MIKE MASTERSON: What a choice

I decided to say this morning what I believe so many readers also are feeling about this presidential election: Are these two choices really the best both major parties could offer to honorably and effectively lead these United States and the free world?

Hillary Clinton's lengthy laundry list of woes and shortcomings speaks for itself. Donald Trump still seems to me oddly intent on self-destructing under the weight of his own bombastic comments and unseemly personal attacks against anyone who crosses his path.

It's just difficult for me with about 90 days remaining until election day to imagine either candidate as truly presidential in every sense.

Yet here we are with this pair as our choices, at least when it comes to the two major political parties. George Washington warned us against this very thing in his farewell address. Well, he tried to.

The fact we must endure three more months of mudslinging and worse from both sides is almost too much for most Americans to bear. We've already been listening to the putdowns for months. And I can't help wonder what purpose the sustained, media-assisted attacks will serve at this point in appealing to independent or undecided voters.

Those committed to voting for Trump certainly aren't changing their position any more than diehard Clinton supporters, regardless of how much God-awful stink is flung by either candidate and a lapdog national media.

Another story assailing Trump for something he said or failed to do, or more dirt emerging on Clinton as a public servant, are likely to be dismissed by those with minds already made up as just more static in the wires.

When I examine who is most at fault for this present darkness, I look first at the parties themselves for the way they've operated to generate so much public mistrust and disgust with the way our nation has been so terribly mismanaged for many years now.

It is this exasperation and disenchantment that gave rise to the populist outpouring for Trump as he relentlessly marched toward gaining the Republican nomination, as well as avowed Socialist Bernie Sanders' popularity on the Democrat side. Both men with unorthodox approaches to seeking office certainly are anything but good ol' boy D.C. insiders.

So much of America is simply flat fed up with the greed, special agendas, corruption, arrogance, malfeasance and self-serving it's continued to see from elected leaders of both parties. Seems to me our societal downslide to this election began at least as far back as the Kennedy assassination and continued sinking deeper and deeper as sheer grossness and even brutality became increasingly acceptable, even fostered, in the media.

These are my feelings. Yet, as I mentioned up top, I believe I'm in large measure speaking for so many in Arkansas and across America who can't help but feel likewise when they see what we have allowed that brought us here. May the Lord have mercy on our nation.

More than cards

Thanks to valued readers who pointed out that the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) is more than a credit-card company, as it was described in a news release naming it as the company with the best customer service in America.

Based on a study of 122,500 American consumers conducted by Forrester Research, USAA came out on top of a list of companies ranked for serving customers.

Reader Bob Anderson did the best job of explaining the deeper reason USAA finished first.

"USAA is much more than a 'credit-card provider,' he said. "USAA gets high customer satisfaction rating because it's an insurance company, founded by military officers in the 1920s to provide automobile insurance to military officers, that has grown into a financial-services company focused on providing the best products and service possible to a core base of customers serving (or who did serve) in the U.S. uniformed services. That core customer base has expanded over the years to in persons of all ranks and their children and allows membership to be passed on new generations. USAA has its high brand rating not because of credit cards but because they have superior customer service and offer superior financial service products and insurance products."

Thanks to Bob, we all know the rest of that story.

Heavy in debt

I read last week that 45 percent of those with student-loan debt feel the expense of college "was not worth the cost." That's what the respected publication Consumer Reports states in its latest edition after surveying 1,500 Americans with student debts following them off campus.

The story says 38 percent of indebted respondents never graduated. Nearly 70 percent have had trouble repaying their debt, 78 percent earn less than $50,000 annually, and 43 percent had no help from parents in making financial-aid decisions. Nearly half also wished they'd accepted less aid.

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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].

Editorial on 08/06/2016

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