During the course of the day today I have read a handful of articles scattered across the web and I’m left with such a sad feeling of helplessness against the forces at work in this country. I’m constantly telling my husband that the issues facing America today are so complicated that I really do believe it is too hard for the average American to understand and I am not trying to sound like an elitist when I say this. I am not even going to pretend I understand the ins and outs of the budget or what the new finance reform bill covers. The defense budget this year is proposed at 708 billion dollars and I couldn't tell you what that covers, what is needed and wasted. I am not an expert in every field. But here is what I can tell you:
I know that we have one of the best if not the best military on earth and if we took a few billion from the defense budget and allocated it to schools and invested in our children's education we would still have the most powerful military on earth and we would have well educated young people to run the military in the future.
I know that the fat cats on Wall Street make billions and some get taxed at a 15% tax rate through a special loophole (their income is often taxed at the capital gains rate) while the rest of us get taxed at a much higher rate. Why not raise their taxes and lower ours? Why isn't the Tea Party fighting that battle for the common good? Robert Reich in a post on the Huffington Post had this staggering statistic, “Last year, America's top thirteen hedge-fund managers earned an average of $1 billion each. One of them took home $5 billion. Much of their income is taxed as capital gains -- at 15 percent -- due to a tax loophole that Republican members of Congress have steadfastly guarded. If the earnings of those thirteen hedge-fund managers were taxed as ordinary income, the revenues generated would pay the salaries and benefits of over 5 million teachers. Who is more valuable to our society -- thirteen hedge-fund managers or 5 million teachers?” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-republican-strategy_b_825206.html
Really? If this doesn’t make you angry then you either have your head in the sand or you are a complete idiot, or both. This is what people are talking about when the say the highest concentration of wealth is with the top 1% of earners. The middle class in this country that supported the Republicans and the Tea Party and want smaller government should take a look at this statistic and then readjust their thinking. Hey Republican controlled congress, you want to shrink the budget gap, take a look at the tax code, not Planned Parenthood, NPR and Public Broadcasting.
I know that NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have some of the best reporting, journalist and educational programs around and what do the Republicans and Tea Party candidates want to do to it, slash or eliminate their budget as if this will solve the budget shortfall. Truly they don't like these institutions because they are the last man standing for unbiased and true grit reporting. I know the truth hurts and Republicans and radical Tea Party folks want to shut them down.
I know that the EPA tries to keep our waters safe, our soil clean and air breathable but what do Republicans want to do with the EPA, eliminate it and create a program that promotes jobs and allows companies to grow (translation make more money, pay less taxes and fines) and destroy our environment in the process because let’s face it all the evidence in the world shows that left to their own machinations big companies will cut every corner in the book on safety to save the almighty dollar. All together now everyone say Hinckley or more recently Gulf Coast Oil disaster.
I could go on and on about what I know and don’t know but what I really want to know is what do you know? What do you believe? Do you really think cutting programs like PBS, NPR, Planned Parenthood and destroying the EPA is going to make this country, better, stronger or is this just a straight up attack by a group of radical people in our government to strip away and destroy what is left of anything good in this country? Republicans and the Tea Party are using smoke screens and mirrors to make people believe their rights are being trampled on and that Obama and the Democrats are to blame for their troubles and trying to turn their beloved America into a socialist state, when really the Republicans and the Tea Party are going to turn this country into something we have never ever seen and guess who is going to suffer the most, the poor and the middle class. Wake up America, educate yourselves and get involved. Stop voting for people because of their views on abortion and because you like that they attend church. Look at the young people in Egypt, and across the middle east, they are fighting for a better life (let’s hope) and I say we stand up and say enough is enough as well because it might be your young children in 20 years protesting in the streets because of low wages, stagnation, and other terrible inequities in the land of freedom and equal opportunity. What do you think?
