|
Edited on Tue May-25-10 09:16 PM by IndianaJoe
When I saw the thread about Americans being pessimistic and unhappy with Washington, I couldn't help but laugh -- cynically. The Gulf Spill coming on the heels of opening the shoreline to oil leases; the Toyota mystery acceleration snafu; the shilly-shallying with DADT; the war in Afghanistan with no end in sight; the unemployment figures; the unexplained plunges on Wall Street; the poor miners that died in West Virginia; the protracted health care negotiations ending in an insipid half-measure; the inability to handle a crying need for financial regulation; Tea Party members screaming every time I turn the news on about irrelevancies; immigration reform shelved; Gitmo still open; talk from the "Justice" department about watering down Miranda warnings for suspected terrorists; all the forgotten pledges about having a "transparent" government; Republicans filibustering literally everything; idiots everywhere bloviating about the need to cut spending in the time of a horrendous recession; listening to people praise the Arizona Immigration law...I could go on and on.
Sometimes, I just want to scream! Doing the right thing isn't hard to figure out. Most of us know what our country's problem are. We even know in a lot of cases what absolutely needs doing to fix them. But, for reasons I can't fathom, it just isn't getting done. Yeah, I'm cynical. Real cynical about this mire we seem to be in. We really need to clean house. The crew charged with fixing things really isn't getting the job done.
I'm tired of trying to be civil to an opposition that is diametrically opposed to everything that needs doing; tired of a press that no longer informs; tired of politicians who are bought and sold and turned into enablers. I'm getting really radicalized anymore. I'm looking around for solutions and for people selfless enough to work for them. No more Republicans; no more "centrists"; no more Blue Dogs; no more political tools. I want lefties -- Progressives -- Radical Progressives in power. To me, they are the only ones really capable of taking things by the horns and giving us the "change" we were promised and aren't getting -- at least not fast enough or in quantities enough to make the differences we need. When I look at what's happened in the Gulf right now I just have to shake my head.
Yeah, this is a rant. But I really, really feel like ranting tonight. I just don't see the right things happening anymore. And what really rankles is that the Democrats won the last election. We're supposedly at the pinnacle of our power right now. And come November, our "power" is supposedly going to recede. What happens then?
|