Candidates for Governor: local issues or all issues ??

[welshTerrier2]

Which statement do you agree with more?

Statement 1: Candidates for Governor should primarily focus on issues within their State. They have no jurisdiction over national and international issues and it does a disservice to the voters within the State to have them spend time on issues they cannot control. Voters have a right to know what their Governor intends to do for the people of the State.

OR

Statement 2: Candidates for Governor should provide leadership and education on all the great issues of the day. No candidate should limit their discussion of the issues solely to those within the purview of the office they're seeking. every citizen, especially political candidates, should speak out to help voters understand all the issues confronting them. Issues should not be "compartmentalized" ... National leadership should occur at all levels of government.

"little wheel spin and spin; big wheel go around and around" ...
- Buffy St. Marie

[Cats Against Frist]

1. I voted for option no. 1

Because I am pro-decentralization of government, and the eradication of all politics existing on a national level, as well as the eradication of national-brand consciousness, are both integral in returning a local locus of government to our dialogue.

[welshTerrier2]

2. not sure i understand

let's take a couple of issues as examples ... let's talk about the war in Iraq as a foreign policy issue and let's talk about the Social Security system as a domestic issue ...

are you suggesting that these issues should be addressed by State and local policy and not by the Federal government? i'm not exactly sure how that would work ...

btw, i would strongly support Statement 2 but i posted this poll exactly because of your comment: "returning a local locus of government to our dialogue" ... can you say "local locus" ?? my point, though, which may differ with yours, is that the local politicians help provide a forum for citizens to be heard on national issues ... the communication may be local (i.e. local citizens speaking to their local reps) but the issues should span the entire spectrum from national to local issues ...

i think we need a much stronger network (think of paper cups connected by a string) between citizens, the local politicians who represent them, the State-level politicians and the national-level politicians ... the voices of the citizenry should feed up the pipeline with government representatives aiding the communication at all levels of government ...

[welshTerrier2]

3. oh, what the heck ...

one more time for the night crowd ... i mean, it took so long to type ...

[Eugene]

4. 2 by default. If an outside issue affects your state, it's local.

Statement 2 goes too far, but there aren't many
national issues where states don't have a vested
interest. Making sure that state concerns are heard
in Washington is part of a Governor's job.

Pollution, health care costs, federal deficits,
trade, and immigration policies all directly
affect the states.

[welshTerrier2]

5. states and their citizens have a "vested interest" in ALL issues

you've approached my point of view with your post but when you say statement 2 goes too far, i disagree ...

you wrote: there aren't many national issues where states don't have a vested interest

my view is that it is not the "state's interest" that should be the test ... it should be the interest of every citizen in the state that defines what our political leaders should be talking about ... so i would modify your statement by saying that:

there aren't ANY national issues where states, AND THEIR CITIZENS, don't have a vested interest

every citizen in a state should care about the size of the defense budget and what it's being spent on ... they should care about the fact that their government is serving corporate interests rather than the national interest when they try to colonize the Middle East ... they should care that pro-corporate legislation allows the U.S. to back out of global warming treaties ...

everything should be on the table and elected officials at all levels of government should educate the people, and be educated by the people, on every single issue ... the national dialog and the voice of the citizenry should never be constrained by provincial, local concerns ... for democracy to work properly, the government should act as a conduit, a two-way conduit of communication, to ensure the will of the American people is honored ...