I Can't Believe We Ate the Whole Thing

There are plenty of Republicans out there, including now former Congressional leaders, who appear to be totally mystified as to why their agenda not only didn’t carry the day, but got unceremoniously blown out of the water. They really, really believe with all their heart that the conservative philosophy is absolutely the only way to view the totality of life. They will fervently preach it to all of the poor misbegotten souls who simply aren’t up to standard yet. But with a little right-minded education and a pat on the butt, the miscreants will have the scales fall from their eyes and, for the first time in their hitherto wretched lives, see the error of their ways. Weeping tears of joy, they will fall on their knees clutching to their breasts the hallowed flag of the Grand Old Party, thanking God and Jesus for saving them from the sins of the liberals.

It is totally beyond these people’s imaginations to consider alternatives to right-wing thought. It pervades their whole lives. It does not occur to them that other more centrist-minded or even left-leaning individuals might have an answer or two for some of our governmental and social problems. Their way of thinking is straightforward, shallow, simplistic, and dumb. Life is complicated. They are not.

By the way, while I’m thinking about it, I have voted in EVERY election since I was nineteen years old. I have always been an Independent, choosing to vote the issue, not the person or the party, considering what was best for the city, county, state, or country as a whole. Naïve, huh. Now that I’m a lot older and a lot saltier, I have no such pretenses.

Two years ago, for the first time in my life, I voted a straight party ticket. I tried my best to fire all the Republicans. I voted for all the Democrats and to hell with everything else, thank you. For me that was very extreme, politically speaking. It had been a long time coming and well deserved of the GOP. Now, just before this Presidential election, and also for the first time in my life, I registered as a Democrat. Then I voted a liberal plank, just as I had two years earlier. I am now part of a political machine...scary, isn’t it? I haven’t lost my identity, though. I’ve just added a new one and it feels good. Who knows? I might change my mind again someday.

There’s no question that I’m rolling the dice, right along with a majority of Americans who want “change”. Good luck to us all. I just don’t see how it could get any more screwed up than it has been the last eight years. Greed, corruption, and scandal have been the norm. The current administration from Bush on down has deliberately ignored the pulse of the nation, refusing to listen to anyone but their insulated right-wing advisors, the good old boys who have made their pile and continue to rake off their ill-gotten profits at our expense. Their corporate cronies have been calling the shots and reaping the benefits, while we stare in disbelief at their excesses. Some of them should follow the example of Kenneth Lay…all the way.



There are some things Obama can and should do right away when he takes office:

1) Put people to work on the country’s infrastructure…rebuilding bridges, replacing railroad tracks, and resurfacing roads…physically fixing things so they last longer…and the U.S. government SHOULD pay for it.

2) Find a way to give people the healthcare they require and deserve…not depend on the “free market” concept…It’s not free and there is no market…it’s just what insurance companies can get away with charging the client/patient/consumer/hostage…believe me, I know. I’m dealing with the problem of finding health insurance right now. If you don’t negotiate, if you don’t insist on your rights, you are screwed. You will pay dearly. Hospitals, drug companies, and doctors are complicit in this healthcare mess. From each patient they encounter, every one of them is trying to recapture dollar one of their overhead, research and development, or education and training.

3) Initiate an Energy policy. Make it a long-term goal to eliminate oil as our primary fuel. Make it a shorter-term goal to stop importing foreign oil. Start thinking “Green”, really. Put incentive and seed money into wind, electric, hydrogen, and while I think of it, a high gas-mileage carburetor and/or fuel injector. Come on, oil companies, it’s out there. You know it. I know it…yes we can, and yes we should.

4) Initiate an Infrastructure policy. Aside from putting people to work, we need to take care of the systems that make our economy run: airlines, trucking, communications, highways, and railroads. If necessary, nationalize some of them. Whatever it takes to make everything run smoother, better, faster, on time, and more effectively.



Now you might be thinking, oh my god, he’s preaching socialism! What is he, a freaking commie?!...Get over it. Life is not all about capitalism. It’s not even all about democracy. Just ask anyone who has ever been in the military. Life IS a big balancing act between me and you (what we want) and the rest of the world (what they want). The best compromise that can be had is when everybody gets at least something of what they want, but nobody is entirely happy with it. What has been happening is that corporate concerns have totally overridden public concerns. I really don’t have to say that, do I? The above list is by no means exhaustive. Add your own items.

While I’m thinking of it, the last official direct democracy was Athens, Greece, a few thousand years ago. It was a small enough city-state to accommodate a relatively quick tally of votes and seemed to work until being overrun by Spartans and, later, Romans. Now fast forward to our newly formed republic. That’s right, it was called a republic even then…a representative republic, at that. Because the new country was so big, and transportation and communication so painfully slow, it made sense to elect people as representatives and have them carry the wishes of their constituents to a common center (let’s call it Washington City), where the merits of their wishes could be argued and voted on. It seems that the first representatives were also the first lobbyists. Scary thought.