Well, today’s election day and if you’ve been reading many of my posts you already know that I will be disappointed if the republicans retake control of the Senate (albeit for just the next two years).  I consider myself an independent, but have grown to the point where I feel those who LEAD the republican party are like a reincarnation of the so-called “robber barons” of days gone by.  I spend a lot of time (probably too much) trying to understand why any working class American would vote for republicans like Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, and I could go on and on.  Obviously, there are many Americans who have no idea what these people REALLY stand for.  Yet, in my mind, the truth is that the republicans have figured out how to DOMINATE the discussion in American politics and they are almost completely driving the conversations.

Which brings me to the other alternative (we, like it or not, have a two party system) the democrats.  I’ve been saying for years that the democratic party needs to grow a spine – and, this midterm election is giving a good example of what I’ve been talking about.  I’ll try to clarify.

Just six years ago (that’s not very long) the American public was “given” the “Great Recession” by the Bush/Cheney regime that robbed many of the very people who are likely to be voting republican as I’m writing this a significant portion of their savings/retirement income.  In response President Obama and a large majority of Congress was voted in for the democrats.  There was a succession of significant blunders right from the start of the Obama administration that turned off the liberals (like me) and led to the success of the “Tea Party” movement which was funded by the right “wingers” in America who’ve been lurking “under the surface” of politics since the days of FDR.  I’ll rehash these a bit here, just for those who might need a history lesson.  President Obama chose Rahm Emmanuel as his “chief of staff.”  Emmanuel is a great example of a corporatist politician (exactly what people like me are/were sick of).  Then he chose Larry Summers as his chief economic adviser and Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary.  Those two choices made it clear to President Obama’s “base” that the corporate greed in Washington DC would proceed virtually unabated.  (It was Emmanuel who referred to “liberals” like me as f@#%ing retards – evidently for not “rubber stamping” our President’s initial decisions)

Then Eric Holder, another with ties to corporate interests on Wall Street, not only failed to prosecute a SINGLE case of financial fraud concerning behavior of the “too big to fail” (jail?) banks but he, along with President Obama, chose to “look the other way” concerning the CRIMES of the Bush/Cheney regime.  These actions accomplished two negative things from the perspective of the democratic party.  It FUELED the outrage that led to the “Tea Party” essentially gaining control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterms (because, as people like me predicted at the time, the “liberals” were TURNED OFF! and wouldn’t vote)  Of course, along with the blunders mentioned here, the democrats in Congress, themselves, couldn’t seem to get their act together.  The “Health Reform” bill was put together by Max Baucus, a corporatist democrat from Montana, with the help of over a BILLION dollars of lobbying money coming from, you guessed it, the health industry.  75% of Americans wanted the “public option” but the democrats couldn’t deliver on that and came up with something that could only be classified as “better than nothing.”  (They actually passed a bill that had it’s origination in the right wing Heritage Foundation – I could only surmise, at the time, the reason the republicans were against it was because President Obama was for it)

President Obama had to fight members of his own party, and eventually cave to a couple republicans, to get the financial stimulus bill passed – which was MUCH NEEDED – but it was TOO SMALL, and once he lost his large majority another “jobs bill” in the face of Mitch McConnell’s endless filibusters was impossible.  Brilliant economists like Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, and MANY Americans like me understood we needed a larger stimulus with a greater emphasis on job creation, but the democrats couldn’t deliver.  As people realized what was happening – Wall Street experiencing “business as usual,” Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld et al facing not even an investigation into their illegal activities (including lying us into war, war profiteering, authorizing TORTURE, lying to Congress, outing a CIA agent, politicizing the Justice Department, and more), and Health Care “reform” that favors the private health insurance companies – (and, by the way, it is better than nothing), and either unemployment or stagnant wages – the result of all this based on my experience (I’ve talked to a lot of “regular” people) is that many Americans don’t see “a lick of difference” between the two parties.

OK, so where am I going with all this (my history lesson)?  Well, as I read a report today stating that Chuck Todd (I’ve written about this guy before – if you don’t know, he’s the new moderator of “Meet the Press” and the so-called political “expert” of MSNBC – he has a very serious misconception of journalism – in my view – as he’s prone to infuse his opinion in where it wouldn’t belong if he was a serious journalist – but, in today’s world?  It’s what we get) is labeling the democratic party as “Clinton’s party” because, evidently, the Clinton’s are so active attempting to support democrats – mostly in the south – where President Obama is “unwanted” as a campaigner (Do I really have to explain why this is so to you?  Seems as if I need to explain it to Mr. Todd) .  All I will add here is that you CAN give information without throwing in your opinion.  I taught the sixth grade for 20 years and I tried to prepare my students for their impending responsibility to be active members of society (which includes voting).  Not ONCE in 20 years did I EVER tell them who I voted for in an election.  I simply told them that I ALWAYS vote!  Period!

My point here is that I want to give a little advice to the democratic party – only because that’s the alternative to the republican party.  The TOTAL reason you may lose control of the Senate today is embossed in Todd’s words.  Let me put it another way.  I’ve been saying this for many years – democrats are, by and large, spineless!  Since 9/11 republicans have suffocated America with negativity and the democrats have kind of just fallen in line.  One way I’ve said it before is that both republicans and democrats seem to be “feeding from the same trough.”  It’s just that when it comes to corporate money – republicans get more and when it comes to fear-mongering the republicans are far more sophisticated.  Republicans are spreading fear and democrats seem “fearful.”  Republicans are attempting to “connect” ISIL and Ebola to President Obama (which is so absurd that it just shows the level of sophistication [or lack there of] in today’s America) and democrats are busy reminding their supporters to FEAR the Koch brothers enough to get to the polls and vote.

As far as I can tell, neither party is talking about an agenda – more than the normal cliche’s that guarantees the politician will face no accountability should he/she be elected.  (this isn’t universal – I’ve given money to Allison Lundergun Grimes in Kentucky, Jeff Merkley in Oregon, Wendy Davis in Texas, Rick Weiland in South Dakota, and others around the country I can’t remember right now – like candidates supported by VoteVets.org – who are telling me what they’re for).  As you might imagine, my email inbox is FILLED every day with requests for money by democratic candidates who almost universally are telling me to FEAR the Koch brothers.  In reality, I was warning THEM about the Koch brothers years ago, and they didn’t listen.  People like me were warning them about Citizens United when they had the ability to do something about it, they (the democratic party) weren’t listening.  And, I could go on and on about them – the democrats.  However, the point driving this entire post gets back to Chuck Todd’s OPINION that the democratic party is the party of the Clinton’s now.  He may be correct – but, in my view, if the dems lose it’s for the very reason he makes his point.

Despite the FACT that President Obama has an approval rating in the mid forties the last time I checked (which, by the way, is far higher than republicans in Congress), it appears there are many democrats running for office who have rejected his help in their election.  Evidently, these democratic politicians watch Fox News and listen to people like Todd – instead of STANDING UP for their own policies.  Things are SO MUCH better today than when President Obama took office (and, I’ll say it again, I’ve got my share of disagreement with the President) but you wouldn’t know it listening to the 2014 political debate – again, to me it’s an exercise in fear mongering, on both sides.  Republicans have NOTHING to offer, and Democrats apparently are unwilling to defend their accomplishments of the past few years.  It’s as if the politicians are pandering to a combination of their wealthy donors and the so-called “liberal media.”  FDR famously said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” – did today’s politicians fail to study history?