Admittedly, I've been too busy to write in this space lately. But I've been watching, listening and reading. It's easy to conclude that the government(s) in this country--both federal and state--are corrupt beyond belief. But it's getting worse. This country is becoming more divisive and at times, downright dangerous to live in because of corruption, greed, and ignorance. Here are a few thoughts I have about recent topics of discussion in politics:
Abortion rights--are you kidding me? Abortion has been legal in our country for 40 years, and before that there were horror stories of botched back alley abortions and problems with women's health. Now we are headed there again in states like Mississippi, South Dakota, Arkansas, Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio, and more recently, North Carolina. The Republican majorities are ramming through legislation in the dark of night when no one is looking, sneaking them into budget bills and the like. They know this is an extreme far right agenda and not what the people of their states want, but they are ramming it through amidst protests anyway. It's disgusting. These Republicans preach small government, and then they intrude on women's health in a way that is bigger than the big government ideals they say they oppose. It's all being driven by the extreme, the.....
Tea Party--if you align yourselves with the values and ideals of the Tea Party, you are a pawn in their plan of taking over the country and the world, literally. The Tea Party is a farce assembled by corporate bigwigs like David and Charles Koch, Pete Peterson, and Art Pope who use nut bags like Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Rand Paul, and Louis Gomert as puppets. Their agenda is driven by the desire to funnel as much money to the top as possible, hence why the 1% keep getting richer and the middle class keeps shrinking and the poor keep getting poorer. They buy elections, they buy votes and then suppress Democrats from voting, they draft legislation denying global warming so they can pollute at will, they buy TV networks (hello FOX so-called news) to push their agenda, and sadly, they influence one of the last bastions of hope we have for democracy--the Supreme Court and use....
Social issues and racism--the extreme right may believe in the anti-gay, anti-minority and anti-abortion views they tout, but I think many of them just do it as a tool to win blocks of votes. They literally use the fact that we have an African American president to spur racist entities to get riled up and engaged, and use anti-abortion, pro-life views as a way to get a huge block of evangelicals to their side of the voting ledger. They use the big, bad....
NRA--they use the NRA to drive home so-called second amendment protections in order to make citizens believe that their rights are being violated so that their friends can keep making gobs of money selling their weapons. And they slap those in the face who have lost their loved ones to gun violence, in particular in Newtown, CT, by saying it's more important to let everyone be armed and dangerous to protect their precious second amendment rights than to protect the rights of our children to, you know, be protected from the douchebags they empower to carry guns. But something like 90% of Americans, including NRA members and conservatives, support background checks, something that failed to pass the freaking Senate a couple months ago. All in the name of selling more goddamn weapons, weapons that make our streets and schools more dangerous every day, and also in the name of gaining the votes (and money to buy votes) of crazy gun-toting extremist groups (read: hate groups/white supremacists).
George Zimmerman trial--are you kidding me? If you look at one simple fact only, the fact that when Zimmerman was pursuing Trayvon Martin and called the police, and he told the policewoman on the phone he was going to get out of the car to pursue Martin, and she told him not to, and he did anyway, that's the case right there. He could have driven away and gone home. But he took the law into his own hands and killed that poor kid. In my opinion this should be first degree murder, not second, but I fear Zimmerman will be found not guilty by a mostly white jury. And that will spur more hate and protests across the country.
Climate change--100 year floods every year, terrifying hurricanes and tornadoes and wildfires that are ripping lives and homes apart. And you have douchebags like James Imhofe (whose own state had some of the worst tornadoes in our history two months ago) denying global warming because he takes money from the Koch brothers. Do you see how this all fits together like pieces to a puzzle? The earth is warming, assholes.....and it's causing crazy weather patterns that are killing people. Let us do something about it, huh?
Voting rights--Voter suppression is real. The right (Tea Party/Kochs) are not stupid, and they knew if they won governships in 2010, they could gerrymander federal voting districts and make their boys (and girls) safe from democracy-touting voters. They require IDs that some minorities and poor do not have, eliminate early and Sunday voting to keep mostly African Americans from voting, but allow gun permits as IDs because they know most of those folks are Republicans. And they lie about goddamn voter fraud, which is about as non-existent as the consciences of most GOP politicians. The Supreme Court that these folks bought, has now shown their activism by striking down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, saying that racism is basically non-existent now. That will allow (and has already) Republican run states like North Carolina and Texas to ram through voter suppression bills. They know the people will turn out to protest now and at the ballot box in 2014 and they are doing everything they can to stay in power.
I really could go on, and maybe someday I should try and write a book. I know we can take back this country and restore democracy, because make no mistake--it's being taken away from us every day. Look around. Do not watch FOX or listen to Rush Limbaugh or your gun-toting friends, and actually look at what is happening. Republicans lie, and they are doing all they can to stay in power and keep funneling money to their rich donors and corporations. They are stealing our money before our very eyes.
Bottom line....we cannot let corporations, the rich, and the extreme hate groups take over. Today, on Independence Day, I vow to do my part to help restore democracy in our country. Are you with me? Or are you with the Koch brothers?
