he had on American history!

Being already 80, and having survived two bouts with cancer, Arlen Specter can be described as a “profile in courage”, who will not be forgotten when the history of the last thirty years is written! May he enjoy a retirement that he deserves!

Shannon Meehan: Iraq War Veteran Who Deserves Commendation!

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Shannon Meehan, an Iraq War veteran, who ordered a strike on a building in which an Iraqi family was killed in the summer of 2007, and who suffered from brain trauma injury and post traumatic stress disorder as a result, is taking a step to make a major contribution in the future. He is running for the Pennsylvania state legislature as a Democrat in this fall’s election.

Meehan has felt guilt ever since the tragic event almost three years ago, and the fact that he does is both sad but also inspiring as one would hope that all soldiers feel a responsibility when mistakes are made. The fact that he wants to offer himself to improve his state and our country by engaging in American politics is a wonderful result of his earlier, courageous commitment to defend our nation!

It proves that despite the cynicism and anti government mentality of the Tea Party Movement, that we still have many patriotic Americans who see that if we attack our government and promote division, that makes the chance of success and progress less likely.

Meehan is a fine young man who represents the best of American youth, and the author hopes he will succeed in his quest for the Pennsylvania legislature, and will be seen in the halls of Congress in the near future. We need more people of character, principle and morals to lead our nation into the future!