How newspaper loses respect: Misrepresent the voters’ choice

Virgil Goode at a campaign stop with Nascar driver Rex White.

The Internet may be overheated and not subject to high journalistic ethics standards as are organs of the established media. Supposedly.

This afternoon in waiting to take a coffee with an elderly neighbor at a restaurant I came across startling news in the Chattanooga Times Free Press. It informs me that only two men are on the ballot in the presidential race.

Now you may share my notions that neither Mitt Romney nor Barack Obama is much better than the other, as both are statists and not in favor of pulling back from the brink. Still, it is important to suppose that if people like you are going to vote, that you have an alternative to these two men.

For example, might not one be able to consider the nominee of the Libertarian party, Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico? Or what about the Constitution party pick, Virgil Goode, a 13-year member of the federal legislature?

Are these men on the ballot in some or many of the 50 states?

Media blinders intend to ‘help’ the reader

No. Under the headline “Religion dynamic makes presidential campaign unique,” we read the following:

There aren’t any white Protestants on the presidential ballot this year — a first in American history.

Instead, it features two Catholic vice presidential candidates a Mormon Republican and African-American Mainline [sic] Protestant.

Perhaps lucky for all of them, voters care more about issues like social justice or gay marriage than they do about religious brands.

The report by Bob Smietana of the Tennessean newspaper, to avoid a truthful but clunkier lead, appears to state a falsehood. Particularly annoying is the phrase, “a first in American history.” This phrase suggests he is stating a fact rather than simply telling the reader he intends to focus on the duopoly’s candidates and ignore the rest — presumably because none can win.

It is also interesting to note the slight he gives to a man’s religious convictions, as if they are part of a brand. If he means brand, as in a cattleman’s brand on a steer, we might understand him. For religious conviction of whatever sort is a brand of ownership, that of the God or god he worships. Rather, he refers to religion as merely a flavor, a bit of packaging, not an essential element of a man’s outlook or purpose.

Constitution party offers Goode

Former Virginia federal representative Virgil Goode is a candidate for president for a party that will gain attention as the nation’s decline persists. He is a white Protestant male, a Baptist. He will be on the ballot for the Constitution party. See the nearby screen grab from the Tennessee secretary of state’s office the Times Free Press conveniently ignores.

This screen grab from the Tennessee secretary of state’s office indicates that Virgil Goode will be on the Tennessee ballot as representative of the Constitution party.

Thinking people should consider some of the views of Mr. Goode, because he is on the ballot in Tennessee and many other states.

➤ He would push for massive cuts. Nearly every department and agency will face significant cuts and some will face elimination. His website doesn’t offer specifics, except that he would proposed a balanced budget. “It is incumbent on our next president to propose a balanced budget upon taking office and not ten years down the road. There will be pain, but the old saying that one will not get out of the hole by digging the hole deeper is accurate.” One way of cutting would be bringing military forces home from bases around the world.

➤ Mr. Goode would secure the federal border, using troops and other measure to stop “the invasion from Mexico.” He says the feds have a huge expense incarcerating 50,000 illegal or recentalients among the federal cell population of 189,000. He opposes any amnesty for illegals.

➤ He would fight for the elimination of the death tax. He would give the tax code the heave-ho if the U.S. could replace its revenue stream with a flat tax or a consumption tax.

➤ Marriage. He supports a federal act protecting marriage.

➤ Obamacare. He would fight for its repeal.

➤ He believes schools are a state issue. “Washington should not be running our local school systems. We need to leave local education decisions to the states and localities.  I am opposed to national testing of public school students and voted against ‘No Child Left Behind’ with its new mandates and new tests that must comply with national standards. I support ending the federal Department of Education.”

➤ As for globalist programs such as Nafta, he opposes them, stating that they have led to the erosion of the U.S.’ manufacturing base.

We may not agree with everything Mr. Goode supports. But he offers a real choice for every person who intends to exercise his voting franchise in the federal election in November. The intelligent voter, empowered by the Internet to bypass the media blockades (or blockheads), can easily learn he is not stuck with the Republican and Democrat offerings.

This poster is on Virgil Goode’s website.