doesn't mean we have to abandon the crappy "consumer / service" economy that has destroyed our nation in just thirty years. Ther are still a few products left to be outsourced, and still a few jobs that could be performed at a reduced rate by bringing in "undocumented" workers to perform them. The wealthy never pay full price for labor.

It came to me yesterday, why haven’t we met or discussed not even one third party candidate? We delved into the fringe candidates of both major parties, met with and discussed the impact of “Independent Voters”, but not one side track into the world of non major party affiliated candidates.

It has been just over a full year since my Purple States journey began. This has been a time of exploration and realization for me. I thought that because I read the paper and watched and listened to PBS news programs that my knowledge base was quite complete and the issues of the day fairly well understood. I have some lingering beliefs though, especially that no major party candidate is free to act upon the best course the nation should follow based on the benefits to the majority of US citizens. The campaigns of both parties are funded by the same groups of deep pocketed industry associations, and other special interest groups. This is no where more evident than during the debates when the candidates do not accuse each other of receiving the money, but instead who has received the most.

            Since the debates are no longer organized by the League of Women Voters, but instead by the two major parties themselves, we will no longer be able to watch a third party interloper like Ross Perot or John Anderson get on the stage with the designated Red or Blue brand candidates.

Just yesterday when we where in NH and I spoke with Elizabeth about third party candidates “she told me that she didn’t want to vote for any of them because we hadn’t met them”, it was then that I realized that for all the depth of discovery that the purple states experience had provided that we where never introduced to or encouraged to discuss third party candidates. In this way we have been very much like the other more main stream media outlets that we seek to exceed in our more innocent and basic concern type of coverage.

If I were beginning my experience again today I would ask the producers to give us the opportunity to consider the third party options offered by The Green Party’s Cynthia McKinney, Independent Party’s Ralph Nader, and the Libertarian, Bob Barr. While some may argue that these are not viable, I would say that the attitude is the reason why, and that as the quality of life continues to deteriorate in this country the demand for new and different types of solutions will increase.

Some may argue otherwise but my year-long journey with purple states has solidified my belief that the two party system is completely broken and thoroughly corrupted by the money that funds it.

 Republocrats, unfettered by the historic checks and balances of Tar and Feathers for those who betray the public trust.

For years I have been making freinds and aquaintences sick with my tirades about importing goods, and bad trade policies promoted by politicians on both sides of the trough. Well........it's payback time, thirty plus years of trade deficits have left us  economically weak, broken, fragile,   ....go ahead and argue with me about it, the president himself said so.

A small but powerful group of elite CEO's and boards saw importing and "rebranding" as a way to make a quick buck. The government said "hey give me some of that" and they managed to make us totally dependent on countries like China, not only for necessary goods, but also for the money that they loan back to us to maintain a standard of living (and a military) that we no longer produce enough value to afford.

Here is a cute little piece for perusal and enjoyment;  all about the wisdom of free trade.

www.augustreview.com/news_commentary/economy/free-trade_chaos%3a_adios_to_u.s._manufacturing_200807019

I just heard Steve Forbes of "Forbes" magazine speak to the Commonwealth Club of California and he predicts that Israel may choose the time after the election but before the inauguration to perform a preemptive strike on Iran. The current push by the Iranian government to enrich uranium has the Israeli Government on high alert.

This well accepted pundit of economy and world affairs reasoned that the next president will have no choice but to join Israel in the conquest of Iran since we have an open-ended and unconditional alliegance to Israel.

Why at this time of weakness in our economy, and thinly spread condition of our military with two wars already in progress would we be willing to open another front on behalf of a foreign country?

When FDR was in charge he used the power of Radio to address the Nation. He advised the population as to his vision, and how people could best contribute to the advancement of their country.

When Goerge W. Bush came on TV after 9-11, and told us that we could best serve our nation (at a time of attack) by going shopping, I darn near gagged on my lunch. Why can't we have a leader who will listen to our concerns and give us some straight talk about why things are the way they are and what we can do to help ourselves?

Tell us to save energy by shutting off all those garrish advertising lights at 10:00. Tell people their buying habits that increase our trade deficit are putting US citizens out of work and contributing to our economic insecurity as a nation. Tell people that it is the way they spend their money that influences much of what goes on in the world today.

Can we have leadership that communicates with us?  Not shaking their finger at us, or trying to scare us with WMD's while selling our jobs out with bad trade deals (Nafta, Cafta, WTO) ?

      I hope that in the next administration Bob Barr, or Ralph Nader, or whoever wins will speak to us in a way that includes us in the struggles as well as the triumphs of our nation.

I was recently in Michigan and visited Flint, where in the early 1990's I had worked for a week training UAW model makers at AC Delco to operate specialized prototyping equipment. The Flint that I saw this week was very different , the facilities where the equipment was installed are currently being demolished, I mean a facility of many, many, acres of production, and Research and Development were being dismantled, the workers already layed off. The "Chevy in the Hole" plant on the river, site of transportation production activity since the late 1800's and a Chevrolet Plant since the early 1900's is a open slab, devoid of any activity at all, that is 130 acres of former transportation production activity, now a "Brownfield Site" . The former "Buick City" facility is also closed, this was a factory complex that produced, drive train, body work, assembled and finished entire lines of GM cars. Dupont had a facility across the street from Buick City when I saw it in the early nineties, that was dedicated to the finishes that were applied there, the paint flowed through pipes that went over the road so that there was no need for packaging. The Nation has lost a huge resource of Industrial capability that took over a century to create.

Plant closures have decimated Flint Michigan. Unemployment is reported to be 12.3% in Flint, population is fleeing with 1998 showing 131,000 residents, and currently less than 125,000. Of that number 26.4% live below the poverty line.

In the sixties GM employed 89,000 workers in Flint, the birthplace of the UAW. The community had flourished with above average opportunities drawing ambitious workers with the promise of good wages and benefits. With the manufacturing boom came all the service businesses, insurance, health care, educational institutions. What will be the basic industry to support these institutions now?

I spoke to Governor Granholm about the current and future state of opportunities in Michigan and she was very clear that the lack of a well thought out trade policy from Washington was the cause of much of the 400,000 lost manufacturing jobs in the last 8 years alone. Our nation's lack of national health care makes our labor unable to compete with the other industrailized nations of the world, who subsidize ALL their businesses by providing national health care. The Governor also pointed out that last month Ontario Canada (which shares the same basic demographics) produced more vehichles than Michigan, for the simple reason that Canada supplies health care to it's workers so the car companies do not have to.

It is easy for Americans who are in areas less devastated by the manufacturing "Dustbowl" to be unconcerned with conditions in Flint, however manufacturing was one of the largest basic creators of wealth that created the middle class in this country. The ripple effect of it's demise will spread like cancer to the other sectors of the economy as more people cannot pay their mortgages, or are left without health care insurance, or no longer are paying into Social Security , or cannot afford to send their children to college. Everyone else in the country should look at the disenfranchised people of Flint and see that not only are these people Americans who are suffering, but that these are the customers for the goods and services provided by YOUR business.