Senate Majority leader Harry Reid is in a tight race with Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle. She beat out a crowded Republican field to win the nomination, but even top Republicans in the state are backing away from her for her extreme views.
First, Angle is against abortion under any circumstance, even in cases of rape or incest. Sue Wagner, a former Republican lieutenant governor, state legislator and Nevada Gaming Commission member, called that view too extreme and said she would not vote for Angle.
Angle also wants to privatize Medicare, Social Security and wants to get rid of the Department of Education. She also wants to get rid of the Department of Environmental Protection. I guess these issues will just work themselves out in the free market.
Even nurses, some of the warmest, most caring people on earth, are coming out against Angle.
If that's not odd enough, Angle said that Dearborn, Michigan, which has a large Muslim and Arab population, is run under Islamic law or Sharia. Angle said:
Huh? Last time I checked, Michigan was in the United States of America and subject to all the laws of the constitutions of the United States and Michigan.We're talking about a militant terrorist situation, which I believe it isn't a widespread thing, but it is enough that we need to address, and we have been addressing it.
My thoughts are these, first of all, Dearborn, Michigan, and Frankford, Texas, are on American soil, and under constitutional law. Not Sharia law. And I don't know how that happened in the United States," she said. "It seems to me there is something fundamentally wrong with allowing a foreign system of law to even take hold in any municipality or government situation in our United States.
Despite these quirks, Angle is neck and neck with Reid as early voting begins in Nevada.
Maybe a few of these Tea Party folks need to win so Americans can see their extreme policy beliefs in action. It's one thing to spout these questionable solutions to America's problems and another to actually try to put them into action. If George W. Bush had succeeded in privatizing Social Security, this country would be in even deeper trouble and debt than it is now.
Former President Bill Clinton told voters in Nevada not to vote for Angle just because they might be mad at the system.
"For the future of Nevada, for the jobs you so desperately need, it would be unbelievably negligent to say, 'I know you're right, but I'm just too mad, I've got to vote for this woman'," Clinton said at a rally.
And that's what exactly seems to be happening around this country. My mom used to call it cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I know people are mad at how government is run. In some instances, they have a right to be angry. I'm just not clear how electing folks with some oddball, impractical beliefs is going to help anyone.