I've seen the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Joe Miller, on TV recently, and on one level, I applaud his honesty. He does not believe in Social Security or Medicare, and would look to end it for those who are not already on either one. Of course, many of us might tend to dismiss this as the cant of some out-of-touch, "backwoods," angry (not so young) man. It does, however, bring up several important points:
When Democrats don't stand up for their core principles, but instead continue to attempt to "compromise" with Republicans who have demonstrated no interest in it (in any reasonable sense of the word), the far right drift continues.
At this point, is Obama to the right of Nixon on social policy, and just to the left, perhaps, of Reagan?
The "mainstream media" seems more than willing to go along with the extreme right wing drift (and may be said to be feeding it), and their "journalists" never seem to ask the most obvious questions.
Here, there is a glaring question that needs to be asked: what is to be done with millions of elderly people who need health insurance but who can't even afford to feed themselves (if insurance companies offered them any policy, since in Joe's world, presumably, they would not be required to)?
Joe could have said that he would be in favor of a federal program to aid elderly folks who were poor, but he didn't say anything to that effect. Where are the "journalists" who realize that Joe seems to live in some sort of Thomas Kinkade painting fantasy world? Why isn't he being asked if he wants a return to late nineteenth century America? And if not, how does he intend to prevent the various problems of that era from returning?
Lastly, why aren't Democrats pointing this out, over and over again, at every opportunity? How much more of a "gift" do they need? This kind of idiotic situation is what leads so many people to decide not to vote, even against the Joe Millers of the nation. What is wrong with this party (I already know what's wrong with the Republican party)?