ALL Of Us Need To Push-Back!!!
When does the recreant deal makings cease? When does the majority control, begin to act as if it is the majority in control? When does the time come when “we” begin to play offense, hence, having “them” to become acclimated with the unfamiliar feeling of playing defense? When do we stop fighting these battles on THEIR terms, in OUR own front room? The mansions of the most fortunate are unscathed as we're forced to drag all of our damaged furniture & belongings out to the back alley while trying to glue back together our favorite trinkets given to us by our grandmothers; who have resided the last years of their lives in old folks homes, barely living at a level that most would evaluate as modest - at best. (& if I might add) An accomplishment (if you want to call it such) which is accredited only to Social Security and Medicare. Meanwhile, the “Job-Creators” (while sipping their $350 bottle wine from their gold laced chalices) are gittily observing “The Great Middle Class Clash”! Yes… The Uber-Rich find great amusement in seeing the tiny little Cons & Libs clawing each other’s eyeballs out over the last spoonful of gruel that they have so graciously left in our bowl. (because as we all know, the last morsel that’s left in the bowl tastes the best)
When does the time come to discuss the unfairness waged against the American taxpayer who’s forced to foot the bill of 1,000 U.S. military bases that has set up shop on almost every piece of land all across this planet; or discuss the gigantic tax loopholes that are so huge that billions of big corporate profits can easily pass thru them & directly into an ordinary 5-story building that’s located in the Cayman Islands - an address that somehow has the capability to reside approximately 18,000 American companies (at least on paper); or discuss the hundreds of millions of dollars in unrealized capital gains that are currently being held and hid by the wealthiest people in this country - which in many instances make up a substantial portion of a wealthy person’s estate and ARE NEVER TAXED! & if the original holder of these gains dies and passes along that large chunk of their estate to an heir, those gains will eventually be taxed, but at a much, much lower rate than the already absurdly low statutory capitol gains rate of 15%.
To clear the haze of conflation
Our complaint / Our angst / Our argument / Our hurt and dismay / Our intravenous consternation does not derive from us “uber liberals” being upset because King Obama hasn't turned all of our rags into riches yet. To expect a man to resuscitate an economy on it’s apparent deathbed in a matter of only 2 years while enduring Total-And-Complete-Obstruction from the supposed patriots to his immediate right (when it took a full 8 years to bring the strongest nation in the world to it’s knees) is almost as ludicrous as expecting a stop sign to eventually turn green. BUT… what us “true” lefties DO NOT expect, is to have very integral portions of our vital needs, be offered up in deals while the wants of the very well off are casually glossed over! What perplexes the left is how does a so-called democratic president (w/o being forcibly coerced) even consider putting social safety net programs on the table, that did not greatly contribute to our overly exaggerated and made-up fiscal crisis of the day??? Whether it be posturing or not is completely irrelevant to my point: The point is that it should have never been introduced to begin with! The United States of America has billions of waste fraud and abuse in almost every immoral crevice of its government but yet and still our ineffective lawmakers in Washington DeCeit finds it [just], to pick the bones of grandma and her hungry grand-kids as opposed to raising the effective tax rate of some of the largest corporations in the world whom at times, receives tax refund checks. (compliments of the middle class worker of course)
I find it insulting to be referred to as stupid because I voted for a man who I (may have mistakenly) believed, when he campaigned on and promised me CHANGE! I find it offensive to be told I'm wrong for not approving every single decision that our president has made, even when it has been painfully clear that some of those decisions were not made for the betterment of his country as a whole. I find it comical to be called an “Obama Basher” because it repulses me to witness my democratic president not taking a stand to defend core principals, which ultimately defines what it means to be a Democrat. I find it rather ignorant that a person says "well look at what he has accomplished" as if he has efficiently completed all of his Commander in Chief tasks, and any accomplishments subsequent, should be considered as icing on an otherwise bland tasting cake.
There are various levels of achievement attached to dissimilar Oval Office feats.
Does it affect the multitudes in a positive sense when you raise a millionaire’s or billionaire's estate tax exemption level by 4 million dollars while cutting their tax rate by 20% once that level is finally reached?? -- Does the significance of an extra $1,000 in the American workers’ pocket over the course of a full calendar year (which was achieved by drilling a 2% hole in Social Security’s trust fund by the way) have a more important role in moving this nation forward than not extending unemployment benefits for the millions of 99ers who were left to fend for themselves? -- Does it remotely benefit 98% of this country when tax cuts for millionaires & billionaires are allowed to gouge an even deeper hole in our deficit, when that aforementioned 98% owns a deteriorating status in the middle class because their income still flat-lines in comparison to the beneficiaries of those tax cuts?
The very real fact that our president holds the most difficult job on our planet is a given. That goes w/o question; but with that being said - if anyone who feels that they may not be able to deal with the enormous weight put upon their shoulders once the oval office becomes their home... Should have never made THAT their quest!
It has been said by a handful of liberals… “Why should Obama bother fighting fights that he already know he can’t win? He never had the votes for the public option. Even members of his own party were against him.” | "He had to give in to the blackmail of the GOP or else everybody’s taxes were going to be restored back to pre-Bush levels and the unemployed were going to receive nothing." | "The democratic voters let Obama down in the November elections of 2010. [We are] the ones who are solely to blame."
My Retort
-How do you lose if you have proficiently gotten the truthout on the facts that are perpetually misconstrued intentionally around the clock by your political counterparts?
-How do you lose by reducing the level of consternation that pervades the pulse of the American people by using the bully pulpit to ease the fears that the radical right permeates throughout the media daily?
-The fight is lost when you take the words of your opposition and make them your own.
-The fight is lost when there has been minimal to NO attempt to “push back” & spread the words that will calm that angst.
-The fight is lost when the deleterious acts of a political party are allowed to continue unbridled in its efforts to erode the tenuous foundation that a president is trying to foster back to health.
-My definition of a fight being lost is when your commander in chief has portrayed clear abdication to lead his country (daily), and not even realize that THAT abdication even exists.
~The moral of my retort is that even in losses… There are wins~
The proverbial ball has been dropped when it is a well known fact that the majority of all constituents are politically-ignorant & uninformed. This is a well known fact that all administrations leading up to this one has knowledge of. I’m unable to comprehend how the “shellacking” falls onto the shoulders of the democratic base that was shamefully forgotten about after 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. was won. Many Obama supporters - being exposed to politics for the very first time figured… “Well, I guess the job is done”. The emails dissipated. The text messages dwindled. The phone calls stopped. The enthusiasm subsided. The fired up mellowed out. The common politically-ignorant Obama supporter did not realize that the November 2010 elections were the “part 2” of “The Obama Generation” sequel. There were 2 main reasons:
- The needed preparation and gathering of troop never materialized. No second wave of emails, texts, phone calls… Until it was too late. You can not fire-up people who have been under the spell of –enthusiasm gap- for over a year because they felt akin to the main characters in “Toy Story 3”. A lil innocuous 3 month rah-rah session will not energize a base that has been totally ignored on what they felt were important issues. There's a great percentage of Americans who aren't aware of whom their Representative is in Congress & could care less about who their governor may be. Most did not understand the potential power shift that could take place in this country & in their own backyard. Therefore, they didn’t come out to vote in that “insignificant November election” - It can’t be a big deal because we’re not voting for president or anything like that – right?
- I just told you a moment ago... The White House dropped us like bad habits!! (67 Million bad habits) Not only did we get ignored, we got ignored AGAIN! It’s bad enough to just leave your base with confetti still atop their heads after the big celebration, but to then ignore them on their most important issues that mattered the most??? – the Base that sweated hard, worked hard and campaigned hard to allow you to warm up the most important seat in the whole world??? The base that truly believed that a Change was gonna come??? The base that included a teary eyed Oprah Winfrey in Grant Park??? // No Wall Street justice // No help for the 99ers // No stoppage of outsourcing or offshoring // No pressure or policies to make sure the bailout money did not “only” bailout the “too big to fail” entities that were the sole proprietors of our collapse to begin with… For any of us that were shocked by November 3, 2010, we shouldn't have been.
Those items and more were things that we could have easily taken in and probably would have expected from a Barry Harold Olsen!!! But THIS…? No foreknowledge known, could have envisioned this from Barack Hussein Obama back on November 4, 2008.
How do you LOSE when your country has been thoroughly enlightened to the Truth, the Whole Truth & Nothing But The Truth??? A president can not cultivate political capital with his base if he hasn’t put anything out there to harvest to begin with! To be willing to compromise and still have the ability to draw that imaginary line in the sand gives your base something to identify you with. When your own party is mystified by your actions, they have nothing to latch onto. Poll numbers aren’t the tell-all but they are indicators, and they indicate that being “triangulator in chief” should be immediately scratched off of this president’s to-do list. Pushing aside your base to win over non guaranteed votes come 2012, does not appear to have fostered the desired results as of yet. Why work from the outside in… If, you’re already in? Osama Bin Laden was not a triplet. You do not have the luxury of riding a poll-bump by ridding the world of 1 every 6 months or so until election day.
I see nothing commendable in willing to “risk a presidency” when the actions that would initiate that “risk” come at the expense of the ones who find themselves overmatched and non-represented in a fight that they were never meant to win in the first place. A fight that they were given-the-impression… The new Leader of the Free World would fight for them! What do I (the average Obama-voter) care if you risking your job means, cutting my benefits? What do I care if by the time you’re thru “taking-up for me”, I have to work 2 extra years to receive my money?! What do I care if me and my family who are immensely struggling as-is, have to unfairly sacrifice even more? Why should I care as I’m getting off a bus that had insufficient air conditioning, while that shiny new Mercedes is speeding past me? (with it’s windows up) - Even if my phone isn’t cut off, just how sanguine do you believe I would be if I chose to answer some polling questions if I were to be called?
(I have never personally skinned a cat but I have heard that there is more than one way of doing it.)
The end results will determine poll numbers. The American People finally sees justice being served in the financial district… Poll bump. The American People are given access to bailout monies that were trickled down appropriately to give families the ability to save their homes… Poll bump. Becoming recipients of the originally intended stimulus (and not the watered down, tax-cut-induced version that the “Party of Oh-No” insisted on) which would have boosted this country’s moral and created and saved even more millions of jobs… Poll bump. To clearly and concisely shame the lawmakers in Washington and consistently make them foolishly stand in front of the American people to defend their position of aiding and abetting the entities that have raped this country of it’s dignity, it’s standard of living, it’s jobs, it’s savings, it’s children’s education, it’s taxes, it’s self respect, it’s democracy… Poll bump!
~How’s that skinned cat looking now?~
It is literally not-possible to run away from your base because as quiet as it’s kept, in 2011, 98% of America is “your base”. (Whether they be left or right) It is almost guaranteed that if you save a conservative’s home, job, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, lower their health care costs while quite possibly improving their overall service, make it possible for them to attain coverage when “pre-Obama” they couldn’t - and your opponent is campaigning on the exact opposite of what you have already accomplished… That conservative may not tell their next door neighbor, but by the time they vacate that polling booth you would have yourself another vote from another satisfied customer!
Is it clever or craven to put The Big 3 on the negotiating table? Is it ingenious or genuflecting to allow only 1 year of unemployment benefits extension vs. enduring a 2 year elongation of The Bush Tax Giveaways? How is it justified that such overbearing obstinance from the right, receives prizes and praise… While “appealing to our better angels” has to be subjugated to facing the wall over in the corner? How can such hegemony emanate from just a single House majority while the opposing party holds the other 2/3rds of the deck?
I find it utterly embarrassing that the GOP can dictate what tune will be played, what song we will be singing and what dance this country will be foolishly performing while POTUS succumbs to being the MC of the function.
Sir – FDR’S 4 terms as Commander in Chief was NOT a fluke.
There is a stark difference between “to push” and “to push back”. One originates from a bully and the latter originates from the pushed. For only a fool believes that being conciliatory to the point of handing your opponent your helmet midway thru the first half has something to do with being a shrewd & savvy thinker! Especially when you have undeniable proof & substantiated knowledge that not only does the other side NOT embrace any well wishes for you, but broodingly salivates over your political demise. To not perpetuate a fight is venerable at the very least; but when obvious foul play has been put into the mix, appeasement should not be the emotion to emanate through your veins. ~in other words~ when your child politely turns around to walk the other way and is then slapped in the back of his head… Then what?
It infuriates me to be told that we're selfish because the non-2-percenters don't want to join in on this new thing that is being called, “shared sacrifice”.
(To clear more conflational haze)
What us non-2-percenters are saying is that we do not want to sacrifice [anymore]!!! We have been steadily putting in our share over the past 30 yrs. We're looked at as being irresponsible by our GOP leaders because we haven't socked anything away for our retirement, which consequently, puts us in the position of depending almost solely on that socialist government program Social Security / A program that holds a 2.6 trillion dollar surplus within its own & separate government trust fund / The trust fund that the government’s general fund has been borrowing from which has actually assisted in America paying it’s bills as opposed to the popular disseminated lie of it being one of the major drags on our economy /& yes, this would be that same socialist entitlement program that has in fact been taking it’s membership dues out of our paychecks all of our working lives. (which means guess what? We’re ENTITLED to it)
We live in a time that sees the average couple, both of whom work full time, minus profligate spending habits, struggling to stay afloat financially. Compare that all-too-real-fact to the same couple 40 years ago that had only the man being the bread winner while the whole nuclear family lived comfortably. (with less education) Once you put your mind on it, don’t you find it rather odd that we have fools amongst us who says that it’s the present-day couple’s fault that they are struggling?
Shouldn't sacrifice be considered as doing the same category of work over the last 30 yrs while earning regressive pay? Should it not be considered sacrifice when America’s production has steadily climbed over the past 30 years while the ones responsible for that steady climb are no longer remunerated a respectable living wage? Should it actually be surprising to anyone to discover that a great deal of Americans need The New Deal to survive once the golden years of life has taken hold? Due to the unfortunate fact that the middle class has been able to only grasp onto the “short straws” since the early 1980s, the sinewy make-up of the working poor’s dismal finances shouldn’t have come as anything reminiscent of a shock.
Mr. President,
Either you love your country or you don’t! It is very apparent and a well known fact that republicans do not; but yet, it seems of late that Americans are beginning to hear you recite more and more of their talking points. Either you want God to Bless America or you don’t! Well, has it ever occurred to you that you may be the medium that God has intended on using to Bless us???? It’s not about being the 2nd coming of FDR. It’s about self-assurance in your heart that by the time you lay your head on your pillow, you can close your eyes in peace knowing your performed duties on that particular day moved this nation in the absolute correct direction. Even if no decisions by you were made due to you not relinquishing your stance on what you know the country needs; the needs that could be derived from common sense policies that are based on platforms of simple empirical evidence if nothing else. Your inactions are still actions sir. And as long as your inactions imbeds in the minds of the cretins (who at times chant for the demise of their own country) that they indelibly know that they can not just merely disregard or belittle the directives that you have affirmed… That “IS” a step in the right direction for our country! & if at the end of the day it winds up being reminiscent of FDR - To use the unmistakable words of our current “Liar of the House”… “So be it.”
~and now to (sadly) conclude with our present day reality~
Just when I thought that I would become less distraught and less confused and less pissed when it came to Washington DeCeit… I find myself weighted down w/all of those things and more.
-We have a Republican party that doesn’t bother to hide the fact that they care nothing about any of their *own* constituents who earns less than 1 million dollars annually. (so how well does that sit w/you Mr. & Mrs. Working-Class Conservative?)
-We have a Democratic party that walks shoulder to shoulder with “The Truth” every single day but for some incoherent & illogical reason, they are so heart-wrenchingly gutless that they would think-less-of and would turn-their-backs-on the Graysons and Weiners of the Washington World because they spoke the truth… LOUDLY!!! And of course we all know that when you’re a democrat in Congress, you are to never speak truth loudly and with conviction. *DeFazio's not included
-And we have a president who would rather cozy up & play golf with the people who “HATES” him so much that not only do they not disguise their political (I inserted the word “political” being nice) disdain for him, they disrespect him at will - Sometimes just because they couldn’t find anything else to do for the day / We have a president who feels that his base has “nowhere else to go” which (presumably) is why he is all over on the other side of the aisle to show how cordial and accommodating and bipartisan he is. But while he’s huffing and puffing trying to prove to independents and the undecided that he’s the better man, he’s doing so by gradually blowing down the houses of 98% of this country. (which includes independents and the undecided)
For those of us who actually know better - on Election Day, we will get up off of our behinds, fall inline, hold our noses and vote democratic once again come 2012. But as we have already suffered through and witnessed, a great percentage of democratic voters DON’T know better.
From what we are currently witnessing throughout the country today, many states have fallen prey to the GOP’s grand farcical “voter fraud” plan to disenfranchise an inordinate number of the elderly, college students & minorities. And those demographics (strangely enough), consist of predominately democratic voters. That in itself could be damaging enough. To piece that together along with a possible undertow of emerging apathy among the democratic base due to the feeling of having “nowhere else to go”, a noticeable number of the democratic politically-ignorant constituency just may decide on election day - to go nowhere.
Does that scare you?
Because it does me.