Is Mike Pence a breath of fresh air? Sort of.
I watched former Vice President Mike Pence announce his second bid for the presidency today, June 7, 2023. He gives a pretty good speech; he’s an articulate guy, even though like all politicians he avoids specifics. Naturally, Pence made many nasty claims lambasting Joe Biden and his administration, but provided no data backing up his assertions, only right-wing talking points. Recent public opinion polls indicate Democrats are favored to do a better job with virtually all major issues facing the nation with only two key exceptions: the economy and border security.
Example: Pence claims gas prices were skyrocketing. Actually, they are relatively low; not long go they busted over five bucks a gallon for gas; also, gas prices are set outside the country by international commodities markets; our country cannot drill its way out of high fuel costs; our country can, however, ease energy costs through the continued development of alternative energy sources; this includes nuclear. Pence’s claim regarding gas prices, therefore, is misleading.
In the renewable energy area, the Biden administration is heavily promoting both wind and solar power, supported by 70–80 per cent of the public, as well as advancing energy efficient approaches to electricity use such as heat pumps and geothermal heat right in our back yards. I will add one more key imperative, mentioned earlier, the need to advance the use of nuclear energy to generate electricity; nuclear power still has a public relations problem; the accidents are scary, but the resource needs to be tapped. No matter who is president, these energy efficiency, renewable energy, and nuclear energy policies need to be advanced.
Regarding public perceptions about the economy and border security, where Democrats lag behind Republicans as perceived problem-solvers, these beliefs, valid or invalid, indicate how U.S. citizens will vote, so Democratic messaging needs to be revamped to illustrate reality: the economy is doing very well, even though there are problems such as high housing costs and modest inflation. Border security relates to naturalization, which is the responsibility of the U.S. Congress under our constitution, so write letters to your elected representatives. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have utterly failed to effectively deal with border issues, and the Congress is even more derelict. And, by the way, immigrants are vital for our economy. Just ask farmers, ranchers, food processers, home builders, commercial builders, and any factory or warehouse manager, to name a few. Plus, the problem is blown way out of proportion by both the fake news media and the so-called mainstream media.
Oddly enough, Pence is a breath of fresh air compared to The Chosen One, or any of the loud-mouth dim bulbs in Congress, such as Colorado’s embarrassing Congressional District 3 representative (my apologies on behalf of the Centennial State). Do I subscribe to his beliefs and policies? No, but he does call for civility, something sorely missing these days.
Mystery writer Richard J. Schneider writes from Colorado. He is a former journalist, a small business entrepreneur, an amateur radio operator (yes, a “ham”), and academic writing tutor for college students. His latest book is “VOTE: A Vic Bengston Investigation.” You can run him to ground at richardjschneider.com (click on it and see).
