There’s a group of right wing politicians lining up as candidates for the republican nomination for president in 2016 and they all seem to be spouting the same line: “We need to ‘take our country back.'”  Well, have you ever wondered what that actually means?  Take it back to (or from) what?  There never seems to be substance to that cliche’, but they repeat it often enough that I’m continually wondering what they REALLY mean.  The more I ponder this, the more I believe they want to “take ‘our’ country back from “we the people” – so to speak to the days of the “Robber Barons.”  That is, they are pushing for the continuation of the assault on FDR’s “New Deal” which has been in the “cross-hairs” of the right wing since the days of FDR himself.

Ronald Reagan made it clear who they think is the enemy when he said to fear these words, “I’m from the government and I can help.”  For 50 some years there’s been a group of right wing “conservatives” who’ve been attempting to gain control of our government in order to dismantle it.  And, they are very sophisticated, they can’t seem to take no for an answer (meaning losing elections just seems to invigorate them), they have unlimited funds, and they’ve – over the years – gained MORE and MORE power in the fundamental underpinnings of our government system.  (ie – control of the courts, the media, local legislatures, state legislature, governorships, and now America’s Congress.)  All that is left for them to have a complete “stranglehold” on our “system” is gaining the White House.  Should that happen in 2016 all the unsuspecting “liberals” and democrats who don’t seem to be paying close attention will have an incredible “up hill climb” to reverse the damage that will be done in short order from the date the next president (if it’s a republican) takes the oath of office.

They have already achieved much toward their goal to repeal every part of the New Deal.  In fact, as recently as 2007 -2008 we (America – and, because of us the rest of the world) experienced a financial calamity that, except for the TARP “bailout” and actions taken by President Obama shortly after he took office, could have resulted in another “Great Depression” due in large part to the repeal of New Deal regulations that prevented Wall Street Banks from becoming “too big to fail.”  Obviously, the American people didn’t learn much from that one, because we’ve now voted back into control of Congress the policy makers who still profess the very politics that brought that crisis to a head.  In my mind, the “next go round” is not too far in the distance – especially if the republicans gain the White House in the next election.  The coddling of Wall Street is not unique to republicans, the democrats – some way more than others – are guilty as well – but, it was the repeal of Glass Steagall that allowed the banks to consolidate with investment houses leading to the savings of Americans being gambled in high risk derivatives.  (and, yes, it was Bill Clinton who signed the repeal of Glass Steagall as he was seeking to “get things done” with a republican led congress – but, it was an issue that originated with and was pushed by republicans led by Phil Gramm).

Since George W Bush took office in 2001 the push to privatize EVERYTHING possible has been on steroids.  The “conservatives” have succeeded in “privatizing” many different aspects of what was once government responsibility on the assumption that private business can do things more efficiently.  I’m sure in some instances that is true, but let’s look at the prison system.  Do we really want a privatized prison system – where the focus then turns to profitability instead of rehabilitation?  I really don’t get that one.  And, republicans have been trying for years (and they still are) to privatize Social Security and Medicare (while ostensibly eliminating Medicaid), and tonight I happened to tune into the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC and she reported that the republicans have a plan in place to push for privatization of the VA after gaining the White House in 2016.  Yikes!  I’m sure they will claim they’re doing this in the interest of all the veterans they claim to support (one of these days ask a vet who’s home from Afghanistan, Iraq, or one of the still living who went to Viet Nam or Korea how much they think republicans are “supporting the troops”) and won’t bring up their motives to gain access to the TRILLIONS of dollars that will be required to adequately take care of ALL of our disabled (and otherwise) veteran’s health care in the next 40 years.

Yes the VA is experiencing some difficulties, but much of that has been brought about via spending cuts initiated by republicans in Congress.  The VA needs more doctors, more nurses and more facilities.  It shouldn’t take a “brain surgeon” to figure that one out – we’ve got something along the lines of a quarter of a MILLION vets who’ve returned from either Iraq or Afghanistan (or, in many cases, both).  Viet Nam should have made clear to our leaders that troops who are involved in conflicts where there is no clear enemy – that is, like in Viet Nam, the troops spent tours where they had to wonder if they were in someone’s “cross-hairs” 24/7.  In both Iraq and Afghanistan there was no clear “enemy.” Aside from all the obvious injuries brought home from these “wars” by our troops, the number with mental maladies must reach into the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS.  My guess is that most who experienced combat in either of these conflicts suffer from, at the minimum, PTSD.  Those afflicted need whatever level of medical attention necessary to give them a chance to re-integrate into American society. (and, it should be a lifetime commitment and it should be FREE)

Although, the longer we were there with the BUNGLING of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld regime, the number of “enemies” was continually on the rise along with the rise in American “casualties.”  And, by casualties in this instance, I’m talking about the troops who made it home needing the above mentioned medial treatment.  Believe it or not, the Iraqi people, in general, didn’t take well to American troops breaking down their doors, ransacking their homes, taking family members prisoner and then torturing them.  As these wars dragged on, the more our military came to understand they were given a bogus mission, and the more they realized our policy was creating more “enemies” every day of the occupation. I have to believe the only thing which keeps the American public from understanding this is the incredible BRAINWASHING we receive on a daily basis from our “liberal media.”  The solution isn’t to privatize our VA, the solution is to fully FUND it!

This discussion could go on and on.  For example, we’ve fallen to something like 33rd in the world in education.  The “push” to privatize education has been ongoing since the days of Reagan – you guessed it, there’s a lot of money to be “had” in education dollars.  But, like the VA, the prison system, and so many other aspects of government, the republican strategy is to siphon financial support away from “whatever” (in this case education) and, then claim it’s “broken” and can only be fixed by the “free market.”  (allowing for more of their benefactors to skim HUGE amounts of money from the American “pie”)  As a retired teacher I could get lost writing about this issue, but suffice it to say that if America’s public education was fully funded from “top to bottom” (this includes early childhood education and support for low income students) the results would be much more competitive with the rest of the world.  This is just another example of how republicans think and work.

It’s not much different from the business model of republican leaders.  For example, the last republican nominee for president, Mitt Romney, used the same philosophy to get rich in the business world – presumably thinking if it worked there it will work in government.  Romney and his Bain Capital cohorts would purchase a company, underfund it by pulling as many assets as possible from the business, and then walk away leaving the mess for someone else to clean up.  And, of course, like the students in our schools, the inmates in our prisons, the Vets in our VA system, and the citizens of countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, the human capital that is lost is just “collateral damage.”  In the case of the businesses, millions of workers lost their jobs (and, in many cases, their retirement savings accounts), in the prisons you hear stories of people spending years behind bars for possession of a joint, in education you end up with many students who will never reach their potential for lack of support, and in Iraq nearly half the nation was uprooted from their homes, not to mention all the dead and wounded.  The “free market” philosophy continues to fail miserably yet republicans continue to “push it.”

So, again, what is it that republicans want to “take our country back” from?  They’re certainly not trying to take it back from the things I just mentioned – in fact, they’re pushing for more of the same.  The Affordable Care Act (AKA “Obamacare”) has provided something like 16 MILLION Americans health insurance so that they can go to the doctor without fear of bankruptcy, yet the republicans want to “take us back” from that – with, as far as I can tell, no alternative.  I don’t think they’re trying to “take us back” to the days when corporations and MILLIONAIRES paid higher taxes (in the case of corporations, maybe I should say “some” taxes) although they claim to want to “balance the budget.”  They recently voted in Congress to repeal the estate tax which will remove something like $280 BILLION in the next 10 years – I haven’t heard how they plan to keep that from “ballooning” the budget deficit.  Maybe they want to take us all the way back to when there wasn’t programs like Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, food stamps, environmental protections, a food and drug administration, the IRS, etc. etc.  Maybe that’s it, you know, “every man for himself.”  The true “state of nature” where the “strong will survive.”  Maybe that’s why the NRA is such an integral part of their support group.  I don’t know, but I’m open to suggestions.

All I can tell you is that I have children and grand children that I love dearly (you probably do as well) and I’m very concerned as to what those of us who are considered “mature” are going to leave them.  I’m a “baby boomer” and I feel a sense of embarrassment crossed with a sense of anger when I see groups of White Americans who don’t even realize the “White privilege” they’ve enjoyed for the past 70 years (actually, it’s obviously been going on much longer than that, but that’s kind of the median age of the baby boomers from my calculations).  We’ve enjoyed a wonderful highway system, the best of the education system (college was SO available – and affordable – when I was “of age”), good and cheap medical care (until post Reagan America – more “privatization”), and a nation that led the world in “upward mobility” during our prime years.  (Now, with the advent of “trickle up” economics, America is near the bottom of ALL advanced nations in the possibility of children born into poverty “moving up”)

The list goes on and on and I can only guess what “we want to take our country back” actually means.  You’re going to hear it OVER and OVER again between now and November 2016.  If I thought for a minute that the republicans meant to “take us back” to the pre-Reagan years – that is, the 50’s through 70’s – I’d be right in line to vote for them.  If they would promote publicly operated hospitals, prisons focused on rehabilitation, fully funded education for our once treasured public school system, a focus on human rights and civil rights, rebuilding our infrastructure and protecting our environment (I didn’t even mention all the republican climate change deniers in this post, and ultimately, that could be their gravest threat to our nation’s (and the world’s) stability), and ACTUALLY a plan to balance the budget through a combination of tax increases and public investment (along with a commitment to peace) then I would no longer feel the need to vote AGAINST republicans.  The sad reality is that their “belief system” fails miserably for the vast majority of Americans who “need” government yet they continue on the path which has pushed America downward in so many ways for the past 35+ years.  If the democrats had the “stones” to fight for their own fundamental beliefs, they would be the ones campaigning on “we want to take our country back.”

I briefly mentioned above how so many White Americans, at least in my opinion, have no conception of what is called “White privilege.”  I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on that thought, I was simply trying to “blend” it into my “thought of the evening.”  However, as I finished writing this and was briefly skimming it for the inevitable “foo pahs” I had another thought:  “Maybe that’s it – that’s what they mean when they say they want to “take our country back.”  Maybe they feel that having a person of color in the White House means they’ve lost “their” country.  Yikes!  I’ve been thinking of a post that relates to the FACT republicans have held in abeyance the nomination of Loretta Lynch (a Black FEMALE nominated for Attorney General – a person who’s been previously confirmed to a judicial position UNANIMOUSLY) for longer than the previous SEVEN Attorney Generals COMBINED and I have to think:  She’s obviously a woman, and she’s obviously a person of color.  Do you think that’s what republicans want to take us back from?  A country where women or people of color can reach the highest offices in the land?  A country where people are judged by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin?  WE all know they “want Barack Obama to FAIL!”   And, now this fiasco with Loretta Lynch.  Again, I’m just trying to make sense of all this and ……………………………..