The mariner is afraid, readers, that the 2014 election year is more of the same. Local elections for mayors, Supervisors, County and States Attorneys are oddly distant from the tumultuous debates at the Federal Level.

Why is tumult absent from the local elections? The mariner already has written on the process in “How to Restore a Balanced and Fair Economy,” “It is Your Turn to Be the Government” and others.

We could blame the press for ignoring the real issues and focusing on one or two races that promise to be competitive. However, this is a weak excuse. We could discount the silliness of politics to more important things like our jobs and family. This, too, is weak. It is weak because of the fact that we bottom of the pile citizens and small businesses have not insisted on honest and fair wages – leaving us forty years behind the rate of inflation.

There was a time when one income per family was enough, even enough for a nice vacation and a new appliance without even thinking about the budget. There was a time when our retirement funds were untouchable until the mid-eighties when corporations finally had Federal laws passed that would allow corporations to get their hands on our retirement funds and spend them without oversight or corporate accountability of any kind.

There was a time when unions sustained parity as corporate profits rose. That, too, disappeared in the mid-eighties.

The 2008 crash occurred because the regulations preventing such a mishap were removed in the 1990’s and greed ran its course – stealing billions from the economy and from citizen assets.

An interesting thought is that as computers replace more and more jobs, the salary level had best rise to compensate for returning to a one income family.

At the State and Local level, there are battles raging that will directly affect each reader’s future. There is not room for dissertations in this post but here are a few keywords the reader should research:

The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) has been accepted in 34 states as the rational way to insure more people and slowly begin the process of bringing down costs (Iowa is not one of the 34). This is not an issue of large government versus small government, nor is it a battle of capitalism versus socialism. These philosophic rantings are arguments far beyond the simplicity of trying to bring down insurance costs and provide millions of otherwise uninsured people coverage. Both Christian and economic beliefs support this approach.

Another local issue is infrastructure. With good Governors. good Legislators,  and citizens demanding change (which may mean new names in office), States do not have to play dead because the Federal government is broken.

A third example is transitioning transportation from oil to electricity and natural gas. Further, mass transportation has been forgotten since Eisenhower initiated the Interstate system. Trains and light rail have not had support. However, this is more a local and interstate issue than a Federal one.

A brazen example of Federal intervention into our personal services is the US Postal System. Rather than cut back on the required “tax” that the postal system must pay back to the Federal Government each year, the Congress would rather cut local services.

Many more local projects can improve our local circumstances.

All these issues create jobs.

Practicing your Constitutional right to participate in government doesn’t have to wait for the bumpkins in Congress. The States can start with the 2014 elections – rather, YOU can start with the 2014 election.

Ancient Mariner