The Fight For the Soul of America
For the past six years, Republicans have used every dirty trick in the book, and a few more, to hold this country hostage for its temerity in electing a black president – not just once – but twice. They have stopped every bill proposed that might have alleviated the suffering of the 98% and done all they could to allow the 2% to continue to rule and rob this country.
The Republicans, driven by blind hatred of PRESIDENT Barack Obama, stopped every piece of legislation that might have benefitted the citizens of America. Nothing mattered except causing harm to Obama. That they were destroying the country at the same time did not deter them.
Despite this and, at least, partially due to gerrymandering, Republicans have now taken control of both the House and Senate. Already, Mitch McConnell is expressing frustration. They have wasted no time in working to further cripple the country they are, ostensibly, supposed to be serving. To their astonishment the Democrats, rather than slinking away, quietly, to skulk in a corner, have chosen to fight back.
Now, the shoe is on the other foot. It is the Democrat’s turn to obstruct. There is, however, a crucial difference. The Democrats are driven by the love of this country and its citizens. They will fight Republican legislation that will destroy it. They will do all they can to ensure that the Republicans never have enough of a majority to override a presidential veto. They will stop the bills that will solidify the hold that the 2% has on the members of Congress and, thus, on our country. They will fight legislation that will destroy the environment and cause more harm to Americans.
Reading articles that describe the machinations of the Republicans being thwarted by Democratic resilience, I could not help but be reminded of the speech by Shylock in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” With just a bit of adjustment that I hope doesn’t cause Shakespeare to roll over in his grave, his words still ring true.
To bait fish withal; If it will feed nothing else, it will feed our revenge.
They had disgraced us and hindered us half a million
Laughed at our losses, mocked at our gains,
Scorned our nation, Thwarted our bargains,
And what's their reason? We are Democrats, and we support President Obama!
Hath not a Democrat eyes? Hath not a Democrat hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means,
warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer
as a Republican is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us,
do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.
If a Democrat wrong a Republican, what is his humility?
Revenge. If a Republican wrong a Democrat, what should his
sufferance be by Republican example? Why, revenge.
The villainy you teach us, we will execute,
and it shall go hard but we will better the instruction.
(Act III, scene I, “The Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare - paraphrased)
It will be a difficult two years, but it is not hopeless. With resolve and ingenuity, the Democrats can fight a Republican party that is intent on destroying what is left of this country. They will do all they can to stop the Keystone XL pipeline because they know the death knell its passage will sound for the Ogallala aquifer which supplies water for millions of people and irrigation for many of the crops that feed this nation. They will fight to ensure that women have the right to choose the best course of action when faced with a difficult and extremely personal decision. They will do their best to maintain the social safety net that allows millions of impoverished Americans to barely survive because of rapacious Republican greed to give more and more to those who have everything.
For the next two years, Americans will witness ugliness and cruelty at its most base and evil. It is evil to sell our environment for the profit of a few. It is evil to force babies to be born when most will face unimaginable suffering. It is evil to deny food to hungry people including millions of innocent children.
Hopefully, Americans will finally learn their lesson and turn to the Democrats who offer the only hope this country has for a sustainable future. Tuesday, November 8, 2016 can’t come soon enough for this country. Let’s hope that right will finally defeat might.
Posted in Democrats, Government, Patriotism, Republicans, The Future by Randee Head with no comments yet.
Ronald Reagan’s Most Important Legacy
On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford granted Richard Nixon a "full, free and absolute" pardon for any crimes he may have committed while in office, and the future of the United States was forever changed. It signaled the beginning of a new relationship between the country and its citizens. It is difficult to imagine it could have been any worse if the country had endured a trial that would have been contentious. It is easy to believe it could have been better than the inherent distrust now felt by many citizens.
A little over six years later, Ronald Reagan solidified the antagonistic feelings experienced by many Americans. In his first inaugural address, delivered on January 20, 1981 (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=43130), he galvanized the nameless distaste so many citizens had been feeling when he stated, "... government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
While this country was founded with a strong thread of disagreement imbedded in the nature of its citizens, it was so necessary that we should be united, our founding fathers included that word in our name. We were not founded as the "Group of States of America." No. We were established as the "United States of America."
Some may disagree, but a brief look at the quotations of other presidents reveals that no other has so many pronouncements attributed to him that speak negatively about the institution and the public servants who carry on the business of the country he promised to lead. In the more than three decades since he took office, his policies of deregulation and taxation have brought this once powerful country to the brink of destruction.
Taking his election to a second term as a signal he should continue his assault, he noted his commitment to the same destructive principles in his second inaugural address delivered on January 21, 1985 (http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres62.html). He observed, “We have begun to increase the rewards for work, savings, and investment; reduce the increase in the cost and size of government and its interference in people's lives.” Again, the federal government was cast as the “bad guy,” and Reagan was unrelenting as he continued to eat away at our respect for the government we had created.
Here are just a few of the statements attributed to him. Some of the quotations may vary from source to source, but the sentiments are clear:
The Bureaucracy
- Unless bureaucracy is constantly resisted, it breaks down representative government and overwhelms democracy.
- The fact is, bureaucracies are a problem around the world.
- Extreme taxation, excessive controls, oppressive government competition with business, frustrated minorities and forgotten Americans are not the products of free enterprise. They are the residue of centralized bureaucracy, of government by a self-anointed elite.
Government Funding
- The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.
- Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.
- And I have to point out that government doesn't tax to get the money it needs, government always needs the money it gets.
Government Power
- Government is never more dangerous than when our desire to have it help us blinds us to its great power to harm us.
- There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.
- The federal government has taken too much tax money from the people, too much authority from the states, and too much liberty with the Constitution.
- Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation from government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.
- Nations crumble from within when the citizenry asks of government those things which the citizenry might better provide for itself. … [I] hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited.
- I’m convinced that today the majority of Americans want what those first Americans wanted: A better life for themselves and their children; a minimum of government authority.
- Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.
- Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
- Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.
- No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!
- Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.
- Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
- The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.
- Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.
- The nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
- The best view of big government is in the rear view mirror as we leave it behind.
He ended his presidency the same way he had begun it. In his farewell speech of January 11, 1989 (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29650), he reiterated his distaste of the government when he said, “I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. Now, it seems, we cannot free ourselves from his terrible legacy.
SOURCES
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan
INTERESTING LINKS
http://www.examiner.com/article/8-reasons-why-ronald-reagan-was-the-worst-president-of-our-lifetime
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/29/ronald_reagans_shameful_legacy_violence_the_homeless_mental_illness/
Last Edited: 2015-02-18
Posted in Federal, Government, Patriotism, Presidents by Randee Head with no comments yet.
