I’m going to admit right off the bat that I don’t comprehend politics as well as some Americans do. Occasionally I get sucked into an issue or a period (2008) of movement but for the most part I stay away from it. Quite frankly it’s maddening. It’s also frustrating and sickening when I hear about the stuff happening in our nation’s capital. The absence of logic, compassion and honor really piss me off. Politicians will routinely lie or distort the truth to serve their needs. They’ll attack their opponents without knowing all the facts and sometimes even make things up completely to win elections and sway voters. Illogically, some favor the needs of the few over the needs of many. You can’t count on them to do the right thing either. They’ll put a spin on their choices, point fingers and find scapegoats when the buck should really stop with them. I find politics to be turning into the greatest reality game show of all. It’s just that it is so incredibly boring and convoluted that the common American and their short attention span will abandon the trek very quickly to get back to some Angry Birds, Facebook and their easier to follow reality shows. I’m not immune to this myself. Plus the politicians know how ridiculously boring and convoluted things are and so they encourage it and exacerbate it to keep most of us ignorant as to what’s going on. The more attentive we are, the more decisions they have to make. The more we cared, the more we would expect from them. Okay, anyway with that in mind I’m going to rant about politics, the GOP, the economy, the debt ceiling and who knows what else. It’s just an opinion but dammit it’s mine!
From my blog:
I've had it with government and politics. All they do these days is play games… very dangerous games. This country is in abysmal shape and all they want to do is posture and act like children. I’d say they are too focused on the past and present but that’s not true. They are focused on the future, only it’s not the future health of our country or democracy it their political future or the political future of their party. No one wants to make a tough choice that could hurt them down the road even if it’s the best thing to do right now. There’s a lot to lose! You don’t want to aggravate the people with the deep pockets. The people with the most money have the most influence. This is how it has always been but in this age of visibility, media frenzy and instant gratification it feels like it’s out of control. Money rules all. About 30 years ago our government engaged in something called trickle down economics. The premise was that tax breaks for the rich would spark job creation and a reinvestment in our economy. In these 30 years what if anything has trickled down? During those 3 decades taxes were seriously slashed for the rich to the point where quite famously, people like Warren Buffet are paying the same tax rates as the people who work far underneath them. If you aren’t hurting too much from this downturn maybe you can muster a laugh because on paper this whole thing is comical. The GOP has maintained for a long time that slashing taxes will create jobs and will booster the economy. The slashes of federal tax rates during the Bush administration alone have been quite significant but where are these jobs? They haven’t trickled down to us yet, maybe to China or India but not around these parts. The truth is lowering taxes for the rich does not create jobs, it just lets them put more in their coffers for rainy days and frivolous spending binges or even bolsters their portfolios so they can buy up more of the world.
Since money is king, it seems like Washington doesn’t listen to regular people any longer. On top of that the people who are the most fanatical and dedicated (the tea party for instance) are often the ones who speak the loudest and try to speak for everyone. So the people the government ends up listening to besides the rich are ones who don’t speak for all of us because these people are often the craziest people out there. Their fanaticism, persistence and borderline insanity are what got someone’s ear. Their influence is being felt right now during the debt ceiling talks.
We’re on the verge of an unprecedented financial collapse into default and the GOP and their Tea party handlers are still adamant that the trillions of dollars needed to raise the debt ceiling and help to reduce our debt going forward come from the working class, middle class and the poor and their entitlement programs. Now that’s just rude. If you were out one night with 3 of your friends and those friends had only $20 each in their pockets and you had $2000, would you really allow THEM to buy YOU a round? I would hope not! If all other things were equal and you were with your friends I would imagine you wouldn’t mind buying rounds for everyone, maybe quite a few. Of course in this country in 2011, everything is not equal and we certainly do not consider other Americans to be our friends. The growing gap between the rich and the poor has become a Grand Canyon and the numbers of the middle class are shrinking and they know it. The fear and paranoia these times have given us have the middle class distracted and fighting each other for whatever crumbs are left by the rich. Meanwhile, the numbers of millionaires and billionaires are skyrocketing! Let’s face it. People are selfish and the ones on top look down on those beneath them. Oh well, should’ve made better choices. Should’ve went to school, stayed away from the booze, kissed more ass, had more guts, married rich, been luckier, etc. It’s like a person being right and then rubbing it in your face that you are wrong. Don’t you just hate that person? Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back! How about just being happy to be right and how about helping other people to get it right like you did? Instead people turn a deaf ear to the cries of the unemployed, underemployed, sick, aging and unfortunate. How much is enough? How much is enough before the people getting stepped on can’t take any more? In olden times, revolutions were fought and royalty were overthrown and even beheaded for such offences! How much is enough?
Today I saw an article where President Obama is quoted as saying that the rich need to pay their “fair share”. Then I went to a few message boards where it seemed the sentiment was 50/50 as to whether they should. Some people suggested those who are deemed too poor to pay taxes should pay their fair share too. Others talked about how the rich already pay a significant percentage of the tax revenue in this country. I read somewhere recently where the top 1% of Americans control over 40% of the wealth in this country. Think about that. It’s a staggering amount. Just like when election time comes I’m thoroughly shocked that it seems 50% of Americans represent the ideals and desires of that 1%. Sure there’s more to it than that. There are social issues, religious views and so much more but what’s issue #1 with the vast majority of Americans lately and has been for the past few years? That’s right, the economy. Wake up people! The GOP is nothing more than a tool for the rich and righteous and I can only assume that the vast majority of Americans are neither. The fact that the country sent in the GOP in 2010 to destroy the incremental progress we had made climbing out of that massive hole during the first two years of the Obama Administration still mystifies me. That damn Obama didn’t fix everything fast enough! He didn’t bring any real change! This guy is all talk! And now because of the Republican controlled House, nothing gets done unless Obama bends over and “compromises” by giving the other side more than an equal amount of concessions. It’s happening now with the debt ceiling thing.
I don’t feel like the president has gotten a fair shake considering the extenuating circumstances surrounding his presidency but that’s neither here nor there. All I can say right now is dammit Obama don't give in! There are lives at stake! The poor and middle class have been beaten down enough! I'm so sick of all the proposed cuts to people who are already roughing it out even though the side that wants them is the side that put us into this mess with THEIR wars and THEIR uncontrolled spending despite most of us little people being against it. Did you know that on 5 occasions in the last 9 years the Republicans, including the ones who are at the head of the party now (Boehner, Cantor, McConnell), voted to raise the debt ceiling? Oh, it’s just that a Republican was president at the time so I guess that’s when it’s okay. The Bush Administration spent more than any Democrat ever did and handed Obama a recession, a grossly unbalanced budget and a lot of problems without solutions. Let’s never forget that! Oh and by the way, taxes are lower than they've been in 30 years. That, my friends is ridiculous in times like these where the number of billionaires and the record corporate profits grow nearly as fast as the unemployment line. Yeah, some companies are showing record profits and paying little to no taxes while they outsource jobs to other countries. It’s like these companies are being rewarded for eliminating American jobs! I’m not asking for new taxes on the rich… no, let’s just bring back some of the old ones! We need to rebuild this nation and it’s tough to do that when we are waging 2 wars, giving the rich the best tax rates they’ve had in decades and playing politics to the point nothing ever gets done in some attempt to sabotage someone’s presidency.
To me, governing is not imposing the will or beliefs of some people on all of them. It is doing what is right for the populous, not a small number of Americans but the nation at large. Nothing has trickled down to us on the bottom these last 3 decades and call me crazy but I’m beginning to think it never will. It’s time to get serious. It’s time for people to see reason. It’s time to buy a boatload of gold!
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