I was listening to the radio on the way home from work tonight and the list of people who have been ripped off by our government’s folly in the last 8 or so years seems endless and many are finally figuring it out and calling the talk shows to complain. It seems like too many of these people are Americans who bought into the lies of the republicans over the last 30 years in general, but particularly the last 8 years. I think that is how greed works. Some economists figured out how to “game” the system about 40 or 50 years ago (The Milton Friedman crowd – if you’re interested in their philosophy read “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein for a real eye opener) and the Reagan administration instituted their “free market” ideas in the 80’s (last night, while watching Keith Olberman I saw a rerun of Reagan firing the Air Traffic Controllers in 1981, who he had made campaign pledges to, which was the catalyst to the republican party’s ideas that unions are bad) ultimately leading to the financial mess we now find ourselves in.

And there is incredible hope that Barrack Obama is going to wave a magic wand and everything is going to be better. Well, I’ve got bad news for people thinking along those lines: I don’t think you understand how bad things really are. And, of course, the republicans would just as soon have them be even worse – which is why they are trying to insure the demise of General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford Motor company. They could care less about these companies and they know that ultimately cars will be produced and, if the “crisis” gets bad enough, they are going to make even more money than they could have ever imagined. THEY FEED OFF OF THESE CRISIS SITUATIONS! The demise of the United Auto Workers Union would be like an orgasm for the leaders of the republican party. They care ZERO about the average working person in this country. We are nothing more than the people who pay for their corporate welfare!

What is really interesting is that many of the people who are suffering the most are the ones who were tricked into voting for these thugs for the very reasons that President Elect Obama was raked over the coals when he CORRECTLY pointed out that people are vulnerable to the so-called “wedge issues” like guns, religion, abortion and are sucked into voting against their own self-interests – and then feel totally frustrated when their government is not something they even can recognize. I have a friend that, unfortunately, gets his info from FOX news and people like Limbaugh and Hannity – and appears to be clueless as to the fact that they stand for everything he’s against. Even abortion, while they profess to be anti-abortion, they’ve been using this issue for close to thirty years to get people to vote for republicans who have no intention of getting rid of abortion. They need abortion to be a continuing “wedge issue” to keep about a third of the population voting for them despite the fact these same republicans are committing murder all over the world, they are stealing money by the trillions now (I used to think it’s by the billions – but these “bailouts” which have gone to the Bush cronies has pushed the total over a trillion – UNBELIEVABLE – but true!), and they are pushing for endless war because it makes them even richer. Also, the fact these republicans have no regard for the constitution matters not to my friend and millions of other Americans because they believe the garbage that they hear from Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, Savage (? I’ve not listened to this one, just heard of him), and other right wing propogandists.

The fact the Democrats are not “united” is a bit reassuring to me. That tells me that they aren’t attempting to create the Democratic version of the brainwashing we have experienced during the last eight years. However, the problems that the next congress and President will face are more than daunting. As I watch the stock market, it is fairly obvious they are just hoping that Obama will be able to wave some kind of magic wand, as mentioned earlier, and we can get back to normal. However, I believe that “normal” is something that most of us can’t even imagine at this point. Bush has succeeded in virtually destroying the government. It will need to be purged of his loyalists – these people aren’t going to change their way of thinking and become “moralists” over night. I believe when you’ve been stealing to the level that these people have and in this manner, which is about as arrogant as one could fathom (I mean, this bailout – Henry Paulsen has basically given $350 billion to his buddies – without strings just as he originally intended – and of course how congress said it wouldn’t happen – and I’m absolutely certain that he’ll try to get his grubby little hands on the other $350 billion before Bush is shoved out of the White House – and unfortunately I don’t have a lot of confidence that congress will say NO!!!), they are not going to stop until they are stopped!

We have a long way to go before we are back on the upswing – and that’s if Obama makes wise choices once he gets into office. There is going to have to be a lot of straight talk and people are going to have to change the way they do things. These republicans have been borrowing for prosperity for at least 30 years. Those of us who have been complaining have been ridiculed often (I know I have – about the deficit spending and the Iraq war in particular – as a Christian the people I know supported all this because Bush says he’s opposed to abortion!) and even when Clinton was in office – the government started to function within its “means” but Clinton sabotaged everything with his personal behavior (which I, for one, still have a hard time accepting). These republicans, as I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, are going into attack mode already. My biggest fear with Obama is that he’s going to try to be a great “uniter” and fail to heed history. First, he can’t let these people off the hook for their actions – I’ve said this many times and I blieve it with all my heart – the reason Bush is “pushing the limits” right up to the last day he’s in office is because he’s so certain that the Democrats don’t have the guts to call him on anything. HE HAS TO BE PROSECUTED!! Along with everyone in his administration who broke the laws of this great nation. THE FACT THE PRESIDENT DOES IT, DOESN’T MAKE IT LEGAL!!! And secondly, based on the laws of nature (for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction) Obama needs to act without regard for the republican “platform.” These guys have created this unbelievable problem and we don’t need to cozy up to them while a solution is devised. The solution really is from the bottom up and you’ll never get the republicans to agree to an approach like this – there is not enough money in our treasury to satisfy them – they need to be a bad memory and Democrats need to ignore any republican that won’t totally repudiate the policies of the last 8 years!!! It’s time for the Democrats to act with some guts!!!