I was at a barbecue over the weekend at my boyfriend’s family’s place, and before the corn on the cob had even been thrown onto the gas grill, someone asked me for whom I was voting in November’s presidential election. After good-naturedly breaking his balls about the sacro-sanctity of my vote and its very personal nature, I told him which of the candidates was more in line with my political views, circa-2012, and was immediately assailed with comments, pro and con, about my “guy.”
I honestly don’t have a lot of patience for this kind of ‘polite conversation,’ because I was a radio and television talk show host for ten years, and it doesn’t take much to set my gorge to rising, especially during the quadrennial presidential election cycle. There is very little in the current political climate (that’s watchable for more than three minutes, anyway) that smacks of intelligent, articulated, sober, and rational conversation about the most important issues that matter to us, as a community and as a nation.
The talking heads are spewing the talking points, and talk radio is so Agenda-driven (pardon the pun), that Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have become the equivalent of World Wrestling Entertainment “stars:” Loudmouthed, opinionated regurgitators of a canned message that won’t brook (or invite) any debate. (There’s plenty of this to go around on the Left, too, but my homo-animus is momentarily directed towards the ’tards of the Right, thank you.)
I know when I watch one of the tights-clad personae created by promoter Vince McMahon that I am being treated to Theatre of the Grotesque, with larger-than-life depictions of dime-novel villains (or for a more recent, pop-culture relevant specie, Tom Hardy’s Bane in the latest “Batman” film is a perfect example), little more than caricatures to tease some Jungian archetypal yearning of the psyche.
That’s all well on TV—but it has no place in a grownup political conversation, and certainly shouldn’t inform a citizen’s voting choice.
(You can stop laughing now.) Unfortunately, there’s no such “mental warning label” accompanying the likes of Rush Limbaugh as when you are watching the antics of say, Hulk Hogan. But Limbaugh is no less a clown for all that he advocates policies and positions which are oh-so-less-than funny.
But at least I personally know that the pill-popping hypocrite is a clown—what excuse do his legions of Ditto-heads have to offer? Are they so starved for guidance and a firm hand (“paging Dr. Freud”) that they are willing to overlook the dishonesty, fact-twisting, and blatant lies that spew from his nicotinestained lips? They obviously don’t mind that Limbaugh never cast a vote for Ronald Reagan (because he didn’t register to vote until he was 35). Telling other people how they should think is easier, I guess, than making up your own mind.
There’s nothing wrong with being a Democrat, or a Republican, or a Libertarian (small or large “l”), or a progressive, traditionalist, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. What’s wrong is refusing to be an HONEST one of those things. The modern political party system, as practiced in the U.S., is two major corporations competing for sponsorship dollars.
Period. To say it a different way, the DNC and the RNC are like Ford or General Motors, competing for you as a consumer of their product, which is one of ideas. Brand loyalty is fine when it comes to soft drinks, sports teams, and clothing. It’s okay to be a “Chevy man,” or a “Binaca boy,” but to call oneself a “Yellow Dog Democrat” in the context of a modern information age is being willfully ignorant, something which, sadly doesn’t un-qualify a person to vote. My respect and admiration for FDR isn’t about to cloud my worldview concerning the gross and corrupt Vito Lopez of Brooklyn, just as my reverence of Lincoln and my appreciation for Reagan won’t blind me to the disappointment of George W. Bush, or the embarrassment of Sarah Palin and Todd Akin. Nor should they you.
Because I choose—when it comes to my voting franchise, anyway—to be willfully informed, I refuse to allow “brand loyalty” to inform my choice for president any more than it will impact my choice for dinner.
I “enjoy” (in the broadest definition of the word) listening to Limbaugh barn-burn his way to the fringe, because I “get” that he is, on some level, playing a part (as hatefully as did Father Coughlin in the 1930s), just as I get a kick out of the acerbic barbs of the more rational (to my mind) Rachel Maddow. But I understand it to be info-tainment, and I am more likely to make a voting choice based on something that the Economist said about the euro than something Kathy Griffin said about Romney.
The stakes for marriage equality, as well as ongoing efforts like the repeal of the bigoted and un- American Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the passage of ENDA (which even Paul Ryan— although not Mitt Romney— supported), and lingering concerns like the final vestiges of DADT, are too high to do otherwise.
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In a recent piece in the Florida Agenda (August 15, 2012, “The Consequences of Run-Amok Liberalism,” by Jason Otero), a gay Republican stated that Democrats have done nothing to address the economy. Let’s look at the facts:
• Provisions in the “Cash for Clunkers” program—which allowed Americans a tax break only if they bought autos made in the U.S.A.—was blocked by Republicans. The number one auto brand purchased under that program was Toyota, the majority of which are made in Japan.
• President Obama’s stimulus package had provisions that encouraged Americans to buy American-made goods, to help create jobs. Republicans blocked that provision.
• That stimulus package has pulled the U.S. out of the Great Recession. Republicans repeatedly attempted to block it, and now claim the stimulus has failed.
• Republican President George W. Bush started wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over a trillion dollars in taxpayer money has being spent for those wars and to rebuild the infrastructures in those countries destroyed by American bombs. America’s infrastructure is in sorry need of repair. Republicans repeatedly block job creation bills designed to make those repairs.
• Republicans say we can’t afford health care for uninsured Americans, and attempted to block legislation which would result in job creation in the health care industry to provide for uninsured Americans.
• Republicans attempted to block loans to the auto industry—now being repaid—which if not made, would have resulted in job losses during a time the U.S. continued to shell out financial aid (not loans) to other countries. The revived American auto industry has been hiring new workers because of an increase in sales of American-made cars.
Otero said the younger generation doesn’t care who gets married: But look up the ages of the young men who killed Matthew Shepard. He wrote we should work on the economy, stop trying to give gays the right to marry, and make abortion illegal again. Hitler took away the rights of gays, and ordered their extermination, while the majority of Germans supported him because he promised jobs. Criminologists in the 1970s predicted that America would become a police state to handle rising crime. Legalized abortion allowed women living in poverty the option to not have unwanted children.
Many of those born into poverty turn to crime because of the lack of jobs in communities at the poverty level.
Republican President Ronald Reagan ignored the AIDS crisis, resulting in an epidemic number of dead gays across America. If you’re a gay Republican, you belong to a political party that includes people who would like to see you put away in camps or exterminated. If you’re a gay Republican, you follow a political agenda that makes money more important than the teachings of the major religions, including Christianity, so you really shouldn’t complain about losing friends in the LGBT community because of your political beliefs, as Otero complained, since the majority of mentally-balanced people don’t want to associate with people who don’t practice what they say they believe.
]]>Walk with me, if you will, through the fields of my political imagination, while we analyze if former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s endorsement on Sunday of President Obama’s re-election campaign gives us a window into what turns him on. Although “comeback” is on the lips of many observers, the first word to pop into my mind is “punishment,” followed by “masochist,” and an image of the Once-and-[He Hopes]-Future- Governor playing a B&D/S&M scene with political operatives from both major parties.
The Republicans have already talked about Crist’s endorsement in the same terminology a dominatrix might use to scold a naughty businessman during a lunchtime quickie. Florida GOP chairman Lenny Curry slammed the former governor as “a self-centered career politician,” “repugnant,” “selfish,” and “looking after his own interests,” and then verbally spanked him, adding, “in spite of an approaching hurricane, no less!”
The notion of Crist as a “political masochist” seeking release through punishment is only heightened (exponentially) with the thought of how DEMOCRATS will go after him once his plans are known. It’s a pretty safe bet that Crist’s move was timed to maximize the media attention, and is another major step by the once-popular politician to crawl up from the ash heap of history towards rebirth as a Democrat and a return to competitive politics. It also increases the buzz to a fever pitch concerning Crist’s intentions to run for governor in 2014, or other elected office—but this time as a Democrat. You’ll have a chance to see his “audition tape” next week, when he addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Republicans will have a field day condemning a recycled Crist, attacking him like they did John Kerry as a flipflopper, but also as a party traitor, and a collaborator with the hated Occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. They have already pointed to his abandonment of his previous positions, including his 2010 admonition against Obama that, “I don’t agree with the guy on hardly anything he does,” his self-description as a “pro-life” “Ronald Reagan Republican,” his opposition to ObamaCare, and his “cheerful” support of a state constitutional amendment banning marriage equality.
And the Republican Party “talking points” actually suggest, “You should take every opportunity with the media to remind Floridians that Crist has made a career out of bashing the Democrat Party and everything President Obama stands for.” Imagine how much hay other Democratic candidates will make of that when they stand against Crist during a future primary.
In the words of the Florida GOP’s Curry, “Charlie Crist has demonstrated, yet again, that his political ambition will always come first.”
For his part, Crist has been invoking the memory and paraphrasing the words of Ronald Reagan, suggesting that he didn’t leave the GOP in 2010, but that rather the party left him, by embracing extreme positions and beliefs. The GOP talking points try to blunt that defense by noting that the ex-governor jumped the party’s ship for an electoral opportunity, and “left because polls showed he had a better chance to win the [U.S.] Senate seat as an Independent.”
Does Crist have a right to a “second act” in politics? Sure he does. But Republicans have a legitimate right to cast him as an opportunist—a professional politician who is just looking for an elected office to occupy. South Floridians have seen this before (sorry, Jim Lewis). My own fascination with train wrecks leaves me wondering what kind of punishment the members of his own (new) party have planned for Crist: Florida politics’ Once-and-Future whipping.
]]>“It is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the President or anyone else.” – Theodore Roosevelt
I used to love the national political conventions, but no longer. Over the next two weeks, politically active Americans will “drink the Kool Aid” and engage in saber-rattling diatribes and unleash the most unpleasant hyperbole concerning their fellow countrymen since Republicans questioned the bravery, honor, and military awards of John Kerry in 2004 (unless you count their 2008 vilification of Obama’s putative “Muslim religion” and their calling into question his citizenship). Democrats don’t get a pass here, with 30-year-old irrelevancies about Ronald Reagan’s senility, the 1988 “wimp” bombs they threw at George H.W. Bush, accusations in 2004 that his son, George W. Bush, was somehow complicit in the September 11 attacks, ad nauseum. More galling to me than that sort of nonstarter is the quasi-tribal, siege mindset that overtakes the most partisan among us, and the accompanying notion that members of the opposing party are the ENEMY (as if Osama bin Laden gave a rat’s toenail what the political party affiliations were of the World Trade Center’s honored dead).
Each year, the Democrats and Republicans host annual fundraising dinner events which bring local, state, and national brass to the trenches (in this case, ones filled with rubber chicken and contribution envelopes) in an effort to rally the—moneyed—troops and preach the Gospel of Talking Points to the chewing choir. The Democrats’ Jefferson- Jackson and the Republicans’ Lincoln- Reagan dinners are ideological red meat for “starved” political operatives and wannabes, and it never ceases to amuse me that most of the party stalwarts have no clue just who— or what—they are honoring.
Thomas Jefferson was a “small government” progressive who envisioned America as an agrarian society, where laws and regulations would be minimal, allowing the “good sense” of the people to reign as well as rule. In this, he was opposed by Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists, who resemble Mitt Romney and the modern GOP in that they favored the moneyed classes and capital, but they also supported a centralized Federal government to facilitate the growth and stability of the new nation.X
Although many Republicans claim that in today’s political climate, Jefferson would be a member of the Grand Old Party, this doesn’t take into account the 18th Century realities: In the 1700s, America WAS an agricultural nation, and didn’t require the degree of government regulation that a modern, industrialized society demands.X
In fact, it was two bona fide Republican Presidents who set into motion the very “Era of Big Government” that a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, proclaimed to be “over” in the 1990s. Abraham Lincoln’s calls for a national military draft during the American Civil War was the first of its kind—and made northerners hate the Great Emancipator as much as did slaveholders in the then-solidly Democratic south.
Legal scholars of the 1860s were as divided as the nation was in their opinions over whether Lincoln had the constitutional power to prevent southern secession and dissolution of the Union. And his suspension of habeas corpus foreshadowed the modern debate over the Patriot Act’s encroachment into civil liberties (a law, incidentally, that was championed by a “small government” conservative President, Bush-43).
Possibly America’s “biggest government” President, Theodore Roosevelt gave nightmares to bosses of his day’s GOP for his support of progressive causes. (When he was chosen as running mate for the incumbent president, Republican William McKinley, an exasperated machine boss, Mark Hanna of New York, shouted, “Don’t any of you realize that there’s only one life between that madman and the Presidency? What…will he do as President if McKinley should die?” As if on cue, McKinley was assassinated 15 months later.)
The Republican Teddy spoke of a “Square Deal,” a progressive outline for equal opportunity for all Americans—with special emphasis on the importance of fair government regulations over corporate “special interests.” (Read about the Triangle Shirt Factory fire and tell me that employees need LESS workplace protections.) Does that mean that he—or Obama—stand for harm to small business? Uh—no.
Roosevelt made America’s natural resources a national issue. He favored using them wisely, and opposed wasteful consumption. He leaves a legacy of five national parks, 18 national monuments, and 150 National Forests, among other works. Does that make the Rough Rider— or Obama—a tree-hugging nature lover? Is this even actually a bad thing?
In his 1908 Annual Message to Congress, T.R. spoke of the need for the federal government to regulate interstate corporations (under the constitution’s Interstate Commerce Clause), and cited big business’ battle against federal regulations, by appealing to the importance of states’ rights (which was as much a canard in 1912 as it is in 2012).
Child labor laws, workplace safety requirements, an eight-hour work day, and the Republic itself—we owe all these to liberal Republicans. Enjoy Tampa, members of the Grand Old Party.
As a former official voting delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, I’m proud to see the Party of the People continue to stand for the equality of ALL the people of our nation, and move towards adopting marriage equality in the official party platform. Democrats recognize that our national community is truly a family and has many members, including LGBT Americans. President Obama’s leadership on—and the Democratic support of—LGBT equality are unparalleled in history.
The passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, legal efforts to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and the advocacy that we LGBT Americans have the right to civil marriage and an equal and full seat at the table of American society, are all a direct result of persistent and successful efforts of grassroots and equality advocates, President Obama’s leadership, and Democratic congressional support.
Democratic support of LGBT equality, economic relief for the middle class, protection of our environment and national resources, development of clean and renewable energy, social justice, civil rights, and women’s rights are just a few of the important reasons to support the Democratic Party.
In 2012, we voting Americans owe a duty to ourselves and our posterity to re-elect President Obama, and to re-elect and elect Democrats to the Senate and House of Representatives.
Justin Flippen is a native South Floridian and the former Vice Mayor of Wilton Manors. He currently works for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau promoting tourism-based economic development and marketing.
]]>“It’s settled law in Massachusetts. Quite frankly, everybody’s moved on,” said Brown on the March 19 broadcast of “Piers Morgan Tonight.”
In the past, Brown has said that he opposes marriage equality, but he has never made it a campaign theme. The Republican split with his party in supporting President Obama’s repeal of the Pentagon’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy.
“We’ve moved on. I encourage everyone else to move on,” Brown told the CNN host. “It should be decided state by state basis. I’m focusing on those other things.”
Democrats say that Brown’s record on LGBT rights leaves much to be desired. They point to his opposition of non-discrimination legislation for LGBT persons, and his refusal to take part in an anti-bullying video.
“If Scott Brown thinks marriage equality is settled law in Massachusetts, he should talk to the thousands of gay couples whose marriages aren’t recognized by the federal government,” said Kevin Franck, spokesman for the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
Brown is in a re-election race for his U.S. Senate seat, the one formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy.
His presumed Democratic opponent, Harvard law professor and former U.S. Treasury Department official Elizabeth Warren, has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign.
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Stone:Gay and lesbian voters should be very happy that Mitt Romney won the Sunshine State’s Republican presidential primary last month. The results showed that Florida Republicans care more about liberating our economy than shackling our community. By choosing a pro-growth businessman over a social conservative, Floridians chose to look forward rather than backward.
Terrill: I don’t think that gay and lesbian voters have much to cheer about in any of the Republican candidates. Romney may be considered “Republican Light” in some circles, but we both know that he recently went on a tirade about Obama’s so-called “assault on marriage and religion,” so let’s not pretend that he will fall on the right (our “right”) side of that particular issue at the end of the day.
Stone: Speaking of Barack Obama, Florida voters look forward to electing a new president. Erosion of support among youth and the elderly alike, not to mention Jews and Hispanics, will cost the president come November. With Obama’s approval ratings below 50 percent, the president is in real political trouble in the Sunshine State. Like liberals always say, demographics are destiny.
Terrill: Speaking on behalf of all “liberals [who] always say” that—come to think of it, when do we say that? This particular liberal does not think that approval ratings polls are worth the paper they’re printed on. Personally, I have never been selected by such a poll for my opinion–I don’t own a landline telephone–so therein is your flaw.
Stone: Political activists don’t complain about polls unless they are behind in those polls’ numbers. When you hear, “the only poll that matters is the one on Election Day,” for example, you can bet your bottom dollar that person’s cause is grasping at straws. But if you don’t trust polls, which is a legitimate position to take, then trust your gut. President Obama won Florida with 51% of the vote. Since 2008, do you think he has earned or lost support? Yeah, that’s what I thought, too.
Terrill: I’m a multicultural kind of guy—and I realize that Florida’s Hispanic voters, mainly Cuban Americans, have always had a good number of Republicans in their midst. This year might be different, though, as Republicans like Arizona’s Jan Brewer, Donald Trump, and other “birthers,” “ID’ers,” and genuine racists have clearly indicated that not everyone is “American, First” in their eyes. Romney is perhaps even worse when it comes to race issues. When you belong to a church that did not let a black person through the front door until the late 1970s, you’ve got big race-relation problems. At least with Obama, Hispanic women are now represented in our highest court and gays can openly serve in their country’s armed forces with pride and dignity.
Stone: Left wing charges of “bigotry” neglect certain inconvenient truths. For starters, the reason gays can serve their country is that a growing bipartisan consensus says they should. For the LGBT community, marriage equality is rightfully the mother of all culture wars. I take great pride pointing out that both of the attorneys who argued Bush v. Gore in 2000, teamed up in bipartisan support for equality. Liberals pummel conservatives as bigots on the issue, ignoring their own elephant in the room. Putting politics above principle, Obama lacks the fortitude to speak up for marriage before the election. So I challenge any left-wing activist to come out from behind their 2012 rainbow sign and riddle me this: how does Obama’s position on marriage differ from Mitt Romney’s, again?
Terrill: I agree that Obama could stand to “gay up” his rhetoric on marriage, but certainly not before the election. That would just firebrand the opponents. Regardless of Mitt Romney’s recent anti-gay marriage revelation, experience tells me that he would sign any bill that Congress brings him, no matter how objectionable.
]]>By Bob Kecskemety
This Dolphin Democrats will be holding its annual Dolphin Democrat’s Award Reception on Sunday, October 23 at the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum, 300 Gulf Stream Way in Dania Beach near Griffin Road and I-95. The evening will include a VIP Reception and/or cocktail reception in the main lobby from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m., dining and awards presentation from 7:15 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. There will also be a silent auction starting at 6 p.m. and ending at 7:45 p.m. The Dolphin Democratic Club is Florida’s oldest and largest LGBT political organization.
The annual Dolphin Democrats’ Awards Reception is the premier event that recognizes outstanding leaders who have demonstrated their strength to lead and a vision to improve the lives of the LGBT community and all deserving citizens. Honoring these special members of the community celebrates the accomplishments and strengths and hope for the future.
This week we will look at some of the women who will be honored at the awards presentation.
The Jamie Bloodworth Leadership Award is the most prestigious of the awards presented, according to Michael Albetta, former president of the Dolphins. In fact, the only award that is outlined in the organization’s bylaws which states that the Jamie Bloodworth Leadership Award may be awarded by the Board of Directors to any self-identifying female who has shown excellent leadership and/or sponsorship in improving community relationship in the LGBT communit-at-large. The purpose is to memorialize the life and accomplishments of Jamie Bloodworth in relation to Broward County human-rights issues.
Recipients this year will be Jennifer Morales and Laurie Whittaker of Sidelines Sports Bar who, according to Albetta, have been instrumental in the Dolphin’s Get Out the Vote Campaigns.
The Trailblazer Award will be presented to Patricia Windowmaker, the Sworn Legal Counsel to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
The Trailblazer Award goes to the person who has gone above and beyond outside their normal box. According to Albetta, Windowmaker has been instrumental in the hiring of transgendered individuals at BSO, which currently employes several transgendered staff.
The weekend of the Awards Reception, Windowmaker will be in Massachusetts getting legally married to Broward Judge Lisa Porter, but Windowmaker will be returning for that evening to accept her award.
The Political Alliance Award will be presented to Anne Sallee, Vice Mayor of Oakland Park, and also a member of the Dolphins. Sallee is being presented the award for her hard work in the Dolphin’s Get Out the Vote Campaign by setting up the tent each month on the first Saturday of each month at the Pride Center’s Flea Market.
Sallee moved to Oakland Park in 2003 and became a neighborhood director in 2005. She has been a member of the Dolphins since 2007.
“I’m proud to be part of the greater community,” said Sallee. “I grew up in a household that believed that everybody should be accepted for who they are and that nothing else should matter. Everyone has the right to enjoy their lifestyle as long as it doesn’t impose on another person’s rights. I appreciate the friendships I’ve made and the involvement that I’ve had, and I look forward to it for a long time.”
This year’s Humanitarian Award will be going to Maroone/AutoNation for their various work and sponsorships of organizations and events in the LGBT community. Accepting the award will be Gale M. Butler, Corporate Vice President of Maroone/AutoNation.
Albetta said that Maroone/AutoNation, along with Butler, has been active in various LGBT pride events in the tri-county area, the Pride Center’s “Stars of the Rainbow,” and Women in Network (WIN) by sponsoring its golf tournament that raises money for cancer awareness. Maroone/AutoNation are also major sponsors of the International Gay Rodeo, the SMART Ride, Broward House, and the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
“We’re very proud of the fact that we’re being honored,” said Butler. “We’ve always been supportive of the gay community and are most appreciative of this honor. We’ve been long-time supporters of AIDS causes since we first came into existence about fifteen years ago. We’re involved in the Community Foundation, which took on the cause of AIDS when nobody else would. I think it’s a good thing and important thing for a big company to do.”
Tickets for the Dolphin Democrats’ Awards Reception can be purchased online at their website, www.DolphinDems.org. Individual tickets are $75, which includes the reception, dinner, awards presentation and silent auction. VIP tickets at $150 per person also includes the VIP reception.
For additional information, either visit their website or you may call 866-478-8262. Sponsorship opportunities are also still available.
In next week’s Florida Agenda, we will interview more recipients of the annual Dolphin Democrat’s Awards Reception.
The United States of America is under a severe political, social and spiritual crisis; and I’m very concerned about the future because we are better than this! While Washington is in ideological gridlock, the U.S. now has the worst income inequality of any industrialized nation. There’s a strong relationship between inequality and social ills and health issues such as homicides, imprisonment, teenage pregnancy, obesity, and mental illness, etc.
Thirty years of research comparing each U.S. state, and various countries shows that the greater the inequality, the worse the societal ills.
We have a government system that works hard for the big money transnational corporations and the very richest Americans, but not for the rest of us. One of the many ways in which this is evident is in the corporate loopholes which allow the most profitable companies like Exxon to get away without paying any Federal taxes whatsoever! Rather than fixing this, the Republicans want to privatize Social Security and do away with Medicare! The Republicans would rather balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling middle class, etc. This is WRONG and simply immoral!
The Republicans hope you don’t know the history of the U.S. tax structure from the beginning of the 20th Century, and how it corresponds to the Great Depression and this Great Recession.
The majority of the GOP House (235 as of July, 2011) has signed the Grover Norquist Tax Pledge in which they vow not to increase taxes. Yet, polls show that the American people overwhelmingly support raising taxes on the wealthy. It’s bad for democracy for our elected officials who are supposed to represent all of us to make such a restrictive pledge—unless, of course, you’re among the wealthiest Americans!
You may recall that the Republicans used a hostage situation to coerce President Obama into a compromise that extended the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Why not take the $700 billion that the Republicans want to give in tax cuts to the top 2% of richest Americans, and instead of giving those tax cuts, put it into our crumbling infrastructure? That would guarantee an effective economic stimulus by creating much needed jobs. China is way ahead of us in high speed railway systems while our bridges are collapsing in this country!
Republicans call the rich ‘job creators,’ but with the Bush tax cuts still in place, I ask: WHERE ARE THE JOBS? It doesn’t make any sense to me to give the richest Americans this tax break at a time when our income inequality is the worst that it’s been since the Great Depression!
Most people forget that the TARP stimulus for the bank bailouts was initiated by former President Bush. Regarding Obama’s stimulus, I agree with economists who say that the stimulus would have had to be twice as big to have had a more noticeable effect on the economy. However, it’s clear that things would have been worse without this stimulus at all. Another way it could have been more effective is if the Republicans hadn’t stripped it of its “buy American only” provision. So instead, we are stimulating China!
Meanwhile China also had a stimulus plan, but that country had more sense to keep its “buy China only” provision in its plan.
It’s one of my biggest pet peeves that we’ve sent all our call centers and manufacturing jobs to India and China in the name of being “competitive in the global marketplace.” I understand that corporations are just doing what they have to do to stay competitive, but our politicians, both Democratic and Republican, have opened the door for outsourcing. They have abandoned the road map given to us by Alexander Hamilton’s 11-point Plan in his “1791 Report on Manufactures to Congress” that protected American industries. Our insane trade policies only benefit other countries and the transnational corporations. The losers here are mostly middle-class Americans as unemployment increases. We will never have a full recovery until we change the fundamentals!
And it’s plain to me how and why our policies have changed: The lobbyists, corruption, bribery… our politicians on both sides of the political spectrum have been seduced by the corporations to abandon some of our most basic principles. And we wonder where the jobs have gone in this country. Protectionism — It’s a word unfairly subjected to demagoguery, and yet I strongly believe this country is worth protecting!
The Democratic Party isn’t innocent here either. Ross Perot was absolutely right when he said that if Clinton’s NAFTA passes we’ll hear a “giant sucking sound” of our jobs leaving the country, and that’s exactly what happened! Unfortunately it didn’t just stop at NAFTA.
In his book, “Rebootint the American Dream, “ Thom Hartmann wrote, “After Reagan blew out our tariffs in the 1980s and Clinton kicked the door off the hinges with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and World Trade Organization (WTO), our average tariffs are now around two percent. The predictable result has been the hemorrhaging of American manufacturing capacity to those countries that do protect their industries through high import tariffs but allow exports on the cheap—particularly China and South Korea.
“The irony is that we have abandoned Hamilton’s advice—and our own history—while China, South Korea, Japan, and other nations are following his prescriptions and turning into muscular and prosperous economic entities.”
Even though both parties have had their share in laws with incentives for corporations to outsource jobs, the 2010 Democratic House passed a bill that would have used both the carrot and the stick approach to stop the insane trade policies, and bring those jobs back to the U.S. But this bill was blocked by a Republican filibuster in the Senate! Who’s working for the American people?
The power of corruption and money in politics was given a massive boost by our conservative U.S. Supreme Court in January of 2010 when deciding the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 08-205 (2010) case in which they declared corporations as “persons.” Under the guise of “freedom of speech,” Citizens United opened the floodgates for corporate money to influence political campaigns. Not only that, but there’s nothing that prevents foreign corporations from influencing our elections! There are three ways to undo a poor decision by the Supreme Court.
1. Wait for the composition of the Court to change
2. For the American people, the president, and Congress to break with the court
3. Amend the Constitution
(see www.MoveToAmend.org)
The first on the list is the best reason to make sure Barack Obama wins a second term. It is very likely that we will have a chance to change that composition in the next presidential term.
The Right Wing has waged war against regulations on banks and corporations. Would anyone want to watch a football game if there were no rules, no goal posts, and no boundaries? Of course not!
Remember the BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf? It was the worst ecological disaster in our nation’s history, and eleven men died due to lack of regulations. The Wall Street financial collapse in the fall of 2008, which went hand in hand with the housing crisis, was due to lack of regulations on Wall Street and the big banks.
I’m not so much for big government as I am for whatever government is necessary for worker safety, protecting children, protecting our environment, as well as consumer protections to keep our nation’s economy strong. While the Democrats aren’t absolved from supporting deregulation, once again, the Republicans have sold out! They’re desperately trying to bring back these same policies that played a major role in the fall of our economy, and THAT’S INSANE!
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) suggests a five-point plan to balance the national budget without hurting the working middle class:
1) End Bush tax breaks to wealthiest Americans. (It’s time for SHARED SACRIFICE!) This would bring in $700 billion
dollars per year.
2) Establish a millionaire surplus tax of 5.4%. This would bring in $380 billion dollars in the next ten years.
3) End tax breaks for the oil/gas companies. This would bring in $35 billion dollars over the next ten years.
4) Prohibit abusive and illegal tax shelters (i.e. bogus address corporations in the Cayman Islands so they don’t have to pay US Federal taxes.) This would bring in $100 billion dollars per year.
5) End tax breaks to companies that outsource their jobs overseas. This would bring in $400 billion dollars in the next ten years.
The Republicans are more interested in sabotaging our economy so that the low information voters will think Obama is to blame.
What is priority number one for the Republicans? Jobs? The economy? According to the Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”
The sad thing is, none of what Sen. Sanders proposes will get accomplished if Obama isn’t re-elected and if the Democratic Party doesn’t win the House back. Until then, the economy won’t see a recovery for a very long time! Once again, the Republicans would rather balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick, the vulnerable, and the struggling middle class; and this is WRONG and simply immoral!
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Due to the corporate person-hood law of Citizens United, in 2012 we’re about to see an unprecedented amount of money pouring into this presidential campaign. The big oil industry and any corporation with enough money to crush any candidate standing in the way of their profits are ready. What can we do? Besides your vote, you can get involved. I would be glad to help get you started, or you can simply click on the link below to get started. There are many ways you can help, but just let me know if you need help getting started.
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