Of All Places!

I would like to start of this post with a challenge to my readers! Think for yourselves and question what you hear from the media! Don't take everything at face value and look into things that are brought up. Yet, at the same time keep and open mind and listen because you never know when you might hear a good political debate or even a point that might be interesting. Hell, I hope my readers even question what I write. My job here is to bring up and start debate and not be the be all and end all of the facts like the television media claims to do.

With that said, I was driving home this morning and I heard an amazing political debate from a very unlikely source. It was three radio djs from a local rock and roll station (107.3 WAAF Boston). Now one would not expect a morning show on a station such as this to have a stimulating discussion, but the "Hillman Morning Show" with Greg Hill, LB, and "Spaz" did just that. For over an hour they had an amazing debate in which callers would phone in and get very animated over. I at times wanted to pull over and call in to bring up a few points, but, I figured I would never get through.

Sooo... what were they discussing? Well it turns out the former Speaker of the Massachusetts Congress (who stepped down a few months ago in the midst of a scandal) is possibly going to be indicted for fraud and accepting bribes. While acting as a congressman Sal DiMassi accepted bribes between $4000 and $25000 to push forth legislation or help companies get government contracts. So what, just one corrupt politician it doesn't matter, you might say. The issue that arises is that this is the third (yes the third) Speaker to step down in a row while in the midst of a scandal for corruption. Not only that, but several representatives have been caught for committing crimes while in office. Several of these people are facing jail time as we speak.

Yet, for some odd reason we keep electing these corrupt politicians into power in this state. Then we wonder why the state is so horrible. Why does this keep happening? Many of the callers to the "Hillman Morning Show" discussed the one party dominance in the state. I would agree with this statement. Most of our politicians are from one party, the one with a capital D. They have been in power for decades in this state (except for a few Governors between 1990 and 2006). Others stated that no one shows up to the local elections in this state. This is very true and Greg Hill pointed out that the people who do show up are those who have something to gain by voting for a certain person (i.e. a job, money, or a government contract). I wanted to call in and make the point that almost all of the elections that these people win are because they are unapposed. So who else are you going to vote for?

Needless to say, Massachusetts is rife with corruption. So, for those of you that live there here is what you do. Vote! Show up and vote these politicians out of office! Run! Run for office on an independent ticket make others think and have a choice! Quit complaining! Stop moaning about this after the fact and be proactive.

Anyways, I wanted to thank the team on the "Hillman Morning Show" for airing this topic. Keep up the good work guys! You can hear their show on weekday mornings on 107.3/97.7 WAAF (Boston).