Decisions

I grew up in a Union (Teamsters) home with parents who were "independents" ("We vote for the person we believe to be best for the job") but in the main voted Democrat. Consequently, I considered myself an Independent and also voted, primarily, Democrat.

I grew up in the turmoil of the 60s and fully supported integration, full suffrage for men and women, and was pleased as punch when the voting age dropped to 18 - matching the age of those being drafted for the war in Viet Nam. I appreciated Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" and saw that as a mighty good. That some people took advantage of the system was an irritant, but no reason to make others go hungry or homeless.

Issues such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the like were way off my radar in those days, but generally I felt they were good things. Our family had medical coverage under my father's Union contract, and many doctors still made house calls, if you can believe it.

While our family might never vote Republican, we never thought of Republicans as the "enemy." I heard the term Southern Democrats and suspected they might be somewhat different than their northern counterparts, but politics wasn't my focus, and so I never really knew or understood what the difference was. I never equated one political party or the other with good guys or bad guys, but I knew the bad guys were Communists, the KKK, Fascists, and Nazis.

I did know that most progressive measures took place when Democrats had charge of both the House and the Senate, and that most bills passed with bipartisan support. There was no voting as a block as best I could tell. The goal was always What is Best for America.

Sadly, that is no longer the case. It isn't the system that is broken but the people running the system - gaming the system. If I were a Republican from the days of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, or Eisenhower and saw what the GOP was doing today, I would abandon them. I will also admit that if I were a Democrat and the Dems began to act as the Democrats during the times of Lincoln and Wilson, I would dump them as well. Both of those extremes are SO antithetical to American values I cannot fathom how anyone would support them or those who espouse such attitudes and behaviors.

Today, this week (and for the past year or more), the Republicans have done all they can to destroy America. They have shifted wealth from your basic standard issue American to the richest of the rich. The rich have not turned those monies into greater income for their employees; they have not built new factories at home; they have not improved the middle class in any way, shape, or form. There is not and has not been any trickle-down benefit obtained by the citizenry.

The purpose of Law is to protect the nation and its citizenry. How does the new tax law being rammed through Congress do that? It doesn't. It increases debt, takes food off the tables of the hungry, removes roofs from home-buyers, lets the sick die (talk about death squads - that is the GOP forte!), and nails shut the door to progress for all but the very rich. That, my friends, is an abomination to the Lord, if there ever was one.

I do not believe writing our congressional delegates and senators accomplishes much of anything. 77% of the people hate what the GOP is doing, but rather than change what they're doing, they're changing their lies to further hide the truth - to bury it so it cannot be seen. Pornography is more honest than that! Congress has simply become a Glory Hole for the gutless wonder in the White House.

No, if we want change, we need to be clear with our congressional men and women of BOTH parties that if they are not working to solve this mess, in 2018 there will be wholesale changes in both houses. If they will not listen to reason, then make them listen to our Purses. Let us close up those puppies.

Let's also outlaw private funding of political campaigns. If Corporations are "People" then let's limit them (and all people) to contributions of no more than $1 each. OR, let's force corporations to live under the tax laws WE the PEOPLE live under. Let's end Corporate Taxes, and put everything under Personal Income Tax rules and regulations. No more "Separate but Equal" treatment of Corporate and Personal Income taxes!