A Conspiracy of Dunces

I'm hooked on politics. Maybe it's in my blood, in my genes. If I had stayed in the Philippines instead of immigrating to the U.S. 43 years ago, I probably would be in politics. I like to think that I would be one of the good guys, but realistically I probably would have become just like everybody else there, looking the other way while others stole from the country blind. To survive there, one must not speak out against the shenanigans of the most powerful and richest.

Unless one was willing to spend a lifetime in the limbo of lost causes and election losses.

I think that the way my life turned out is OK too. I am in the U.S., where the best democratic politics are practiced. As a spectator, I get all the thrills that any man has a right to expect to have. Politics in the U.S. is the best politics in the world. British politics is the only kind that even comes close.

That's because we have ideological clashes, religious struggles, the politics of money versus idealism, the politics of personal destruction, campaigns based on lies and padded resumes, labor unions versus multi-national corporations, conservative populists versus progressive populists, white racists versus empowered minorities. Name one contest of wills between two or more social groups or movements - we probably have it here.

I love those nail-biting elections the outcomes of which determine whether the U.S. will continue to expand its empire or recede into the background. Elections like Bush vs. Gore in 2000, when unfortunately the wrong guy was awarded the presidency by the U.S. Supreme Court and the country quickly went into a downward spiral almost to the depths of another Great Depression from which the U.S. has not yet fully recovered.

Yes, that's how important elections are here in the U.S.

There are of course major disappointments, the most infuriating of which is the contest between Brian Sandoval, the Republican, and Rory Reid, the Democrat, for the governorship of the great state of Nevada - my home state.

I caught their debate last Thursday and with mouth wide-open I could not believe that I was witnessing an actual debate. Reid appeared to have given up. Why he bothered to show up for that debate was beyond comprehension.

Sandoval, who refuses to tell the people of Nevada which costs he will cut when he becomes governor and who refuses to paint a clear picture of how he would govern if elected, kept lofting soft balls at Reid during the debate, but Reid would not swing.

I was beside myself. Reid was not prepared for that debate. He was at least ten percentage points down, with a little more than three weeks to go. He should have been swinging for the fences.

I hurriedly wrote a letter to the editors of the Las Vegas Sun, which the Sun decided to publish. In the letter I complained that Reid missed an opportunity to dramatically distinguish himself from Sandoval.

The moderator kept asking Brian Sandoval if he would increase certain taxes, identifying specific areas where taxes might be increased. Sandoval kept saying no, he would not increase those taxes. Reid, when asked the same questions, simply kept saying he would not raise those taxes either.

It was a missed golden opportunity that probably put a nail in the coffin for Reid.

If I were Reid, I would have answered the moderator's questions this way:

"It is irresponsible for us to say we're not going to raise this tax, or that tax, this user fee or that user fee. We - all of us Nevadans - must ask ourselves: If we don't raise some taxes, can we get by with less money for the education of our children, or for the repair of our roads and bridges, or for the police and firemen? Are we going to let our local governments lay off more people so that the exodus of good people from Nevada continues unabated? Are we not going to take a stand so that our houses stop losing value as a result of being abandoned by Nevadans who are losing their jobs and moving to other states?

"We Nevadans must remind ourselves of what John Kennedy exhorted Americans in the 1960s to do (I'm paraphrasing): Ask not what your state can do for you, ask what you can do for your state.

"There is a 15% unemployment rate in Nevada, which means that 85% of Nevadans who want to work are working. True, many are working in jobs that are beneath their levels of expertise, but at least they are working.

"We must ask the 85% of Nevada workers to do more for the people of Nevada. If it means that they have to pay higher taxes or higher user fees, then I as governor and their leader, will ask them to willingly pay these higher taxes and user fees. This will benefit everybody. If the layoffs slow down as a result of local governments having enough money to keep their employees, the problem of empty, abandoned houses will be alleviated. Those 85% of Nevadans who are working will slowly see the values of their own houses rise as the economy improves all over America and the world and Las Vegas becomes even more attractive as the world's playground.

"As Nevada's governor, I will ask the people to make some sacrifices so that we can keep the current level of public sector employment while we create more private sector jobs, such as new jobs in renewable energy.

"In contrast, my opponent, Brian Sandoval, is not willing to tell Nevadans that in extraordinarily difficult times such as what we are faced with in Nevada today some taxes must be raised. Sandoval wants to take the easy way out. He simply promises not to raise taxes, which, under the circumstances, is irresponsible. Will he just let government services suffer for lack of money? That appears to be his prescription, since he is unwilling to raise any taxes, even though a majority of Nevadans in survey after survey indicate that they are willing to pay higher taxes or higher user fees to keep the level of government services they are currently getting.

"Sandoval is not a leader, fellow Nevadans, so how do you expect him to be a good governor? I want you to think twice and think hard from now until election day, about what I told you tonight. I want you to join me in putting our ship of state back on course. It will take a lot of sacrifices, but I'm asking you to make those sacrifices. Together, if you entrust me with the governorship, we will make those sacrifices and move our state forward.

"We were the greatest, most progressive state in the Union in the 1990s and in the first half of this past decade. We can be great again, if you elect me your governor."

Oh, I love making speeches. A speech like that, which comes from the heart, could have been the game-changer that Rory Reid was waiting for. The opportunity to make such a speech came in the debate last Thursday and Rory forgot that his goal was to swing for the fences.

I love politics, even when my dog won't bark - or bite. People will forgive me, I know, for suggesting that the campaign for governor of Nevada is a conspiracy of dunces.