This fall we face a greatly anticipated mid-term election cycle in which control for the Senate and House are both possibly in play, with potentially dire consequences.  We’ve already seen how broken our democracy is with President Obama being obstructed by congress more than any president in modern times, and we’ve seen repeatedly how having a majority of votes in the Senate and a majority of votes in the House don’t mean the majority or will of the people will prevail.  Thanks to the un-democratic fillibuster abuse in the Senate, abused by republicans an unprecedented number of times has led to grid lock, and essential rule by minority.  And we’ve seen how a small faction of radical right wing zealots in the republican house majority has pressured the desperate Speaker of the House, John Boehner, into not bringing to the floor for a vote, legislation passed in the Senate and with enough bi-partisan support in the House to pass – more rule by minority, in practice. All of this un-democratic practice undermines peoples’ faith in the very principles of what most understand to at least be a core principal in a democracy – rule by a majority.  That’s why we have contests known as elections, in theory a process that selects a lawmaker or president to represent the majority of voters, and to serve the needs of all of society.

It is easy to let such a dysfunctional system discourage us from voting, and to wonder why it even matters who’s in control of the Senate or House, if the majority seldom get their way.  To this all I can say is that this is all the more reason that we should exercise our right to vote.  We do know change is possible, as past historical victories have proven, from laws that banned the horrible practice of child labor, to women’s rights, Civil Rights, Social Security, Medicare, the minimum wage, protection for unions, the end of wars. .  .   the list is extensive.  But in reality, it seems to me that political struggle and change only occur at a point when it is impossible for those in power to oppress popular opinion and demands.  And when the change comes, those in power only yield enough to keep the riots or revolution at bay.  So it often amounts to almost enough, always too late.

And we’ve gotten in a point in this country where the gains of this past century are under constant attack from the tiniest percent of the 1 percenters.  It is painfully obvious now that the Wall Street and financial services bankers that periodically wreck the economy, do so with near immunity.  It is laughable to ask why not one of them is in prison for nearly bringing down the world economy, and ruining millions of American families lives through job losses and foreclosures, because we already know the answer: they’re not going to jail, they’re getting appointed to key positions in the White House (regardless of who is President) and getting bonuses.  Everyone knows that the old cliche of “the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer” is currently our official economic policy on steroids.

But what is shocking is that those in power have become so brazen, perhaps emboldened by our general complacency, that they can now profess and advocate positions that are a blatant, full on assault against the working class, the poor, the elderly, the young, and the sick and vulnerable.  Our past President George W. Bush was openly calling for Social Security to be privatized so that it one of our country’s most successful social program of all could be handed over to his criminal buddies in the financial industry to gamble with the future retirement security of most of the country.  That would have worked out great, huh?  And in the last presidential election, Paul Ryan, the Vice President running mate of Mitt Romney, was openly advocated for the dismantling of Medicare, to hand over health of our seniors to the private insurance companies who at the time were making huge profits by denying healthcare.  And remarkably, despite ObamaCare and the future of Medicare being made an explicit campaign issue which President Obama won his re-election on, Mr. Ryan offers yet another budget (which the House passed this week) with the same terrible ideas and priorities in place.  Despite millions of more Americans now gaining healthcare coverage, many for the first time, and despite all of us with private health insurance now enjoying more legal protections than ever before, the republicans are still chanting “repeal ObamaCare.”

We now have an oligarchy of rich elite  that through their careful structuring and legal shenanigans that have now elevated their corporations to being people too, and their money to bribe politicians now being recognized by a divided Supreme Court as “free speech” – and this oligarchy hedges their bets with both political parties,  Neither of the two major political parties is without widespread corruption.  BUT, and this is a big but, the current republican party, through some fiat of hate mongering, racism, class warfare against the poor, and gigantic propaganda machine, have embraced the needs of the super rich and the corporations to absurd new levels.  Their positions are not popular, yet their party remains only a few seats away from all out power, not just the de-facto party of being a ruler by minority through obstruction that they are at the moment.

Are all republican politicians bad people?  No.  Some have redeemable qualities, interesting perspectives, decent ideas.  But many are just flat out wrong on policies and values, and cold hearted, greedy liars and deceivers.  They serve their true God of the love of money, and do whatever it takes to make sure that the wealth that is created in our society flows straight up to the top 1 percent, while the rest of us suffer decades of stagnant or declining wages and the loss of benefits, while facing more job insecurity than ever before.  These truly bad people know they can’t win on their policies, so they have begun a massive, nation wide voter suppression effort that is absolutely cynical and shameless.  Any excuse to make it harder for the average person to vote, the working class, the poor, the minorities, or the elderly, is being exploited to change the voting laws, state by state, to suppress anyone who might vote for a democrat or any other candidate that comes along as a champion for the majority and not just the 1 percent.

And what are the democrats doing at the moment to combat this?  Well, the so-called moderate democrats, usually from southern states, almost always from red states, are running with their tails between their legs, trying to sound as republican like as possible.  This is a proven losing strategy in the past, and will prove so again if they don’t wake up and grow a spine.  These wet mops are not embracing and spreading the truth about the new Affordable Care Act.  They are saying things like “we’ve got to fix ObamaCare.”  Granted, ObamaCare could be al ot better, there could be a public option or a single payer system, but that didn’t happen to begin with because of such cowardly democrats and corruption.  These democrats should be embracing the successes that they have gotten under President Obama, such as the heath care law, not half-ass saying, yeah I voted for it, but it sucks, I’ll try to be more like my republican opponent.  They should also be shouting about what the country has been denied because of the republican obstructionists, which brought us the government shutdown, among other things.

If a democrat in a red or southern state can’t articulate how it’s better for everyone now that health insurance companies can no longer deny anyone coverage because of a pre-existing condition, they should stay out of politics and public service.  They should not call themselves a democrat, let alone a public servant.  Any democrat, or any republican for that matter, should be able to profess with confidence, support for any number of popular measures, such as healthcare for all, raising the minimum wage above a poverty line, feeding the poor, reinstating federal emergency unemployment benefits, defending Social Security and Medicare.  These are no brainers and supported by an easy majority of voters, no matter what state.  But instead, what is sometimes called “blue dog democrats” or “Reagan democrats” or “moderate democrats,.” is now becoming synonymous with “yellow belly coward.”  It is time for these worthless, spineless, caring only for their job politicians to get out of the way for real progressives with solid values to take their place.

We are long overdue a new political party that will stand up for the majority of us instead of the vested interests of the super minority.  It is time the democrats quit calling themselves democrats if they won’t do that.  It is time for all of us to go to the polls and remember what is at stake this time.  We’ve had 6 years of near stalled government because of the obstructionism of the republican party and the weakness of the democratic party.  But just imagine how bad things would be if the party of George W. Bush and Paul Ryan could get their hands on the Social Security and Medicare.  Just imagine telling millions of newly covered Americans that their access to healthcare has been repealed.  Just imagine not ever raising the minimum wage to above the poverty level.

This is our future and right now I’m very discouraged at the lack of courage being displayed by these timid democrats.  The truth is on your side, popular opinion is on your side, and if you aren’t on our side and willing to stand up, be counted, and grow a spine, you deserve losing your job forever.  Unfortunately for the rest of us, we will end up suffering because of it.

 

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