venting my political spleen

I am feeling very discontent. Probably because I have been exposed to more TV or rather, TV news, than I am used to and it's all been bad. I have lost faith in our politicians and our political process. I no longer believe that they care one whit about the people they are supposed to represent or even about governing. It's about the money and the game. They would sacrifice whatever necessary to further their side in the game while they hold themselves above the general populace.

They vote themselves a raise while denying us a living wage.

They rely on their government paid health policy while cutting funding to Medicare and Planned Parenthood.

They will fall back on their government pensions while cutting Social Security.

They send their kids to private schools and cut funding to public education.

They protect the fortunes of the very wealthy and have their campaigns paid for.

They sign pledges to promote the interests of a very few.

They don't even have to pay their own employees because the government does it for them, giving them $1.5 million each to run their offices.

The game is to win the election, to be the party in power, not to actually govern, not to care about the welfare of the nation or its people because once in office their energy goes into blocking their opponents even if it's something they agree with. They will willfully wreck the country just to discredit the guy in the catbird seat. They are poor losers of the worst sort and when they are challenged on their records, they whip up the fear machine.

This last little charade of congressional chicken over the budget is typical. This was not about governing, it was about control. They stage their ploys with complete disregard to how it will affect the general population and then blame the fallout on their opponent. They are spoiled children who won't play unless they get to set the rules. They throw a bomb into the middle of the struggling economy wiping out the marginal gains and then go on vacation.

They won't lose their jobs (well, they can but the people have to do it at election time and the people have short memories not to mention they keep gerrymandering the districts in their favor).

They won't lose any of their homes.

Their kids will still get quality educations and go to college.

They won't die of a treatable ailment because they can't afford treatment.

They won't see their retirement slip away with every stock market crash they engender (oh hell, forget gains for retirement, now we've all lost our initial investments).

They suffer nothing while the rest of us suffer from the effects of their manipulations.

Whatever you think of Clinton personally, he left us a surplus and a strong fiscal policy. Eight years of George Bush and ten years of Republican policies later has turned that surplus into an enormous debt and has transferred the wealth of a nation into the hands of a few.

And the very people who are being crushed keep voting for them. That, I just do not get.

I am very disappointed in Obama. I know that he came to office when the country lay in ruins, that he was handed a very big bag of shit and blamed because it smelled. I know being president isn't easy in the best of times but he has not delivered on a single promise. He has caved on every issue. And don't point out mandatory insurance as a health care plus. Making it mandatory does not give me the money to pay for it.

Especially now.