I’m always confused as to whether or not I should focus my thoughts on the “plan” of the republican party to usher in a corporatocracy in America or on the democrats who are either complicit in the “plan” or are simply incapable of banding together to put up a good FIGHT!  And, of course, then there’s the dilemma of either supporting President Obama who’s hard at work trying to make deals with these republicans who are trending farther and FARTHER to the “RIGHT,” or taking the “high road” and finding some unelectable candidate to support who tells it like it is – sort of like the Ralph Nader dilemma of 2000.  The end result of the second of those two choices could be something like a Sarah Palin, or Paul Ryan, or – as I’ve been predicting for two years and now seems more plausible – a Jeb Bush as our next president – with the resulting disaster of MAJOR PROPORTIONS, not the least of which would be their choices to the Supreme Court.  To put it mildly, almost all the “thrill” of President Obama’s election has turned sour.  I feel as if I’m back in that place – where, honestly I think I’ve spent my life – looking to support the least bad of two choices.

Recently, a couple friends of mine who are in their 70’s (and watch Fox – unfortunately) asked me how happy I am now with President Obama “the socialist?”  I hadn’t seen them since before the mid term election and they were apparently gloating, because they are life long republicans without a clue as to what the republican party has become since their working days (again, they watch Fox – that should explain it all).  They, and all the other people around them (I was at a golf course) were quite surprised when I announced that President Obama was too conservative for me!  I’m pointing this out because I believe that one thing that is truly bipartisan in America right now is an uninformed public.  Now, I’m not trying to suggest that I’m informed and all these other people aren’t, because a few years ago I realized how “fooled” I’ve been over my lifetime.  I have tried to keep up with “what’s happening” but, like the rest of America, I always felt I could trust the “liberal media” to be somewhat unbiased and working as the “fourth estate” of our government which was the intention of the founders.

In my mind, what America’s media has evolved into is simply more entertainment.  From my perspective, I saw this happening beginning in the days of Ronald Reagan.  Recently, Reagan fans were celebrating his 100th birthday as if he was some sort of national icon.  It’s really hard for me to understand that.  This “celebration” does give, however, one good example of what I’m trying to say in this post.  Ronald Reagan was a good orator, there’s no question about that.  However, he wasn’t a good president – there can be little question about that either.  The people who support him simply ignore all the negative accomplishments and dwell on the “myths.”  For instance, Reagan was not responsible for the demise of the Soviet Union.  I could write an entire post (or posts) on that subject, but it’s the OPINION of many that he was.  However, if you look at the facts, it’s hard to connect them with that reality.  (Unfortunately, the United States – as I’m typing this – is embroiled in Afghanistan, much to the “glee” of people like Osama bin Laden – the same place which helped bankrupt the Soviets – this could end up being the “mother” of all examples of the saying “those who ignore history are destined to repeat it)  Now, it’s true that Reagan’s administration armed and supported bin Laden and the other “mujahadeen” in the 10 year struggle to get the Soviets out of Afghanistan (along with the Saudi’s and other Arab nations), and that Afghanistan accelerated the Soviet’s demise, so if you follow the original argument that Reagan was responsible for the demise of the Soviets, and if this Afghanistan fiasco America is now MIRED in ends with the same result (America goes broke – that’s a joke isn’t it, America’s already broke for all intents and purposes) I guess you could then say Reagan was responsible for the demise of America, too.  That’s because, it was Reagan and his admistration which armed bin Laden and they’re still using weapons supplied by us – now, against Americans – to this day.

Well, actually, I do believe Ronald Reagan is largely responsible for the demise of America.  But in a far different way than simply looking at the horror of Afghanistan.  Honestly, I don’t even recognize this country that I’ve grown up in.  And, I guess I’m saying that from the perspective that logic tells me a nation as blessed as the United States should continue to progress and, given the responsibility we EARNED after World War II, you’d think we would embrace that role as non-negotiable.  Additionally, considering what the United States proved it was capable of during the second World War, it’s hard for me to understand how the American public could be so susceptible to FEAR.  When you think about that, terrorists rely on FEAR to gain success.  If that really is true, then why would our government be complicit by virtually encouraging the American public to FEAR a small band of radical terrorists located thousands of miles from our shores?  Since 9/11 we’ve been slowly allowing the basic tenets of our society to erode in some kind of strange attempt to protect us from a few thousand fanatics located in Pakistan or other far away lands. I’m digressing.

Here’s some “things” that can be traced back to the Reagan administration.  For starters, the “trickle down” or “supply side” theory of economics – called “voodoo economics” by George HW Bush (one of the few times I agreed with him) – unquestionably began with Reagan.  Even his original budget director, David Stockman, calls the tax cutting which has been the MANTRA of the republican party since Reagan, IMMORAL.  His reasoning is sound.  All we are doing is putting off the inevitable – we’re telling our children and grandchildren we’ll let them pay for our excesses!  It is obscene and it’s been going on for over 30 years now, and recently, even President Obama claimed that extending the “Bush Tax Cuts” would create “millions of jobs.”  That is PURE HOGWASH, and, in my view, NONE of the “leaders” of our country have the guts to face up to the reality of the mounting debt situation.  (The “tea partiers” hate the debt, but they don’t want to pay for anything besides the military either!)  The national debt was less than ONE TRILLION dollars when Reagan took office, and after 30+ years of his economic policy “ruling the day” it is now up to over FOURTEEN TRILLION dollars!  Republicans will blame that on democrats SPENDING too much, but if you check out that reality, you’ll find that republicans are the big spenders as well (the only thing resembling sound fiscal policy in my lifetime has come from democrats – well, I barely remember Eisenhower) This should be enough to convince people Reagan was no saint, but there’s plenty more.

Reagan and his administration secretly, and in direct defiance of Congress, sold arms to America’s “sworn enemy” Iran, ostensibly to gain the release of hostages held by Hezbollah in Lebanon, but covertly to generate secret funds which were sent to Nicaragua in support of the RIGHT WING Contras who were attempting to overthrow the left wing, ELECTED, Sandanista Junta which had overthrown the Samoza regime that had controlled Nicaragua for over 40 years.  Take a breath :o) (Samoza was removed during Carter’s presidency, some 5 years before the Sandinista’s were elected) I know little of the history of Nicaragua, but I clearly remember the arrogance of the Reagan administration as they defied the will of Congress and then repeatedly lied in the hearings which were intended to uncover their misdeeds (to a large degree, these are the same people involved in ramping up the invasion of Iraq).  Reagan was never indicted, but the simple conclusion would have to be that he was complicit in clearly ILLEGAL activity, or he was totally INCOMPETENT and had no idea what those in his “inner circle” were up to.  The latter option, which was conveniently the one publicly “accepted,” was never believable for me. (The great irony of all this is that after releasing the “hostages” through the agreement with Iran, Hezbollah simply took more hostages – for a “net gain” of ZERO for the Reagan administration in “negotiating with terrorists”)

Yes, there’s more.  In the late 1940’s Reagan was a bold supporter of the New Deal and Harry Truman and democrats like Hubert Humphrey.  Obviously, something very major happened.  Recently, I heard a speech he gave in 1948 which would imply that Reagan was a strong supporter of the American worker and unions.  Yet, one of the first significant things he accomplished in his first term was to publicly decertify the Air Traffic Controller’s union – leading to the attack on unions which is still in force today.  And, this attack has been quite successful – from the perspective of the anti-union employers, but very devastating to the American workforce.  America’s workers have seen a steady decline in real income from the day Reagan took office.  And, American’s who are members of a union have dropped from around a third of the workforce in 1980 to approaching 10% today.  With the help of a media which has allowed itself to be totally manipulated by politicians and corporations many of America’s voters are still voting for republicans while their job has gone “overseas” or their paycheck has gone “south.”  All the while Wall Street is “booming” and America’s corporations are sitting on a cash reserve in the trillions as millions of Americans are either unemployed or under employed.  Yet, republicans continue their quest to wipe ALL unions from the face of America’s economy.  Next, it’s the public employees unions (including police, firefighters, teachers, etc.)  I’ve already seen articles and ads suggesting that, for example, NOW teachers are making too much money! (I’m a teacher – for many years I’ve listened to people say teachers are underpaid [I didn’t agree with that either] but, now that we’re looking at a LENGTHY recession, those that “have” are looking for whatever “target” is still “standing” – and that includes police and firefighters who routinely risk their lives for public safety.  These union members PAY for the benefits they receive) Following Reagan’s lead, today’s republicans are leading the “race to the bottom” – although, it doesn’t include them!

In my view, Ronald Reagan ushered in what I’ve always called the “me generation.”  I even started predicting in the 1980’s that this problem would continue to “mount” until we somehow reached a breaking point if it wasn’t stopped in it’s tracks.  This is when the “privatization” started.  Reagan claimed that “government was the problem.”  Since his time I’ve marvelled at how republicans have continually complained that government is the problem while they want to control it and when they do control it they FLEECE the taxpayers of every cent they can get.  Reagan placed, essentially,  the “tax and spend” label on democrats – and, either the democrats are just inept at fighting back, or the media has helped them (republicans) pull this off – but, just looking at Reagan himself should bring some light on how ridiculous this is.  Reagan actually raised taxes more than any president I can remember in my lifetime.  His tax increases on people like me offset the tax cuts for the upper income Americans.  Plus, during Reagan’s term, spending actually INCREASED.  The bottom line was that the “rich” benefitted from his tax cutting, and the middle class were the losers.  This was the time when the deterioration of America’s middle class gained it’s “roots.”  Also, GREED became “politically correct” – an attitude which continues to survive.  “Welfare” was replaced with “corporate Welfare!”

Reagan’s legacy has lived on in subsequent administrations.  George HW Bush went from criticizing Reagan when running against him in 1980 to embracing the “voodoo economics” to the tune of a couple TRILLION added to the deficit in his one term of office.  So, the deficit went from less than a TRILLION when Reagan started to something over 6 or 7 Trillion by the time Clinton became president.  Despite Clinton getting the economy back under control, he was BLASTED by the media which was, again, being manipulated by republicans (they have continually gotten better at this, until now they are experts!) for his entire 8 years in office.  Yes, he messed up with his personal choices, but the onslaught of unfounded charges was unprecedented.  And, then along came the Supreme Court’s choice for president George W Bush.  How will we ever forget him and his right hand man Dick Cheney.  This gave a startling viewpoint of the bias of our “liberal media.”  Bush/Cheney undermined the debt problem with the economy by putting “trickle down” economic theory on steroids.  Cheney’s famous quote, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter” will live in infamy – possibly as “the straw the broke the camel’s back” as far as America’s standing as world leaders.  Bush/Cheney evidently intimidated the press to the point where they could “get away” with almost anything.  There was hardly a whimper (at least that made national news for any period of time) at the FACT that Bush/Cheney turned a $250 BILLION surplus into a $300+ BILLION deficit in a matter of months.  Corporations such as Enron were fleecing America by the BILLIONS and Bush/Cheney were presumably complicit – although I can’t remember a single investigation of them after Enron’s demise which depleted retirement accounts of millions of Americans.  Contrast that with EIGHT years of coverage of the failed Whitewater land deal in which the Clinton’s lost $10 THOUSAND and nobody else was harmed.

Cheney outed a CIA agent, “enemy combatants” were tortured by the droves (some murdered), Americans were illegally wiretapped by the scores (or more – who knows), the Justice Department was turned into a partisan arm of the republican party, regulatory agencies ignored their duties and allegedly were even partying and MORE with the very people they were supposed to be regulating (leading to incidents like the Massey Mine disaster and the Deep Water Horizon oil spill which has polluted the Gulf of Mexico – and, now the gas fracture extracting in the Northeast which is polluting large aquifers),  and companies like Halliburton and Blackwater are relocating to places like Dubai in order to avoid investigations of their misdeeds and PAYING taxes.  Again, where is the so-called “liberal media?”

Additionally, with the help of the news media’s lack of willingness to challenge our republican “leaders,” the Bush/Cheney administration were not only allowed to abandon the “hunt” for bin Laden and the shift of America’s “military might” into Iraq, they were almost encouraged to do this.  Few people I talk to have any clue that people like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Feith, Eric Prince, and others connected with the Bush/Cheney crew profited in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars from the Iraq invasion.  I’ve seen not ONE story reporting the WAR PROFITEERING that has gone on (and is still going on) in, not only Iraq, but Afghanistan as well.  Just to be perfectly clear, WAR PROFITEERING is about as low as it gets in my view.  We had soldiers DYING in Iraq for a lack of armour, yet the people who put them there were making HUGE profits and showing NO REMORSE for the tragic loss of life (and, in many cases, limb).  If you remember, Bush/Cheney let the coffins come home with not even a representative there to show the deserved respect, and troops languished in sordid conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital – sometimes rat infested rooms – with NO ONE from the administration even having a clue to what they were enduring – because, no one even visited the wounded troops!

Under the Bush administration, until the democrats took control of congress, veterans benefits were actually being cut – while the troops were doing EXTENDED tours in Afghanistan and/or Iraq.  That was unbelievable to me.  Some of these vets have been over there close to TEN times at this point.  All the while, the rest of us are squabbling over the size of the TAX CUTS!  And, the democrats don’t get a pass here – the extension of the “Bush Tax Cuts” was UNTHINKABLE!  Just the FACT that the Bush administration cut taxes at the same time they were sending troops into “harms way” was beyond belief.  That sent a message to the American public that the cost of this war they were CAUSING was to be borne totally by the TROOPS – I’ll never forget Bush’s answer to the question, “How can the American public best support the troops?”  He simply said, “Keep shopping.”  It makes my stomach queezy to this day to even think about that.  EVERY CENT of the cost of these two HORRIFIC occupations has been BORROWED.  Yet, where is the public response?  From what I can tell, there is no response anymore.  The public has evidently accepted that we’ll be in Afghanistan at least until 2014 and who knows how long we’ll be entrenched in Iraq.  (I’m guessing we’ll stay in Iraq until someone like Moqtada al Sadr leads an Iran type revolt similar to the “hostage crisis” of 1979. 

I’ve shut off my TV as far as the news is concerned – I’m reading books.  Anything I can find that is written by a good investigative reporter.  As an educator (albeit 6th graders) I’m trying to teach my students to think for themselves and to find information from multiple sources before making judgements.  When I practice that myself, I continually come to the conclusion that the press in America should no longer be considered the “fourth estate.”  I keep thinking of the time when I actually watched Fox “news,” before it dawned on my what they were doing.  They have HAMMERED the term “fair and balanced” down our collective throats (if you haven’t read any of my posts linking their propaganda philosophy with that of Joseph Goebbels, the head of Nazi propaganda – check out the archives – it really is interesting to see the similarities).  I’ve come to the conclusion “Fair and Balanced” really means offsetting the truth with an equal number of lies!  And, it’s true the media can’t change policy – but, as far as I’m concerned they’re – at best – cowering in the face of an out of control government.  It’s clear to me that President Obama will not “lead” us toward the “change we can believe in” if he’s not forced.  I don’t see “we the people” demanding it until the press reports the TRUTH about what America is “up to.” (Egypt policy would be a good starting point – now that the “torturer in chief” is in charge there)  Obama’s Attorney General is agressively going after Wiki Leaks for publishing the TRUTH about American diplomacy and they TOTALLY ignored the misdeeds of Bush/Cheney et al.  The FIRING of Keith Olberman, I’m sure, has embedded the message into journalists’ minds that the “corporate masters” will tolerate only so much reporting of what is actually happening in America! (you didn’t see any outrage from the political “left” over Olberman’s FIRING because he was critical of them as well as critical of the “right”)