I really don’t know where to start.  Everyday I come up with ideas to write about, but I think it’s hard to actually sit down and do it because the reality of what is happening in America is so depressing.  I’m always reading and the present book is titled, “The New Deal” by Michael Hiltzik.  This book looks at the New Deal from a perspective I haven’t read before (I’ve read MANY books about this time period in American history) because Eleanor Roosevelt is barely mentioned.  Hiltzik gives a good account to those who opposed the New Deal right from the beginning and it is very prescient of what seems to be a “re-run” of the “Robber Baron” era in 21st Century America.

I’m constantly reminding those who end up reading my posts of the saying, “Those who choose to ignore history are bound to repeat it.”  This “reality” (that “we the people” are ignoring history) is what I believe makes American politics seems so depressing.  Nothing that is happening makes any sense for anyone like myself who grew up as beneficiaries of the New Deal and want to pass on the great traditions that were spawned in those troubling times to our children and grandchildren.  However, what looks to me to be “sitting on the horizon” is nothing to be proud to hand down to “future generations.”

The income inequality in America which is widening as I type this is reminiscent of the pre-depression years, America’s military is spinning out of control (as predicted by Dwight Eisenhower), and – in my view – there are FAR too many Americans willing to give up their rights in the name of “national security.”  (Of course, we’re not talking about gun owners – it’s like their right to bear arms is more important to them than their right to privacy)  Tens of millions of Americans are still without health insurance and republicans have “promised” to increase the amount by another ten million by repealing the Affordable Health Care law.  Millions of Americans are going to bed hungry at night, yet we’re cutting programs like food stamps.  Hiltzik’s book accurately portrays FDR’s reluctance to address the needs of the African American community, and, if you’re paying attention, things haven’t changed much.  African Americans are certainly better off today than they were back then, but the election of our first African American President (actually 1/2 African American), in my view, has helped to clarify there’s MUCH left to do in order to truly make America stand up to her ideals.  Honestly, to me, I believe the increase in overt racism since President Obama’s election is the most depressing part of the entire “reality” we the people are facing.

What’s interesting (and, to me, a bit confusing) about the most recent “mid-term” election which allowed republicans to gain control of both houses of Congress was the FACT that American voters were in favor of progressive policies in their “exit poll” interviews (raising the minimum wage, net neutrality, a woman’s “right to choose,” etc.) but voted in some incredibly right wing candidates to the senate (and probably the House as well, I just wasn’t able to follow those races as close).  People like Joni Ernst, who won Tom Harkin’s seat in Iowa, are so far to the right they are scary.  I actually saw her speaking where she claimed she has the right to use her hand gun on government employees if “they” don’t respect her “rights.”  She, at the time, was applying for a pretty significant government position (the Senate).  I’ve wondered since I heard that, does she give the same rights to someone who might disagree with her interpretation of their rights?  A majority of Iowans actually voted for this woman (in my mind, shame on Iowa) knowing that she was a byproduct of Koch Industries and the money that group was funneling into her “race.”  I’ll give her credit for transparency as she was one of the FEW “puppets” of the Koch “empire” willing to acknowledge her allegiance publicly.

What we’re apparently going to have as a Congress is a majority which believes in repealing the Affordable Care Act (with no alternative), privatizing Social Security, voucherizing Medicare and eliminating Medicaid, cutting programs like Food Stamps, unemployment “insurance,” the EPA, the Food and Drug administration, the CDC (they’ve already managed to cut it back significantly without a majority in the Senate), and INCREASE the funding of our MILITARY and the “complex” that BENEFITS from America’s plan (instituted so expertly by Bush/Cheney) for “perpetual WAR.”  I firmly believe many republicans vote for them while unknowingly supporting much of this agenda that they might otherwise oppose.  I’ll give one quick example:  Republicans used the Ebola crisis to successfully criticize President Obama (who didn’t get much support from his own party regarding his leadership in attempting to halt this epidemic while it’s still centered in West Africa), yet they were instrumental in cutting funds for the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and the NIH (National  Institutes of Health – where the fight against Ebola would logically be centered) with NO accountability for their actions.  Many let the republican claims about Obama and Ebola influence their vote (or non-vote) AGAINST democrats and NOW, that the election is past (and, President Obama’s reassurances have been realized – as opposed to the knee jerk reactions of politicians like Chris Christie) I haven’t heard more than a “whisper” about Ebola since the election.  (And, the crisis is continuing in West Africa – with some hope thanks in large part to the actions of our president).

Thinking about politics becomes depressing because despite our leaders (of both parties) constantly using cliches like “Hope and Change” – while continuing their connection to the corporate interests that fund their campaigns (and, if you’re not familiar what having a government which is based on a corporate/government alliance, Google it – the term is fascism) – there continues to be little hope for change.  It’s almost as if the behemoth of the military industrial complex Eisenhower warned us about (in the 1950’s!) has become too big to stop!  Sadly, “we the people” are being turned against each other by brilliant political strategists who understand how to manipulate public thought through the mass media and I’m constantly feeling (and amazed) that so many Americans are tricked into voting against their own best interests.  I’m an idealist who continues to hope (and pray) that CHANGE will eventually occur via the “ballot box” and not through the other, less appealing, alternatives.  (We’re seeing, as I write this, frustration boiling over in Ferguson Missouri from Black Americans who’ve “had enough” of what seems to be evolving into an oligarchy – or worse).  I continue to look for “alternatives” and ideas on how “we the people” might DEMAND our leaders behave differently.  And, often times, my ideas “sprout” from places I wouldn’t expect.

Each week I meet in a “small group” of awesome friends which originated in the Church I attend.  What’s really interesting to me is that this group is comprised of people who, politically, think much differently than me.  I would say (although I don’t talk about it with most of them) that they were originally drawn to be “republicans” by the abortion issue, many years ago.  We are connected by our belief in Christ and we study the Bible on a regular basis.  Obviously, if you’ve read many of my other posts you know that I’m not what you’d call a member of the “Christian Right” – although, I’ve been steadfast for years in not allowing what that group ostensibly stands for to cause me to waver in my belief that Jesus Christ was/is REAL!  That being said, the reason I point this out is that last night we were studying “Romans 12” –  a chapter in one of the great epistles of the New Testament.  My thought was, as we were reading it and studying it together, that it should be required reading for all Americans.  It’s full of what we call “Commands to obey” and, those commands are so relevant to what forms my own political beliefs.

Romans 12 concludes with the command: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him.  If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.”  I point this out because so many of those who I disagree with politically claim that America is a “Christian nation.”  I truly wish I could agree with that, but it appears to me that America has become a nation that bombs first and asks questions later.  Instead of working from the “bottom up” – that is, focusing on “The least of these” in the words of Christ – we have become a nation that has embraced the so-called “trickle down” (I always call it “trickle up”) philosophy that was thrust upon us by Ronald Reagan and the oligarchs who were behind his ascension to the presidency.  Sadly (in my view), many of the “brains” behind the “Reagan revolution” are still lurking in the shadows of our government mechanisms and pushing our nation farther and farther to the “right.” (wrong)  The idea that the republican party is going to spend the next two years disemboweling our government of as many remnants of the New Deal (that remain), the Great Society (SCOTUS has already gutted the Voting Rights Act), and the early successes of the Obama administration is nothing for me to look forward to.

I look at the “water carriers” of this agenda – like – Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Lars Larsen, etc., etc., almost as traitors.  It’s like give me your money and I will say (on the public airwaves) whatever you (I’m talking about the invisible cabal that supplies the BILLIONS of dollars to buy these “pundits” and the politicians who do their bidding) demand.  Clearly, I don’t have a lot of confidence that the Democratic members of Congress have the SPINE to stand up to these people – in fact, there’s little doubt that the democrats are “feeding from the same trough as the republicans.”  We are already experiencing private prisons – I can’t even believe I’m writing this – private prisons would be places where corporate interests PROFIT from keeping people IN JAIL!  We are being inundated with privatized “everything” – including military “companies” like the former Blackwater (the last I knew they were calling themselves ZE services), schools (that are censoring their curriculum), and I could go on.  I’ve written many times about what has happened to America’s health care system since hospital’s and health insurance companies became focused on PROFITS and shareholder value over the health of their customers.  Only 36% of Americans voted in the last election.  That sends the message to me that America’s voters don’t see hope in either party.  The democrats brought this on themselves, but the voters who stayed home and allowed republicans to control Congress are, in many instances, the people who will lose the most from this debacle.  Evidently, 2007 – 2008 wasn’t enough to convince America’s voting public of the motives of today’s republican party.  In fact, I believe it’s worse now than it was then.  Do we need another Depression to relearn that corporate greed and political prostitution is a bad idea?