Let me see if I get this correctly…the will of the American people as opposed to the Teahdist-Republican agenda.

Do we understand what the Teahadist-Republicans want? How about what the American people want?

What I gather is that they want:

1. Social Security reform that guarantees the current level of benefits, alters someone else's, and cuts everyone's Social Security taxes to boot, perhaps

2. A world-class national infrastructure that can be built and maintained without tax dollars.

3. A balanced budget that doesn't sacrifice any of the government programs – especially the sacred military-industrial complex and the various old age benefits – that we like, while maintaining ridiculous low tax rates for the very rich and the corporations.

4. Clean air without pollution controls, clean water with a neutered and underfunded EPA, and businesses that do socially responsible things without any regulation whatsoever like BP and Halliburton.

5. Consumer goods at “Made in China” prices that create high-paying jobs in America and these are manufactured with the highest degree of quality and craftsmanship..

6. Giant trucks and SUVs that drive like Formula One race cars, look cool, fit into small parking spaces, cost under $18,000, and get the fuel economy of a Toyota Prius.

7. Complete freedom and complete security at the same time; but not for Blacks, Latinos or gays and women must relinquish control of their own bodies to government..

8. An America that acts like a swaggering, sociopathic asshole on the global stage yet is beloved by all the nations of the world. We must maintain that arrogance and apologize to nobody.

9. Wars against every enemy, real or imagined, all of the time, with no U.S. casualties and no effect on the budget and doing it without a formal declaration of war.

10. Incredibly rich and rewarding professional lives while supporting our employers' right to do whatever they want to us without recourse while blaming the LABOR UNIONS for any sputtering of the economy.

11. A vibrant, consumption-based U.S. economy with good jobs for anyone willing to look for one resulting from free trade policies that encourage money and capital flows to cheap labor markets. They do have a lot of job openings at Burger King.

12. A highly educated workforce produced by a school system that requires no tax dollars to achieve excellence, students who have no interest in learning, and a virulently anti-intellectual society. Complete denial of science and a perverted revisionist history course.

13. Closed borders and an endless supply of cheap labor to keep prices low.

14. To buy whatever we want irrespective of what we can afford while maintaining the drumbeat of personal responsibility.

15. Health care that is cheap, superior, and readily available to them without the danger of the same being enjoyed by anyone they deem undeserving. The enhancement of the stranglehold of Health Insurance Companies so they can continue to milk the American cow and retain their parasite status.

I don’t know how all this can be accomplished if you start with the premise that GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM and it can’t do anything right. It couldn't be any clearer: we want a government that will resolve every problem we currently face with solutions that require no effort, no sacrifices, and no money. And I have no doubt that we have elected a group of people brave enough to promise exactly that. Where are the jobs Mr. Boehner? …He says: What if a few million people lose their jobs? SO BE IT.

OUR DYSFUNCTIONAL POLITICAL SYSTEM

WE TAKE YEARS TO PASS NO-BRAINER LEGISLATION AND SOMETHING AS SERIOUS AS TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN DEBT TO GIVE THE SUPER RICH TAX CUTS WE DO IN A WEEK

What is wrong with us as a nation is that we micromanage insignificant shit like DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” or “SAME SEX MARRIAGE” when these are no-brainer, purely equal rights issues that everyone should have. At the same time, when it comes to billions of dollars in bail-outs we give it away with no strings attached.

We are trying to pass through disastrous legislation that will extend tax cuts to the very rich…even if these should never have been given out in the first place…and we are doing it in record time.

I think that our government thinks we as a people…that we are stupid…we are not capable of understanding that the super rich and the corporations have priority and a lofty, comfortable place in our society while we pay more than our fair share; but that way of thinking is simply wrong…immoral and it is mostly coming from Republicans who are in the pockets of those on top of the food chain. .

But in order to keep us preoccupied and entertained with cultural issues, things that are only significant if you are either the one whose rights are denied or those who want to find legal justification for denying those rights…in other words: there is a segment of Americans that want to find validation for their bigotry and their hatred (xenophobia and homophobia) by making laws that designates them as morally superior or better than.

I am willing to bet, I am one of those whose unemployment benefits have long run out…that some if not most people who are going through tough times would tell you that they could endure more hardship as long as we don’t get our country in debt in order to give more tax cuts to the very rich.

Obama's Payroll Tax Cut: Another Bailout for the Rich We already know the proposed $120 billion payroll tax cut in President Obama's deal with the Republicans poses tremendous risks to Social Security. Now, an analysis done by Nancy Altman, Co-Director of Social Security Works, reveals that it is altogether bad policy. The payroll tax cut would provide far more to Wall Street bankers and members of Congress than poor and middle class workers, who need the help more and are more likely to stimulate the economy with the money they receive.*

· SOURCE: http://www.ourfuture.org/

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A SIMPLISTIC REVIEW OF OUR DYSFUNCTIONAL POLITICAL SYSTEM

Mr. Barton the apologist to oil companies

WHY IS OUR POLITICS SO VITRIOLIC, OUR DIVISIONS SO UNFATHOMABLE AND OUR IDEOLOGIES SO DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED?

I think I can sum it up with one word: MONEY.

Most politicians arrive in Washington already tainted by the necessity to raise funds for endless and costly political campaigns. A few arrive unscathed and still hold their principals and integrity intact.

The biggest problem is the ideological divide that exists between those who believe in the pure free enterprise system and those who believe that government has an obligation to be an intermediary to smooth over the iniquities and unfairness caused by greed. Clearly the injustices and unfairness coming from the ruling class, which presently is approximately 2% of the population will stop at nothing to obtain special privileges and maintain the status quo at all costs.

Both parties are suffering from this illness; the need for funds to get elected, then an endless effort to be re-elected. Unfortunately that is the reality and that is the system we have to work with. Mind you it has now become more pervasively askew after the Supreme Court decision to allow unlimited funds from anonymous sources. That perhaps put the nail on the coffin of democracy as we knew it.

But what is really hurting us as a society and as a nation is that a great number of those politicians already arrive in Washington with a very warped sense of morals and ethics. These are for the most part Republicans who believe that profit and money comes before country and family. They are hell bent on making their ideology triumph over reason, logic and most importantly…the will of the people.

We hold our collective breaths in disbelief as people like Congressman Barton from Texas steps into a position that is critical in dealing with the oil companies. Joe Barton, the Republican who apologized to BP after Obama caused the gulf oil spill. Mr. Barton is now at the helm of the Congress outfit that has to deal with the oil companies…and he publicly apologized to them for the 20 billion dollars we were able to extract from them to pay for damages they caused…calling it a shakedown. What positive change can we expect when we start out with a politician who is clearly in the pockets of the oil companies?

Similarly, there are others who are the surrogates of big business and the super rich. They are only accountable to the lobbyists who represent these special interests…and some of them even paid the price in these last elections: Blanche Lincoln is a very good example.

How do we fix this problem? Concessions, cooperation and bipartisanship are not options. We need instead a total overhaul of the way political campaigns are funded…THOROUGH CAMPAIGN REFORM which is badly needed.

The Republicans accuse the Democrats of using class warfare to gain political clout. I have said this a dozen times if I have said it a hundred; the class war has already been fought and the rich and the corporations won. Actually what America has become is more like a welfare state for the very rich and the corporations.