How Did We Get Here?

I started this blog nearly a decade ago because I needed a place to vent. We were in the waning days of the George W. Bush administration, bogged down in two wars, deficit spending was out of control, and an overheated economy was about to crash and burn. In spite of all this, Democrats were relatively silent on these matters. Yes, the Democrats had taken over Congress in 2006 and we were about to elect our first African-American president, but there wasn't all that much outrage being voiced over the failed policies of Republicans. I felt like I needed a place to unleash my frustrations even if only a handful of people would read it.

Then Barack Obama became president during one of the dreariest periods in our country and, slowly but surely, he started turning things around. An infrastructure bill created much needed jobs, a loan to GM and Chrysler saved the American auto industry, and work began on the Affordable Care Act. Democrats felt like they had found a savior, and my frustration and outrage started to ebb. My posts shifted from a political nature to grousing about football and baseball. I, like a lot of other Democrats, decided that we were now safe and could go back to living regular lives.

Sure, I didn't like the racist tone that seeped into the right-wing rhetoric, particularly from the Tea Party Movement as it was usurped in its mission by white supremacists and Christian extremists. I was concerned when the Democrats didn't turn out for the mid-term election, causing us to lose the House. I was even more concerned about the continued loss of Democratic seats in Congress during the 2012 election, but hey, Obama got a second term! That had to count for something, right?

By 2016, the field of presidential candidates was not looking good. The Democrats had the inspirational but clearly too-liberal-for-middle-America Bernie Sanders and the extremely qualified but extremely reviled Hillary Clinton. I kept wondering, where's the young blood? Where are the Gen X-ers and Millenials who have been trampled by this rigged economy? Are we still letting the Baby Boomers call the political shots after half-a-century of "Look at me! We're the most important people on Earth!"?

Despite all this, I took solace in the fact that the Republicans were rolling out the same clown car of idiots, racists, and con men, including the biggest con man of them all, Donald J. Trump. I'd always been physically repulsed by the man since he made himself a household name in the 1980s. In the era of runaway avarice and classless conspicuous consumption, Trump was the personification of everything I hated about the Reagan era. But things were different now, right? Nobody was taking this blowhard game show host seriously, right?

As the results rolled in on election night, I had that same sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I do when the weathermen suddenly realize that that 1-inch snowstorm they'd been forecasting all week has turned into a whopping blizzard. I mean, I knew with Hillary there was always a chance of failure, but surely people could not want Trump as our president? I got a hard lesson in just how little the American people understood about the complexity of the office and the fragile state of Trump's mind. This was not another case of, "Oh well, our person lost, Maybe next time." This was, "Oh my God, the American people just put a mentally unstable person in charge of the launch codes."

So here I am again, frustrated, angry, and venting. The only difference is, there is an awful lot of people out there venting with me. The Americans who see this man (and the Republican Party) for the true threat that it is are voicing their concerns, backing liberal causes like never before, and in general fighting to retain our principle values and thwart what could become our descent into fascism. I think Democrats stayed silent for so long because I believe, by nature, progressive thinkers are reasonable, rational human beings not easily swayed by hyperbole or given to impassioned demonstrations. We couldn't bring ourselves to believe that things could ever slip to this level. That was our Achilles' heel, and the Republicans had the perfect knife to slice it.

Once again, I'm writing to get my thoughts out there for what they're worth. I turning off the comments on this blog because I'm not about to fall into the rabbit hole of right-wing trolls baiting me with straw-man arguments or talking points from their favorite alt-right sites, Besides, I'm not here to pick fights. I just want to sort through where I see our country and some possible ways out of the mess we're in. I truly have sympathy for many Trump voters who were looking for someone to create new job opportunities and an economic system that helps bring the poor and middle class out of this downward spiral we've been in for the last 36 years. I would say that is a goal most Americans want.

The real villain here is a political system that favors the wealthy and lines the pockets of the politicians. In upcoming posts, I hope to offer my two cents on how we got here and how we might get out. Lord knows I've been wrong quite a bit, and I don't profess to be any more learned about these subjects than others, but I need to get these ideas out there and I hope you will find them interesting.

The Big Daddy Syndrome

I caught a little bit of that cherubic nincompoop Glenn Beck last night as I was flipping around the channels. He was chastising President Bush for making such a wimpy energy speech, imploring Congress to lift the ban on offshore drilling. Mr. Beck felt that, instead of asking Congress, Mr. Bush should simply make an executive order which allowed the drilling and send out some oil men pronto to start bringing up the crude. He couldn't understand why the President wouldn't do such a thing. I don't know. Maybe because we don't live in a dictatorship?!!

Mr. Beck feels that the President has to act quickly to preserve our way of life. And what way of life is that? Fat-assed scoccer moms carting their fat-assed rug rats around in gas-guzzling SUVs to soccer practice or ballet lessons and then hauling them over to KFC or Burger King for fat-filled crap because "they don't have time" to cook a proper, nutritious meal? Perhaps instead the children could stay home and learn to play on their own and the parents could learn to cook a healthful meal and everyone then could sit down for dinner and engage in that lost activity called "conversation." You remember conversation, dontcha Glenn? It's what people used to do before jackasses like you decided that it was better just to shout over people instead of listening to them.

Our way of life is not about crass consumerism and wastefulness. We are a country of laws. America is The Constitution. It's a system of checks and balances where all three branches of the federal government struggle together to set the law of the land. Our forefathers purposely made our system slow and cumbersome so that no rash decisions were rushed into law or that no one person or group would gain too much power.

I'm so sick of people who get nervous during hard times and want some big daddy to swoop in and quickly fix everything. We got nervous after 9/11 and allowed George Bush broad latitude to address the terrorist issue. What we ended up with was a quagmire in Iraq. Whenever people cave in to fear during difficult times and allow one person broad powers to fix their problems, you give rise to people like Adolf Hitler.

Personally, I believe that offshore drilling is a necessary evil in the short term to address our oil needs (even though the oil won't hit the market for years). The use of shale is also something I can't understand why Congress has chosen to block. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) I have some issues with because of the risks of spills transporting so much oil over such a broad expanse of treacherous territory. One major spill could seriously damage that whole region for many years to come.

Of course, Mr. Beck's answer to the ANWR issue? "Sorry polar bears, sucks to be you!" Well Mr. Beck, we're still not so sure about how this vast eco-system fits together. The demise of polar bears could be a signal that our own demise is not far behind. Of course, Mr. Beck is one of those conservatives who scoffs at global warming without offering any counter evidence to discredit the theory. I think he's so fixated on believing that his current lifestyle cannot be disrupted that he is compelled to dismiss any evidence to the contrary. As the commercial says, Mr. Beck, life comes at you fast.

But getting back to my point, I don't disagree with his point that more domestic drilling must take place. My beef is with this notion that the president should be given expansive powers whenever there is a pressing issue. Mr. Beck's reasoning is that Congress is in the back pockets of special interest groups and don't answer to the will of the people. And a spoiled rich guy from Texas does? And what exactly is the will of all the people in the U.S.? Apparently, whatever Mr. Beck believes it is, because after all, he speaks for the American people and everyone who disagrees with him is from some "special interest group."

When did the state of conservative commentary go from George Will to Glenn Beck? I guess during the same time that the state of cooking shows went from Julia Child to Rachael Ray. Getting the same uninformed opinion from a TV commentator that I can get from a drunk at the local bar is not good television people!

So if no one can tell Glenn Beck why President Bush gave the speech he gave rather than issuing an executive order, I will try to explain it to him in simple terms that he can understand (hopefully). First, Congress creates the laws, not the president. Second, as a former governor, Mr. Bush understands the concept of state's rights. He would not want to impose offshore drilling on Mr. Schwarzenegger anymore than he would've wanted it imposed on him when he was governor of Texas. So instead of mobilizing drilling crews and charging into the ocean, he made a measured and thoughtful speech about his views on new energy policy which I'm sure he hopes will sway not only Congress, but the governments of the states involved, and maybe even the majority of the American public. It's the way the American system of government works, Mr. Beck.

God, I can't believe I'm defending George Bush.