“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity” -William Butler Yeats
As President Obama's presidential term winds down, the most do-nothing congress in our nation's history waits...as they have been waiting for 7 years.
In a stubbornly defiant tantrum, they have been holding their collective breath, their faces turning red (because blue would be the wrong color), refusing to acknowledge...let alone work with...the Obama administration. Taking Reagan's mantra, "Just Say No," to new extremes, Repugs are determined for the gridlock to remain, until the very end.
With the death of Justice Scalia, an appointment by Obama could swing SCOTUS toward the rational, liberal side. And so, doing what they do best...nothing...the GOP have simply refused to recognize the president's right to appoint anyone, blustering that it is unfair to appoint a new judge, until the voters have spoken.
Aside from the fact that the voters DID speak...TWICE...when they elected Obama president, this constant dismissal of the executive branch is angering voters...a fact which none of the GOP in congress has yet learned.
The saddest, most frustrating part of this longest-running "sit-in," is that, despite being from different parties, the GOP had a real opportunity to do great things with Obama...or at least DO SOMETHING. Modeling his presidency after Lincoln's, Obama wanted true bipartisanship, appointing those with opposing viewpoints to his cabinet, hearing debates from all sides and making compromises, as needed.
Instead, whether racially motivated or simply partisan politics, republicans refused to even consider the possibility.
Obama's term saw the rise of the Tea Party, whose entire raison d'etre appears to be the destruction of the federal government.
Citizens United, upheld by a conservative supreme court, allowed corporations to buy the candidates they wanted speaking for their interests.
The Koch Brothers, along with their group ALEC, attacked the country state-by-state, spreading lies and fear, turning blue and purple states to red. Mid-term elections, with notoriously low voter turnout, were handed to the Republicans, as key states were bought and paid for.
And the country sat back and watched, as unions were busted, schools were closed, prisons were privatized and police were militarized.
Even the one good thing that Obama managed to push through...the Affordable Care Act (I refuse to call it Obamacare)...has been severely weakened, as some of the poorest red states refuse to join the exchange.
What does all this mean for the next presidential race?
The truth is, even if we manage to get a hardcore liberal like Bernie Sanders elected, he will probably be as ineffectual as Obama has been...and Hillary WOULD be.
UNLESS…
Unless we drive home the importance of those unglamorous mid-term elections. Democrats, especially, need to work twice as hard to get high voter turnout on a state and local level. Local media needs to get involved, stressing issues that effect their viewers.
Unless we drive out these treasonous, poisonous tea-baggers and their corporate backers, looking for less government restrictions on pollution and safety, we will soon join the other developing countries around the world, relying on companies to throw us breadcrumbs. We will sell our souls to Pepsi and Nestle and Walmart and Georgia-Pacific (Koch-owned), as our unions die, our children go to prison for cheap labor and our very planet dies a slow, agonizing death.
This is what is at stake, folks. These are our choices:
A federal government that invests in its citizens and improves their lives
-OR-
An oligarchy, run by the rich, ready and willing to drain the world dry of its resources, as long as they die rich.
Yes, by all means, feel the Bern!
But get involved in your state and local politics, as well.
Trust me, the other side is doing just that…
