There are so many things to write about, it’s hard for me to even pick a topic. However, since the economy is in danger of imploding, and the present administration seems as incompetent to me regarding this area as they have been managing the occupation of a foreign country, I’m going to try to focus my thoughts in the direction of the economy. The famous cliche regarding how to get elected: “It’s the economy stupid” really applies to this coming election, which I consider to be by far the most important in my lifetime (60 years). I still remember my own astonishment as Richard Nixon explained that running up the national debt was as practical as having a mortgage on your house. The idea was that it was ludicrous for the federal government to possess so much real estate and not “leverage” that through the use of borrowing money to prop up the economy. By the time Reagan came around they took that idea to what I thought at the time would be the ultimate extreme. Their so-called “trickle down” philosophy seemed absurd on its face – Reagan preaching “I’m going to reduce taxes and balance the budget.” Of course people fell for the theory, although I’m convinced to this day that Reagan got into the White House by making a deal with the Iranians regarding the hostages being held in Tehran and by funding John Anderson’s campaign that ended up getting about 10% of the vote and peeling off enough disenchanted democrats to allow Reagan in the door, so to speak. For those around at the time I’m sure the image of Reagan busting the Air Traffic Controllers on national TV is still a vivid memory. For those not around at that time, this was a sitting president showing business how to break a union and the result for blue collar workers has been a steady downward trend since then. There was a slight change and some hope under Clinton, although I believe he bought into many of the beliefs of the Friedman devotees regarding “free markets,” because Clinton at least managed to bring about a surpluss in the economy despite selling the farm with his trade policies and maybe even more significant was his willingness to allow the consolidation of the media which has allowed the right wing to pretty much monopolize the information we are getting. Somehow, gw bush managed to get into the White House, through the backlash against Clinton’s actions with Monica and gw’s use of his brother to “steal” Florida which was the deciding state in the 2000 election. This brought the Friedmanites back into the government and the results are unbelievable. What is more unbelievable to me is that the republicans have come up with another stooge who is espousing the same garbage; lowering taxes, especially on the “rich,” and balancing the budget – in this case by not allowing “earmarks” in congress. This is such an absurd position that my first instinct is to laugh it off. However, mccain remains at least close in the polls and even ahead in one that I saw recently. That is why I feel Clinton’s major shortcoming was in allowing the media consolidation in 1996 that just played into the hands of the people behind limbaugh, hannity, rove, o’reilly and the other republican water carriers that will say anything to keep their cronies in power. The fact that our nation is crumbling right before our eyes means nothing to them. They are nothing more than the mouthpieces of those in the background of the republican party that are laughing all the way to the bank as they continue to “convince” ordinary Americans that they are not responsible for the problems facing our country. In fact, the other day I saw an ad on TV for mccain blaming Senator Obama for the high gas prices. This is how these people work. They create this situation that is taking ordinary working Americans into a state of economic despair, and then they place the blame elsewhere while they try to take advantage of the “crisis” they created to further their own greedy interests. Take the so-called energy crisis. Yes, of course, there is an energy crisis, but to blame Obama while at the same time pushing for expanded drilling opportunities for oil companies that have millions of acres of leased drilling rights that they are not pursuing, when there are no drilling rigs to drill if they had the right to do so, is disengeuous at best, and in my opinion outright dishonest. But where is the national media to hold these people accountable. Unfortunately, they are on their team. These multi-national corporations are intertwined and they are perpetually looking out for their own interests and those of their cronies. The boards of the large corporations in this country are infected with a virus of greed. Reaganomics brought with it a national mindset that shareholders are more important than workers, and they continue to work the propoganda that causes the workers to vote against their own self-interest. In my mind this is possible due to the consoidation of the media which has become contaminated with the republican “talking points.” The fact that so-called news people are spewing the party line (and this is wrong and absurd no matter what party line is being “spewed”) will be looked at as the main enabler of these criminals who have been robbing this country blind for the last 35+ years. If they somehow manage to get a baffoon like mccain elected, and this guy to me is a downgrade from bush which should be scary even to the water carriers, we are in for something probably worse than the great depression. I’m not sure how quickly Obama can steer the ship in a different direction, but he is the only hope. The damage done by gw bush and the people he is the mouthpiece for is severe and will take years to overcome. If Obama wins the election I can see the water carriers already trying to undermine anything that he does, because their only interest is in fleecing the working class people of this country of as much money as possible and they will be attempting to return to power as soon as they lose it. No one should be fooled into thinking that they will join forces for the common good, because with them the common good is evil, they absolutely do not want a country with a strong and vibrant middle class, they don’t want to pay their fair share of the taxes required for the security and basic functioning of this country (remember, they have borrowed every penny for their war in Iraq, they say they support the troops out of one side of their mouths and then fight any legislation that provides the troops with benefits out of the other side), and the last thing they want it is a black president that is enormously popular around the world. The idea of ordinary people sharing in the wealth, so to speak, is antthetical to everything they believe. Every adult person in America should read “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein to better understand where these criminals are coming from and the magnitude of the destruction worldwide associated with their philosophy and their actions. Our government has been severely infected by these people and it will take years to heal from this, if we boot them out in 2008. If, for some incredible reason, the manage to hold onto the bully pulpit of the White House for another term, the damage to this country could be terminal. I believe the rest of the world is ready to dump the dollar as the accepted currency in favor of the euro, that will be the first consequence of a mccain presidency and security wise, while he and they (republicans) lay claim to leading the fight against terrorism, I believe that they have made this country and the world terribly less safe and more susceptible to terrorist acts due to their greedy policies. One thing Americans need to understand, the people around the world aren’t stupid. In fact, our education system ranks down in the second tier compared to other countries around the world, and these guys are trying to keep it there, witness “no child left behind” bush’s plan to have our school focus on teaching kids how to pass tests at the expense of about half of the curriculum that existed prior to this legislation – but that’s an argument for another day. Suffice it to say, the US has been pilfering resources from countries around the globe for years under the guise of “free markets” and through the control of the IMF and World Bank, but the gig is up. This election is incredibly important and I get back to the question that motivated me to write this piece, “When are we going to wake up?” I surely hope this coming November is the first sign that waking up is happening. There is a lot of work to be done, but that is the first step. I say once more, if mccain somehow gets in, we are all in for a long four years!