America Is Losing Its Collective Mind

I am leaving the Democratic party. It is with heavy heart that I change my affiliation to Independent. I'm 46, have been a registered Democrat since I was 18. My parents were from the East Coast, and proud Democrats. But it took the Democrats taking over, being in power, for me to see that Democrats talk a good talk but do not have the spine to walk the walk. They buckle under pressure, even ridiculous, obtuse pressure.

But it's not just the Democrats. I'm going to ask my country soon the horrible question, "them, or me." Truly; either we start listening to, following and promoting educated, sane, individuals and doctrines or I will seriously consider leaving the country. Because after all, what kind of country is it now, or will it be if this discourse and noncourse of action keeps up?

The Democrats are losing me over health care and the wars. Health care was the cause of Ted Kennedy's life, and has been part of the platform for as long as I can remember. Democrats were the champions of single payer, universal care, the only solution for this ailing country. Medical insurance companies are evil entities profiting off the doling out of care to needy Americans, pricing people right out of policies while turning record profits. They will not do the right thing, ever, unless it's right for their stockholders. After all, that's all they care about, their stockholders, CEOs, investors; that's who their clients are, not sick patients or policy holders. They are revenue streams, not people.

And I think I've been clear on the wars, both Iraq and Afghanistan, from the get go. As I sit and listen to the White House talk about more troops in Afghanistan, not less, as I hear some arbitrary 2011 deadline for Iraq at $10 billion a month, well, again, I go back to the core Democratic platform of no war, peace, diplomacy, NATO, allies and such. In 2006 when Pelosi took over Congress, war funding should have stopped and impeachment put on the table. In 2008 when Obama won and Democrats got a majority in the House and Senate, war funding should have stopped and troops called home.

Instead, war funding continues to both wars, escalation in one, and many of the same generals are in charge with no clear cut mission or end in sight.

So you get to Washington, get a ruling majority, and can't provide basic health care for the people, or get enough Democrats to agree that a low-cost public insurance policy as a choice is at least something because they obviously are too busy banking lobbyist money from insurance companies and big pharma just like their Republican counterparts. And they can't or won't end the wars.

Then there's the idiot factor getting to critical mass, so much so that it is harming our nation. The Tweet 'heard round the world from Sarah Palin, think about that, a 140 character or less sentence posted on a bulletin board for teens with too much time or adults with not enough human contact (don't get me wrong, Twitter is a great toy, but that's what it is, a toy)....anyway, a has-been political hack who can neither run a family, her state or certainly a nation, makes a remark based in zero fact about "death panels" and suddenly the health care debate goes south, people start toting guns to political rallies and Fox News feeds talking points to morons to shout out in public to derail any real conversation.

And they are allowed.

And now, just when many thought it could not get more surreal, there are people being given microphones and column inches, some of them elected officials, to protest the President of the United States speaking to school children because they are afraid that he will "indoctrinate" them to become socialists. And these people are not being laughed out of the media, called morons and put in the looney bin, oh no, actual sane people have to sit down and discuss the ludicrous and mentally ill behavior.

George H.W. Bush addressed school kids about the War on Drugs and how drugs were bad, mmkay....the speech was put up on satellite and schools tuned in, probably the same schools threatening to not carry the President's message to the kids. Public schools, no less. Yes, that Bush told kids drugs were bad, except the record amounts of Ritalin and other drugs big pharma were pumping them full of every day; no, those drugs were or are good, drugs that make you feel good, those are bad. Yes, that message really worked as we now look to legalization to save our broke asses.

And let's not forget where George W. Bush was on 9/11. He was reading "My Pet Goat" to a group of young, impressionable children. In fact, when the nation got attacked, the kids got to see how a real President springs in to action when they, and their country, are in danger. George W. Bush -- a man who very well should be on the Megan's Law listing for war criminals (if there were such a thing) so you could keep him out of your neighborhood or know when he moved in -- him speaking to a group of young children, fine. But Barack Obama, too much?

These people are either the fringe, and should be treated like the Klan, like anti-semites, like the Lindon LaRouche clan by the media -- never given mikes or credibility or air time -- or they are a credible, viable entity. And if the latter is true, time to leave the country or, like England, tell these idiots it's time they pack and go and start their own ignorant colony of bigots and frightened, uneducated people. And no, you can't have the South. We could always rehab it. But you could take a lot of people from there with you. Either way, we are not the United States, we are the divided states and the divisions are now getting ugly.

Every speech the President makes, every press briefing from the White House Robert Gibbs gives, each and every day kids in public school should watch, listen, and talk about what is going on and what is being said. No wonder we are a nation of civic idiots, many can't name the branches of government, supreme court justices, hell, even who their own representatives on state and federal levels are or even how many senators each state has! And a way of breaking that cycle is by educating a younger generation, getting them involved, getting them excited about the process. The first black president of the United States wants to speak at your school and your parents object? Your school objects?

Republicans don't want your kids to hear a well-versed President, and they certainly don't want kids involved in the system unless it's to pimp them out. This or that cause is "for the children" or here, kids, collect money for Afghanistan (Bush did that) or attend the funeral of your dad or mom as they are blown up in war, but stay away from the President!

And they've used words like "indoctrinate." Like the President is going to brainwash the kids and they're going to come out communists, or worse, liberals. And the media repeats this drivel and suddenly it's real.

What it is is an international disgrace and I'm getting tired of these divisionists, these ridiculously idiotic and mentally simplistic drones being led by people who should know better. America, it's time to rise above or bail out.

Truly, are the people of the United States worth saving? Republicans don't think so. They're not even worth covering with health insurance unless it suits corporate interests to do so. They're not worth equality, and the divisions over women's rights and gay rights prove. They're not worth saving, as the bail out of corporations is hailed as a success while unemployment soars, foreclosures abound and every day someone decides between food, rent, medicine or a utility bill. We have millions sitting in the dark because billion dollar power companies can just cut off their power, we have millions without food because the billion dollar food industry doesn't really care, and we have Americans without a voice because Fox News raises the voices of the lemmings to a peak where everyone just wants to tune out.

No, Democrats are doing nothing to prove they have the spine to lead. There should be no bipartisianship right now. The other party destroyed our country. Why listen to them now? We are bankrupt, out of work, out of money and running out of time. They've been in power eight months and not one major part of their platform has been passed. We are still at war on three fronts (Iraq, Afghanistan and Korea), there is no social safety net for those who are losing unemployment and will have nothing at all on which to rely, no medical coverage for all, no improvements in living and working conditions for the poor, no immigration reform, don't ask don't tell still exists, DOMA...on and on. While Bush and Cheney and their Congress and Senate rammed things like warrantless wire tapping, illegal occupations of sovereign nations, torture and the biggest affront to the Constitution, the Patriot Act, down the throats of Washington and America, Democrats can't even pass a bill that gives Americans an actual option to the omnipotent insurance companies, equalize civil rights for other tax paying Americans by letting them marry and constantly let the mentally ill fringe derail their message and their legislation.

No, the Democrats are losing me. And if America and American's don't shape up and start taking control, shutting these destructive and un-American voices down and the media turning a blind eye to the fringe other than to report on their absurdity then Canada or France may end up being a nice place for me to retire one day. That's if we this country survives as an entity even that long.

It's not looking good.

Follow Charles Karel Bouley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/talkradiolive

Comments

[venusvictrix]

I think the best thing that could happen to this country is for the Independent Party to emerge as a legitimate contender.

Charles: you go first, and I'll do it too.

Seriously. We need a third party, and who cares what the media is being paid to propagate . . . . there's enough dissatisfied, disenfranchised, and plain old disgusted voters who will make a stand to make their point.

Let's make the Independent party viable. I'm there,

[werbenjagermanjensen]

Believe me, Nicolas Sarkozy and Stephen Harper are NOT nice guys. I'd rather take my chances with Mr. Obama.

[MaryKathO]

I fear the final 'nail in the coffin' of the United States, will be this month when the Supreme Court, by a vote of 5-4, decides that corporations have 'personhood' and should be allowed to contribute, without prejudice, as much freakin' money during an election as they can possibly get away with and any use of that money is acceptable. Then we will truly have gone off into official fascism...the only thing missing will be the state religion, though fanatic fundamentalists are doing their level best to create it, both in the government (see "the Family") and in the military.

[lovable]

the difference in the dems and repubs

1. dems call it missinformation / repubs call it lie
2. dems have no media in there pocket / repubs have fox 24-7
3. dems enter into a debate with a knife / repubs enter into debate with a gun.
4. dems respect all people / repubs only ultra white conservatives .
5. obama and dems need to get mean / repubs are always mean.

[K.J. Dwyer - Huffpost Blogger]

Fight or Flight.

I flew five years ago and am sanely living abroad with other sane people.

Nothing will change in the U.S. for this reason: in your piece, you hit the nail on the head.

" . . . like England, tell these idiots it's time they pack and go and start their own ignorant colony of bigots and frightened, uneducated people."

That ignorant colony became the U.S. and the descendants of those original inhabitants of religious extremists and criminals are the powers that run the show today. And those who weren't descended from that toxic brew are simply grist for the mill, divided and conquered, either stuffed with fast food and maleable as silly putty or sane, educated, progressive and bombarded by idiocy. And everything in-between.

There are 6.4 billion other people in the world and 194 other countries. Once you distance yourself from the sound bitten, dollar driven, circus barking, war mongering, over consuming, polluting, waste-laying, hegemonic nightmare that the United States has become, you see it for what it is. A government that is nothing more or less than a shill for its corporate masters who've gone off on a umpteen trillion dollar off-shore bender and won't be done until they've "creatively destroyed" everything they touch. If you're hoping to do some kind of intervention and get them some help and rehabilitation, fuhgetaboutit.

Not gonna happen.

Get out now, and take your money with you.

[Rescisco]

I feel the frustration man. Promoting "educated, sane, individuals and doctrines" is the key, but the few who may be educated and sane enough are likely to be ignored by the many who are not. Once we wanted our leaders to be smarter than us, now we want them to be "one of us."

[chrisincalif]

This analysis is spot on.

The corporatists who control everything now don't care about America, let alone us. That's why all of our good jobs are exported wherever cheapest. A friend in construction asked "who do they think will buy all of their products if we don't have jobs?" The sad answer to that is: the rising middle class of Asia. Once there are enough of them, then Americans can go to hell, can't they? Corporatists can live anywhere in the world in luxury once America sinks far enough. Halliburton execs already moved out (OK, to avoid prosecution in that case).

Democrats have enough power & little time left. To keep that power, voters must SEE that they make a difference. To do that, they will HAVE TO FIGHT BACK. Once people see an improvement in their financial security and their lives, they won't be as easily manipulated by FOX & Fiends (that's no typo).

If they wake up, Democrats should re-regulate media as it used to be, so that a few can't buy up and control all of it, turning "reporting" into real propaganda.

[write2bheard]

Like your idea of a third party in theory - but feel it would strengthen the gops rather than help the progressive causes. gops aren't changing - our only hope is to outnumber them. Obama ran on a platform of "reaching across the isles". He has tried humbly and desperately to do that. Now it is time to admit it is not working. Obama needs to own his power. Otherwise, the gops (and Hilary) was right, he is just an inspiring and charismatic man who can make a good speech. It is time for leadership.

Fox news leads this country now - what they say is news is news and they skew public opinion uncommonly well. With Van Jones out of a job, perhaps he could take on Fox sponsors as a full time project. Tell me where to donate. I'll show up early and often.

[Buster41]

I,m afraid Obama is in self-destruct mode walking in Jimmy Carter's old path. And, I think this has been from the get-go. If he does not change his present direction and back up and realize exactly where he is, and who his supporters are , he will be a one term president. GOPers are laughing about this now. They are sure they will take Congress back soon--in 2010.

When the Repubs and Blue Dogs take over this time, Blacks and White Democrats will wish they had some other place to go. But, there will be no place! Sorry!

[maritimer]

They may very well take back Congress in 2010. Look at the teabagger rallies they had in DC and elsewhere they had this weekend. You never used to see right wingers rallying in numbers. They are my enemy. I despise them. I do not see them as my fellow Americans; I see them as a destructive force that must be stopped. But unless Obama leads the fight, what can someone like me do? Costa Rica is looking good for this old sailor and surfer.

[marignymitch]

I'm with you. I stopped all donations to the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates more than a year ago, when Obama voted for the Constituti­on-busting FISA bill. That's when I realized we all were being punked. I suspect that the latest wussiness will result in no health care reform, a continuation of the insanity in Iraq and Afghanistan, with no change to DOMA and DADT.

I have one point of contention, tho. I'm a southerner and I can ensure that the South is beyond rehabilitation.

[rbenjamin]

Why is it that all the serious, sensible political commentary comes from comedians these days?

[dps2]

Do you all really think Obama is played for a fool? That he doesn't recognize what the republicans are doing to him? What they are making him look like? Do you really think he is being out-maneuvered and is so stupid as to not see it??? Do you think his behavior and decision making and backtracking are really of his own devise? Do you really think that he could be that obtuse???

Get real. He is simply following the script that was written for him by his bosses.

[chrisincalif]

If President Obama is "simply following a script" from his bosses, then by definition, he certainly would be a fool.

[Chazet2]

What this poor excuse for an administration fails to recognize is that this bipartisanship is being played by the Repubs in such a way as to guarantee Obama's failure. I think he was hoping to use it to ensure that his left, on which many of us sit, could be thwarted, and he would still seem like the voice of reason finding the best compromise. But the other side isn't playing along.
Why would the country settle for a bill that the House and Olympia Snowe came to compromise on? Obama is just hiding from real leadership, as he has on every issue he has been confronted with.
I, too, am fed up, and want to see a strong message delivered to this administration that it needs to change course (if the polls haven't sunk in).

[AV8R]

This is serious business, and I totally agree. But for a lighthearted (but accurate) view of our future, please see "Idiocracy."

[cdmattison]

"Idiocracy" scared the heck out of me because it feels like we are just minutes away, historically speaking, for its morality tale becoming reality.

As a country, we promote "Real Americans" as Palin or Bush, people who revel in their ignorance and then we have GOP fringe calling President Obama an elitist because he respects and promotes education.

Incredible. Frightening. People, we have wrestle our country back from those trying to keep us ignorant and distracted by calls of "Socialist", "Communist".

If you hear or see this fear and ignorance being spread, call them on it.

If not me, who? If not now, when?

[Marie62866]

Obama has tried to be bi-partisan, didn't work, it needs to get his agenda through now, he dosn't have much time, the republicans are slandering him every minute! I thought they where bad to Clinton, while they are much worse with Obama! Obama needs to get ride of don't ask don's tell, marriage equality, health care reform and his energy policy!