Most of the people on this blog had the highest of high hopes in 2008. We felt we had our guy to take care of business, literally and figuratively, and fix the horrors of the previous 8 years. Well, after 1 1/2 years and a few surprises, it hasn't worked out to any of our expectations.
The hope and the joy of November, 2008 has come home to roost with a thump. The Democrats strafed Congress in that election gaining huge majorities in both houses of Congress and the White House. The only branch where we had no traction was the Supreme Court. And boy did that "body politic" come through with a stink bomb or two.
We all worked our asses off to get Barack Obama elected and all those who rode in on his coattails. But, little has changed...at least in the major areas of our nation. What happened?
Corporate dollars happened. Republican intransigence happened. Scandals happened. The shrieking from right wing extremism happened. The oil spill disaster happened. Karzai became a petulant child - again. Israel continues to exhibit its deep paranoia eschewing any hope of reconciliation. Iran's theocratic oligarchy continues to thumb its nose at the world even while some of their fingers get stuck in their political nostrils.
Our whining, spoiled populace doesn't want to pay more taxes, but wants more services. The right wingers with no brains want us to stop spending on bailouts so our major companies employing thousands will fail. Now, that's good, solid strategy...if you're independently rich. "Stop this crazy spending," they say! "Health care reform will cost us another fortune," they bleat! When someone says, "Raise taxes on the wealthiest, like GE who pays NO tax," someone says. "NO!" "A thousand times no! Let the poor starve. Let the indigent shift for themselves. Let the unemployed improve their job skills while they try to feed their families. We MUST have fiscal responsibility!"
Have any of our elected officials done anything about anything except piss in each others' boots? Nope. They've been paid. The rest is theater. Here's how you can tell. BP's first action after the DeepStar explosion was to lobby to limit their liability. That is an example of how comfortable corporate America in general and the oil industry in particular are with their paid hands in government.
So, my dear fellow Americans, what about this November? Will it really matter? I think not. The only people benefiting from the current building storm toward anarchy are Rupert Murdoch's "news" machinery and the other cretins from the right screaming wing. Murdoch is Australian. Beck is Canadian. Who the f*** are they to tell us what to think? If we tried to pull something like they do in Canada or Australia, the words wouldn't be done echoing before we were on the next plane out.
Go ahead and vote. It won't matter. I hope you have financial security now, because in 2 MORE years, none of us will. The oligarchs will have won.