Some of you may remember a professional wrestler named Owen Hart. Owen spent most of his career as a "heel" (bad guy) - which was ironic, because he was universally admired, loved, and respected in real life. Towards the untimely end of his career, Owen was part of a heel stable called the Nation of Domination. His entrance music started with him yelling, "Enough is enough, and it's time for a change!" I don't know why, but that phrase has always stuck with me. It probably didn't mean anything, really - just something angry to yell and get the fans worked up. But it stuck with me nonetheless. It's a powerful phrase - short, concise, and loaded with (potential) feeling and meaning.
That phrase popped into my head when I read that the Republicans had the unmitigated gall to show a 9/11 tribute video at their convention. All of the frustration and annoyance I felt with the Republicans turned into something far stronger after I read that: righteous anger.
It's one thing that they've been slandering Senator Obama, Senator Clinton, and the Democratic party in general for four days straight. We expected no less. It's one thing that we all know they're lying through their pearly white teeth about how much they care about the little guy. Again, this is nothing new for them. It's one thing when John McSame...er, McBush...er, what's his name again?...goes to the POW well so often that it becomes insulting. But it's another thing entirely to politicize that horrible day so blatantly and callously.
Don't get me wrong - I know this isn't the first time. I've seen the Republicans milk 9/11 for everything they could just the same as you did: the Patriot Act, the unjustified invasion and occupation of Iraq, warrantless wiretapping, denial of habeas corpus, extraordinary rendition, torture...everything. The Republicans milked the 9/11 cow until it screamed, and then they milked it some more. But this...this is disgusting. This is dirty. This is unforgivable.
Like I said, now I'm really worked up. How in the hell do they claim to be the party that will change things? How did McCain give that horrid speech with a straight face? The Republicans have controlled the presidency for eight years now, not to mention the reigns of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush I. During those presidencies they worked tirelessly to empower the Executive Branch of our government and throw the balance of power completely out of whack. Almost all of those presidencies were mired in scandal - and we're not talking about marital infidelity, mind you - Watergate and Iran Contra, for example. And this last presidency has been a disaster so bad it's almost laughable (almost) - in addition to the totally botched "war on terrah," we had the botched response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the abysmal treatment of wounded veterans, the total corruption of the Department of Justice, the major introduction of mercenaries and "contractors" to our military, and more secrecy than the CIA, MI6, and the Mossad put together.
And how about Congress? The Republicans controlled both houses for the first six years of the "Dubya" presidency and did exactly what they were told. "Dubya" said "jump!" and they asked, "how high, sir?" They controlled Congress during much of Clinton's presidency and did everything they could to prevent any real change. The Republicans are the reason why our health care system is in its current state - they blocked all of the Clinton Administration's efforts at reform. They've stood in the way of minimum wage increases for decades. They've blocked any attempt at pay equity or an equal rights amendment to the Constitution. The ridiculous amount of deregulation that the Republican Congress did over the past twenty-plus years has helped lead us to our current economic state - a housing crisis, a credit crisis, etc. The Republicans are so in love with their economic ideology - the extreme libertarianism of Friedrich von Hayek, Milton Friedman and friends - that they follow and implement it blindly without considering the possibility that it could be wrong, or at least not always right. They've stonewalled the Democrats in Congress during this entire term, using the same tactics that they cried foul on when we used them. And they've been in bed with the oil companies for over twenty years, too - how else do you explain removing solar panels from the roof of the White House?
So yeah, I'm upset. I'm really upset - the kind that boils in your stomach and makes you want to hit something. Enough is enough, and it's time for a change.