People are beginning to blame President Obama for this economic and job dissappearing climate we are in. The problem is not Obama, but the greedy large businesses and the Republican Party behind our current continuation of the Bush years. Sorry to point out the ignorance of one’s own constitution and how government works, but; liberal ole’ President Obama has acted like one of the most Conservative and Republican-like Democrats since…I can’t remember. I was serving in the Marines when President Reagan and his plan to make the rich wealthier and the poor poorer, began. Doesn’t anyone out there remember the pass anymore or are you all so over-worked and inundated with information from all angles, at all hours of the day, that you have simply compartmentalized and lock away that bit of history to the dungeons of your memory banks?
First of all, President Obama has done absolutely everything he can to appeal to the Independents and Republicans, while short-changing the Moderate and Liberal Democrats, probably and most likely because he knows he has the Democratic vote, so why work for it with another election on the horizon.
- A true Moderate to Liberal Democrat would never have signed an Environmental Bill that was all about appealing the Conservatives and Republicans, with the deregulation of the Environmental Protection Agency enforcement of Large-Business violations on environmental rules. President Obama did.
- A true Moderate to Liberal Democrat would never have orchestrated, for the world to see, a mission to kill a heinous individual like Osama Bin Laden, even though individually I and many more would have done the same thing if we ever came in contact with that evil person. We are a Hegemonic Democracy, which brings with it a responsibility to serve as an example, to the rest of the world, of the best in a Democratic society. We are the example, so no matter how heinous an act those we see as less than commit, we should never allow our enemy’s actions to push us to the point of condoning a systematic ethos of violating international human rights and the Geneva Convention inscribed protocols that guide us, when seeking justice. President Obama did.
Don’t get me wrong, I am an Obama supporter, but I think he’s lost his way a bit. I think he has allowed those less rational in this increasingly irrational world to force him to betray his morals, in an effort to be accepted by the extreme right and the rest of the Republican Party. It is no secret that he has even angered many liberal Democrats with his position on the Debt Ceiling Bill in August of 2011, his acquiescence in getting a watered-down Healthcare Bill passed, his reluctance to recall the Patriot Act; seen as a Marshall Law type policy to liberal Democrats; his reluctance to go after former president-President Bush, former vice-president-Vice-President Cheney, Karl Rove and other violators of human rights laws and culprits in the largest criminal transfer of wealth from the lower-classes in our society to the wealthy since our nation’s inception.
These were policies we absolutely expected President Obama to address, which he failed to do. This made him look to Republicans as weak, as can be seen when monitoring the Republican Presidential debates. This has made some Democrats less likely to go to the polls in record numbers as they did in 2008, because the President’s reluctance to use the presidential powers he does have in holding the Republican Party strictly-accountable for their assault on the American people, our US Constitution and our Federal Government.
Certainly, there are many die-hard Democrats like myself, who will vote for the President in 2012, but the 2008 General Election brought us a mass exodus of Democrats in the House of Representatives, which we presupposed was not a viable reality going into the 2008 General Elections. This should have served as an enlightenment on how politically ignorant the American populace is on the roles of their government. To cut-off the “purse-strings;” a “must-have” institution (House of Representatives) to make the changes President Obama absolutely needed in order to have a realistic shot at implementing the changes he had promised, should have been a true indicator on America’s ignorance on American politics.
The President has assumed he has every Democratic vote, but whether they actually exercise their right to vote, should be what dictates the President’s concerns on addressing his disapproval rating. Democrats would not vote for a Republican, but they could be disinterested in showing up at the polls in 2012. The President needs to show an act of good-faith in order to assure the American People that he still is “The People’s President”.
AMERICANS NEED TO REMEMBER THE NOT-SO-DISTANT PAST
President Obama was immediately confronted with the largest budget deficit; the most ever unemployed Americans (numbers wise); arguably the most polarized country; and arguably the largest amount of wrongly informed and “could care less” Americans on government’s role in our society, ever seen in the history of not only our democracy, but any democracy in history. Why else would a country, so fed-up with the Republican Party’s role in removing some of our rights guaranteed to us by the US Constitution, put that party in an ever more powerful role in making sure those removed rights become permanent by voting them into the majority of the US House of Representatives?
Change did not come to American when President Obama was sworn into office, because America handicapped him by also swearing in enough Republicans to give the Republicans the control of the country. If Americans would simply educate themselves on the roles of the Federal Government and the US Constitution, not just those Amendments that you choose to educate yourselves on (First Amendment-free speech; Second Amendment-right to bear arms, etc.,) I am almost positive there would be a Democratic House and Senate.
The Health Insurance Bill President Obama promised he would get passed, guaranteeing healthcare for all Americans, would now be a reality and not the expensive-medical pharmaceutical driven Healthcare system we still have today. The run-away, Medicare killing pharmaceutical industry would not have nearly the strangle hold it has on the pulse of many middle to lower-class Americans, we are all experiencing today, because the majority of the Democratic Party, not all, actually value American people over American businesses and the Republican Party values American businesses over American people.
It’s Simple; the People’s President versus the Business Party
There is such a fundamental and simple difference between Democratic and Republican values, yet Americans continually get side-tracked by Republican rhetoric, aimed at confusing so many Americans by taking advantage of the ignorance of many Americans on how their government really works. Republicans use “fear,” “false propaganda,” and “hate” to keep their definition of reality at the forefront of as many American minds as they possibly can. This false message of the political reality is continually repeated to us with media outlets like Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Wall Street pundits.
The Real Financial State of America
Less than 1% of Americans own 50% of America’s economic wealth.
Republicans started the Small Business Debate, which was simply another tactic to divert the American people from the real issue of getting real tax-dollars from large businesses, which represent 97% of businesses in the Unites States! Just over 7% of businesses in America are small businesses. How many people do you personally know who works for a small business? I’m willing to bet you probably don’t know any, right? That’s because there aren’t many, so why the huge debate about getting tax breaks for small businesses?
The reason is, the Republicans wanted to direct our attention to the front door, while large businesses were hemorrhaging our nation’s financial wealth, by keeping more o the money brought in from ever re-entering the US market place. No taxes, answers the constant question of Late Night TV Host David Letterman’s question, “Where’s the money?”
With 50% of America’s financial wealth never being taxed, due to Republican Party insistence on the wealthy not being taxed, means a departure of that money from the US government and economy in the form of taxes and revenue for US consumers to spend on our for goods from all markets. Lower class Americans must pay their fare of taxes on their share of the 50% economic wealth in America, yet the one percent of individuals who own the other 50% don’t have to pay a dime because of the Republican Party. Remember, the Republican Party even threatened a government shut-down, if President Obama and the rest of the Democratic Party, did not agree to continue the policy of no taxes for rich residents, while keeping the same taxes in place for the rest of America.. With record breaking profits for these corporations, imagine what that lost revenue would have met to eliminating our federal debt and in creating more jobs. in record-breaking numbers Oil< http://tinyurl.com/3r5jd8v >; computer technology http://tinyurl.com/4xsbswz >; Banking < http://tinyurl.com/43tjz76 >.
Simple Math
Less than 1% of Americans own 50% of our nation’s financial wealth and are not taxed on that wealth. The Republicans even threatened a government shut-down, which would have damaged the US credit rating; would have spooked consumer confidence in the US dollar (which I feel here in Germany); created economic hardship for seniors, military personnel and disabled Americans, if President Obama and the Democratic Party did not protect the economic interests of big business in America.
Lets say we have 100 people in America. Looking at the percentage of rich and the rest of Americans, this would mean 1-person, of the 100 people, represents the 1% of America and 99 of the 100 people represent the 99% of America.
- That 1 person equals 1%, who owns 50% of the economic wealth, or $50.00 in this case.
Since the Republican Party has fought so hard so this person does not have to pay taxes, that $50.00 (50% of American Economic Wealth) is not taxed, so the government gets back none of this money.
The 99 people left that represent the other 99% in America. Those 99 people collectively own 50% of the wealth, which is $50.00 between all of them, or 49.50 cents, which we’ll round of to 50-cents for simplicity sake. The Republicans don’t care about these people, so even though this creates a hardship to them, they still won’t threaten a government lock-down or introduce into the House of Representatives a bill that would address this unconscionable disparity in the tax burden being carried on the shoulders of 99% of Americans, even though they can’t afford it.
These Americans, who typically pay about 20% of their pay in continually high climbing grocery prices, must pay 20 cents for food. This leaves them with 30 cents left. 30 cents to the guy with $50.00 is not even a penny. So, we can honestly say that the taxes the 1-person pays doesn’t even make a dent in his wallet, while it devastates the other 99-people.
Now, go back to school when you took tests and they were graded on a curve. Everyone was mad at the really smart person, because they screwed up the curve, giving you a crappy score. The curve was not a true indicator of the collective scores of the class on the test, but merely an unfair system, of accountability based on an obvious deviation from the norm. The same can be said for our economy. Our housing industry, banking industry, healthcare industry, etc., use the total US income to come up with rates in the market place, which basically don’t fit the reality of the American economic experience. The wealthy 1% get away with paying basically nothing for groceries, housing and healthcare, which the 99% left, have become increasingly impoverished as a result of this unfair system of government, orchestrated by the Republican Party.
To tax the wealthy, with at least the same percentage rate, with no loopholes, would seem to be the only viable alternative to getting America back on her feet. This welfare for the rich must end now. And, America should be ashamed and embarrassed for allowing the Republican Party to make them look like children, hanging on every word the Republican and Tea Party say, even though it does nothing but strike against your interests.
The Myth that Social Security and Medicare are to blame for our Deficit is wrong!
First of all, Social Security is not in trouble, however if we should ever stop Social Security, as the Republicans would like, America would definitely be on a fast-track to a complete financial meltdown. Social Security is paid by the workers of today. Your Social Security is not in trouble, because it hasn’t been paid yet. When you retire, the workers of the US are paying your Social Security, so there is no Social Security deficit. This is all a lie told to you by the whole Republican Party to get you to think Social Security is the cause of our current financial crises. A problem we have is, a lot of the Social Security money, which should be used for Medicare and other retirement programs is instead stolen by other departments, to help support their over-spending.
The Republicans have an agenda to get Americans mad at the Federal Government, so that we will all go along with their plans to shrink government, not all of government, just those programs that government is supposed to support, e.g., people programs. Who does the Environmental Protection Agency protect? We are all a part of the eco-system. We are at the top of the eco-system; human beings. So why would the Republicans want to diminish and eventually phase out this very important Federal Government Department?
Because it cost big corporations too much money! Environmental laws require spending by corporations that routinely cause natural disasters. If these corporations are not held accountable, that cost falls on the Federal and State Governments. So, the money for government would be to pay for expensive large corporation disasters, not for homelessness and starvation due to lost jobs.
I personally do not understand how the Republican Party can be so “cold-hearted”. I am equally puzzled at why Americans aren’t alarmed at what the Republican Party is trying to pull off. Even when told of the Republican Party agenda, Americans continually choose not to believe, which really baffles me. Even when seeing the biggest unemployment numbers since The Great Depression; seeing so many proud Americans forced down to the debts of poverty because Republicans forced the President and the Democratic Party into passing a “Debt Ceiling Bill” that mandated a Federal Balanced Budget, at a time when spending is needed to continue unemployment benefits and create jobs to put these Americans back to work.
Even when seeing their Party doing so many destructive things to our country, their Party members continue to support them; amazingly scary and sad. I remember when I was in Seattle, working at nights in downtown Seattle before I was injured for good. I saw a large increase in families sleeping on the streets. It was so, so sad. I remember seeing a Caucasian family that looked like a typical family from Bellevue or Kirkland. There was the mother, father and two little girls. They were on the streets! They had a tent, they set up to keep the cold out and some privacy. By early morning they were gone. By morning, the workers were on the streets and the families had disappeared until the next night. I remember seeing girls and boys walking the streets in little packs during the days, asking for money.
How can people turn their heads and pretend this isn’t happening in America? They could be next, yet they continue to act like ignorant cows going to the slaughter. Please, wake up! How many times must I and others tell you what is going on, before you open your eyes and see for yourself? We not only have ourselves, but our children to consider when we make choices we know make absolutely no sense, so why do we continue to make the same choices over and over? Our country is on the brink of the path of no return; we have time to turn around and make things right, but we must act now.
If you were told twenty years ago that a Party would be created that convinced Americans the government is not good for the people, so we must shrink the parts that help the elderly; the poor; the unable to get employment and complete, only the parts that support big business. Then to be told, the wealthy should not have to pay taxes, while middle-class and the poor would pay a huge disproportionate amount of their hard earned pay in unfair taxes, would you have believed such talk against our government would exist, especially in the age of terrorism? Would you have supported it? Well, I hate to tell you, but that’s what you’re doing now