Who’s not disgusted with our government?  Well, it’s been hard for me to find anyone of late who is really happy with what’s going on in Washington DC.  The “tea partiers” are making the most noise, but the discontent is not totally coming from the “right.”  And, as I’ve been saying for quite some time, this is a potential problem for President Obama and the democrats come November – despite the FACT the present MESS in America is the direct result of republican “rule.”  I’m just finishing a book titled “Great Derangement,” by Matt Taibbi, a reporter for Rolling Stone magazine.  As an American who is nearing full retirement age it is refreshing to get the “take” of someone probably close to half my age who is not tainted by the full 30+ years of propoganda us “baby boomers” have endured since the inception of the republican “talking points” during the Reagan era (and, yes for the sake of any “right winger” who would happen onto this site, the democrats have come up with a “talking points” scheme as well – they’re just not nearly as good at it as republicans).  Even though I’ve managed to remove “F bombs” and other “four letter words” from my diatribe, it was OK to me reading his as Taibbi used what was street slang, in my day, to emphasize his points.  Taibbi’s use of the f-bombs, etc. added to the humor of the book as he attempted to make light of a very serious problem in America.

In fact, the “gist” of Taibi’s book falls somewhat close to the “gist” of what I’ve been writing about since this “blog” started, and that is our “leaders” in Washington DC and elsewhere are, by and large, LIARS.  It seems that, as a culture, we’ve embraced the FACT that the politicians we elect to office have no problem lying to our faces (along with our church leaders) and, we just assume they would always tell the truth.  Sure, some of them are able to “spin” what they’re saying in a way that makes it almost appear as if they’re telling the truth – and, in some instances, they actually do tell the truth, but – when it counts – you can’t COUNT on them to tell the truth.  As I tell my sixth grade students, “If I have to guess when you’re telling the truth, I will always suspect you’re lying.”  It’s the same for our politicians (and  SOME church leaders) and, as I was reading Taibbi’s book, it dawned on me that we, as a nation, have accepted this as routine coming from the people who are making our laws in Washington DC and preaching from the pulpit.  It appears to people like Taibbi that lying has totally permeated our culture – and, I certainly would not be the person to refute that claim.

What was really interesting to me as a member of what I call the “Christian Left,” was Taibbi’s reporting on a “trip” he took into a “mega church” in the heart of Texas.  He spent months attending the Cornerstone Church of John Hagee, a pastor who is one of the examples of people who are being OVERLY “blessed” in their ministries.  Hagee has created a mega money making enterprise which provides him with a 7 digit income that is tax free and based on people following HIM.  And, it’s difficult for me to sit here writing and accuse Hagee of lying – I’ve never been in his church – so, let’s just say based on Taibbi’s reporting there’s a lot of “spinning” going on in Texas (I’ll let you read the book to make up your own mind on the honesty of Hagee’s preaching).  This is an example of a church which unabashedly “points” its patrons toward the republican party, which supported the invasion of Iraq among other curious “preachings,” and where the tax exempt status should have gone away the first time someone got up on the pulpit and made a political statement.  I guess the best way I could put this is, it seems to me, that you can be dishonest without making provable lies (you know, taking the “truth” of scripture and twisting it into something useful for your own purposes).  And, I don’t believe for a minute Hagee’s church is the only church that (was) is – Taibbi’s book was written in 2006 – 2008 – making statements supporting the policies of George W Bush from the pulpit (I’ve actually been in two churches in my area where I heard the same thing with my own ears).  When churches are lying as they preach about the “truth” you know we have a major problem.  (and, I’ve yet to hear one member of the church I belonged to at the time apologize for blindly supporting the Iraq invasion and a president who was condoning torture)

So, how does all this relate back to President Obama?  Well, as I stated many months ago (and, over and over again since then), the president’s constant “reaching out” to the “right” could be such a turn off to his “base” that they stay home in the upcoming elections.  For some reason our new president feels compelled to bridge the partisan “gap” to the extent of risking his presidency.  Now, as I spend more time thinking about his position in this regard I want to admire him for this – I mean, I’m as sick of the partisan bickering as anyone.  However, when I’m having those moments, I start thinking about the proposals for more nuclear plants, more offshore drilling permits for the oil companies who are not using most of the ones they have, “clean” coal (whatever that is), a “surge” in Afganistan, pardons for members of the Bush administration (I call them pardons because everyone knows crimes – even war crimes – were committed and FORGIVEN – therefore, essentially pardons), and the  leaving of upwards of 75,000 troops in Iraq indefinitely all which give me the sense that President Obama is either farther to the “right” than I could have imagined, or he’s playing the “politics as usual” game that most Americans are sick of.

Just the other day my son in law was explaining to me how “backroom deals” were at the heart of the recent health care “reform” bill passed by congress.  My understanding was that much of the “bargaining for votes” which included $100 MILLION for Nebraska via Senator Ben Nelson, for example, to get Nelson to support the bill was removed in the “reconciliation” bill passed through the house.  I hope I understand that correctly, but many Americans just don’t have the time or the inclination to follow these things close enough to understand the nuances of the bills when they finally become law.  In fact, watching the process so closely – because health care was on the “front page” for so long – put the above mentioned backroom deals out in the open to exacerbate the public perception of how corrupt our government is and, for some REALLY STRANGE reason to me, allowed the very people who were promoting the backroom deals behind the scenes to be LYING publicly about what was in this bill.  Here’s a FACT I will never understand (or at least don’t think I will) – the democrats reportedly allowed 200 republican amendments to be put into the bill without getting a single republican vote in return.  Is it any wonder the public is losing confidence in democrats?

Let’s get to the bottom line of the problem here, at least as how I see it.  The health care “reform” bill could have been done without all the fanfare – simply by opening up medicare for all Americans – the OPTION to buy into it – that is, with a few “tweaks” to make sure that doctors and hospitals would accept the “plan,” and pass it through the reconciliation process in the senate (which they ultimately had to rely on anyway).  This would have given Americans the “choice” all the politicians supposedly want us to have and would have “held the big insurance companies accountable,” as the politicians were fond of proclaiming by giving people like me an alternative to the private FOR PROFIT health insurance that is eating away at my (and probably your) net income at a rapidly increasing (and alarming) rate.  President Obama needn’t keep “kissing up” to the “right,” because his “base” actually wants him to move the national debate back toward the “center.”  By “reaching out” to these despicable republicans who are showing behaviors that I thought we had purged from the American scene long ago (if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, read some of the signs at the so-called “tea party” gatherings) President Obama is giving validity to a group that needs or deserves none.  Obama should have shown our nation that these people are no longer influencing our public debate and if they want to be a part of the discussion they need to renounce the racism and greed that has driven their message for far too long.  As President Obama said himself, “elections have consequences,” and those of us who supported him are expecting him to lead the way as the people who created the mess we are in receive the consequences of the last and, if he would just support his own base, future elections.  My own fear is that, combined with “Citizen’s United,” Obama’s placating of republicans will only lead to a resurgence of them in the upcoming elections and will have the exact opposite effect from what he’s publicly saying.

For some reason President Obama gave away the “tool” he had when he took office to settle this “battle” for what appears to me to be the very soul of our nation by pardoning Bush/Cheney and the others in their administration who decided that the laws of this great nation were written for people besides themselves.  People such as my son in law have enough time to read the headlines and that’s about it.  They have their jobs and families to take care of and they continue to assume that the public information is somewhat accurate.  In the case of what he tried to start a conversation to me about, the “Ben Nelson deal,” he has a legitimate point that president Obama and the democrats needn’t have given to anyone.  By putting George W Bush’s and Dick Cheney’s actions on the “front page,” the health care proposal could have been passed with much less fanfare (I often wonder if the fanfare is what was wanted) and a lot less “deals,” plus their actions would be public knowledge to the people who didn’t have the time or energy to “discover” what was done on their own.   Now we’re on to Wall Street regulation and the debate rages on again.  As stated in my last two posts I’m kind of looking forward to this one.  I’m actually anxious to see the republicans filibustering a bill that prevents further “bailouts” of the “too big to fail” institutions that are even bigger thanks to the TARP program of Bush/Paulsen (of course, they will claim to be “against” the banks while doing the banks’ bidding).  In fact, is there anyone besides me who is curious as to why Hank Paulsen’s connection to Goldman Sachs and his rivalry with Lehman Brothers – the end result being Lehman being allowed to fail and Goldman being “bailed out” – hasn’t been investigated?  Has anyone besides me wondered how much Paulsen had at stake when Goldman was teetering on the brink of receivership?  As the Peyton Manning commercials went, “I’m just saying.”

I could go on and on, but back to the “bottom line.”  The real problem President Obama faces is his “base” staying home from upcoming elections.  I’m finally sensing that he and his supporters are “getting” that – because I’m beginning to get a huge influx of emails reminding me of the importance of staying “involved.”  Well, I am staying involved, but, I’m not sure how secure my vote for Obama and the democrats is.  For me, it actually bothers me more to have someone who I had counted on doing stuff that is “untoward” than it did when I actually expected it.  I thought I heard President Obama say something like the battle had just begun shortly after he was elected.  I took that to mean that politics as usual was going to change in Washington DC (I always put the DC on that because I live in Washington state :o) and we were going to finally try to overcome the corrupt nature of the way business is done there.  Well, it didn’t take long for him to be in the “backroom” that so many Americans hate – Americans on “both sides of the isle.”

People like me are tired of picking the “less of two evils,” and the youth of Taibbi’s age and younger were energized by Obama but they are even more cynical than people my age, or at least that was my perception as I read his book.  I’ve been following politics since John Kennedy was president and I’ve learned that – as an independent – I’ve grown farther and farther from republicans as the years have gone by.  At the same time, I have to agree with republicans that democrats are “weak,” and it’s very unsettling to feel like I have to depend on them to “push” my point of view.  However, I still vote – and probably will continue to do so.  Obama needs an enthusiastic “base” to get his agenda through congress and if he looses “touch” with the younger people who voted him in, we will all be back to putting up with republicans in the White House.  Just writing these words makes my stomach feel uneasy – I would be OK with all of this if republicans were people like Everett Dirksen, Mark Hatfield, Barry Goldwater, Bob Dole, etc. – not people I totally agreed with, but people who you could reason with.  The republican party is presently run by Rush Limbaugh and the talking heads on the right (there seems to be no legitimate leader elsewhere) and they are showing ZERO remorse for the policies which led to the “Great Recession,” the fiasco’s of Afganistan and Iraq, and the bludgeoning of our constitution.  I’m still hearing republicans supporting torture and calling for – UNBELIEVABLY – even more tax cuts for the rich.  Republicans are fighting Wall Street reform, they hate unions, and they want to destroy public education.  Why would any blue collar American support them?  The only answer I can come up with is republicans continue to play the “fear card,” and scare people about democrats – and this is going to get worse once the aforementioned “Citizen’s United” starts affecting the public debate.  Well, the democrats had better figure this out quick, because people like Matt Taibbi and many of America’s youth feel no allegiance to either party, and without a FOCUSED PROGRESSIVE agenda I predict the democrats will be looking at a large number of Obama “supporters” staying home on election day come November!