WESTBROOK, Minnesota (STPNS) --     By the time you read this for the most part the election will be history. Of course the best part of it is no more commercials, letters, editorials, lawn signs, and telephone polls and surveys. Well except for the ones that will immediately start their campaigns for the next election.

    It’s hard to believe that the presidential campaigns of  both candidates spent a combined total of over two billion dollars. By government standards that is not a lot of money. In my eyes, it is a huge amount of money. You realize that if you bought



two billion dollar candy bars and lined them up they would stretch from Mars to earth 10 times! Actually I made that up, but you have to admit that’s a lot of candy bars. On the positive side you might say both  candidates have created a lot of jobs in the advertising field.

    I feel a lot of the problem lies in the  recent supreme court decision to allow individuals and corporations that pose as individuals (show me the DNA!) can contribute as much as they want to Super PAC’s, to be spent anyway they see fit. I just cannot comprehend how the cream of the crop legal minds could ever come up with the opinion that corporations can be seen as an individual person! It seems that greed and money have been legitimized by those who interpret the laws in our country. While politics is not supposed to influence the decisions of this high court, it appears obvious, by how each of them voted, that it does influence  their decisions.

    So much for that, it is what  it is,  but I don’t have to like it!

Another matter . . .

    Another thing I do not like is the anonymity that folks have in running campaign attack ads. Last week we received an ad supporting  the Marriage

amendment through our state wide network. The ad came from something called, Concern for Children, from and address in Almont, North Dakota. The town is a small town less than 200 pop located west of Bismarck about 25 miles.

     A couple of our readers went on Google earth, and found the address to be a vacant lot. So much for transparency, invisible would be more like it. The same group ran an ad the week before which basically stated their reasons for opposing the marriage amendment. I have no problem with that as I am a firm believer in the first amendment. Every one should have the right to express their opinion, even if you or someone else disagrees. However, I do take offense to this groups portrayal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. But I still defend their right to their opinion, I just don’t agree with it. I also consider that these people  want to express their opinions, but take a cowardly way of doing it. It is really hard to respond to these people that hide behind anonymity.

    I feel the supreme court’s decision, on allowing corporations to be the same as a person, will definitely  widen the gap between the Haves, and Have nots, this has been going on for many years already. When money dictates our future, those who are giving it, whether Republicans, Democrats,  or Independents,  all  expect something in return. I saw a statistic once that showed the increase in personal wealth. I believe it was over the past 40 years. The wealthiest part of the country increased their wealth by 44 Trillion dollars, meanwhile the rest of us in the same period showed an increase of about 12 trillion.

    I am sorry folks, but there  is something wrong with that picture.  Hard working folks on the lower end,  teachers, police officers, nurses, truck drivers, store clerks,  waitresses, deserve to increase their  wealth by a similar percentage. Especially when you consider how many of the wealthy are working from established family wealth.

    Don’t get me wrong I have no problem with people making money and getting  wealthy. But until we get a tax system that tends not  to favor the wealthy, I can not see this changing. The bottom line is, if everyone can make a living wage, our economic woes will be solved.

Have a great week and do good!