Change We Can't Believe In

I voted for Barack Obama, and I think many of those who criticize him are guilty of slander, distortion, hyperbole, and utter stupidity. He is not a socialist or a "leftist," and he was born in the U.S. (and even if he wasn't, I don't care). But as a "progressive" myself, one who believes in the full implications of the Bill of Rights and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, I cannot help but be disappointed by President Obama and his administration. Perhaps he is a lot like Pres. Lincoln, who frustrated the radical abolitionists (among others). Will he finally rise to the occasion and issue an Emancipation Proclamation to the people chained to Big Money and Big War? Will he free us from Big Insurance and Big Medicine? What about Big Pollution and Big Waste? We are in so many ways--if not enslaved, then bound by indentured servitude.

So no, I don't see the great changes we were promised. The Democrats' chant seems to be "No we can't," and the Republicans' chant is "No you won't." (Disclaimer: I belong to the Green Party; a pox on both the major parties' houses.) Republicans (who really are a disgrace to Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and even Dwight Eisenhower) lambaste "judicial activists." Fine, let judges carefully weigh the merits of each case and rule by the law. But for the system to work, someone has to be an activist!! So can we have some congressional activists, please? What's their excuse? (We won't be representing our district. Nonsense: you don't really know what most people think or need. We won't get re-elected. Try standing up for the common people and telling the truth for a change, and see what happens. If you lose the next election, at least you won't lose your integrity and self-respect.)

And what's wrong with we the people? Are we really going to fall for all this Tea Party nonsense? The original tea party was about taxation without representation, wasn't it? But nowadays, tea partiers seem to despise taxation with representation; they don't just oppose an oppressive colonial government, they oppose any kind of government. But please, don't stop sending my Social Security checks, or paying my Medicare bills. And I would like my roads paved and potholes filled, and I would like the bus to stop near my house. And I'd like the police to protect me, and the firefighters to protect me from those dangers. I want free public schools (that includes charter schools, by the way, which depend on tax money, too).

I just don't want to pay for any of it.

Let's save that topic for tomorrow's post.