Headline News Brain and Spine Injury Law Blog Commentary September 2010
Political Commentary
First let me disclaim what I am about to write by asserting my apolitical views on politics. Second, I am not without opinion, but feel they are similar to AHs and everybody has one. But I do get caught up in the media, who can’t? So here I go.
Obama
Why are some conservative (Republicans and Tea Partiers) still claiming our President is somehow not American because his dad was from Indonesia and returned shortly after Obama’s birth? My father’s parents were both from Italy but my father is both a taxpaying, card-carrying American. (Who also collects a tidy pension from the State of New York as a retired policeman, disability for a condition that does not stop him from enjoying his retirement, and social security). DISTRACTION.
Was FDR castrated when he developed socialized retirement care? Taking from a younger working, income producing group, to pay for the non-working, non-income producing group? Did change happen overnight? How is that not the “socialism” decried by conservatives.
And I just got back from Canada. Only so much health care to go around and that is how they keep costs down. It means you may have to wait longer to get an MRI – unless it is an emergency. It actually sounds like a conservatives dream: deprive benefits in the name of cost savings. Canada has a surplus and law against carrying a deficit. Instead U.S. conservatives want to keep their “choice” of physicians as the hold card when health care reform is proposed.
Give Obama a fair shake. It took Clinton several years to balance the budget and put us in a surplus! Does one year of getting policy in place really give President Obama a fair amount of time? No.
We now know that the conservative movement happily gave over the economic tragedy former President Bush created with, among many other things, an incomprehensibly expensive war. Where were the conservative cheers to “cut spending” then? Is the effort to democratize other countries a social agenda? Or are we ready to admit it was about securing dirty energy – oil?
So Obama steps into a Wall Street Market and Real Estate meltdown and Bush leaves with a goodbye “stimulus” that lacked effective oversight.
Does anyone remember that? Has the past year wiped out all memories? We’re riding a new horse; we should not switch midstream. Let it play out I say. And if tax cuts to the rich means those making more than $200,000 to $250,000, that may be good for me but not the country I profess allegiance to. But the “let me keep what I earn” argument really slaps down those who can be helped. And the argument about “letting me choose where my charity dollars go, rather then the Federal or State Government,” is a bit lame. And yes, if Wallstreet bankers make billions of dollars using the same commonwealth as other New Yorkers, Chicagoans, and other big city residents earning much less, they should pay more for that commonwealth, or higher taxes. Trickle Down/Reaganomics is not the saving grace conservatives espouse.
Frankly, I like getting my mail, going to the library, driving on resurfaced streets and I am willing to pay for those American qualities of life. But I do not like giving money to foreign countries, whether to destroy or build up, while at the same time denying and not contributing to the disrepair in this country.
Democrats want to pay (Republican’s frame it as “tax and spend”) for things to bolster this country and this economy. But you do not accomplish that with a war with no clear purpose other than the knee-jerk reaction of 9/11.
My idea (although not really my hope) is that if the Republican or Tea Party Movement takes over congress in the coming election, they inherit the same lackluster economy President Bush left to President Obama. We now know that conservatives were giddy that a democratic president could be their fall guy when things did not change in one year. Won’t it be interesting if the Republican congress becomes the fall guys/gals for a too slowly recovering economy?
Angle v Reid
This to me is a no brainer. Let’s compare apples to apples. Lets for a moment accept that both Sharon Angle and Harry Reid are both good for the State of Nevada – all things being equal. Reid is the Senate Majority Leader. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER! He has the ear of the president and the entire Senate. Whatever your political slant, why replace this coveted, most high, position with a freshman Senator with no proven record. This, I have been told by more than one educated person, would be “bad for Washington.”
Now let’s take sides. More of an apples and oranges approach. Why can’t folks allow a party to have control in the name of getting things done? I mean how bad can it really get? If democrats continue implementing their theories on health care, tort reform, marriage, religious tolerance (not to mention the polarizing issue of abortion), what is the worst that can happen? Alternatively, if Republicans regain control of congress, democrats may draw the line in the sand like republicans have done this past year with filibusters. End result, nothing gets done. Compromises are viewed with suspicion and we go nowhere.
So let the process work. I personally hope democrats or liberal republicans are put in place to
keep the policy change coming. And let’s remember none of us are totally on one side or the other and that means compromise. We are “bi-conceptual.” For example, I agree with some conservative ideas and some democratic ideas. Some ideas I reject all together; from either side. Point is I am bi-conceptual as to issues – not a blind party line voter.
Vote for Reid, whatever you may dislike, get over it; he will be able to rally change with the president and Angle will not.
Dis-Information
And remember the power of the media, its hypnotizing, and trance inducing power. You make important decisions regarding your representatives. And so much of our information and decisions are based on our own deep seated biases. Karl Rove was very good at getting into the deep seated biases and causing people to act the way he wanted. That is indeed a talent, one I experience as a lawyer every day.
But who owns the studios that bring you the news. How much of it supports one side or the other? Do you even have a clue? There must be so many back deal discussions and events that we, the weary public, have no insight to. And sometimes there are leaks, but I would wager not nearly as often as you might think. Here again, Obama ran on the promise of a transparent government. But be realistic, we just do not know much. And if we did it would most certainly guide our choices for representatives.
Instead we have smear campaigns. I am most familiar with the trash between Angle and Reid. And that contributes so much to our decisions. God, force or human nature, help us. And so it goes.
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