HURT: Obama victory means four more years with no hope of change
WASHINGTON — All that for nothing. It was the billion-dollar election that did not decide one single damned thing.
Republicans control the House. Democrats control the Senate. And the White House remains in Democratic hands with absolutely no mandate whatsoever.
Another four years with no hope of change.
In this environment with this economy and all the gravely important matters pressing against the very existence of this country, it should have been a tsunami election. It should have been a landslide that sent President Obama into dust heap of failed presidencies. Instead, the election was about Big Bird.
- It was the rape election. The contraception election. The binders full of women election.
- It was about who was born where and whether she really could claim to be a Cherokee Indian.
- It was about former president George W. Bush. And it was about gay marriage.
- It was about the 1 percent and the 99 percent and the 47 percent.
- It was about dancing freaking horses, for crying out loud!
Just about the only thing the election wasn’t about was the economy, which everyone agrees was the only thing voters actually cared about. People tend to really care about the economy when real unemployment reaches double digits, welfare rolls fatten by one-third, politicians rack up $16 trillion in debt and the largest tax hike in the history of the world looms just weeks away.
Yet that obviously is not what decided this election. Politicians were too busy talking all about Big Bird, rape and dancing horses.
The most disturbing issue of the election was how President Obama managed to win re-election in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania and Michigan by talking about the highly unpopular bailout of General Motors. By taking billions of dollars in hard-earned money from taxpayers during a deep recession and giving it to a couple of huge companies, Obama managed to buy the votes he needed to eke out re-election. Taxpayers remain on the hook to the tune of $25 billion.
This is the Achilles heel of a democracy. Politicians simply tax those who do not support them and give the money to those who do. Or give the money to those they would like to have support them. It is the end of the line. Game over.
The weeks to come will feature endless finger-pointing and blame about how Republicans do not know how to speak to non-white voters and women and all that non-sense.
What happened last night is the same thing that has been happening for decades in America. Politicians deploy all this highly precise technology to slice and dice voters into little micro-groups and then talk to them all about dancing horses or Big Bird.
The result is you have all these states vote for one side and all these other states vote for the other side and it all comes down to Florida and Ohio. You could have given me a lot less than a billion dollars and I could have told you that.
The only way this gridlock is finally broken is when politicians grow up and decide to put away Big Bird and dancing horses and seriously address like adults the $16 trillion in debts they have racked up on our credit card.
Written by Charles Hurt, and published on the Washington Times November 7, 2012.
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Let us always remember that the current political, economic, and moral problems which the nation faces in these days are not the problems as such, rather they are the symptoms of a problem which runs much deeper. Our efforts at change are always better when we go after root problems and stop chasing after this symptom or that symptom.
Lawrence Miller
November 9, 2012
My interest transcends the much talked about financial cliff soon after the election, 16 trillion deficit and other issues, into long term financial crisis and its consequences on Nature and Humans.
There are two sides to any financial crisis. The present American financial crisis is no exception. Those are Revenue (Receipts) side and Expenditure (Expenses and Payments side). First let us talk about the receipts side.
If every Participating American Person (both natural and artificial) will contribute certain percentage (4% to 2%) of income per month every month, a lot of revenue will be generated. This helps in meeting the pressing problem, the need for quick cash.
But, to effectively prevent future crises the contribution shall be progressively increased (or still better begin at a higher percentage of 40% to 10% and take the form of progressive reduction in income to reach a predetermined thresh hold level) and simultaneously, the much needed financial reforms covering economic activities and monetary system are to be brought in. Structural changes about Expenditures are to be adopted. This will roughly translate into a 12 to 24 months of monetary balancing period. The contribution method could be adopted in a self-mandatory manner by any person. The progressive reduction method however, needs participation of Government, economists, politicians, intelligentsia and people. Under either method, those persons whose income is less than $10 per hour may be excluded or exempted or allowed to opt out.
The key is that Revenue or money supply must be judiciously utilized. Hence economic and monetary reforms are necessary. We can not afford to spend Revenue (especially the above referred contributed Revenue) only on roads, bridges and automobiles or any unsustainable goods and services. A temporary (so called) financial cliff or a permanent financial crisis is the result of undue focus on Interest, Taxes, Income and Profits.
The Government may start a major fund named as say “ROTHOM fund of America”, (which is my preferred name) or say “AFFIL – American Fund for Financial Leverage”. All receipts shall be made and channeled into this fund. I know that the persons in charge can think of better names and perhaps better ways.
I volunteer to contribute an amount of $20 to begin with, if such fund is initiated within 30 to 40 days (say Dec 17th 2012). I invite all enthusiastic or like minded persons in America to respond, reciprocate and resolve. God bless America!
Hope and Change … Ummmm
A society is nothing more nor less than a reflection of the hearts of the people that comprise it. The nation has degraded over the years to its present state because the hearts, that is, the morals of the people generally have degraded. Only when the majority of the people in the nation re-establish their former higher degree of moral character will there be a real chance to re-establish the republic. This will not happen any time soon. It will take generations to turn it around, just as it took generations to get it to where it is today.
Lawrence Miller
November 8, 2012
This was proven yesterday:
“There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
My father…God rest his soul once opined that, “If you packaged it, promoted it and advertised it properly, you could sell the average American a bag of Shit.” I rest my case.