Tweedledee or Tweedledum

I don't believe I have ever seen a gubernatorial race with as many people running and no one saying anything about what he wants to do. If you listen you may hear that they are not going to put up with Obama's policies and are going to undo KyNect and Obamacare. Someone ought to tell them that President Obama is not running for governor of Kentucky and is unlikely to having endured 8 years of the most obstinate and unrelenting abuse that any human should be required to tolerate. Perhaps they also should take into account the hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians who have gained insurance coverage for the first time. Of course, they may believe that the voters either are too ignorant to come to this realization or that they won't vote anyway.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum

They are still going on about the war on coal. I would like to think that those candidates are not stupid people and if that is true then they know that the coal industry in Eastern Kentucky is not coming back. Not because of something that EPA or Obama did but because natural gas is cheaper and all the easy coal in Eastern Kentucky is gone. Well, there might be some on Black Mountain but folks are pretty intent on keeping it there. This is no secret. The writing has been on the wall about the demise of the coal industry for decades. Western Kentucky coal and Wyoming coal are just cheaper to get to. The candidates are the ones that go on about allowing free enterprise to work and this is the result of it working. If any of the candidates really want to talk about something then they should really talk about how our leaders have lied to Kentuckians for over 30 years just to keep the money flowing from the coal barons.

To a man they all deny global warming. Nine of the hottest years on record have come in the past ten years. California is running out of water. Farmers on the Great Plains are depleting the Ogalalla aquifer at an alarming rate. Drought in Texas has forced the thinning of beef herds and that's just here in the United States. They will tell you that they really can't say since they aren't scientists and then proceed to go on and say. Well, if they aren't scientists then maybe they ought to listen to scientists who can say. Authoritatively.

They aren't going to raise taxes. At least one of them says there is still enough waste in Frankfort to fund government as long as we do it leaner. Everyone that has been paying attention knows that state government has been cut to the bone and then had a few bones removed. If you want to know why the state worker's pension fund is so short funded then look no further. Those pension contributions meant to fund the retirements of thousands of workers have been diverted to make it look like our government was making do with less when it was just making do with those folks retirement money. They used to think that it was a pretty good deal to get someone to work cheaply as long as we gave them a decent retirement. Now that those people are retiring some think that may not have been such a good idea after all.

As a matter of fact, they are going to lower taxes. Yes, they are going to balance the budget on less money. I suggest they take a look at Kansas and how Sam Brownback has done with that. As I said, I give these guys credit for not being stupid and if that is the truth then they are just lying. Given the choice of being a liar or being stupid I'm not sure which way I would prefer. That old supply side economics chestnut keeps coming around and it was voodoo economics the first time around. But it usually gets votes because people just don't like paying taxes and they still haven't made the connection between taxes and things like teachers and fire departments.

The thing of it is that these positions of misdirection that have nothing to do with what it will take to move Kentucky aheard (I'm speaking of economically and not basketball). However, they may be enough to win the day. On the Democratic side the field was left open for Jack Conway but for some token opposition from soneone no one can remember. However, with Conway's previous record of pulling defeat from the jaws of victory in his loss to Rand Paul for the Senate seat he now holds does not bode well for Kentucky democrats. In that race I watched Jack Conway run perhaps the worst political campaign that I have ever seen and the result was that Kentucky now has a candidate for President (and Senate if he can swing both).

Kentucky and Kentuckians deserve better. This is the state that gave the United States people like Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln, Alben Barkley and our own Senator John Sherman Cooper. Men who stood tall and stood for things that actually meant something other than just getting a portrait on a wall somewhere. Kentucky is desperate for visionary leadership that looks into the future and sees solutions rather that tired old policies that peer backward into some imagined more fruitful time.

My Take is this. In order for Kentucky to make progress on behalf of its citizens our state will have to come up with a better crop than we have before us. I can't recall when I have ever seen a weaker field with no ideas at all. Hard times are a' knockin' at the door. We can only hope it doesn't mean good night.