Editorial: Wagner, Emerson are solid choices for Congress : Stltoday

Editorial: Wagner, Emerson are solid choices for Congress : Stltoday

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It's a double whammy of bad governance: Voters have no legitimate choices, and the candidates have no incentive to move to the middle. Gridlock is all but guaranteed.

There is one open seat for Congress in Missouri this year, the one being vacated by Republican Todd Akin. Unfortunately, it's not very competitive either. Republican Ann Wagner is going to run away with the newly configured 2nd District that encompasses St. Louis County and parts of Jefferson and St. Charles counties. Democrat Glenn Koenen, with little funding and no real support from the national party, will finish a distant second.

If public policy positions were our only measuring stick, we would endorse Mr. Koenen, a former director of the Circle of Concern food pantry, a tireless advocate for the poor, a man who offered us this insight into his political philosophy:

“The government can't make the world fair,” he said, “But the government can protect us from the worst of what's going on.”

Ms. Wagner, on the other hand, endorses the tired Republican claim that government regulation is hurting business growth. She's opposed to most elements of the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank regulations intended to rein in Wall Street abuses.

She's flat out wrong on those issues, though we give her credit for, unlike many Republicans, even being able to call the health care act by its given name, and recognizing that many of its elements are positive and should be retained in some fashion.
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hobson's choice

 A Hobson's choice is a free choice in which only one option is offered. As a person may refuse to take that option, the choice is therefore between taking the option or not; "take it or leave it".