Trivia, as Titanic Sinks

On network television and the mass media, the political debate in these last hours of the primary season has been typified by the argument made by Kevin Kamenetz in his commefcials as he tries to win the Baltimore County Executive position over his opponent Councilman Joe Bartenfelder. His attacks suggest that Bartenfelder voted for his salary to be increased going back to 1997. I believe it is time to tell Kamenetz that how Bartenfelder voted on a County Council salary increase in 1997 is completely irrelevant and absurd as the basis for who to choose between the two candidates.

Unfortunately, these type of issues have become the substance of what the public is supposed to decide on.

As the general economy continues to flounder like an oversized ship in tempestous seas while trillions of dollars are spent to recover the economy, Kamenetz's major point is to talk about issues with little relevance to the plight and needs of our community as a whole and those who need the empowerment that comes from sound economic thinking in particular.

The fact of the matter is that the prime issues and needs of the country and this County are for solutions relative to economic recovery and methods by which communities which have been locked out can be empowered. Sadly, most politicians have no idea and are completely ignorant of any sound economic practices and policies and have therefore reduced the discussion to the ridiculous, arguing about trivialities as the Titanic sinks.

On the basis of trivial thinking, one should vote for Bartenfelder, a farmer who at least knows how to grow things over Kamenetz, a lawyer whose job it is to twist truth for advantage.

Super-dumb politics: Jessamy vs. Bealefeld’s much ado about nothing

The recent controversy involving Baltimore City State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and the Police Chief Frederick H. Bealefeld III exemplifies and is a good example of why conditions and problems get worse in Baltimore city and elsewhere in our country where real solutions are required and yet political garbage and posturing is all that is offered.

It appears that the Chief of Police put a sign in his yard endorsing Jessamy’s political opponent Gregg Bernstein. Bealefeld was obviously displaying his dissatisfaction with Jessamy and implicitly blaming her for widespread crime and the general state of criminality in Baltimore city.

The Police Chief, who is quick to dehumanize the citizens of Baltimore by calling them rats and vermin, overlooks the fact that each year ten to twenty city residents are killed by police and that many problems of injustice and unfairness exist in the enforcement of laws by persons who look at certain classes of citizens with contempt. Certainly, Mr. Bealefeld is contemptuous of due process for all citizens and in his mind only Nazi or police state tactics and zero tolerance policies will work. On the other hand, Jessamy is put on the defensive as she attempts to respond to allegations of being soft on crime. While this unnecessary drama is playing, Mr. Bernstein is trying to make political mileage out of the controversy.

This whole political show is absurd and ridiculous. The public, indeed the nation, needs real solutions. This level of political posturing is aimed at a public whose intelligence these politicians no longer respect. Thus the superdumb politics in which substantive issues are postured about rather than analyzed systematically and scrupulously debated. Only in a police state where all rights are subject to police control can Gestapo tactics control the murder rate. History has proven that Gestapo tactics kill more people than criminals.

The solution to crime is not law enforcement but economic empowerment.

The back-and-forth between Jessamy and Bealefeld is superdumb politics which reflect a lack of understanding the need for real solutions.

The level of crime and criminality are related not to policing and the enforcement of punitive laws but to the level of economic hope available to residents and citizens. The only viable remedy for the reduction or eradication of high levels of crime is economic empowerment. The solution has to do with expanding employment opportunities, and empowering families, neighborhoods, entrepreneurs and small business to achieve sustainable, long-term economic growth in economically depressed communities.

This formula works in Howard County, Ann Arundel County and many other places where the economics is viable. It will work in Baltimore City also.

The real super-dummies are those of us who accept the garbage that law enforcement agencies are capable of preventing crime by arresting and prosecuting criminals in a free society. Historically, crime is reduced when citizens have a stake in an economic infrastructure which empowers and nurtures them. We are not all super-dummies responding to infantile disputes. Some of us want real solutions.