June 2016 – Soundoff

The Senate Republicans have done it again! At a time when the country mourns its worst mass murder in history, Republicans dither over whether it should be called a terrorist actÂ or a hate crime, as if it really matters. At a time when overÂ 90% of the nation’s citizens want to begin to take steps to control and reduce the number of deaths occurring ever more regularly, Republican Senators did – NOTHING!

For nearly sixteen years Republicans have sought to stop the forward motion of the nation, and for over seven years, they have explicitly tried to kill anything that our president tries to accomplish. They tried everything possible to make his presidency a failure. How could they notÂ understand that when theyÂ obstructed and groundÂ the agenda of an elected president to a halt, they foil theÂ aspirations and hopes of the American people.

So as Republicans stymied the will of the people andÂ tried to create a failed presidency, they knew the rage and suffering they would create. TheirÂ plan was to blame EVERYTHING on the president, so that they could pick up the pieces of the wreckage that they actually created. The plan seems for now to have failed, however. Not just Democrats, but their own constituents, too,Â are outraged. It is that outrage that has created the path for Donald Trump and created contempt for all things political.

But even as the plan is disintegrating, Republicans continue to stymie theÂ efforts of the people, in favor of the status quo and the wishes of the benefactors who own them. Despicable. Saddening. Devastating. Gun manufacturers get rich; Americans get funerals and prayers.

PracticingÂ the politics of despairÂ must be ended now. This sorrow cannot be permitted to continue. Have they no decency or compassion?

A Word from the Author

In a way, I really admire Republicans. It NEVER ceases to amaze me how they manage year after year to get SO MANY Americans to vote against their own self-interests again and again. They are brilliant, though cynical. I am afraid they are on the verge of doing irreparable harm. In the name of patriotism, they want to dismantle our government. They have taken Ronald Reagan's words as gospel, believing that government is the casue of all of our problems and that can remedy none of them. They have politicized nearly every aspect of government, orchestrated assaults on the separation of church and state, science, attorneys, the courts, higher education and even the Constitution itself. We have allowed ourselves to fall victim to the propaganda that led to war in Iraq without a critical analysis of arguments in support of the decision. Global warming appears real and is worsening while we fail to act. Our economy is in shambles. The housing crisis deepens. Our currency has lost substantially in value, and our manufacturing base is a remnant of what is was only a decade ago, with our jobs leaving for foreign lands, while big business sits on billions of dollars and giant corporations in banking, oil and energy remain largely under-regulated. We seem to have surrendered our future to a political discourse that descends to the lowest common denominator, usually influenced by fear, personal attack and destruction, rather than dispassionate consideration of the merits. If we are going to thrive once again, something has got to change. Here is my small contribution to that end. I will try to respond to what I read in the news, but I am NOT a scholar. I leave it to others to fact check, follow up and support my points, but I refuse to continue to sit quietly while our demacracy is subverted and turned to the support of wealthy, powerful and cynical interests.

Month: June 2016

The Politics of Despair

Up and Running Again!