One thing that both conservatives and liberals can agree on is that the politicians in Washington are out of touch.  Of course, they view the problem in almost opposite directions, but at least there’s “bipartisanship” on something in America these days.  Myself, falling on the liberal side of the “problem” fail to understand WHAT’S WRONG with these democrats.  I guess the real problem I’m having is that the only place I can go for “relief” from republicans is to the democrats – the reality is that America is a two party system of government and I don’t realistically see that changing anytime soon.  So, we have a real problem here – witness the first year of Barack Obama’s term as president.

Don’t get me wrong.  I REALLY LIKE President Obama.  I think he’s a brilliant, honorable, man of integrity.  I think he’s working his “tail” off trying to fix the MESS he inherited from the despised (even by republicans) Bush administration.  The problem, as I see it, is that Obama and the democrats are WAY TO trusting of the system, and WAY TO stuck on protocal to fully understand the motivations and the methods of republicans.  The republicans are ALWAYS one step ahead of the democrats – EVEN WHEN IT APPEARS the democrats are winning!  Take for example the Obama presidency for starters.

I fully believe the republicans had a “four year” strategy for Obama’s presidency RIGHT FROM THE START.  They’ve been trying to TOTALLY UNDERMINE the American system of government as it emerged from the New Deal of FDR since the inauguration of Ronald Reagan.  They have masterfully figured out how to turn the voters against their (the voters themselves) very own self interest.  They understand the nuances of our system and they’re using our own system to undermine it.  While they talk about the “founding fathers” they’re trying to undo everything the founding fathers intended by using the system against itself.

The intent of the republicans, dating back to the 80’s and Reagan’s emergence on the scene, has been – and continues to be – a PERMANENT REPUBLICAN MAJORITY!  They’ve actually made no secrets about this – which is why it’s so astonishing to me in watching the democrats stumble along as if these republicans are going to “play ball” with them.  I mean, in the last election – where most everyone knew it would take a miracle for the republicans to win after GW Bush – the democrats final two choices came down to a Black man and a WOMAN.  Now, the republicans tried to prove that they didn’t have anything against women by putting Sarah Palin on the scene, but – remember – the democrat’s woman was Hillary Clinton.  If there’s anyone the republicans might despise more than a Black president it would be Hillary Clinton as president.

Knowing it was almost CERTAIN they were going to lose the White House due to the COMPLETE INCOMPETENCY of GW Bush I believe their plan changed to allow for four years of democratic rule during which they would purposely undermine EVERY THING the democrats attempted with an eye for taking over again in 2012.  And, I know also that democrats are pretty “cocky” thinking the republicans are going to put Sarah Palin on the ticket, but I’m convinced there’s another Bush “laying in the weeds” who will be a lot more formidable.  So far the democrats still haven’t figured out that there’s a war going on here.  This war is for the heart and soul of this nation.  And, if the democrats don’t wake up pretty soon, fixing the MESS left behind by Bush and company will be almost beyond the realm of possibility.  In fact, we’ll all be reliving it!

Here’s what the republicans are going to do – and their plan is coming together, I’m sure, almost exactly as they had planned.  They understand that the democrats are SPINELESS – by and large.  Also, most of the democrats have a conscience and most of the democrats believe in “bipartisanship.”  The republicans are exploiting both of those tendencies TO THE HILT.  Just as they “tricked” the American public and lied us into Iraq, they’re going to “trick” us again and attempt to use their secret weapon (the Supreme Court) to help them lie their way back into the White House. 

In the past couple days there has been a HUGE CLAMOR over the Supreme Court’s decision to essentially rule the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law designed to limit corporate spending on elections to be unconstitutional.  And, it’s true that all the clamoring is justified.  THIS IS BAD!  Really bad!  However, any democrat paying attention knew this was coming for months.  This decision AMPLIFIES one of the parts of the republican strategy.  That was to STACK the Supreme Court with idealogues who will vote in accordance with whoever it is in the background pulling the strings for all the shills we have to listen to every day who call themselves republicans.  (I can’t wait to hear John McCain come out and support this Court decision)

This ruling exacerbates the idea that a corporation has the same constitutional rights as an individual.  Well, that’s absurd on it’s face and as I ponder it – my first thought is, “Only in America.”  We’ve all been brainwashed for so many years that we actually believe some of the phony ideals that our politicians so disengenuously hammer into our brains until we just assume they MUST BE telling the truth.  I believe the republicans have even convinced most democrats that they believe in these ideals.  Of course their actions BELIE this, but even our democratic politicians seem to be afraid to hold republicans accountable for their actions.  This Supreme Court ruling makes the actions myself – AND MANY OTHERS – have been calling for for months EVEN MORE IMPERATIVE!  If the democrats fail to stand up to the reality of a country where corporations now have UNLIMITED ability to influence elections by spending UNLIMITED amounts of money, well we’re all in trouble (except, of course, for the corporations).

Actually, eventually even the corporations will be in trouble, because their greed will only GROW if they are able to manipulate who is holding office in this country.  EVERY BUBBLE EVENTUALLY BURSTS!  It’s just that the fallout from this one could be disastrous to our country as we now know it.  If you are happy with MONEY being our God, corporations with unlimited access to our legislative system, corporations able to determine who’s president, and the mean spirited republicans of the Bush era being in control for the forseeable future, well, you probably are happy with the ruling.  For those of us who think it’s RIGHT to call TORTURE illegal, for those of us who believe our military should be used ONLY to defend our nation or our allies, for those of us who believe in the bill of rights and the constitution AS WRITTEN, for those of us who believe in a Justice Department which administers our laws in a non-partisan manner, for those of us who DON’T believe in corporate welfare, for those of us who believe in a vibrant middle class, and especially for those of us who have grown children and grandchildren (baby boomers) it’s a time to be ashamed of what the leaders of our era have turned this nation into.

This ruling sets the stage for a BOMBARDMENT of corporate spending in the next two elections and you only had to see who was cheering the verdict to understand what that means.  Mitch McConnell (the minority leader of the Senate – that means he’s a republican) hasn’t had a smile that big on his face since Trent Lott claimed we’d all have been better off if SEGREGATIONIST Strom Thurmond had won the presidency in 1948 over Harry Truman (I’m not sure if the smile then was more that he believed what Lott said, or that he knew the result would put him one step closer to being the republican leader in the Senate).  John Boehner, the republican leader in the House, was so giddy that it looked as if he spent extra time in the tanning booth while he was gloating.  He proclaimed this was a “victory for free speech.”  Can you picture this, Exxon now has the same free speech rights as you or I!  What kind of person would see that as a victory for free speech?  What do you think the future of the energy bill is, or the fight against global warming?  And, these republicans have convinced this STUPID tea bagger group that they (the republicans) are for the “little guy.”

So, this ruling by essentially the same court who put GW Bush into office, is the “ace” in the hole for the republicans in their plan for only a four year hiatus from the White House.  This is EXACTLY why I’ve been so upset with the President who I was so supportive of while he was running for the office.  Somehow, I was convinced he – of all people – understood what these republicans were like.  As soon as I saw him spending more time wooing the votes he had NO CHANCE to get from them, and ignoring the very voters who put him in office, I KNEW WE WERE IN TROUBLE!  I’ve railed almost since his inauguration hoping that somehow there would be enough voices calling Obama out for his “milk toast” approach to the problems he inherited – but to no avail!

And, now things are VERY SERIOUS!  Thom Hartman has been warning people about this verdict for months.  Everyone SHOULD have known it was coming.  The House member who’s fast becoming my favorite – albeit it will be hard for him to pass Dennis Kucinich or Peter De Fazio – is a man named Alan Grayson from Florida.  He’s a first term member of the House, he had six bills already introduced over a week before this decision became final to counteract the effect of the decision – so it’s obvious he SAW IT COMING!  So, what’s up with the rest of the democrats?  They were asleep at the switch in Massechusetts, they couldn’t fashion a health care bill that was acceptable to the American people (you know, the same old CRAP that people are sick of – the “dealmaking” in public – they JUST COULDN’T STOP THEMSELVES), and they’re acting as if they were blindsided by this verdict.  I’m so uneasy depending on THEM to carry the fight against  these devious republicans – it’s borderline depressing!

OK, so what do the democrats do now?  Well, my tune hasn’t changed hardly at all – it just seems MORE DESPERATE that the democrats come to their senses.  President Obama gave me a “sliver” of reason for hope a day or two ago.  The day after the MALE NUDE MODEL (and I’m not talking about Sarah Palin’s would be son in law) won Ted Kennedy’s seat for the republicans in the Senate Obama proposed something akin to the Glass Steagall act in an attempt to “reign in” the big Wall Street banks.  Glass Steagall was a victim of the deregulation done during the last years of the Clinton administration.  This was done with the blessing of Larry Summers who is President Obama’s economic advisor and Phil Gramm who was McCain’s economic advisor (do you get why many besides me were disheartened when Obama “hitched his wagon” to Summers?) and many (including myself) feel that the removal of this law was instrumental in the financial collapse of 2008.  I hope and pray that Obama can pull this off, but he’ll have to fight like H E double toothpick to succeed – especially now that this latest Supreme Court ruling has opened the flood gates to corporat spending in our elections. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m not real confident there’s a lot of Senators who are going to be willing to take on the rath of Goldman Sachs – fresh off a quarter with almost 5 BILLION in earnings, almost all of it through GAMBLING with “FREE” money from the Fed.  If Goldman Sachs is planning on giving bonuses that amount to close to TWO BILLION DOLLARS – how much do you think they’re going to be willing to spend to prevent President Obama from DOWNSIZING them?  And, if Goldman doesn’t have enough money to “rig” the next couple elections, well there’s always Bank of America and Morgan Stanley Chase who will be spending “shoulder to shoulder” with them.  And, then think of the money the oil companies have.  I guarantee you Obama is more of a target already than he was just a week ago!

So, I’m going to give our president some advice (again!).  If you’re a regular around here, you might want to tune out at this point, because I’ve been harping on my NUMBER ONE PRIORITY since before Obama put his hand on Lincoln’s Bible!  ORDER Eric Holder to start naming special prosecutors for the KNOWN deeds of the Bush administration – and here’s a good place to start!  Almost hidden in the events of the last week is the FACT that interest in the THREE “enemy combatants” found HANGING in their cells at GITMO with their hands tied behind their backs, with their feet tied together, with wads of cloth jammed so far down their throats their jaws had to be broken to get the cloth out, and who were DEAD for hours before the bodies were “discovered” – BY GUARDS WHO WERE SUPPOSEDLY WALKING THE CORRIDORS CONTINUOUSLY – has been renewed.  Of course, the original determination of death was – HOLD YOUR BREATH – suicide!  That’s right, they crammed wads of cloth so far down their own throats that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to take another breath, they THEN tied their feet together, and THEN somehow managed to tie their hands behind their backs, and THEN MIRACULOUSLY were still able to climb up on a stool or something as such, put a noose around their neck, and then hang themselves.  THREE DIFFERENT PRISONERS, IN THREE DIFFERENT CELLS, ALL IN THE SAME MIRACULOUS MANNER AT THE SAME TIME!

We Americans must have become COMPLET IDIOTS if we are going to allow our leaders to convince us of that ridiculous lie.  I know that we’re all calloused by politician after politician lying to us – BUT ISN’T THAT ONE A BIT TOO RIDICULOUS?  And, it almost puts me into COMPLETE DEPRESSION when I hear that Eric Holder’s Justice Department doesn’t find those circumstances a bit “fishy.”  Do the republicans have something on Obama and Holder?  What is keeping them from investigating an administration that was akin to the mafia?  There was the KNOWN TORTURE, there was the KNOWN ILLEGAL WIRETAPPING, there was the KNOWN OUTING OF A CIA AGENT, there was the KNOWN LYING US INTO WAR, there was the KNOWN WAR PROFITEERING by the very people who lied us into the war, there was the KNOWN POLITICIZING OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, there was the constant stream of Bush surrogates (including the infamous Karl Rove) who REFUSED TO ANSWER SUBPOENAS, and there was the former head of Goldman Sachs allowing his arch competitor Lehman Brothers to collapse prior to “bailing out” his OWN SELF INTEREST. 

These are all MADE TO ORDER scandals that the democrats could have in front of the voters for the next couple of years while they attempt to gather the courage to actually take up the battle in the REAL WAR that is threatening this nation.  That’s the war “within” which is pitting the republicans – and their corporate cronies – against “WE THE PEOPLE.”  The problem I’m having in all this is I’m afraid the democrats will decide their best course of action will be to “compete” for all the money that’s bound to be thrown around by the corporate heads who are soon to be deciding the fate of all of us.  We need people like Alan Grayson in our Congress, BUT WHO DO YOU THINK WILL BE ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE TARGETED by the big corporate heads?  I believe, if you’re reading this blog, you know the answer to that question.  “We the people” can’t afford to give the democrats in congress more than a few months to find out if they’re up for the battle that looms.  If not, then IT REALLY IS TIME FOR A THIRD PARTY! 

Obama’s first step (bringing back Glass Steagall) was encouraging – but if he continues to fear the reprisals of investigating the republicans under Bush, he will be a one term president.  And, if the democrats think they’re going to get their “fair share” of the corporate “donations” – maybe a better way to put it is that if they think they can “out-prostitute” the republicans – they’re dreaming.  The only way to win this battle is to FIGHT!  Take them on STRAIGHT UP!  If another republican gets into the White House in 2012 just the damage of THE SUPREME COURT NOMINATIONS will be a lasting legacy of this corporate greed for several generations to come.  THIS IS NOW GETTING REALLY SERIOUS!  Earth to Democrats, America’s at war and I’m not talking about Afganistan or Iraq!