I have been watching the ongoing bipartisan skirmishes with a lot of apprehension lately and I have become a little surprised at what the traffic bears today in the way of TV ads and newspaper commentary along with all the political e-mails I receive from family, friends and outright foes.
Perhaps you may not know that recently Supreme Court passed legislation called Citizens United to allow corporations and other special interest groups to spend unlimited amounts of money in our elections. So what, you say ? If we value this country as a democracy we would not want these groups to unbalance the former fairness of our election system by allowing any individual or group to practically buy our elections. I would urge you to not let foreign governments and foreign corporations to place ads attempting to sway the American population to vote according to their needs rather than our own. These may include government contractors, TARP recipients, CEOs of companies who often hide but fund these special interests. The Tea Party convention in Nashville supposedly has no leader but believe me this is no time to stand around sipping evil nectar! Republicans didn't want this legislation when democrats dominated the house and senate but now they've pulled a fast one by pushing their own version of it because they believe they have the public bamboozled with their so-called true agenda. If that's true, why don't they come out and admit what they support and don't in those ads? The people want to know: who really paid for this ad ?
I guess the best way to illustrate what can happen with this is to point to republican Jane Norton who is running for something here in Colorado. She claims in her television ads that the current government spending is what put this economy in its tailspin. If you've been paying attention at all you'd know that isn't true but the problem would be traced back to Bush's last act of treachery with the so-called failing banks bailout. Turns out he didn't give that money to failing banks. He put it in the hands of well-to-do bankers themselves. He also did worse than that but I don't need to tell you this do I ? Eight years of nothing but bumbling speaks for itself, I believe.
Well, this same Jane Norton is proposing to put taxes on our groceries and medications. A tax we've never had to shoulder here in this state. (This shifts the tax burden off of the wealthy and hits senior citizens on a fixed income right in the wallet.) She says the government should have no role in health care which is bad news for Medicare recipients. She also says that President Obama cares more about the rights of terrorists than protecting Americans. The funny thing is that you'll never see that on her TV ads. These double-minded tactics have become a new high-strung way of pushing a different agenda but covertly and with plenty of money to fuel it. It also makes no sense.
All those who think this is harmless ought to take a good look at Sarah Palin who looks as harmless as a jelly-fish but her stinger is poised at destroying Social Security and Medicare saying that people are being oppressed by these programs when as a matter-of-fact these current economic times would require that they stay in place. She's Going Rogue alright and she doesn't aim at anyone she doesn't think is a direct threat to her spending sprees or mismanagement of funds. Whatever happened to Bush Sr.'s, "Read my lips"? They want to tax more and take our programs away. What are those funds for? Think about it. We have a lot of people in this country who have no health insurance. If Medicare dies what will our options be, anyway? If Social Security is privatized, only those with lower benefits coming to them will be out on the street at a time of life when you would not want to be homeless. Is this our future under the Republican regime?
Just in case you're wondering what a legitimate special interest group might look like, take a look at what Leonardo DiCaprio is currently supporting and quite openly. www.ThisIsOurMoment.org It's an organization that is trying to push forward with a Clean Energy Bill which will be aggressive in getting carbon pollution dealt with, create jobs and will be a defining moment in what Obama said he would tackle if given some sign or initiative to help. He was looking for someone to roll up their sleeves and here it is with no hidden agendas or underhanded dealings. This is about solving problems, not who wins a bigger piece of the pie.
The pie is not all,
The Castle Lady
