Don't you wish our Congressmen and Senators would stop their petty bickering and do their job?  Every issue that comes before Congress and The Senate causes a round of petty and lengthy squabbling.   They are fighting with each other because they are looking out for the people they really represent - lobbyists! 
Remind them that you are their real boss by visiting my  Listen Here! page.
 
 
As a Progressive and a Union member, I have always supported the Democratic party. I don't need anyone telling me that, if I don't look the other way when a Democratic administration does nasties that are worthy of Republicans,  I will be responsible for electing Republicans in November.  For a refreshing swig of the truth, go to my Listen Here! page.
 
 
The previous blog post raised many issues that you may have had in the back of your mind, but couldn't quite verbalize.  I've finally codified the essence of my growing uneasiness with the current administration and the Democratic Party as a viable working person's alternative to the pro corporate Republican Party. Everything could be summed up in one phrase. "GO BIG OR GO HOME"! 

    If the health care bill covered everyone from day one of it's signing, there would have been no room for any Republican or teabagger back talk and lies. Everyone would have had a chance to see that the Democratic Party works for them, period!  
    If the stimulus became a Roosevelt era new deal for working people, instead of a windfall for Wall Street and the banks, everyone would have had a chance to see that the Democratic party works for them, period!
    If tough trade policies brought manufacturing back to the USA and created well paying middle class jobs, everyone would have had a chance to see that the Democratic Party works for them, period!
    More lives were lost in the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan than in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center! If we ended the war, and used the money to help the returning veterans get their lives back, everyone would have had a chance to see that the Democratic Party works for them, period!

The Republicans are unified in their pro-corporate idealogy.  The Democrats are divided in their support of working people and have to get the approval of their pseudo-Republican blue dogs to get any legislation passed. Translation, they have to water down the legislation to get blue dog votes.  We can't have two Republican Parties, a big one and a mini one and call our system two party with a straight face.

Democrats: if you want to win in November, don't blame your progressives when you lose their support - GO BIG OR GO HOME!
 
 
I just had to write this blog post, but rest assured that part four of my five part series is in the works.

During the wee hours of the night, I woke up from a nightmare. Somewhat shaken, I made my way to the computer and tried to erase the strange, insecure state that the nightmare engendered.  In the nightmare, I was flat broke, unemployed, lost my health insurance and came down with a life-threatening illness.  A health care bill was passed and signed, but most of it wouldn't come into effect until 2014.  By then, anyone with a life-threatening illness would be long gone.

That nightmare was a blessing, it got me to revisit the health care issue and Monday morning quarterback the entire situation.  In looking back, I have to ask several questions:
Q. - Why couldn't we pass a national single payer health plan similar to that of most industrialized countries? A. - Because large quantities of anti health care bill TV and radio advertising, in many cases, paid for by sock puppet "advocacy" groups that are really funded by insuarnce and healthcare corporations "brain"washed many people.

Q. - Why did our electeds pass a health care bill that was a faint shadow of the original proposals?  A. - The Republican party was united against passing a meaningful health care bill. The Democratic party was divided by it's blue dog members who are closet republicans.  Members of BOTH parties were under the strong influence of high powered lobbyists from the insurance and health care industry. Many Americans were their own worst enemy, they actually believed the twisted TV ads and told their electeds to kill the health care bill.

What's most disturbing about all this is that the Republicans, special interests and some Democrats,  hauled out their usual fear kit to kill total health care reform and it worked.  They called single payer health care "socialism".   They made it seem that, by passing single payer health care, we would turn our country into cold war Russia. 

Our present, for profit health care system isn't capitalism, by any stretch of the imagination. It is a corrupt monopolistic system.  If we had a health care system that conformed to the textbook  definition of capitalism, we would directly pay doctors an affordable, reasonable fee for services rendered as our fathers and grandfathers did in the good old days before the health insurance carriers installed themselves as bureaucratic middle men.  Those days are long gone and single payer health care is still the only equitable way to fix the system. 

For those of you who are still in denial and think that America's health care problems are solved by passing a purposely diluted bill, I hope that you never have answer to the family of anyone who needlessly dies because he or she isn't covered by a still broken health care system.
 
 
Part Three Of The Five Part Series-Don't Be Upset With Us, At Least We're Not Republicans! 

Examining the actual role of the Democratic Party In post Reagan America.

In the interest of brevity, I have chosen not to give George H. W. Bush an intallment of his own in this series.  I would rather just make a brief mention of the fact that he was Ronald Reagan's Vice President and his "kinder and gentler" administration was, pretty much an extension of the Reagan Presidency.

Bill Clinton made a point of telling the beleagured middle class that he feels their pain.  I really doubt that's the case because, to this day, his support of "free" trade has caused pain and suffering to middle class families.  I am going to focus on the free trade aspect of his presidency and not on the overstated sex scandals or on his failed attempt at healthcare reform. 

Bill Clinton was a strong supporter of globalization. He believed that, in a modern world, "free" trade was the way of the future. He didn't believe in our country using tarriffs as trade barriers to protect American industries. He actually believed and could say with a straight face that, while open markets would cost some Americans their jobs, we would get more and higher paying jobs in exchange as foreign countries opened their markets to our exports. Yeah, right!

President Clinton supported NAFTA, GATT and other trade agreements that eventually helped to send American manufacturing overseas at an accelerated rate.  Believe it or not, Bill Clinton actually granted China "Most Favored Nation" trading status! As a matter of fact, President Clinton's views on "free" trade were no different that that of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Newt Gingrich or most other Republicans.

Needless to say, many unions are very uncomfortable with Bill Clinton's trade policies.  Recently, Bill Clinton helped Blanche Lincoln Defeat Bill Halter in an Arkansas Democratic Primary campaign for a US Senate seat.  He appeared in television advertising with a message that said that unions are interfering with local Arkansas politics by supporting Bill Halter.  Unions are starting to feel that some Democrats are biting the hand that feeds them.

By now, you can probably see a pattern forming:
1- The Reagan administration, with it's attack on unions, did major damage to the middle class and the American dream.  Reagans penchant for deregulating the very government agencies that protect the American citizen from corporate excesses has given corporations unbridled power that the robber barons of the past could only envy.  The working person is on his way to becoming a mere serf.

2- The George H. W. Bush administration was essentially a continuation of the Reagan administration.

3- The Democratic Clinton administration, which should have been the light at the end of the Republican tunnel for working people, was just an oncoming train.  His "free" trade agreements would make a "free" market Republican blush, they ushered in the era of job offshoring, US factory closings and the rise of China as a manufacturing power.  Clinton's deregulation of the FCC helped to concentrate TV and radio station ownership into the hands of a few major corporations. His administration also instituted the concept of auctioning broadcast licenses to the highest bidder.  I also want to mention the fact that his banking deregulation laid the groundwork for the mortgage crisis.

The pattern has been that Republican administrations take our country in a pro-corporate, anti working person direction.  We always expect a Democratic administration to correct any damage caused by the preceeding Republican administrations, that never seems to happen.  This pattern will become more apparent in the two final episodes of my series.

 Next: Part Four, George Bushwhacks America!
 
 
Part three of my five part series will be on shortly. I've pre-empted it because getting an Unemployment Insurance extension passed is an urgent situation.
I have a few choice words to say to any Senator who refuses to vote for an Unemployment insurance extension! You can hear them by going to my Listen Here! page.
 
 
Part three of my five part series will be online shortly. In the mean time, you can  go to my Listen Here! page and hear my show about what corporate America does to us "little people" when we decide to open a small business.
 
 
While you are waiting for part three of my five part series, let's learn about each other with this poll.
 
 
Part Two Of The Five Part Series-Don't Be Upset With Us, At Least We're Not Republicans! 

Examining the actual role of the Democratic Party In post Reagan America.

Let's take a look at the role today's broadcast media plays in the success or failure of a candidate's political campaign. Politicians are addicted to campaign ads. They need to run tons of ads and have friendly PACs and thinly veiled, corporately funded, issue oriented pressure groups run ads that help them advance their campaign. Translation, he who runs the most ads or has that done for him usually wins.  This takes money: To quote Max Bialystock in the classic Mel Brooks comedy film, The Producers, "money is honey".  To quote the great philosopher Jack Wade, "In today's America, bucks buy ballots".

I'm not saying that our politicians have always needed to finance major TV and Radio advertising campaigns to the extent they are today, I am saying that certain changes in the basic structure of the American broadcast media make that essential to any campaign. Prior to the Reagan administration and it's passion for deregulating government agencies that protect the public interest, the FCC was a model government agency.  FCC regulations made sense and were there to protect the public's interest.  The regulations regarded the broadcast spectrum (TV channels and radio frequencies) as being a natural resource, owned by the American public.  An FCC license wasn't a corporate right, it was a privilege to be earned by proving that you can operate the station, to quote the radio act of 1927 and the communications act of 1934, "in the public interest, convenience and necessity".  A corporation or individual got to keep that station license as long as they could prove that they were good stewards of a valuable public resource.

The FCC protected the public interest in inumerable ways, here are a few :
The Fairness Doctrine: This policy said that stations must dedicate some time to discussing issues that are devoted to the public interest and that stations must provide equal time for opposing viewpoints on controversial issues. The fairness doctrine was eliminated by a Reagan appointee to the FCC, Mark S. Fowler.
Technical guidelines: Rules that required stations to have a licensed chief engineer were eliminated under Reagan regulatory appointees.  The station owners became responsible for technical standards or lack thereof. 
Station Ownership: The number of TV stations an entity could own was expanded under Reagan.  This was nothing compared to the changes that took place to TV and Radio under Bill Clinton. I like to call him Reagan to the 10th power. 
Cable was deregulated in many ways under Reagan!

What we are now left with is a broadcast media that is owned by a few corporate entities. Local radio is usually either an automated music format or worse, a syndicated right wing talk show. A couple of right wing talk shows seem to pop up in every town in the country, like a fast food franchise.  Do you think there's a corporate agenda involved?  The sad thing is that "our" candidates did nothing to reverse this. As a matter of fact, in my opinion, Bill Clinton did more to turn our broadcast spectrum over to corporate interests than any Republican. Changes made to regulations on his watch have station licenses auctioned off to the highest bidder. I've devoted an entire installment to him in this series.
 
Individual votes no longer matter. Wholesale votes, the kind that are delivered by an effective television and radio advertising campaign are all important.  The broadcast media has become a King and Queen maker for hire.  As previously noted, he or she who has the most bucks wins!  Guess where they get the bucks to run ads?  This situation jeopardizes our very existence as a democracy! We can and must fix this! 

Next: Part Three, Bill Clinton Saw The Thousand Points of Light!
 
Ponder This! 06/12/2010
 
If a candidate's chances of getting elected increase with the size or his or her wallet or worse yet, with the amount of corporate support he or she gets, then we no longer live in a democracy, we live in a banana republic.