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.