I was just listening to this interview on NPR when Erick Erickson, editor for the conservative website RedState.com said some interesting things. Seeing that I hadn't had any coffee yet, I had to think about the statement for a second.
I heard him say that the Republicans were the cause for the 47% of Americans not paying taxes that Romney had referred. He also, without a glip, claimed that that was the very reason why Republicans needed to be in power.
It must be nice to be both the cause and solution for all our problems.
I ran across this article this morning and it made me laugh. I'm sure everyone has, at this point, seen or heard about the Romney ads that ask the question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" As part of that campaign, Romney bought the hashtag #areyoubetteroff assuming everyone was going to respond, that no they weren't. This is where things get funny. According to the article responses have been a resounding 5 to 1 in favor of yes. Ah, that's just good political, unexpected humor.
The question that Romney asks doesn't take too much analysis on a personal level to answer.
Four years ago I was finishing school working as a manager at a bike shop in Northern Utah. I made enough money to pay my bills and have some left over to party and enjoy myself. The months leading up to the end of 2008 were dismal months for that business. We had had an amazing summer, but the sales had stopped suddenly when the whole economy started to unwind. This left us with too much stock and employees scratching their heads with nothing to do. Their was a constant stream of shop friends stopping by from the coffee shop next door to inform us on the latest bankruptcy or how they weren't going to get paid or had lost their jobs.
Rich patrons are a major source of Romney's cash, are you serious? That's like reporting that the Japanese Tsuanmi did a lot of damage when the huge wave rolled over its beaches. I didn't check, but I'm guessing the NYTimes doesn't have a "Master of the Obvious" category for their news. It goes without saying that a party that, for the past year or so, has done nothing but try to convince everyone that taxing the wealthy is a bad idea would have very wealthy patrons funding their campaign. At least here in the good old US of A where wealthy individuals and corporations have full access to donate whatever money they want to influence the American public as part of the election process.
Anyway, here's part of the role call:
All told, the group, Restore Our Future, raised about $18 million from just 200 donors in the second half of 2011.
Millions of dollars came from financial industry executives, including Mr. Romney’s former colleagues at Bain Capital, who contributed a total of $750,000; senior executives at Goldman Sachs, who contributed $385,000; and some of the most prominent and politically active Republicans in the hedge fund world, three of whom gave $1 million each: Robert Mercer of Renaissance Technologies; Paul Singer of Elliott Management, and Julian Robertson of Tiger Management.
Not to be out done, the other half of our one party system has also raised a huge sum of money.
But as Mr. Romney sailed to an overwhelming victory in Florida’s primary on Tuesday night, fund-raising documents filed by President Obama showed the kind of financial juggernaut he will face if he becomes his party’s nominee: Mr. Obama reported raising a total of $140 million in 2011, far eclipsing the $57 million Mr. Romney raised for his campaign for the year.
So between the two front runners for dictator there has been a total of $197 million dollars raised. $197 million to do what? Influence the American public to allow those who are in power to remain in power so the status quo doesn't shift. I can think of lots of things that would be a more worth-while use of those funds. Like paying for health care for millions of Americans or improving our education system, but I guess those aren't worthy causes or, better yet, good investments.
Four years. Is that what we were talking about. Let's explore that idea a little bit further. Four years and no one has ever been held responsible...
The Obama administration tried to instill confidence in the effort by installing Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York state attorney general who is viewed by liberal groups as a crusader against big banks, as one of the leaders of a new unit within the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. But skeptics still doubted the sincerity of the new effort.
Well, I was excited about this in the first paragraph of the story, but somehow the second one, quoted above, took all the wind right out of my foreclosed sails. Thanks a lot NYTimes.
In other news, these two posts were juxtaposed on my Fbook page. It made me do a double take...
The top post is a quote from MLK, Jr. - "It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps. It is even worse to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps when someone is standing on the boot."
The next post is about boicotting Starbucks because they support Gay Marriage.
We can obviously see some difference in ideas/opinions.
Four years has passed since we bailed out the banks. Four years that they didn't have to wait around on the verge of collapse, wondering if they would be able to make it to the end of the month. Wondering if their decisions would leave them with nothing. They spoke and those in power reacted, quickly.
Four years that the average person has been toiling, working, hoping that with their efforts, their decisions they may be able to hold on till the end of the month, that they might be able to make ends meet. Four years of wondering if anyone would come to their aid. Four years of anguish and anxiety waiting for that notice to come for you to vacate your home.
Four years has passed and we still have no bail out for the average person....
Why is a deal even in the works, political pressure and hoping to yet again win an election.
But a final agreement remained out of reach Monday despite political pressure from the White House, which had been trying to have a deal in hand that President Obama could highlight in his State of the Union addressTuesday night.
Wow. Thanks governing leaders. We are all so very happy that it is so easy to see where your loyalties lie...
Luckily for us, the Occupy movement has shifted the context of political debate in this country. Ideas and movements that were unheard of or scoffed out of existence before they had a chance are up and running. The recent blackout of the internet being a fine example. Followed by the take down of a slew of government websites when the DOJ shut down Megaupload.com.
One of those ideas is similar to the Voteforyou! creed, Americans Elect is an organization that is setting up to be the first real attempt to get a non-partisan primary going allowing any and all Americans to vote for a third party candidate that suits their ideologies.
Is it in the right direction? I believe so. Is it where we want to be? Not quite yet, but I'm willing to support it in an effort to move in the right direction. Democracy is about making choices, not having choices made for you.
