Numb and Dumb

This morning on CBS there was a poll of sorts, wherein a room full of people expressed their hopelessness over the decline of the middle class and the disparity in wealth caused by the greed of the wealthiest members of our society. When asked who they blamed they said they blamed both Wall Street and Washington. The person taking this poll was appalled when they said their children would not have it as good as they did and that they would gladly leave this country for good if another country offered more opportunity. I can understand their frustration but there is someone else these people should also blame. They should also blame themselves for becoming so numb and inattentive that they no longer have anything intelligent to say about what we should do. They complain about Washington being dysfunctional, yet they refuse to punish the Republican Party for creating the gridlock.

There is no middle ground here. It is not both parties behaving irresponsibly. It is not the Democratic Party that shut down our government and threatened to cause us to default on our debts; nor is it the Democratic Party that is threatening to do it again. It is not the Democratic Party opposing the policies and measures both parties have traditionally used to get a sluggish economy moving again. It is not the Democratic Party that is trying to destroy the minimum wage, all assistance for low income workers, public education, medicare, social security, and the Affordable Care Act. It is not the Democratic Party that opposes changing the tax code to prevent large corporations from avoiding taxes by moving their headquarters overseas and to prevent corporations from seeking the absurd tax advantages they now receive for exporting our jobs. It is the Republican Party that is is doing those terrible things to this country, and they are quite open about it. All you have to do is listen to what they are really saying.

Where are the tough American people I thought I knew. Where are the brave workers who organized and fought to provide labor with a fair share of the wealth of this nation and thereby created the greatest market economy the world has ever known. Those Americans would not fall for this bullshit about there being no hope. Instead, they would stand up and fight like hell. Look, there is no doubt that the power of money is too pervasive and has too great of an influence on both political parties, but there is still a huge difference between those parties. You do not win wars by giving up or by being unrealistic, but you have to pick your battles. The Republican party is hurting you and this country far more than the Democrats are. So the first step in getting our country moving again is to kick the Republicans in the groin and throw them out in the snow. Hand them the worst defeat in their history. Make them beg to be let back into the house. Send a message to the fat cats that votes still count and that they cannot buy large enough wings to keep the bullshit flying.

These mid-term elections are vitally important. We, the People, must take back the states given to Republican extremists during the last mid-terms, not just for the sake of the people in those states but for the sake of this nation. If the Democrats regain control of those states they can undo the Gerrymandering that has given so many destructive tea party twits their seats in congress. We must also vote for Democrats to keep the Republicans from regaining control of the U.S. Senate. If the Republicans gain control of the Senate, they will set the terrible precedent of impeaching and removing from office a sitting President on grounds so spurious that no election will ever be considered final again. The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has already said he would shut down the government again to prevent President Obama doing anything President Obama thinks we need to do.

So stop crying and get to the polls. Kick some butt with your vote. You have to get involved. Reform will not happen without your support. Use these elections as the first shot in a war to get this country moving in the right direction again. We need to overturn Citizens United and impeach the blatantly unethical Supreme Injustices, Thomas and Scalia. Believe me the charges that should be brought against those injustices are far from spurious. We also need to press for a progressive agenda that will reward initiative and hard work. The choice is yours! Sitting at home and wringing your hands is almost as bad as voting for the toadies who have no conscience about what they do to further the interests of the people reaming you! Only the little people pay taxes, you know.

Blogging:

On October 6, 2011 my brother, Randy Smiley, reacted strongly to the idea that social media now rules and blogging is dead. Tell that to “Huffington Post, Dailykos, Think Progress, and Fact Check,” he wrote. I would go a bit farther and say that many newspapers, magazines, reporters, and news services also have blogs. In many ways blogs are like magazines or newspapers. The communication is primarily in one direction; it goes from the author to whatever audience the author is able to draw.  It is difficult and annoying for the reader to leave a comment on a Google Blog. It is much easier to leave a comment on a Word Press Blog, but there is a trade off. Google blocks most of the spam, whereas Word Press merely marks it and leaves it to the blogger to throw it out.

Obviously, blogs were not really meant to be interactive. That is why so many people are finding Face Book, and G+ more attractive, which is as it should be. Far too many people were trying to interact with family members on blogs. Doing so was awkward and far too public. I suppose that twitter also has a place in this fast pace world, but the number of characters it allows makes it far too restrictive for any in depth discussions.

I like the idea that a private individual can become influential by creating a blog like Digby's Hullabaloo. Granted that the odds are greatly stacked against your blog ever becoming that influential, but displaying your rants, opinions or stories where they are available to the public still offers something in the way of catharsis. It still allowed my brother to yell “TAKE THAT, ASSHOLE!” I am afraid that I also display that kind of anger far too often in this blog, but that is, at least to some extent, what this blog is for. It is why I have a blog rather than face book. It allows friends and family to ignore the political opinions they do not like without having to ignore me. I might add that some of them also find my fiction that objectionable, but that is their problem. If they do not like it, they can join the vast majority of the people in this world by not reading it.

United We Must Stand

The election of President Obama was a sign of how far this country has come in regard to racism; the reaction to his election is a sure sign of how far we have to go. The open and blatant racism displayed at tea party rally's and other right wing gatherings are a serious step backwards, as are the voter suppression efforts by the GOP and the Shelby County v. Holder decision that makes voter suppression easier to achieve. Add to this the disparity between the income of white and black people, along with the thinly disguised racism used to justify cuts in all assistance to low income people and you have provided all the evidence needed for minorities to feel oppressed. Furthermore when so many young, unarmed, black men are being killed by police officers and other armed white men we should all ask some very serious questions about our justice system!

Obviously, we are still dealing with racial issues that I wanted very much to believe we had put behind us. It would be foolish, however, to believe that the behavior of the Police in Ferguson is strictly a racial issue. Regardless of your race or ethnicity the concentration of wealth and political power into so few hands combined with the militarization of our police forces should be alarming. In Ferguson police officers were wearing gas masks, helmets, and body armor. What they were not wearing were badges or identification of any kind. So here you had anonymous, unrecognizable men pointing assault rifles and machine guns at demonstrating citizens while other officers were firing tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. I hate to sound like a libertarian, but this scares the hell out me! Will such force be used to suppress anyone objecting to the greed of what has become an oligarchy. To those of you who think I am over-reacting, let me remind you of what happened at Kent State during the Vietnam war!

The people of this country have to wake up. You cannot suppress the rights of one group of people without endangering the rights of everyone. We are all in this together, and we must make a stand.  Everyone deserves freedom from the fear of violence and oppression!  Furthermore, everyone deserves a decent job and a fair wage.  Get involved.  Flex your political muscle. Administer a political beating to the right wing bigots, and to the Republican Party for pandering to those bigots! Fight the greed of the oligopoly and the divisiveness that helps the oligarchs hold on to their power. Work to restore to our system the concept of one person one vote by letting all politicians know you will oppose anyone who will not support a constitutional amendment to overturn the horrible Supreme Court decisions that have greatly increased the influence of money on our government. If we are ever to get our country moving in the right direction again, we must fight those who divide us.

Wealth Gap

Standard & Poor's says wealth gap is hurting economic growth .

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