There can be no doubt that the HORRIBLE mess this country finds itself in is the result of 30 years of “supply-side” economics which has brought us to the brink of total insolvency. The national debt is approaching 12TRILLION DOLLARS, and putting the brakes on the spiral of debt seems to be beyond the reach of our present leaders in Congress. And, for me, worse than that is the reality of our new (well, it’s almost a year in office now – so new is close to the wrong word) President being unable to make a PRINCIPLED stand on just about anything. Had I known that Barack Obama was a TOTAL PRAGMATIST, someone obsessed with consensus building at the expense of REAL CHANGE, I would have cast my ballot in a different direction. I long ago, on this site, pointed out that Obama’s refusal to hold the previous Republican administration accountable for egregious lawbreaking was a “deal breaker” for me – and I would look elsewhere to cast my next vote. I have since refused to send any money President Obama’s way (I did send money to Alan Grayson of Florida and the ACLU, among others) and I wrote a THREE PAGE LETTER to the President explaining to him why his decision to let Bush/Cheney et al OFF THE HOOK was such a TERRIBLE decision!

Of course, the President isn’t going to listen to my complaints because – how could he? How could he hear anything over the roar from the “tea baggers,” the Limbaugh’s of this world, the Becks, the O’Reilly’s and the other blowhards on the right who are hell-bent on undermining everything Obama does? The sad thing to me is that President Obama may be undermining his own administration by his actions that are becoming MORE AND MORE disgusting to his very “base.” I started pointing out, soon after the inauguration (here I go again, “patting” myself on the back), the “red flags” I had concerning Obama’s decisionmaking. I would often say, “I hope I’m wrong.” And, I’m still pretty much saying that, but the more I observe, the more I listen to people, and the more I reflect on the decisions Obama is making, has made, and is sticking with – THE MORE I’M AFRAID I MIGHT BE CORRECT! (go ahead and read some of my posts from early this year – it’s a bit startling when 6th grade school teachers are able to possibly give better advice than the President’s own advisors – and believe me, I don’t live on an “island” by myself – the size of the “chorus” of disenchanted “progressives” is growing as I write this)

I don’t even think I’m talking about the Republican party resurrecting itself (although I do occasionally have Jeb Bush nightmares – I honestly believe he’ll be the next Republican nominee if Obama is considered at all vulnerable in 2012) – at least in its present form (I’ll have more to say on that later in this post). What I’m talking about is what I see as the continued deteriorating of the country I love and the apparent inability or unwillingness of the leaders of this nation to address the issues STRAIGHT UP! It seems like the political reality in America right now is that we have a lot more anguish in front of us before the people and the leaders realize the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in. And, while I believe the Republicans have pretty much led us into this “place,” I expected the Democrats under OBAMA’S LEADERSHIP to dramatically change the direction – FAR MORE THAN THEY HAVE. Of course, what they are giving us is something along the lines of “We’re a lot better than Bush/Cheney.” Or, “we are a better alternative to McCain/Palin” – both of which are true. But, if the glaring problems faced by this nation aren’t solved – and if we don’t DRAMATICALLY change “course,” it won’t matter much that Obama is “better” than Bush. We’ll still be in an untennable situation which could, conceivably, RUIN this nation for our children and grandchildren. And, make no mistake about this – it’s us (I’m a full-blooded BABY BOOMER) who are responsible for the state of affairs we find ourselves in.

A little history lesson: The United States of America was essentially run by a “greedy few” leading up to the stock market “crash” of 1929 – the Republicans were in control of the White House (as they have been for much of the previous 30 years prior to the Obama administration), Corporate “heads” weilded considerable power, regulation was “light,” and working class families were STRUGGLING big time (sound familiar?). Along comes the New Deal which introduced radical solutions to these problems followed by WW II which kind of “cemented” New Deal innovations into the “mainstream” (such as Social Security, etc.) and then the “60’s” with Civil Rights legislation, Medicare, and the peak power of the union movement. The greatest “middle class” in the history of the world was the result and “things were good.” Well, except for the Viet Nam fiasco which virtually turned father against son, neighbor against neighbor, and brother against brother (kind of like Iraq in its infancy – of course, by now most Americans realize the folly of Iraq – as they eventually did with Viet Nam). Many people my age became very active protesting against the war in Viet Nam and knowledgeable about contemporary politics.

But, it seems after the war controversy died down, many of the Viet Nam “activists” became what were called “yuppies.” They had gone from the hippie movement to the mainstream of America. It seemed as if once the war was over, many people – including myself – settled into what they envisioned would be the good American “middle class.” And it has been good – many of us have prospered – some amazingly so. Over the years many of us became what was (I thought) erroneously labled as the “silent majority.” Yes, we were silent, but NO many others besides myself did not agree with the direction this nation turned with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. That was like “turning back the clock” time as the Republican party was determined to UNDO THE NEW DEAL at all costs and to PILFER as much money as possible from this middle class which they DESPISED (they not only hate unions and health care legislation, they even hated and tried to prevent the minimum wage – if it was up to them we wouldn’t have weekends, there’d be no “overtime pay,” and Social Security would be a bad dream).

The hardest part for me was watching as the Republicans JUMPED on the abortion issue and TRICKED millions of working class Americans to vote against their own best interests TIME AND TIME AGAIN without even having a clue as to what other things these Republican politicians were up to. The really sad part of this, for me, is that I take my Christian faith very seriously and the “base” of the Republican party during these years was the so-called “Christian right.” Many of the Christians in this un-holy coalition to this day have NO IDEA what some of the things are they voted for. They still see Reagan as their “beacon” despite the fact he had a secret ILLEGAL war going on in Nicaraugua, he was trading arms and drugs with the Iranians, his CIA was committing DEPLORABLE acts in South and Central America, his economic policies were the initial FUEL for the huge debt we now are encumbered with, his administration was responsible for arming Saddam Hussein with the chemical weapons Hussein used on his own people and the Iranians, and last but NOT LEAST Reagan was all about DESTROYING THE UNION MOVEMENT in America! Many of the people who voted for him were the very members of the middle class which he was trying to undermine.

The people behind the scenes in the Reagan administration have remained in Washington since that time and were instrumental in the destructive policies of the GW Bush administration which brought us to the “brink” of another Great Depression during Bush’s reign in office. We got a dose of supply side economics on STEROIDS under Bush/Cheney and they left office with a national debt approximately twice what it was when they took office. Worst than that, they inherited a budget surplus which would have wiped out the debt in approximately 10 years had they “stayed the course,” but – of course – the Republicans don’t think along the lines of fiscal responsibility unless there’s a Democrat in the White House. Does anyone besides me find it the HEIGHT OF HYPOCRISY to listen to Republicans complain about the debt in Obama’s first year (remember, we’re still operating under the final Bush/Cheney budget)? I couldn’t believe that Obama INHERITED a deficit of almost a TRILLION AND A HALF DOLLARS (in just one year) from Bush/Cheney on top of an economy that was in almost free fall. And, these disengenuous Republicans were blaming it on Obama before he was even inaugurated – Oh yes, and don’t forget that both the Iraq and Afganistan occupations, which were costing American taxpayers between THREE AND FOUR BILLION DOLLARS PER WEEK, weren’t even counted in the deficit by Bush/Cheney – despite the FACT that EVERY CENT SPENT IN IRAQ AND AFGANISTAN had been BORROWED!

So, after thirty years of this nonsense “We the People” finally elected someone who was going to institute “real change” and point this nation back in the direction which created our great middle class in the first place (there’s not enough time tonight to discuss all the disasters of the Republican rule – like almost all of our manufacturing jobs now being manufactured over seas – among other disasters) – RIGHT? Well, again I hope I’m wrong – but I’m just not too enamored with President Obama at this point in time. It’s like he’s willing to take anything he can get from Congress – and the buying of our legislators is so RAMPANT and OBVIOUS as the stimulus bills, energy bills, and the health care bill work their way through the house and senate that it seems the best we can hope for is legislation which appeals to the special interests but solves nothing as far as our nation’s woes are concerned. The leaders in Washington willing to make a principled stand on ANYTHING are few and far between. I watched in dismay the other day, for example, as the Democratic leaders in the senate had to bribe their own members JUST to get enough votes so the health care bill – which appears will be a huge “boon” to insurance companies – could simply be debated (and the “bribees” made it clear that the “investment” [bribe] wouldn’t get their vote when it counts – when it’s time to actually pass the bill, that is). The REALLY TROUBLING part of this is that these last few senators – aka “the holdouts” – were clearly in the “pocket” of the industry which was supposed to be reformed by the legislation and the price of their “votes” was to reduce the effect of the reforms on that industry should the legislation pass – WHICH THE “HOLDOUTS” PROMISED TO PREVENT from happening! I’M NOT SURE WHAT BOTHERS ME MORE – THE LEVEL OF CORRUPTION IN OUR GOVERNMENT, OR THE ACCEPTANCE OF THAT CORRUPTION BY THE MEDIA AND THE PUBLIC and the legislators themselves! There should be massive outrage at this process at a time when 45,000 people are DYING each year from lack of health care – and yet our leaders are more concerned with the “donations” they are receiving from the industry which is bound and determined to keep the “status quo.” This doesn’t seem like the America I grew up in.

I listened to a short speech President Obama gave tonight as he “toasted” the Prime Minister of India in one of Obama’s first “state dinners” at the White House. The thought that crossed my mind was I’m tired of listening to the man. I’m beginning to feel as if his words are totally hollow. I was certainly looking for someone who would put up more of a “fight” against these despicable Republicans. Bush/Cheney SHOULD be answering to a grand jury on a plethora of issues, not the least of which would be authorizing WAR CRIMES. The Republicans in Congress should be facing a leader who calls them out on their obstructionist tactics and puts principle in front of wishy washy political moves. Joe Lieberman should lose his committee chairmanship and be told to caucus with the Republicans where he belongs. The Democrats should use the clout they have to modify the procedural policies in the House and Senate to get this desperately needed legislation passed which would provide health care to all Americans and would be designed to actually get people who are unemployed BACK TO WORK! Stop waiting for these mysterious market forces Republicans are fond of talking about to work and actually start rebuilding the failing infrastructure and economy of this nation. And short of ACTUALLY BRINGING OUR TROOPS HOME (which was the promise) DEMAND THAT “We the People” pay for these two occupations – NO MORE WAR BY CREDIT CARD!

The financial industry desperately needs to be RE-REGULATED (re-instituting Glass Steagall would be a good start), the large banks and the large communication conglomerates need to be BROKEN UP so that NONE are “too big to fail,” The health care solution should be a SINGLE PAYER Medicare for all plan that would actually INSURE health care for all Americans and remove the profit motive from the “middleman,” Energy and the environment should be agressively addressed with a direct and realistic policy regarding “Climate Change” (you know, lets not wait until Los Angeles and New York are under water before we address this problem – as the Republicans would have us do), an increase in the gas tax should be immediately imposed with the money going directly into rebuilding our hiways and bridges, the “Bush taxcuts” for the “wealthy” should be IMMEDIATELY reversed and taxes on the top 1% of Americans should be increased to a level which recoups the money lost during the Bush years, there should be a tax of maybe .0025 on EVERY SHARE OF STOCK traded on Wall Street until all the TARP money has been repaid and ALL THE MONEY GUARANTEED BY OUR TREASURY for potential bank losses is covered (keep in mind that the American taxpayers are “on the hook” – potentially – for MANY TRILLIONS more in losses from these banks who are “too big to fail”), and there should be strict limits on corporate lobbyists and the money they are using to “PURCHASE” our Congress! I could go on, but I’m already WAY OVER MY LIMIT of thougt for the evening! :o)

I fully realize that it would be a stretch for any administration to do even half of these things which are ALL desperately needed to return this nation to the thriving democracy which “sports” a middle class which is the envy of the entire world. Under Bush/Cheney we became the laughing stock of the entire world. Even illiterate people in places like Afganistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and many other parts of the world were just shaking their heads and wondering how can a nation with as much wealth as the United States be so stupid? The answer to that, in my mind, is that GREED is a mighty INVISILBLE force that can overwhelm you (and a nation) – and, before you know it or understand what has happened, an entire country is acting like an addict. We know what we’re doing is wrong, we know it’s unsustainable, and tragically – despite knowing how to fix it – our leaders don’t have the will to fix the problem! Therefore, THEY BECOME THE PROBLEM! And the saddest part of all this for me is that President Obama is running out of time when he can blame our problems on Bush/Cheney. When it became apparent that Obama was going to allow the Bush/Cheney crimes to go unaccounted for the writing was on the wall that the “Change we can believe in” was little more than a slogan. His subsequent actions and lack thereof have just confirmed to me that the best we can hope for at this point in time is a partial return to the “Clinton years” economically and a continuance of the partisan bickering, socially, which has tormented this great nation since the day Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves some 25 years ago. I will continue my search for a political leader who has the courage to stand up to the “forces on the ‘right'” and who is willing to actually fulfill his/her oath to faithfully uphold our sacred constitution!