The Big Issues In The 2012 Presidential Debates—Who Am I? Why Am I Here? What Is Reality?

The first debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama will be held this evening.

Voters merit discussion of the most important issues.

Above is a short clip of Vice Admiral James Stockdale asking the most essential questions of “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?’ in the 1992 Vice Presidential debate.

Admiral Stockdale—A Vietnam War hero—was the running mate of Ross Perot in 1992.

People made fun of Admiral Stockdale, but I’m not sure what questions are more central to how we should conduct ourselves in life. Admiral Stockdale spent seven years in a Vietnamese prison. For much of that time Admiral Stockdale was in solitary confinement.  I’m certain he had plenty of time to think in his years of confinement.  It is no surprise that a reflective leader such as Admiral Stockdale asked the most relevant questions I’ve ever heard in a politcal debate.

The excellent New Scientist  magazine has a series of articles in a recent edition that discuss the nature of reality. (You have to register with the website to read the articles.)

I think a discussion on the nature of reality would be a fine topic for the debate tonight.

In any case, after you hear the prepared answers to the predictable questions in the debate tonight—Be sure to recall that the work of freedom and creativity and of an open hopeful society is up to each of us.

Your conceptions of the work to be done will surely be informed by your ideas of who you are and what your purpose is in the world.

Everyday people are fully capable of figuring complex stuff for themselves. This is the case even though we so often seem to forget this fact in our often silly and mean-spirited society.

Everything we need to understand the world is around us and is accessible with discipline, imagination and some luck. 

Don’t let prepared answers to predictable questions define what you are going to do with your life.

If we allow our lives to be defined by prepared answers to predictable questions, we will end up cheating ourselves out of our abilities and out of our own understanding of the world.

Let’s End The Year By Asking Oursleves The Big Questions

Here is the last post of 2010.

Let’s end the year by asking ourselves the big questions.

Below is a 17 second video of Admiral James Stockdale, who in 1992 was the running mate of Ross Perot, asking the eternal questions of who we are and why we are here at a Vice Presidential debate with Dan Quayle and Al Gore.

Context gives meaning to life.

I hope that folks get some peace over the holiday weekend ahead to take stock of life, and to think about what they would like to accomplish in the year ahead.

Everyday has value. Every place has a purpose. Almiost all work is honorable. All people matter.

See the big picture and, also, please don’t drive drunk over the holiday.

Good luck to everybody in the year ahead.

Blog Readers Demand To Know—How Has Texas Voted In Recent Presidential Elections?

A kind Texas Liberal reader by the name of Kathleen has e-mailed me asking the results of recent Presidential elections in Texas.

You will see that Texas has voted Democratic for President just once since Lyndon Johnson of Texas left the White House. Regretfully, 2008 seems likely to continue that pattern.  

Here is how Texas has voted for President since 1948.

1948

Truman (D) 65.4%

Dewey (R) 24.6%

Thurmond (Dixiecrat) 9.3%

(Below—Harry Truman)

1952    

Eisenhower (R) 53.1%

Stevenson (D) 46.7%

1956

Eisenhower (R) 55.3%

Stevenson (D) 44.0%

1960

Kennedy (D) 50.5%

Nixon (R) 48.5%

(Below–Richard Nixon in World War II.)

1964

Johnson (D) 63.3%

Goldwater (R) 36.5%

1968

Humphrey (D) 41.1%

Nixon (R) 39.9%

Wallace (I) 19.0%

1972

Nixon (R) 66.2%

McGovern (D) 33.3%

(Below—George McGovern)

1976

Carter (D) 51.1%

Ford (R) 48.0%

1980

Reagan (R) 55.3%

Carter (D) 41.4%

Anderson (I) 2.5% 

1984

Reagan (R) 63.6%

Mondale (D) 36.1%

1988

Bush (R) 56.0%

Dukakis (D) 43.3%

1992

Bush (R) 40.6%

Clinton (D) 37.1%

Perot (Reform) 22.0%

(Below–Clinton, Bush and Perot in 1992.)

1996

Dole (R) 48.8%

Clinton (D) 43.8%

Perot (Reform) 6.7%

2000

Bush (R) 59.3%

Gore (D) 38.0%

Nader (G) 2.2%

2004

Bush (R) 61.1%

Kerry 38.2 %

(Below–George W. Bush)

 

Thanks to Kathleen for the question.

I have many reference sources on politics and would be happy to reply to any question on American political history that you the blog reader might have. Just leave a question in the comment space.

Thank you for reading Texas Liberal.

( Please click here for one of the most popular posts ever on Texas Liberal—Blog Readers Demand To Know What Is Done With Shamu’s Body After He Dies.)

Third Party Candidates Who Carried A State In A Presidential Election

The following are third party candidates for President who have carried a state in a Presidential Election since after the Civil War.   

This is part of the Texas Liberal Election Fact of the Day series.

1892—Populist candidate James Weaver of Iowa ( photo above) won Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada and North Dakota. Mr. Weaver won 8.5% of the entire vote. Democrat Grover Cleveland of New York won the election. 

1912—Bull Moose Theodore Roosevelt of New York carried California, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Washington. Mr. Roosevelt was also the last third party candidate to finish ahead of a major party nominee. Incumbent President and Republican nominee William Howard Taft of Ohio finished third in 1912. Democrat Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey won the election. In 1912, Mr. Wilson won 42%, Mr. Roosevelt 27%, Mr. Taft 23 % and Socialist Eugene V. Debs of Indiana took 6%.

1924—Progressive Robert La Follette,Sr ( photo below) won his home state of Wisconsin. Mr. La Follette won 17% of the full national vote. Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts won the election.

1948—Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond of South Carolina carried Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina. Mr. Thurmond won 2.4% overall. He was not on most ballots outside the South. Harry Truman of Missouri won the election.

1968—George Wallace of Alabama won Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. Mr. Wallace won 13% of the nationwide total. Richard Nixon of California won the election.

Winning a state in a Presidential election is hard to accomplish. Ross Perot was unable to do so in 1992 even while winning 19% of the vote. Third party candidates must have some of concentrated regional appeal, as did Mr. Weaver, Mr. Thurmond and Mr. Wallace. Or maybe they just have to be Theodore Roosevelt.

( I’d suggest Texas Liberal readers check out the links to Weaver, Debs and La Follette. They were progressive and interesting figures.)

No third party seems likely to win a state in 2008.

Alaska In The 2008 Presidential Election—Views, Facts & History

Alaska, though in many ways a creature of the federal government, is a strong Republican state in Presidential elections.

Alaska is very likely to vote Republican again in 2008.

( Above is a section of the Alaska Pipeline. Click here to learn about the Alaska Pipeline.) 

The roads and railroads of Alaska come from the federal government. There is a significant military presence in Alaska and that is the federal government as well.

But Alaskans resent federal restrictions on land use in Alaska and limits on oil drilling in Alaska.

The premise seems to be that 670,000 people occupying 16% of the nation’s land should have full control over the national resources that exist in Alaska. 

Another significant factor in the Republican leanings of Alaska is the libertarian bent of many Alaskans. 

In 1980, Libertarian nominee Ed Clark won 11.7% is Alaska. This is the best statewide showing ever by a Libertarian.

   

It’s not hard to figure that anybody willing to live in a distant place like Alaska is somebody who wants to live as they see fit.

Okay.

But do these folks refuse the money coming from Washington?

Nope–They want the money. 

(Wouldn’t it be great to get a few hundred thousand of your most screwball friends together and be allowed to select two United States Senators and get billions of dollars of federal money?)   

With only three electoral votes, far away from much else, and almost certain to go Republican, Alaska may not be heard from much in the 2008 Presidential election. 

About Alaska—

2006 Population—671,000, 48th of the 50 states, 68% white, 15% Native, 4% Asian, 4% Hispanic, 3% black. 

Here is basic information and history for Alaska.

Recent Winners—2004 G.W Bush–61%, 2000–G.W Bush 59%, 1996–Dole 51%, 1992–G.H. W. Bush 40%, 1988–G.H.W Bush 60% 

( The first Bush won with only 40% in 1992 because Ross Perot won 28%. Alaska was Mr. Perot’s best state in 1992. It was also Ralph Nader’s best state in 2000. Mr Nader won 10% of the vote.)

Last (And Only) Democrat To Carry Alaska—Lyndon Johnson, 1964. ( 1960 was the first time Alaska voted in a federal election.) 

Presidents From Alaska—None  

Vice Presidents From Alaska—None

Significant Presidential General Election Candidates From Alaska—None

The Alaska Report has a lot of news and perspective on Alaska. 

Barrow ( Photo below.) is the northernmost town in America. 4,500 people live in Barrow. Click here to learn about this town.

As G.H.W. Bush Endorses McCain, Here Is Bush’s Poor Record As A Texas Candidate

 

Former President George H.W. Bush has endorsed John McCain for President.

( Story here.  Picture is of Mr. Bush with Dwight Eisenhower.)

Will this endorsement help Senator McCain as he campaigns for the March 4 Texas primary against Mike Huckabee? 

It can’t be taken as a given.

Polls show Mr. McCain and Mr. Huckabee running close in Texas.   

Let’s look at the electoral record for Mr. Bush in Texas going back to 1964.     

In the 1964 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate nomination to run against the great liberal Ralph Yarborough, George Bush needed a run off to win the nomination. He took 44% in the three candidate first round. 

In the 1964 General Election, Senator Yarborough beat Mr. Bush 56%-44%. This even though John Tower had already claimed the other Texas Senate seat for Republicans.

In 1970, Mr. Bush was again the Republican nominee for the Senate. He lost this race to Lloyd Bentsen 54%-46%.

Mr. Bush was next on the Texas ballot in the 1980 Republican primary. Ronald Reagan won 51%-47%.

At the top of the ticket, Mr. Bush did win Texas in 1988 and 1992. Though in 1992 he won his home state with only 40% of the vote against Bill Clinton and Ross Perot. This was the worst showing for a Republican presidential candidate in Texas since 1968. 

In 1992, President Bush finished third in his other home state of Maine. Maine is where the Bush family keeps a second home. Mr. Perot, as well as Mr. Clinton, beat Mr. Bush in Maine in 1992.

The last major party nominee to finish third or worse in a state had been Harry Truman in Alabama in 1948. Though this was because Mr. Truman was not even on the Alabama ballot that year as the forces of Dixiecrat Candidate Strom Trurmond had taken over the Alabama Democratic Party. 

Will Mr. Bush’s endorsement help Mr. McCain in Texas or with conservatives?  

Well, based on these facts and on his lousy 37% national showing as a reelection candidate in 1992, it does not seem that to know Mr. Bush as a public figure is to have have full regard for his views. 

Texas Liberal Is leading the way in political history blogging in 2008.