Apparently, we like our children, but we LOVE OUR GUNS MORE. Really? Stand your ground laws as an excuse to to stalk, chase and then murder? Really? The right to carry arms to public events and political events. Really?

NRA be damned. Constantly expanding Second Amendments rights with no regard for outcomes or the safety of our children is as obscene as the tragedy that Trayvon’s Martin’s family must endure.

This is not about gun rights. It is about the firearms industry. Rein in the NRA and take their money (its power) out of politics! Limit “right to carry” and “stand your ground” laws. The U.S. firearms industry can not sell enough weapons or make enough money to bring these children back.

Getting back to business, like most everyone else, I have been at once captivated and horrified by what I hear from the Republican candidates…obviously, a race to the right and from there to the bottom. I keep asking myself, “Why are Republicans so very unhappy with their frontrunner?”

Independents, and other folks of good will…including moderate Republicans, should make no mistake. The ENTIRE Republican Party is playing to, and in the pocket of, the so-called Tea Party…angry, angry people who would rather vent and rant than govern. The Tea Party ABHORS compomise. The Tea Party LOVED the debt limit crisis, becasue it empowered them, and let them show their anger and contempt for the courtesies, compromise and civilty required for governing.

So Republicans now play to the most angry and irrational of their constituents, who HATE the very idea that Mitt Romney because he might one day even consider compromise. They want what they want. PERIOD. To hell with science, economics, mathematics, the future. They have been throwing tantrums ever since the day the President took the oath of office.

The Tea Party and its Republican lackeys WANT WHAT THEY WANT with no thought for the real life consequences. None of President Obama’s compromises were acceptable either, because they want it ALL. Not just a fair deal or good compromise. They want it all, and they cannot abide a candidate who will not promise them everything they want…and with a vehement, angry conviction.

God help us if they win. We’ll need it.

In his farewell address to the nation, Washington forcefully warned the country that “political parties serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community (resulting in) ill-concerted and incongruous projects . . . they are likely . . . to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.”

I cannot imagine a more prescient description of our nation’s sorry state of affairs.

What makes the situation more infuriating is that 70 to 80 percent of Americans think the federal deficit should be reduced by cutting expenses a lot and raising taxes a little.

Why is it, then, that Congress continues to defy the will of the American people? It’s actually pretty simple. The minority who believe the deficit should be solved either by solely cutting expenses or raising taxes are the voters who dominate the primaries of the Democratic and Republican parties. It is these voters who give us nothing but ideologues, incapable of compromise.

For meaningful change, we’re going to have to return to the Founders’ view of political parties. Instead of being proud to be associated with a political party, it should be an embarrassment. After the debacle with the supercommittee, that sentiment should not be much of a stretch.

Bill King writes for the Houston Chronicle.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111201/OPINION01/112010330/Commentary–Political-parties-are-the-problem-in-America#ixzz1fKnrYaFp

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today released a new report “Subsidies of the Rich and Famous” illustrating how, under the current tax code, the federal government is giving billions of dollars to individuals with an Annual Gross Income (AGI) of at least $1 million, subsidizing their lavish lifestyles with the taxes of the less fortunate.

“All Americans are facing tough times, with many working two jobs just to make ends meet and more families turning to the government for financial assistance. From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Multi-millionaires are even receiving government checks for not working.

“This welfare for the well-off – costing billions of dollars a year – is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate, many who are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and IOUs to be paid off by future generations. We should never demonize those who are successful. Nor should we pamper them with unnecessary welfare to create an appearance everyone is benefiting from federal programs,” Dr. Coburn said.

These billions of dollars for millionaires include $74 million of unemployment checks, $316 million in farm subsidies, $89 million for preservation of ranches and estates, $9 billion of retirement checks, $75.6 million in residential energy tax credits, and $7.5 million to compensate for damages caused by emergencies to property that should have been insured. All and all, over $9.5 billion in government benefits have been paid to millionaires since 2003. Additionally, millionaires borrowed $16 million in government backed education loans to attend college. On average, each year, this report found that millionaires enjoy benefits from tax giveaways and federal grant programs totaling $30 billion. As a result, almost 1,500 millionaires paid no federal income tax in 2009.

Finally, a Republican who will at least share the same set of facts that the rest of us use. If only there were more…how much better off would we all be.

The Republican Party has lost its way, or perhaps its collective mind and has been hijacked by the Tea Party, which is very much out of sync with the majority of Americans and suffering from too much of the Rush Limbaugh Kool-Aid. Propaganda and intransigence are not substitutes for facts and consensus building in a democracy.

So I intend to get back to work again, writing more frequently, focusing on finding expressive language to explain what I believe is really going on and trying to frame discussion according to my own perspective. In addition, I have invited a friend, Bryan Schefman, to submit his very clear and articluate thoughts several times a week. Democtrats STILL need help framing issues and developing powerful labels and talking points.

Hopefully, we can add something to the conversation and move the dialog forward.

I just read that the Justice Department will be appealing the recent Federal District Court judge’s ruling that effectively strikes down “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” What the heck is THIS all about? I’m a loyal democrat and a life-long liberal (I refuse to cowed into referring to myself as a progressive), but I confess; I don’t understand this decision at all! I’m confused, and if I’m confused, I assume most people are, too.

I’m angry, and I’m disappointed. I feel this way, not so much because I feel the urgency for immediate change, but because the DEMOCRATS’ MESSAGING IS SO SCREWED UP! Is the president for or against DADT? Does the Justice Department report to him, Does it consult on policy, or what? It’s like saying Obama was against DADT before he was for it, but don’t worry, he’ll be against it again. Maybe.

Is it asking too much for the President of the United States, his administration and his party to settle on a message, adhere to it, repeat it and speak with one unified voice? The Dems messaging is an unqualified disaster, and, frankly, heads should roll.

More messaging failures…here’s a quote lifted from today’s “First Read” by NBC… 

The New York Times has this nugget: “Calculations by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and other independent fiscal experts show that the $1.1 trillion cost over the next 10 years of the Medicare prescription drug program, which the Republican-controlled Congress adopted in 2003, by itself would add more to the deficit than the combined costs of the bailout, the stimulus and the health care law.” And here’s Bloomberg: The TARP bailout “provided taxpayers with higher returns than they could have made buying 30-year Treasury bonds — enough money to fund the Securities and Exchange Commission for the next two decades. The government has earned $25.2 billion on its investment of $309 billion in banks and insurance companies, an 8.2 percent return over two years.”

So here’s the issue. Who knew? Does ANYONE in the administration know at the present time? If so, who’s discussing it and explaining it to the media and the electorate? The president, his administration and the democratic Congress have been getting bludgeoned for almost two years over wreckless spending yet they have accomplished so much, while the Republicans have been so frivolous and two-faced?!?

I’m proud to be a liberal, and I’m proud of our president, but democratic messaging is an embarrassment and nothing short of a disaster.

Another, more dangerous tactic is for these Teabaggers to refuse ALL contact with mainstream media. They avoid public appearances and ANY forum where there are forced to answer tough questions. Two days ago, Joe Miller, the Teabag Senatorial candidate from Alaska refused to answer a reporter’s questions and then had his security force handcuff and illegally detain the reporter against his will for nearly thirty minutes. What a total lack of regard for the law, the election and the constituents!

Joe Miller is not alone in giving the media the silent treatment. Sharon Angle, Christine O’Donnell, and others are doing it, too. Right out of the Palin playbook, and the Koch brothers’ operating manual. And it is really dangerous.

There is only one reason for candidates to not engage with the press. It is so that they will NOT BE FORCED to tell the public what they honestly think, believe or intend to do once in office. They KNOW that if they honestly respond to tough questions from the mainstream media, the public will reject their candidacies, and they will not be elected.

This wrong from every perspective. It shows an utter contempt for the process and the voters. It screams, “I don’t care what you voters think, and you don’t deserve to know what I think.” It is the ultimate disrespecting of the electorate by those running for office. It changes the nature of politics from a review and affirmation of public policy, to a high-school popularity contest, where handsome, cute and perky are all that is needed to be homecoming king or queen. We deserve better, but won’t get it unless we demand it.

When the tea party movement began, some members were offended by the use of the term “teabagger.” I didn’t know what all the fuss was about, so I looked it up on the internet. Wow! I was shocked.  But now I get it. These candidates who refuse to answer our questions ARE teabaggers. And guess what…if we don’t call them out and demand real answers to real questions, we might as well open our mouths and turn our heads upward to accept what is coming.

This “Teabagger Silent Treatment” is more than just petulance or pouty candidates. It is like the Silence of the Lambs relative to the electorate and press. If we accept the silence and go along like lambs, we’ll be led off to the slaughter. And we’ll have gotten what we deserved!

There was a time when unity was patritotic. There was a time when Americans would compromise with one another, settle their differences and move the nation forward. And WE DID MOVE THE NATION FORWARD. We succeeded…together. Now I fear that those days of greatness may have been squandered; lost to laziness, foolishness, ignorance, fear and greed.

Republican politics is all about dividing us up. Otherwise they cannot put together a majority. Instead of looking at the real issues regarding the security, well-being and needs of the country, trying to find the common denominators, we are repeatedly divided up by so-called “hot button” issues that continue the nastiness and keep us believing that our neighbors are DIFFERENT, HATEFUL and even  DANGEROUS. Newt Gingrich taught Republicans (who taught the rest of us) to use labels for everyday things that call forth the most ugly, frightening and polarizing images.

Who could possibly be be for something as ominous as Death Taxes? Who wouldn’t be afraid of Death Panels? Who could possibly respect a president who is daily portrayed as the biggest fascist since Hitler. Yet while culture war thugs murder doctors, their Republican backers and instigators are kindly referred to as “pro-life.” Like the rest of us are pro-death!

Try another example. Ever since Reagan, the Fool Me Twice guys have declared it New Testament scripture that ALL taxes are bad. They have rigged the system so that the wealthiest Americans keep accumulating more and more wealth while the middle class disappears and the poor lose nearly everything they have. When Democrats object, or seek policies that support the middle class, The Fool Me Twice Republicans scream, “Class warfare!” They become outraged, and we all buy it! Nobody wants class warfare, but it hs been going on in greater or lesser degree ever since the days of trickle down economics. Nothing trickles down, the upper two percent get an ever larger share of the pie, and the rest of us lose our jobs, homes, healthcare, ability to send our kids to college, lousy roads and crumbling bridges.

Making good decisions requires careful consideration. I would hope that one day the public would wake up and realize how they have been played. I thought they had done so in 2008, but I fear we have reverted to our old ways of sloppy thinking. Democrats need to recognize that the pure repetition of Republican talking points is killing them, in spite of the fact that they are often complete lies. They are simple, catchy and conjour hateful imagery. The Fool Me Twice Party never sleeps. They know how to stick with a winning strategy.

The dems need to retain a group of  TOP QUALITY word-smiths to develop power words of their own, and then they ought to use them every day until they stick. Until then, the once great movement that brought us so much progress in the 20th century will have to cower, hide and be satisfied with referring to themselves as progressives, because they allowed Republicans to brand them tax and spend liberals!

These Republicans play rough; democrats need to at least get in the game.

How many times has John Boehner said, “The American people want to know where are the jobs?” It seems to me that Democrats running in EVERY district should play the video in their own commercials and then answer, “The Republicans allowed and actually gave big business tax breaks to ship them to India and China! That’s where they are.”  Democrats should be screaming, “When will Republicans agree to help the American people bring their jobs back?” It takes much longer to build an economy strong enough to create jobs in industries that have been decimated by their own management. It takes longer to create jobs in industries that are just being created. But it is clear…if Republicans regain power, we should expect more of the same, jobs disappearing at an alarming rate.

Reagan was a tax cutter (even though he did actually raise taxes when convinced it was essential to do so). He cut taxes for the wealthy and advocated “trickle down” economics. Guess what? It didn’t work then and it doesn’t work now. Reagan ran up HUGE deficits. Republicans scream loudly that the governent cannot create jobs. Democrats should answer just as loudly and firmly, “Neither do tax cuts! Show us the empirical EVIDENCE that tax cuts under Reagan or under Bush created jobs. WHERE ARE THOSE JOBS?!?”

Republicans fooled us once. Shame on them. Frankly, we have let them fool us twice…shame on us. If we are too weak to stand up and call them out for their abuse of the American electorate, if we let them fool us a third time, well I guess we’ll fully deserve the consequences.