THE VIEW

[Wilma]

Most of you know what THE VIEW is.  The talk show with the ladies that Barbara Walters started.  I watch The View if possible and this morning I would swear that they are monitoring our Forum.  Two of their subjects were the luggage charge that has been discussed here just recently and the high price of oil which we are discussing all day long.  They also touched on Obama and McCain, just as we do.  Now wouldn't you say they are picking our minds?

[sixdogsmom]

I think we discuss what people around the country are discussing. In some cases in a much more civil manner, in other not so civil. I don't watch The View though.

[Rudy Taylor]

Political leaders who spend most of their time inside the Washington Beltway always like to learn the views of rural people from the midwest.

You're exactly right about Elk County Forum discussions being more civil than those we often witness among the talking heads of cable TV channels.

This will sound self absorbed, and it probably is, but one of the perks I've enjoyed as a smalltown newspaper publisher is getting occasional telephone calls from a congressman or senator who simply wants to know: "What's your take on this issue ...?"

He (or she) couldn't care less about my personal view, but there is an assumption that I might have a pretty good feeling about the pulse of the community, its priorities and concerns.

I'm always amazed how they are taken aback when I tell them what we truly are worried about: The demise of small town business districts, the loss of population in rural America, the loss of our young people from the communities where they grew up, and the lack of affordable housing for folks who might move here to work in area industries.

They notice that I don't mention immigration policies, the mideast war, the fears over same-sex marriage and whether a presidential candidate's preacher is an idiot or a saint.

I go by what I hear on the street.  That doesn't underplay the importance of the big war, the need to protect our borders, or whether this nation should lean to the right or left.  We are "meat and taters" people out here. We talk about the price of gasoline more than we discuss comprehensive health care. And we are hesitant to release ourselves to the hands of federal bureaucrats, knowing their pitiful record in the past.

So, I say: "Keep it up, forum members."

Washington and Topeka should take notes while you do the talking.