Romney and Obama Need Something More Than Their Typical Campaign Rhetoric

I have watched both President Obama and Mitt Romney attack each other on television throughout all three political debates. Other than the debates, whenever you see either one of them speaking, it's almost always in front of a crowd of their cheering supporters. Those people would cheer no matter what the candidates said.

Mitt Romney is a Republican, so it's no mystery what he will do. It doesn't matter what he says during the campaign -- if he is elected, he will push the agenda of big businesses. Look at the voice of big business in America -- the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- if you want to see what Mitt Romney will do if he does get elected. He will lower taxes for big business, maintain less regulation on big business and create more defense spending.

If President Obama gets reelected, you know exactly what he will do -- the same thing he's been doing. I know a lot of people who loved Obama in the last election, but are now somewhere between a little disappointed and feeling they were completely duped into voting for him. I don't know anyone who is as excited about President Obama today as they were when they voted for him, do you? The truth is he didn't do a lot of things he said he would do and a lot of the policies he has enacted are not working as well as we all hoped they would.

President Obama and Mitt Romney should focus on issues that are more of a priority for every American. Here are a few ideas I would like to see any candidate for president promise and actually deliver on:

How about a real plan to boost the economy and create jobs? You know, something that actually works. The U.S. Census Bureau notes that small businesses create over 90 percent of the net new jobs in America. I have yet to see either candidate propose any specific plan to help the nation's more than 27 million small businesses. Maybe they could begin with some new legislation to help direct existing federal infrastructure spending to small businesses, the same companies that are responsible for 50 percent of the private sector work force and more than 50 percent of the gross domestic product. I hear there is a bill in Congress titled, "The Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act" that would do just that. Maybe President Obama or Mitt Romney could get that passed.

Since we all have about a 50 percent chance of dying from heart disease or cancer, I would love to see President Obama or Mitt Romney promise to increase federal funding for cures for heart disease and cancer by 1000 percent. The agency that should have the biggest budget is the National Institute of Health, not the Department of Defense. I know we are sending probes to Mars, so maybe we could put Mars exploration on hold until we find a cure for cancer. What are you more concerned about, dying from cancer or the exploration of water on Mars?

Wouldn't it improve the quality and cut the cost of health care if we had more doctors? Of course it would. I would like to see a presidential candidate pledge to increase the number of trained doctors in America. There are a dozen great ways to go about that, like building more medical schools, granting government scholarships for medical students and offering tax deductions for medical school tuition.

How about a government backed plan to help perfect the electric car? If America had a reasonably priced electric car that could go as far as a gasoline-powered car and recharge in a reasonable amount of time, it would eliminate or dramatically slash our need for foreign oil, wouldn't it? A multitude of significant benefits to our nation's economy would become apparent if we severed our dependency on foreign oil. Maybe we could cut a few hundred billion a year out of the amount spent on wars in the Middle East. Why don't we enlist some of those NASA scientists working on battery technology? Nothing against Detroit, but they didn't put a man on the moon over 40 years ago.

It saddens me to realize none of these issues will ever make it into the presidential race. America will likely choose its next leader based on who can spend the most on divisive and negative corporate-backed television campaign ads.