As the 2012 election votes for president were counted I forced myself to watch Fox “news” to get their “take” on what was happening, although I was switching back and forth from them to MSNBC.  Before I get to my thoughts about what I saw on Fox, let me be clear that neither outlet for “news” is “fair and balanced.”  However, what I saw on Fox was the beginning of all the “Monday morning quarterbacking” which is certain to follow a defeat which was funded by BILLIONS of dollars from Wall Street and the Oil and Gas industry.  (If you’re a skeptic, read this article)  Some estimates I’ve read have put the number of “Super PAC” TV adds opposing Obama and democrats at over $3 BILLION – which is both unbelievable and depressing to me.  I knew “Citizens United” was a bad thing, I just didn’t know how bad.  And, this is unlikely to change based on what I heard as I listened to the Fox “reporters.”  What was interesting to me was that Karl Rove as a MAJOR republican operative,  in control of somewhere close to a BILLION (or more) of those dollars,  was sitting at their table as part of their “news” team.  Talk about your pot calling the kettle black!

The tone I got from listening to the Fox anchor person was that the House of Representatives remains firmly in republican control and “why would they want to do anything different from what they’ve been doing for the past two years?” (which, of course, is obstructing President Obama at every turn)  Republican “pundits” were suggesting the problem with Romney is that he isn’t a “true conservative.” (this was bound to come out should he lose) Charles Krauthammer suggested the solution to the republican problem with the Hispanic community would be solved by nominating Marco Rubio – not even suggesting their (the republicans) policy positions is what turned off most of the Hispanic voters.  To me, it’s that attitude which makes me feel that today’s republican party should become irrelevant. They can’t seem to bring themselves to accept the fact that “non white” and non male voters can think clearly before entering a voting booth.  Apparently their barrage of negative political advertising (propaganda) was more effective with the white voters than the non-white. I’ve been discouraged by the number of my peers (older white voters) who accepted the lies perpetrated by Rove, Romney, Ryan, Fox, etc. without “fact checking” the integrity of the individual claims.  In my previous post I linked to a website that documented most of Romney’s lies and it took two pages of the website.

As I watched President Obama’s acceptance speech I was reminded that I’ve come to look at his speeches as pure empty rhetoric – he proved in this election that he’s the consummate politician.  His organizational skills overcame the effects of Citizens United, but I can virtually guarantee you that the right wing republicans will continue their push for the so-called “permanent republican majority” Rove has so often referred to.  The obstruction will continue and the republicans are already blaming President Obama for it.  This right wing, monied, group that is in the background financing the republican “machine” MUST be defeated and we are depending on Obama to lead the way.  Mitt Romney’s gracious concession speech showed a side of him which was undetectable during this long campaign.  I believe that’s because he had to first get the republican nomination and then keep the “base” in line.  That’s the problem republicans face going forward – and Rubio won’t solve it – how do you keep the fringe element of the party happy and still get votes from the “middle.”  Believe me, there were many more “progressives” (liberals) besides myself who were disappointed in the direction chosen by Obama, but for me I was fired up to vote against Romney.  Had Romney been able to show himself during the campaign as he did as he conceded, that might have been different.  (of course, he mentioned the importance of honesty as he conceded, but didn’t follow his own advice as a candidate)

It’s clear to me that a significant majority of Americans want to preserve the ideals of the “New Deal” and are tired of the “I’m going to lower your taxes and balance the budget” mantra of the republican party – but, they also long for leaders who will fight for these principals.  Barrack Obama now has four years to lead this fight.  If he continues to pander for republican “bipartisan” support, his legacy will be forever tainted.  It just seems odd to me that so many of those of us out in the “heartland” can see this and Obama has not been able to do so.  I can tell you, from my perspective, I’m watching carefully those he chooses for his cabinet.  I’m assuming Tim Geithner will be replaced – I hope that it’s not another Wall Street insider as Secretary of the Treasury.  We’ve had Robert Rubin, Hank Paulsen, and Geithner in the past 12+ years and it’s been a “what’s good for Goldman Sachs” mentality at the Treasury department.  That has to end and it would be better if it was “sooner rather than later.”  I’m hoping Hillary Clinton remains as Secretary of State, but I’m guessing she’s about “worn out.”  Her replacement will be critical.

I have seen many signs that the “fight” is far from over.  Here where I live, within days of Obama’s victory, the local “progressive” talk radio station “changed its format.”  To Fox of all things (even though it’s sports).  We are now subjected (those of us who listen to this stuff) to right wing lying or nothing – yuk! Actually, I was surprised this didn’t happen sooner because the reality is that right wing corporations own 90+ percent of America’s airwaves and I’ve been surprised they “put up” with people like Ed Shultz, Thom Hartman, and Randi Rhodes – to name a few “liberal talkers.”  For me, I’m going to figure out how to get my satelite radio working in my car, but it’s clear to me the idea is to begin the “suppression of ideas” right away – they’re already thinking of 2016.  Keep in mind, this right wing cabal so many of us understand is “out there” but don’t know for sure who they are (the Koch brothers, the DeVoss family, the Coors family, the Walton family, etc.) have been fighting against the principles of the New Deal since World War II and they have BOATLOADS of money to spend in order to return things to “as they were.” (that is – before the uppity union workers managed to gain workers’ rights for MILLIONS of Americans, Social Security, Medicare, voting rights, health care, etc.)  They tried to suppress the vote in the 2012 election and that BACKFIRED, so now they’re going to try to suppress the available information available to progressives.  Prediction:  the internet is the next target.

I’m not trying to sound “doom and gloom,” I just want people to understand that these right wingers have been “pushing” this agenda since the days when maybe 10% of America would listen to them.  I believe the reality that a Black person could win the presidency has put them on “high alert” to the point where, as the idiot Donald Trump said, they believe it’s time for a revolution?????  Are you kidding me???  To point out how ridiculous Trump is – he was ranting about the electoral college and how President Obama was going to win that while losing the popular vote – when, at final tally Obama had over a 3 MILLION vote advantage when all was said and done.  What Trump probably doesn’t want to talk about is that George W Bush was the recipient of republican voter suppression tactics in Florida, circa 2000, and with the Supreme Court’s help won the White House with something around the “majority” Romney had over Obama with the popular vote.  These people will take any FACT and twist it to their purposes with NO REGARD for the TRUTH. (and, of course, that manipulation of our democracy lead to huge deficit spending, Iraq, torture, outing a CIA agent, lying to congress at will, undermining the very departments they were in charge of managing – ie FEMA and Huricane Katrina – I could go on)

Trump is still calling for Obama to release his college transcripts (did he do this with Bush? or Romney?) and suggesting that Hawaii was not part of the United States when Obama was born – or, maybe even still promoting the theory that he was born in Kenya.  Now, John McCain WAS born in Panama, but there was no outcry there – can you guess why?  It took less than 24 hours after Romney conceded and the Limbaugh’s and others like him were already spewing their racial hatred.  Can you just imagine how difficult it must be for them to realize that the “demographics,” as our population was referred to after the election, is only going to get worse for the republican party as it exists today.  If you look at the electoral map of the election, Romney won almost the entire south (I believe his choice of Paul Ryan cost him Florida where there are enough retired Americans to provide enough of a backlash to Medicare vouchers to defeat the voter suppression tactics of Florida’s right wing governor) and the Midwest as it stretches into Idaho – the land of the white supremists – a friend of mine sent me an email that showed that the top ten educated states (by number of college graduates over the age of 25) voted for Obama and the bottom ten (mostly in the south), with the exception of Nevada, voted for Romney.  Does that tell it all?  And, the sad reality is that the sections of the country voting for Romney show little or no signs of changing – in a way that would improve the lives of their own people.  Have you ever wondered why republicans are always promising to eliminate the department of education?

Here’s where progressives need to take a sober look.  Many are pointing out that people like Karl Rove, The Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adleson, the Wall Street bankers, the oil and gas industry, etc. WASTED BILLIONS trying to get what they perceived the proper puppet, Mitt Romney, elected.  Guess again!  They’ve got piles of money they haven’t even thought about.  People like me have a difficult time even imagining the fortunes of the richest elite in this nation.  Koch industries has annual revenue in excess of $100 BILLION!  The net worth of the two brothers is over $50 BILLION and growing – they can’t spend it fast enough on politics to hardly make a dent in their economic fortunes.  They’re not going away.  And, they’re already regrouping to figure out how to move FARTHER to the right and still brainwash America’s public into voting against the self interest of the middle class.  They won’t reduce the pressure on their congressional employees – that’s right, the tea party faction knows where their money is coming from – and the Kochs are only a small part of the wealthy elite in this nation who look upon us “little people” as exactly that.  The WAR for the heart and soul of America won’t end until the republican party, as it’s presently composed, becomes a distant memory.  And, they’re not going away easily.  Those of us on the “left” (I always thought of myself as a conservative on most issues until these modern republicans came along) had better take a deep breath and then brace for the next part of the fight.

My suggestion (as I stated before the election) is that we pressure President Obama to have the resolve to push back against the bullying tactics of the “tea partiers” in the House of Representatives.  Beyond that, the democratic party (unfortunately, that’s the only viable option available to those who oppose what the republicans are doing) needs to begin the process of finding strong candidates to challenge republicans at every step of the 2014 election.  To me, it was unthinkable that John Boehner had no opposition in 2012.  My family’s from Ohio originally, I know the people of Ohio don’t believe in Boehner’s agenda – it’s a true blue collar, “hard working folk” state.  The democratic party should make sure people like Boehner, Ryan in Wisconsin, Cantor in Virginia, and others have to defend their outrageous positions with the voters of their districts.  I believe in “life,” but this idea that Christians will vote republican because of the abortion issue is absurd to me (I’m a Christian).  In my mind, you aren’t “pro life” if you vote against pre-natal care for poor pregnant women, Medicaid (as a teacher in a high poverty school I see the benefit of health care for poor children all the time – their poverty is not their fault!), programs like child care assistance, food stamps, housing assistance,  Head Start (statistics say children do 75% of their learning by the age of 5), and national health care.  I’ve heard the republican positions characterized as “love the fetus, hate the child.”  Combining this with the republicans anti worker, anti union positions and their support of corporate welfare and lower and lower taxes and those who can afford the most – and, you can see their success will depend on a HUGE acceleration of their propaganda scheme.  Progressives didn’t gain much in 2012’s election, they just didn’t suffer the terrible potential of that “permanent republican majority” being imposed upon America.  The fight for the heart and soul of this great nation, therefore, continues!  President Obama’s legacy hangs in the balance – progressives need to push him toward greatness!

I started following politics closely in the late 1960’s as several of my high school classmates became victims of the Vietnam fiasco.  During the 30 or so years from the end of that terrible blunder until the Iraq blunder I found myself frustrated with the direction of American politics but pretty much silent about my feelings.  Additionally, during that time span I decided that Jesus Christ was a much better guide for my life than what I had managed on my own and I became a Christian.  So, I found myself often surrounded by people who were studying the same book as me but who had extremely different views on politics.  I didn’t (and still don’t) bring up the subject with most of them because, for whatever reason, most of them would fall into the “diehard” republican camp as far as their political preferences go.  Based on my observations over the years, that “partnership” is based on the “belief” by most of these Christians that the republicans are “pro life.”  I’ve gotten to the point where I get a queezy feeling in my stomach even as I write that.  I’m explaining this to preference my remarks (as they might find their way onto this post) as I’m pondering the state of this nation I so love – 4 days before what I feel is the most important election of my lifetime.

My red flags started waving in 1980 when the first “fringe” republican succeeded in winning national office with the election of Ronald Reagan (still seemingly considered a deity by most of today’s republicans).  I recognized that the political operatives who first came to light (at least to me) during the Nixon years were certainly mastering their trade (this included people like Roger Ailes who now plays a prominent role in the propaganda scheme which republicans seem to have mastered – the “big lie” theory of Joseph Goebbels of the third Reich – as Ailes is the head of Fox “news” – I always put “news” in quotes because you don’t have to look very hard to realize that they are anything but a news outlet).  The insiders in the republican “scheme” have become very adept at what they’re up to and their arrogance has amazed even me as I watch this 2012 election come to a close.  These people schemed to get Reagan elected in 1980 by backing “liberal” republican John Andersen’s third party bid (which took precious votes from Jimmy Carter) and by making a “deal with the devil” (Iran) to make sure the American hostages weren’t released until after the election.  In my mind, America’s “liberal media” still has not brought to light the significance of that action – let alone the other illegal actions of Reagan and his surrogates regarding Iran/Contra.  Republicans either own or have intimidated this “liberal media” to the point where none of their deception is “called out.”  In the years since Reagan’s time I’ve come to loathe the republican party as it has moved dangerously far to the “right” and has increased its willingness to follow the “end justifies the means” theory of politics – now to the extreme.

I believe this has been allowed to happen because their methods are so un-American that most of us can’t even get our minds around that they would have the “brass,” as Bill Clinton put it, to implement their present strategies.  The lying and unethical practices continue to grow and our aforementioned “liberal press” continues to lack the courage to call it what it is.  Fox “news” has succeeded in convincing way too many Americans that they are “fair and balanced” (again, do a little research and check out the “big lie theory” – it should be sobering for you) and they’ve turned the word “liberal” into something that seems almost like a “dirty” word to many.  I’ve even heard this word referred to in a derogatory manner by many of my Christian brethren despite the CLEAR evidence that Jesus Christ would be a “liberal” by the accepted definition of that term today.

With all this as background I’ll get to what inspired my thoughts for today.  I was driving to town and allowed myself to listen to an add from Mitt Romney.  I instantaneously reminded myself that he makes me as sick to my stomach as Rush Limbaugh – who I used to listen to when he first hit the airwaves in the 1980’s.  It took me a while to realize what Limbaugh was “up to” but it wasn’t hard for me to figure out that he often made racist comments.  That was what originally turned me away from even listening to him – but, occasionally I would give it another try and, as I began reading more to educate myself better on how our nation’s government was “really” working it would rarely take more than a few minutes before I’d be saying to myself (usually as I would be driving around) “That’s a lie” regarding one of his “assertions,” and “he’s a paid republican shill.”  Limbaugh’s lying prompted a couple books by Al Franken that called him on the lies and which should have reduced his audience – but, probably increased it instead (Franken, of course, is a liberal).  Then I thought, when Limbaugh only lasted one night on “Monday Night Football” because of his inability to hide his racist beliefs, certainly that would diminish his standing with Americans who I thought were moving away from racism – but, he’s continued to play to a huge audience.  Of course, with the 2008 election of Barrack Obama, Limbaugh has been on a mission since – to make sure that President Obama “fails.” To me his almost continuous OVERT racist comments are disgusting – and, it’s discouraging that his audience continues and his sponsors support him. (I’ve often thought that a good idea for a website would be one that identifies the sponsors of the political “talkers” on the airwaves – with a subsequent movement to support or boycott them based on the messaging of the “talker.”  Somehow, there’s got to be accountability for people like Limbaugh and the others who are part of this republican propaganda scheme)

Well, Romney seems to be cut from the same cloth.  Now, at times I’m sure Limbaugh was not a “fan” of Mitt Romney – but I have no doubts this is a “black and white” election for him.  However, Romney seems to have the same ability to lie without a second thought which must seem to be a strength for Limbaugh.  Today’s lie was him blaming the “gridlock” in Washington DC over the past four years on Obama.  I believe he’s suggesting that if Obama’s reelected that will continue because there’s no way the republican senate will stop their 24/7 filibuster strategy to make sure the president can’t pass anything he wants through congress (in fact, there was no mention of the record 380+ filibusters of the last four years in the senate – by republicans).  He’s now reportedly claiming that Chrysler, which was saved by Obama’s administration, is planning to move it’s operations to China (my first thought when I heard that was I wonder if that means Bain Capital is purchasing a controlling interest in the company?) – so far, I’ve heard two of Chrysler’s top executives openly refute that (one saying Romney’s “full of sh#t”) – but, he continues to say it to the unsuspecting voters of Ohio and Wisconsin.  Additionally, Romney has spewed out enough “code words” in this election cycle to make his racial attitude obvious – but, save for Chris Matthews of MSNBC I haven’t heard anyone who’s in a position to matter calling him and his surrogates on this.

The sad reality of this election is that it will be decided on where America stands on the race issue.  Unfortunately, this is an issue that many of us thought was FINALLY going to be headed toward the scrap heap of history – but, no matter how this election turns out, it’s obvious to me that race continues to be a major issue in this nation.  I’m presently reading “Bonhoeffer – Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” by Eric Metaxas about the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian pastor who led the German opposition to Adolph Hitler from the time he gained power in 1932 until Bonhoeffer’s death when he was executed for his part in an assassination attempt on Hitler himself.  I have to admit that it’s a rarity I would read a book recommended by Glenn Beck and Mike Huckabee, but this is, for me, an I can’t put it down book – and, I’m sure there must be something I’m missing in this book because Beck and Huckabee, to me, at least to the part I’ve finished so far, are part of what the book is warning about.  It was the Christian church in Germany that allowed itself to get tricked by the Nazi’s into helping them gain a stranglehold on Germany and turn the fledgling German democracy (the result of their defeat in WW I) into a dictatorship.  It’s exactly the government/church/corporate partnership that I see Bonhoeffer opposing – that could be on the horizon in America today (and the sad reality is that it’s the republicans who are claiming Obama would be the – you name it – socialist, Maoist, communist, fascist … fill in the blank – If you don’t understand their [republican’s] tactics – look up the meaning of ” political projection” by clicking here).  The republicans have virtually “enlisted” the so-called “Christian Right” as a voting block which allows them to do a plethora of “un Christian” things politically, and get away with it – because many “conservative” Christians seem to be willing to blindly believe the liars like Romney, Limbaugh, Rove, Hannity, etc.

I can’t even imagine the words “President Romney.”  (this man has 137 Cayman Islands tax shelters – not to mention his Swiss Bank accounts and tax shelters in Bermuda – that alone should make him unqualified to lead this nation – without even considering his racist attitudes – don’t believe me, click here to find out about racial code words in Romney’s strategy AND he’s the biggest liar to run for president in my lifetime!) I’m sick of the republicans in congress putting their selfish interests ahead of the interests of the nation.  And, I think the worst part of it all for me is that they couldn’t do anything without the blind support of the “Christian right.”  (personally, I call it the “Christian wrong.”)  If you read this between when I post it and election day and you agree with me, try to encourage someone who might not vote to go to the polls.  In my state, Washington, it’s been reported now that republican operatives are going door to door, in democratic leaning areas, “volunteering” to hand deliver ballots to the polls (two guesses where those ballots are ending up).  UNBELIEVABLE – yet, in Oregon republican operatives have managed to gain positions counting ballots and have been caught “red handed” filling in republican votes into places on ballots voters left blank.  The voter suppression tactics have been widely reported nationwide and recently it was revealed that the Romneys have a vested financial interest in one of the main voting machine companies.  The CRAP just continues to show it’s ugly face!  Republicans managed to get a Supreme Court which passed the Citizens United decision (millions of Americans are still unaware of the impact of that decision – despite the flood of anonymous adds hitting the airwaves this year) and, while a Romney victory won’t cause me to lose my own faith – history will show that America’s “conservative” Christians of 2012 could parallel the German Christians of 1932 if Romney wins! (The German leaders played off of hatred toward Jews while the American republican leaders are playing off of hatred toward Blacks)