Midwest Memo
Undecided
by Alan Shultz

It sure seems like folks who can't make up their minds get a lot of attention around election time. I'm not sure why a voter who waits until he or she is in the voting booth to decide their vote merits all that much attention.

At a restaurant table the person who can't make up his or her mind is mildly annoying.

At the traffic intersection the indecisive person behind the wheel is dangerous.

At the ice cream counter the person who can't pick one of the 30 or so ice cream selections is frustrating.

And...

In politics, the person who can't make up his or her mind is influential. Only in politics does this make sense. Go figure.

This year the buzz word seems to be change. The momentum is growing for the candidate who promises change. Exactly what gets changed, well, you don't really need to get into that, I guess. The undecideds will have to take that matter up a little later.

Change for changes sake, I suppose that could be exciting. Except, I don't think I want our government to make life exciting. It's exciting enough to keep up with all the laws that get passed and all the uncertainty of the tax code. Government regulates and enforces, people change. Let's leave excitement to fate.

I think the whole phenomenon of what's gone on with cigarette smoking during the past couple decades is an interesting study in change.

Change in this arena came from inside cars and houses and families and society. Government lagged behind. "No smoking" came about because the people wanted it, not because it earned any politician a vote.

Now it would seem that government and all sorts of politicians want to take a good idea and beat it to death. Laws get passed to ban smoking outdoors, and to prohibit smoking in bars where folks congregate to smoke.

But still, check the farm bill for the nice tobacco subsidy. It's still there. And check the tax code as it applies to the sale of tobacco products. The tax on cigarettes, also known as a "sin tax" is astronomical. A lot of government budgets depend on the revenue from cigarette tax to get those numbers balanced.

So government has only been pesky and inconsistent and intrusive where it comes to smoking. People brought about the change in society as far as what is now acceptable and what is not. Government followed, never led the change.

Right now it looks like our government is going to bless the sale of products from cloned animals. Gee, the idea

doesn't appeal to me and so,

government blessing or not,

I'll take a pass - thank you. We give government too much credit, too much responsibility, too much power. And now, folks want government to change things but they're not sure what change is desired.

Get ready for more laws and bigger taxes! That's no change.

PERKS

Recently a box arrived at the Flora office of the Comet. It was addressed to me. Said box caused a lot of speculation over in Flora. It was a slow news day. A mysterious box can cause raised eyebrows on a slow news day.

Anyway, the box was a delightful surprise from the people at Quaker Oats who noticed when I mentioned in this space that I love their instant oatmeal for breakfast.

I suggested to my editor that we at the Comet have missed the idea of "product placement." Product placement - it's on television, in the movies, why not in the paper?

I should hasten to add that I also mentioned to said editor how much I admire the new 2008 Chevrolet Malibu - I mean what a great design!

Then again, maybe this column simply rates a pack of Camels from the Governor.