There's a smugness that has overwhelmed our political system.
It's the patronizing, know-it-all, self-congratulating, self-important smugness of our elected officials.
We want to know why they vote the way they do. Their reply . . .
"It's complicated."
There are huge majorities of Americans, crossing all party lines and affiliations, who agree on a number of issues:
• End the war in Afghanistan and bring the troops home
• Reduce the military budget
• End oil subsidies and other forms of corporate welfare
• Make the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes
• Eliminate tax loopholes and incentives for sending jobs overseas
• Leave Social Security alone
• Leave Medicare alone
• Include the public option in our health care delivery system
Yet, consistently our elected representatives __ on both sides of the aisle __ vote against these things. Or judging by what we read in the press are obviously considering doing so.
Why?
"We are professionals. You see, when drafting legislation there's so much to consider. There are things you folks out there don't know. It's too complicated."
Sorry. I don't buy it.
Here's what I say to this blather:
"Mr. Elected Official, I'll tell you what's complicated. Voting for YOU is complicated."
"You say one thing and do another. You make all sorts of high-sounding, pleasant enough speeches when you want my vote. You make me believe you are actually going to do the job I am electing you to do. Then, you vote the opposite. You vote the way some rich corporate donor, some big-money Wall Street executive, some lobbyist who showers you with favors and campaign contributions, you vote the way THEY want you to vote."
"So, Mr. Elected Official, don't ask me why I didn't vote for you this time around. Don't come crying and pleading for an explanation."
"It's too complicated."
[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
- A race to the bottom in reverse.
There's speculation that the recent devastating disclosures about Mitt Romney will force him to either withdraw or be withdrawn from the presidential race at the upcoming Republican convention.
My immediate reaction?
Awesome!
Maybe the GOP will succumb to their most extreme theater-of-the-absurd impulses and put up a ticket of Michele Bachmann and Ted Nugent.
Then I read that the only other Republican candidate with a significant number of delegates is Ron Paul.
Okay. Not quite as interesting as a Bachmann/Nugent ticket. But right up there. It would be an entertaining, if not altogether ridiculous spectacle.
Repo Man vs. Retro Man.
Obama, the slick hustler who is foreclosing on the American Dream for all his Wall Street buddies, running against Paul who with a straight face wants to return America to the glorious days of the 19th Century.
America would be glued to their TVs to watch this battle of the prestidigitators, one with the charm and charisma of David Copperfield who is making the Middle Class disappear, the other who would invite us all to join him in his Time Machine as he jams it into reverse.
Would the voting public finally wake up to what a sham these elections have become?
Nah! Probably not.
They'd just hit that snooze button for four more years.
[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
- "They'll make you laugh and they'll make you cry."
One of these men is a well-known, widely regarded comedian and actor who has appeared in over sixty films, numerous television shows, and has brought tears of joy and laughter to countless numbers of people across the globe.
The other one is a well-known, widely regarded comedian and actor, who uses his role as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to suck up to Wall Street, big banks, and the wealthy oligarchs who are plundering America, and is a man who would corporatize his own mother if he and his rich friends could figure out how to make money on the IPO.
Both have the power to communicate their quirky, surrealistic view of the world and affect the lives of millions of people.
But only one has the power to impose his quirky, surrealistic vision on an unsuspecting citizenry and destroy America as a recognizable and functioning democracy.
The joke's on us!
I'm laughing so hard it hurts!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...
Gasp!
[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
After the 2000 election, I had a neighbor who wouldn't speak to me for several months. He was an ardent Democrat, a supporter of Al Gore, who knew that I voted for Ralph Nader. In his view, people of my ilk had cost Gore the election by frivolously voting our consciences.
Put aside the fact the abundant evidence that in Florida alone there was massive election fraud, the disenfranchisement of over 30,000 voters by a scrubbing of the voting rosters, a huge preponderance of which would have voted Democratic. Ignore the fact that Gore, or at least his legal team, proved to be spineless and just caved to the absurd Supreme Court ruling on the recount. Discount the role played by Kathleen Harris, the Secretary of State in Florida at the time responsible for certifying the results of the election, who was a hard core Republican and made no attempt to hide her bias. Overlook the obvious irregularities in the recount itself.
It was all my fault that King George was installed on the presidential throne.
So here we are again, confronted by a "clear choice" between an enlightened, gentile and beneficent Barack Obama and the crude, barbaric, corporate predator, Mitt Romney.
What to do?
People warn, "Too much is at stake. Don't throw your vote away!"
I agree. This is not the time to throw our vote away. This is not the time to vote for more of the same and none of what the country needs and deserves.
What does this mean?
Simple . . .
Barack Obama has done some good things over the past three years. Hey! So have I. Does that mean you want me as your president? The ugly truth is, if you look at the big picture, Mr. Obama has done as much to push the too-big-to-fail big bank, Wall Street, corporate agenda than his notorious predecessor. Maybe more.
What does this specifically mean for the coming election?
It means we're again forced to make a choice between Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum, as Nader colorfully put it back in 2000. The truth is that under a Romney presidency, we will see a merciless, full-steam plundering of America by corporate interests and the turning of the vast majority of Americans into surf-slaves, and a relentless and thorough destruction of the middle class and America as we know it.
Under another term of Obama as president, we'll see the same thing but cloaked in charm and doublespeak platitudes, more of Michelle's fine taste in clothes and her organic plants in the White House garden, and certainly the humor and eloquence that has established Mr. Obama as one of the most charismatic bullshitters in American history.
In this next presidential election, America doesn't find itself between a rock and a hard place. It finds itself under the rubble. The rubble of deception, hypocrisy, manipulation, and the potential final death rattles of American democracy.
This is a historic juncture. It's time to let the "powers" know we've had enough. We won't be fooled again. Time to cast a vote which sends a message.
Who to vote for? Jim Hightower or Bernie Sanders on a write-in come first to mind.
But the important thing is ABROO . . . anyone but Romney or Obama. And let that anyone be a person of integrity who treats the American voting public like adults, respects them and is not afraid to tell the truth, who has the courage to stand up to the corporate imperialist agenda.
Cast your vote. Send a message.
Then take to the streets.
[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
