As Labor Day weekend fades in the rearview mirror, we can see, and say with some confidence, that the most expensive elections in US history are well underway, and, that now that Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic Party opponent of the Republican Party nominee  Donald Trump, the theatrics of horse race politics will be paramount but that the discussion of major issues and differences is inevitable. Whether and how those things are reported is a different matter altogether.

At the top of my list is the Gaza Genocide and the overall chaos in the Levant as the United States’ inchoate foreign policy and blind allegiance to a completely outdated special relationship with Israel has made us complicit in crimes against humanity and risks wider war in the region and beyond. Can the candidates for President in any way clarify where they stand on the actions of Israel’s IDF in Gaza and the West Bank, or is this a verboten topic ? And why do we, contrary to international law, continue to supply aid and weapons ?

Secondly, with another fresh example of gun violence in American schools, why is the subject of national gun registration and rules about keeping weapons out of the hands of children and criminals not a subject of debate ? I have yet to see any discussion of my proposal from the 2018 and 2022 Congressional primaries about using the very language of the Second Amendment to harness the pernicious impacts that evolved over the last couple of centuries.

Thirdly, here we are again, as in 2016, with a woman running for the top job and there being no discussion so far about the Equal Rights Amendment and giving all citizens equal rights of full citizenship, which I believe would mean that meddling in women’s rights to control what’s going on in their lady parts would be out of bounds.

I could go on about blind spots on other issues, but what would be the point ? You are only asked to step up to the betting windows and take a chance on picking a winner ! Specifics aren’t yet called for . . .