Thursday, September 21, 2006

The Chimes of November


There's no question about it. With the possible exceptions of the elections of 1932 and 1861, the mid-term election of 2006 will be remembered as one of the most important in the 230 year history of the American republic. For many years, the possibility that the extreme right-wing might one day seize all three branches of our government was a scenario that very few people had the foresight (or the stomach) to even contemplate. That it would happen - not by means of the electoral process - but as a result of a stolen election in 2000, no one could have anticipated. The unbearable fact is that what has happened to this country and the world since that day the Supreme Court installed George W. Bush in the White House, has made what had previously been our worst nightmare seem almost like a jolly holiday in Regents Park by comparison. It is not an exaggeration to say that the future of our country is in serious jeopardy. If you think that is an alarmist statement then, by all means, vote republican in November. It will be a vote that you will regret very soon. Believe me.

During the campaign of 2000, Bush described himself as a "compassionate conservative". Had most of us bothered to read Molly Ivins' excellent 1999 book, "Shrub: The Short, Happy, Political Life of George W. Bush", I probably wouldn't be writing these words right now. Indeed, I never would have felt the need to establish this blog site. Had most of us read Molly's book, we would have had an inside look into his personal corruption and mind-numbing stupidity. We would have known the disastrous consequences his tenure as governor of Texas had on the people of that state. We also would have been given a dire omen as to the Bush Mob's methods of attaining power. Karl Rove's propaganda machine was able to win the 1994 gubernatorial election for Bush by spreading the rumor that the then governor, the late, great Ann Richards, was a lesbian. That is the way these people do business. It was a prologue for the dirty campaign they ran against John McCain during the South Carolina primary in 2000 and the swiftboating of John Kerry in 2004. The McCain story is the most disturbing. A number of years before, he and his wife Cindy had adopted a beautiful little dark-skinned girl from Mother Theresa's orphanage in Calcutta. The Bush people distributed a photo of the child and told the voters of South Carolina (some of the stupidest people on the planet, by the way) that she was the result of McCain's liaison with a black prostitute. Late night "pollsters" would call potential voters, some of them actually asking if a person was aware of the Arizona senator's "Nigger daughter". That did the trick. Bush won the primary and McCain's campaign was finished. Although he ran for the presidency as a moderate, the moment he took the oath of office on January 20, 2001, he shifted to the hard right.

The ensuing five and a half years of a Bush White House and a GOP controlled House and Senate have resulted in what can only be described as a domestic and international calamity. Starting with a reckless and massive tax cut for the wealthiest two percent that has hurt the poor and middle class beyond adequate description and ending with a war against Iraq that has destroyed American credibility across the globe, the damage that the Bush administration and their pathetic lap dogs in congress have done to this once-great nation will be with us for generations. Their ultimate goal, I'm sure, is to bankrupt America to the point where they will be able to obliterate the social safety nets that were put in place by the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt seventy years ago. That has been the dream of the republican party for decades. It's almost a cliche now but it is true: Roosevelt saved capitalism by tempering its excesses. If you want to know what it was like in America for the working class prior to the New Deal, please, by all means, read Upton Sinclair's classic 1905 expose' of Chicago's meatpacking district, "The Jungle". A world of unregulated, out-of-control capitalism where the average worker is underpayed, overworked and disposable. That's what they want and that's where we're heading. You can count on it.

Only once, between 1933 and 1995 did they control the legislative and the executive simultaneously. That was the two year period, 1953 through 1955, when the United States saw some of the worst abuses of congressional power in its history. What they gave to us was the era of Joe McCarthy and the witchhunts by the House Un-American Activities Committee. For two miserable years, they had the entire country gripped in suspicion and paranoia. On election day, 1954, when the democrats were able to take back the congress, the republican president, Dwight Eisenhower, stunned at the mindless extremism of his own political party, breathed a prolonged sigh of relief. Forty long years would pass before they would control congress again.

2006 is not the year we should be foolishly experimenting with third party candidacies. We tried that in 2000 and look where it got us! A third party only benefits the forces of darkness. Why do you think that Rick Santorum's people are financing the Green Party candidate in Pennsylvania? The sad fact of the matter is that the democrats are, at this moment in our history at least, the best hope for our country's future. One can only hope and pray that when and if (and that's a very big "if") they regain power, they'll go back to their wicked, liberal ways. But whatever the outcome, of this we can be absolutely sure: They will prove to be far more moderate, thoughtful stewards of America's future than the right wing fanatics who are now in the process of destroying it. If you think that I'm kidding you then, fine, go ahead and vote for the republican party this November. You'll deserve everything that happens to you.

Pray for peace.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

10 Comments:

At 12:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Tom,

I agree with you completely here and yet I have a frustrating sense that a change is not going to take place. First, there are too many stupid people who do not think, follow the news via Rush Limbaugh, et al, and think that Bush is preserving their hide by claiming to have the biggest balls of any leader in the world. Secondly, given the Republicans winner take all mind set, we know that they will rig and manipulate every election where possible. There should not be the shadow of a doubt by now that the last election was rigged and stolen and these people will stop at nothing to remain in power.

Unfortunately, the Democrats, who I have supported for many years, just can not seem to get their act together to come up with a viable platform and I would be willing to bet the farm on the fact that sometime in October or early November, the Republicans will come up with some sort of crisis or disaster that will show that only they have the security of America at heart and the Democrats will again be caught with their pants down around their ankles.

As much as I have always been a peaceful type of guy, I am increasingly beginning to think that the only way we will get this pack of assholes out of office will be to rise up with an armed insurrection like the French Revolution. And as much as I would like to see the whole lot of them arrested, tried, and sent to prison as war criminals, it is not going to happen. We have a prime example of that right here in the great state of Illinois where our former Governor, George Ryan (another outstanding Republican) was tried and convicted of corruption, yet that sorry old bastard's attorneys will come up with some way to keep him out of prison. They are now pleading his old age and poor health as an excuse to pardon him. B**l sh*t!

I am not ready to throw in the towel and call it quits, but things certainly look discouraging and it would not surprise me if the republicans triumph again.

 
At 2:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Charles Moore, I have been advocating an American Bastille Day for several months where we rise up and reduce Rupert Murdoch's empire and Faux news hq to bugdust and get some honest news for a change. However I am heartened by the House's passage of the bill to require photo id to vote, preventing all those illegal immigrants from casting fraudulent ballots. Here in my Kansas town of less than 2000 souls, my right to vote was seriously compromised by all those pushy illegal immigrants getting ahead of me in line.

 
At 7:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Every time I think there may be a bit of light up pops a Wilma.
WILMA, THAT BILL IS DESIGNED TO KEEP PEOPLE FROM VOTING.....THE RIGHT PEOPLE FROM VOTING....DEMOCRATS AND BLACKS...OR WOMEN...OR WHOEVER POSES A THREAT TO THE REPULSIVE PARTY. THINK, WOMAN, IF IT CAN BE DONE TO THEM, IT CAN BE DONE TO YOU.

 
At 8:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

To Anonymous:
You said pretty much what I was gonna say...I read it several times thinking perhaps she was kidding but I'm afraid not.
If Wilma is representative of your average voter, we're all doomed.

 
At 9:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was kidding, I am well aware that it was not only to keep black people but all low income working people from voting because most of them cannot afford a car or driver's license and a photo id would be out of their budget. These people usually vote Democratic so it is obviously aimed at non-Republican voters. Tho you seem to have studied my post you missed the most obvious thing, do you really believe a town of less than 2000 people in Kansas would be flooded with illegal immigrants wanting to cast illegal votes? That is the ostensible reason for the bill, to protect our voting system. Until I got my computer in 2004 I read 8 newspapers and an equal number of news magazines from the wall street journal, Ny Times Kc Star Newsweek time The Nation and consider myself well versed in the news. Now I read Alternet and post frequently on it. However I agree with one thing, unless we get rid of Diebolt voting machines and all the other roadblocks to honest elections we are indeed lost, in fact with the bush fascists in power I think we are already lost

 
At 7:32 PM, Blogger Cin said...

Just wanted to say thanks for your comment on my blog and not only am I a Charlie Chaplin fan I am a Robert Downey Jr. fan, he did great in "Chaplin", the movie, dontcha think?

Here is a great site:
http://theperfectcharlie.com

Have a good one.

 
At 8:58 PM, Blogger Nancy said...

Look, the Republicans still control the voting machines. I voted in the Democratic primaries. SIXTY people turned out in our neighborhood before me and I was the last one to vote. This is apathy in the face of real emergency. People do not give a damn. I think that this midterm election will not only not remove the Republicans from power, it will bring the worst consequences yet. Why does no one seem to care about what happens politically?

 
At 8:06 PM, Blogger stoney13 said...

Nancy,

We're riding on a ship to Hell, with a madman at the helm, and the whole of Congress stoking the boilers as fast as they can! I don't see how it could get any worse than that!

 
At 3:05 PM, Blogger Mimi said...

Hey Tom! Thanks for your comment. I enjoy your blog very much. Have you ever been to the Bix Fest, by the way? It is a must!

 
At 7:00 PM, Blogger billie said...

"Had most of us bothered to read Molly Ivins' excellent 1999 book, "Shrub: The Short, Happy, Political Life of George W. Bush", I probably wouldn't be writing these words right now."

there are people in this country who won't believe a word a 'libral' says. then, when it is clear that they were idiots, won't admit it. we are stuck with stupid, religious, ignorant people who are in charge. i really think that revolution in the future is inevitable. unless- they do away with intellectuals.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home