Midterm elections are just around the corner, and it seems like the American electorate is most unhappy. Unemployment remains stubbornly high and many feel that our government is spending us into bankruptcy trying to get us out of this stubborn recession we've been in for so long, but what folks don't seem to realize is that it was the Republicans who got us into this mess in the first place, and now that same party is poised to take over both Houses of Congress with their TEA Party movement. These folks are anti-tax, anti-spending and anti-social program. They want to shrink the government's size down to where it cannot effectively do anything and pretty much privatize everything that is now government funded. They also want to keep cutting taxes for the wealthy and for big corporations assuming that with so much money, they will invest and create jobs. However, that economic "trickle down" theory of economics has been tried for 30+ years now and has been found not to work because the more money people have, the less likely they are to spend it, whereas the middle class, given a tax break, are more likely to spend their money. However, the Republicans have always favored the well heeled and people don't seem to realize that by voting Republican, they actually vote against their own economic self interest. They've done this before and groused about it when they ended up having a bad case of buyer's remorse once their candidates take office. And this is going to happen again, especially if both Houses of Congress end up in Republican hands and they spend the next two years doing their level best to stymie every single thing that President Obama wants to do. They will spend two long years scoring political points off of Obama to make him look like a failed President so that they can elect another Republican to the White House in 2012. This has been their goal all along, to do everything possible to damage and/or destroy Obama's political career so that he will go down in history as an ineffective President instead of one that is celebrated for his achievements in office. They are exacting their revenge for all the years that Democrats fought against the Bush/Cheney administration, but theirs was a rightful battle against an administration that was disdainful of the Constitution and that acted in a criminal manner.
Two years ago we were filled with such a sense of optimism and hope born of the fact that Barack Obama was the Democratic candidate for President. His winning it shattered all barriers and made us feel as if we accomplished something amazing and historic. We nominated a black man for President who fought off all comers, including the mighty Clinton political machine. At the outset, it was almost a given that Hillary would be our nominee. She had the power, the name, the prestige and a whole lot of eager female supporters behind her. Aside from a stirring and inspirational speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention, few people knew who Barack Obama even was. But as the campaign season wore on, we heard words from him that we longed to hear, of hope, of change, of inspiration, of vision, and it caught on like wildfire. People who'd never voted before came out to cast their vote for him. Young people got more politically involved than they ever had. A real grassroots movement grew out of the power of the Internet and text messaging on cell phones. It was dizzying, it was exciting, it was novel, it was astonishing to see this young man rise to such meteoric heights that no one before him had managed to accomplish. And in the end, Obama won the ultimate prize, the Presidency, and we were all gasping with disbelief that we'd done this and exhilarated at the possibilities that lay before us. But somehow, things have gotten bogged down in politics and the hope and change we longed to see hasn't happened. And now we face a possible takeover of the House and Senate by Republicans and two years of nothing at all getting done so that the GOP can score enough political points to damage Obama beyond hope of redemption or repair so that they can render him so ineffective that they can challenge him for the White House in 2012. This is what is wrong in Washington, the fact that its purpose was to govern, to legislate and to make things happen to better the American people and country. Now it's all about scoring political points and blockading any one party from achieving its agenda. It's all about rendering government useless to where nothing ever gets done because no one wants bipartisanship or cooperation anymore. It's become a bitter power struggle between two warring factions that cannot and do not get along nor ever want to, either. Washington has a way of chewing out and spitting up even the most altruistic politicians who think that they can come in, sweep house, clean things up and change things for the better. Well, I've got news for you, TEA Partiers, if you do somehow manage to win enough seats in both Houses of Congress to where you're the controlling party, be prepared for more of the same thing, stalling, scoring points, blockading, parliamentary tricks and the whole gamut of things that go on in Washington. Nothing's ever going to change until people decide that it's time to stop playing the stupid little games of one-upsmanship and come together to work for the American people who so badly need help right now. This is no time to devolve into political gamesmanship. It's time for people to do what we sent them to Washington to do, and that's to solve problems and fix things that need to be addressed. Otherwise, we can just look forward to more of the same thing, year in, year out, forever. And that's not the future I signed up for, quite frankly.
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