"No New Taxes!"..."I Hope He Fails"
Don't kid yourself, it is not just Neanderthal Rush Limbaugh and other obvious anti-intellectuals who explicitly express hope President Obama fails; every Republican dinosaur secretly hopes the same. The last election scared Republicans because it gave a large majority of votes to Democrats. Personally, I don't give two cents for either party. But to "hope he fails" is literally unpatriotic, to use the phrase Republicans like to throw around. The neocon criticisms and use of "unpatriotic" has our new president wearing an American flag in his lapel, much like the swastika was required to be displayed there during Hitler's regime. It is scary. Right-wingers act out more like fascists all the time.
Now let me see if I have this right. The right-wingers, who like to parade around as "family" folks, seem to think that it is OK to unite in keeping progressive legislation from being passed that will help our kids and grandkids financially, with health care, etc. Oh, that's right, they may not be among the rich, so they don't get tax breaks while the economic future of the U.S. goes in the tank. Patriotism means tax breaks for the rich, no restrictions on big corporations, spend like there is no tomorrow on the military [much goes into the sewer], and for goodness sake, don't fix our crumbling infrastructure because that will just give work to the poor and middle class. Meanwhile, like Bush, veto help for veterans. OK, so we need a socialistic bail-out from time to time to help our major corporations overcome their mismanagement and lousy, greedy direction. Bush and the Republicans championed this socialistic bail-out when they were in power. Now it stinks. They didn't cut anything during the last 8 years except veterans benefits.
This phony Republican stance about spending wisely and not raising taxes UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES is not a policy, it is a roadblock to progress; it is an attempt to stop salvaging what is left of the American economy after the Reagan-Bush debacles. Where were these same Republicans when Bush was spending like there was no tomorrow and giving it away without bids? Halliburton and Blackwater drained billions and billions of dollars from the United States, from American taxpayers. Oh, and by the way, Dick Cheney just happened to have been CEO of Halliburton. This has brought charlatanism to new heights. And now each and every solution offered is pooh-poohed by these same hucksters. If it requires more taxes to right the ship of state, so be it. Let's be open to all possibilities.
We need a thorough cleansing of the stink of the years since Reagan. Thus far President Obama has given some signals that he is letting in some fresh air. Talking to a group of religious leaders he summoned up enough courage to state clearly that the days of religion-with-blinders should come to an end, and a new era of religious understanding and tolerance for ALL philosophical viewpoints be given an equal place at the table.
We have damaged our sense of right and wrong. We have thrown out morals and ethics for some strange, egotistical, greedy thought-process that has consciously or unconsciously infected America. Let us begin today by extending hands and showing the world that there is another way to conduct ourselves as a leading nation and culture. And sometimes taxing is an act of responsibility.
[Don't forget to read: TEAR DOWN THE REAGAN LEGACY: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future...by Will Bunch, a respected Philadelphia journalist]
