As numerous 2nd and 3rd world countries have demonstrated, corporations are willing to hire many more low -wage, non-union workers than unionized workers. While a factory in the U.S. may only be able to afford one skilled worker plus benefits, a similar factory in China could hire that same worker, his spouse and his child for half the price.

I’m not saying that the differences between the U.S. and China are nearly as stark as those between Republicans and Democrats or that Republicans support child labor, (though Bachmann’s recent “Children need jobs” comment may suggest otherwise) but I am saying the same idea applies.

In Rick Perry’s Texas, a combination of oil and deregulation has created more jobs than any other state since the recession began. But those jobs don’t pay living wages. Many South Texan workers (as in people with jobs) depend on food stamps.

Perry’s entry into the 2012 primaries seemed inevitable. He’s the very embodiment of America’s role in the worldwide race to the bottom. Not only is he winning it, but he’s being patted on the back for it.

Meanwhile, America is losing good jobs as Republicans and Democrats alike have turned their attention to deficit reduction without allowing any tax increases. Stable, well-paying government jobs encourage spending. Minimum wage jobs encourage paying down debt. And the CEOs of Visa and MasterCard can’t spend enough money to get the economy back on its feet.

But, if this election continues to be about which party can produce the most private sector jobs, CEOs will have to do all the spending. Well, them and the people who print food stamps.

President Obama and the Democrats need to change the tone of the debate. They need to make it clear that the government should promote the creation of, or create, middle-class jobs and nothing else. Having Americans with spare income will in turn create minimum wage jobs.

Extensive coverage has been given to business magnate Donald Trump. Former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin has also been a media favorite for coverage. However, as has been noted by many news organizations, political pundits and involved citizens, the Republican Party is rather short on declared candidates.

A website dedicated to 2012 presidential candidates, http://2012.presidential-candidates.org, provides the lowdown on all candidates of all parties. (Note: the punctuation in the web address is very important; without it you will be directed to a different site.) A disclaimer at the extreme bottom of the pages declares that the site has no affiliation with any party or candidate.

Anyway, using that as a springboard, I discovered that there are four declared candidates, as well as multiple figures who continue to waffle on the issue. Here are the four who know what they want, and here are four who are still wishy-washy about it.

Declared:

Thomas J. Miller

More commonly referred to as simply Tom Miller, this candidate should not be confused with the Iowa Attorney General. This Tom Miller is a career flight attendant, and he is running on a platform of government reduction. Official campaign website: http://www.reducegovernment.com

Vern Wuensche

Wuensche (pronounced “win-she”) has spent the past 35 years running his residential building company. Like Miller, he is running with a “common man” approach. He ran unsuccessfully in the 2008 presidential election. Official campaign website: http://voteforvern.com

Gary Johnson

The former Governor of New Mexico (1994-2003) was also a businessman prior to election in 1994. While in office, he had the nickname “Governor Veto.” Like the other Republican candidates, Johnson is focusing on fiscal responsibility. Official campaign website: http://www.garyjohnson2012.com

Fred Karger

The only openly gay candidate, Karger represents something of an enigma: a Republican gay rights activist. As far as his career goes, for the last 35 years he has been involved in managing numerous political campaigns as a consultant, including three Presidential races. Official campaign website: http://fredkarger.com

Undecided

Herman Cain

This Georgia native seems to have experienced a variety of professions over the years. Most have been executive positions with such companies as Pillsbury and Burger King. According to Cain’s website, he is considering a bid for president because he believes “the American dream is under attack.” Presidential Exploratory Committee website: http://www.hermancain.com

Tim Pawlenty

The current Governor of Minnesota, “T-Paw,” formed an exploratory committee in late March. Apparently, they haven’t explored enough yet. Pawlenty is described by many as the safe bet sort of candidate and/or an alternative to Mitt Romney, who has also yet to explore enough to make a decision. Presidential Exploratory Committee website: http://timpawlenty.com

Michele Bachmann

A U.S. Representative from Minnesota, Bachmann is a Tea Party favorite similar to Sarah Palin, but she has yet to take the first step toward creating an exploratory committee. It is rumored that such a committee will form in June, possibly sooner. A random website dedicated to convincing Bachmann to run for president: http://michelebachmannforpresidentin2012.blogspot.com

John Bolton

The former Ambassador to the U.N. has not formed an exploratory committee like Pawlenty or Cain, but he has voiced a timid interest to various news organizations that he might possibly consider a run for president in 2012, focusing on foreign policy and national security. Facebook page dedicated to uncertain campaign: http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Bolton-for-President/144105262304222

Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is Too Damn High Party as seen outside a Manhattan bong shop. (Anonymous/Think Magazine)

When Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is 2 Damn High party isn’t on the campaign trail, he spends his time visiting, among other places, a SoHo bong shop.

Under the condition of anonymity, a friend of this reporter sent Think a picture that he took with McMillan as the New York City politician/rapper was exiting a store that had several glass bongs on prominent display in their front window.

When we got hold of the photo, our first instinctive reaction was to get a comment from Mr. McMillan himself. We were prepared to call the phone number listed “party headquarters” and bounce around various extensions until we got what we needed, as per usual. Instead, Jimmy himself picked up (we’re now convinced “party HQ” is the pocket that carries his cell phone), and treated us to much more than a simple “yeah, it was me.”

McMillan’s position on marijuana is no secret: he voiced his support for legalization at the New York Gubernatorial debate last October. But his candor about his use of the narcotic was surprising, to say the least.

“I’ve been drinking marijuana as a tea for 40 years,” McMillan casually told Think in a Wednesday afternoon interview.

“Marijuana is no big deal. Some folks, 70 years old, still smoke pot.”

As do the nation’s only protected class of pot smokers, says McMillan.

“Rastafarians can smoke weed, its in the constitution, he informed us. “They are allowed under the law to smoke marijuana.”

(Lawsuits arguing for religious exemptions to existing drug laws have indeed been pursued, but the US Court of Appeals has not yet bought the argument. And we can’t quite seem to locate where the founding fathers added Rastafarianism to the US constitution either.)

Still, McMillan was forceful in his defense of marijuana use.

“Leave me the hell alone, I am an adult,” he said, directed more towards the authorities than us. “If I want it, you have no right to tell me I can”t have it.”

McMillan has become something of a cultural phenomenon in the months since his breakout performance at the New York Gubernatorial Debate. He stole the show with his signature anthem “the rent is too damn high” (he even got Governor Andrew Cuomo to join in), and his controversial views on poverty, the rent control board, and marrying footwear.

McMillan attributed his success at the debate to one finely honed skill, mastered, he says, in the city’s libraries: “I used a technique called verbal judo on stage,” the karate expert told us.

It must have worked, because two weeks ago he declared he would be running for President in 2012, though not with his own Rent is 2 Damn High Party.

“I’m a registered Republican now,” he said.

For those wondering what such an administration would look like, he offered some insight into a McMillan presidency.

“I’d veto every damn program that came my way, except for seniors, children and education programs,” he said, surely pleasing his fellow comrades in the Party of No.

It’s unclear how McMillan’s position on legalization will play with Republican primary voters though. And some of his proposals may not play so well outside of college towns and liberal bastions like New York City and San Francisco.

“I made a proposal to open a drug store on the street in New York,” he said. He was not referring to a Duane Reade franchise. The plan, he said, is to eliminate the dangers posed by drug dealers on the streets by providing a safer alternative for people to obtain drugs.

And while legalization needs to be addressed, McMillan says there are greater problems that need to be solved first, including—you guessed it—the soaring cost of rent. For solutions to those problems, McMillan is counting on the young people.

“The young people are not getting involved in the system,” he said.

“Look how old they are!” he said of the 112th Congress, which took office today. “They’re all leaning at a 45 degree angle, and you all let them take over!” His advice? “Maybe you all should smoke a joint, because y’all need to be motivated.”

It’s a hard sell, but one he’s prepared to make directly to the nation’s students.

“What you need to put in your newspaper, put on your website,” he told us, was one simple message: “Invite me to your colleges.”

But if McMillan plans to have any audience at all, students will need to put down that “motivation” and get up off the couch.

Adam Peck contributed to this article.

Damn you, Mayans!

I’m a lazy, apathetic asshole. If the alien gods from the planet Ufraton came down to me and asked me to write a tell-all story about my encounter, I would say, “Sorry man, I just popped an Ellio’s pizza in the oven, and I can’t leave that shit unattended”. But Director Roland Emmerich has found a way to inspire me to warn you about 2012…the movie.

My inspiration hit me early in the film when I wished that the prophecies would come true right then and there in the movie theater. Oh, how I wished that the Earth would spit from under my seat and gobble me up into its boiling mantle, or that a cataclysmic earthquake would hit and bring the theater’s ceiling crashing down, ending my life and the lives of the other, poor, tormented souls who thought it would be a good idea to see this movie.

The film, based off the eschatological theories (and the beliefs of your 13-year-old cousin who finds the Twilight series to be truly enthralling) that the world will end in 2012, was destined to be another end of the world megaflop. But for any of you imbeciles who still had any ounce of hope for this movie, allow me to take a dull, rusty knife, and savagely massacre any intentions to see it.

2012 actually starts in 2009, when Dr. Satnam Tsurutani (Jimi Mistry) discovers that Earth is in dire straights when neutrinos from a massive solar flare have raised the temperature its core. Egads! We’re doomed with another 140 minutes of a terrible script, unfunny end of the world puns, and deplorable dialogue.

After we undramatically find out that the world is going to pieces, the film jumps to 2010, then to 2011, and then finally 2012 in a couple of minutes, where we shift focus to John Cusack who plays struggling writer, Jackson Curtis. Curtis takes his kids, who both hate him, from his ex-wife, who, naturally, hates him, on a camping trip to Yellowstone Park, where they meet Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), the token absolutely insane conspiracy theorist who informs them of the world’s impending destruction.

Of course, Cusack rights him off as a bearded psycho who lives in a trailer in the middle of the woods, and goes on his merry way with his unbelievably bratty kids. Only later does he realize that this lunatic was right, and he goes home to scoop up his ex-wife and her boyfriend while California experiences earthquakes and cracks like a stale cookie.

All the while the richest and most important people in the world are informed of this little conundrum and buy tickets for an exclusive future-esque Noah’s Ark that is docked in China in hopes to weather the apocalypse. This brings up themes about the ethics of governmental secrecy and equal opportunity. Many outraged people overcrowded the dock and demanded (and succeeded) to be let in the vessel.

Most of the movie revolves around Cusack and his family’s uninteresting, far-fetched excursion to China, and yep, you guessed it, the family bonds and unites at the end. Oh, what about his ex-wife’s boyfriend? He dies, but it’s not like he, or any of the other characters are endearing anyway, so whatever.

I’m trying my hardest to save you the longest 2 hours and 38 minutes of your life, but if you must see this film, bring your iPod, put on some destructive music, and just watch everything fall down; I’ll admit, the $200-260 million dollar budget provides some nice special effects.

After huge losses in the last two elections, could it get even worse for the GOP?

Whose left?

It’s a question that a lot of Republicans will be asking (or avoiding) in the coming months. Since President Obama took office in January, his approval ratings have remained astronomically high compared to his predecessor and the Republican members of Congress, while several prominent figures on the right have taken a beating. First was the admission of an affair by Nevada Senator John Ensign, then came the bizarre case of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, and just this past Friday, news of Sarah Palin’s resignation as governor of Alaska have left the once-vibrant field of possible 2012 candidates much thinner.

Palin of course has not ruled out a run for the presidency, but resigning from an elected position a full three years ahead of the 2012 election could hardly be considered a shrewd political move. And NBC’s Andrea Mitchell has reported that sources close to Palin say that her political career is over, less than one year after it really began.

Sanford was also considered a possible candidate for the next election, but a bizarre series of events involving his disappearance, the Appalachian Trail, a rendezvous with an Argentinean mistress in Buenos Aires and the subsequent unanswered questions that surround the whole episode has left his career in shambles.

Other candidates include former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who finished the 2008 Republican primary in third place, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and 2008 candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

But of those four candidates, only Jindal would be a break from the old school GOP that has lost 54 seats in the House of Representatives and 15 in the Senate since 2006. And if the elections in 2006 and 2008 have taught us anything, it’s that looking backwards doesn’t win you elections.

There are a whole host of other potential nominees who have yet to step forward, and they certainly have plenty of time to do so. But if the Republican Party wants to remain a truly national party capable of winning elections in all 50 states (Democrats have at least one Congressperson in every state but Wyoming, Republicans will have none in all of New England when Judd Gregg retires next term), they need to stop putting their worst feet forward.