The Sacred Cows

by Rich Wright

Every election year you hear it.

“Is this the best we can do?”

For president, we’ve got two geriatric candidates who I wouldn’t even trust to drive a school bus, let alone the country.

Look at the whole system. No one talks about the real challenges facing Americans. Healthcare. Poverty. Hunger.

Millions of Americans are one emergency away from bankruptcy. One hospital visit. One car accident. One missed paycheck.

But all the politicians and the media want to talk about is a narrow range of social issues.

Abortion. Gay rights. Gun control.

Climate change has elbowed its way into the discussion, but only because every year is hotter than the year before, and the politicians and the media have ignored it for as long as they could. Even so, none of the politicians want to do anything about it, until, maybe, 2035.

I’m not saying that those social issues aren’t important. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be discussed.

But in the broad spectrum of things that need to be fixed in America, those social issues are just details. Important details, maybe. But we’re overlooking the real issues.

Like healthcare. The dominant role the Military Industrial Complex plays in international relations. The secret marriage of government and the financial sector. A tax code that lets billionaires pay no taxes, exacerbating income inequality and the race to the bottom. Qualified immunity for the abuse of police powers. Those are some of the sacred cows whose campaign donations and political support perpetuate the lifestyles of our elected officials.

Politicians and the media focus on divisive social issues so that we the people are distracted from the real source of our miseries: a corrupt political system that rewards those in power at the expense of everyone else.