PAST IS PROLOGUE

In 2000 the majority of the Supreme Court all of whom were appointed by Republican Presidents (4 by Ronald Reagan) one by George H. W. Bush selected George W. Bush to be president in Bush v Gore and should have put an end to the pretense of democracy in action and exposed the charade of a plutocracy masquerading as democracy in America.

No anger. No outrage. To be sure there were demonstrations, I should know I was there waving my upside down American flag, but no one was exercising their second amendment rights to take our country back.

In the end America couldn’t wait. We needed a president. Al Gore thought he was performing some sort of noblesse oblige for the good of the country when he acknowledged George W. Bush to be President.

The reality is that he didn’t act honorably. In fact he chose the path of least resistance; go along to get along, the defining characteristic of enough members of the Democratic Party to render it useless as an opposition party and prone to appeasement as a response to political conflict.

During his first four years an imminent attack against the United States was ignored. No one was held accountable then and a Democratic President has taken no action to hold anyone accountable now. Then again we’ve been told often enough that we are a nation of laws and not men to the point where the American public can no longer distinguish between rhetoric and reality.

After the first attack on American soil in over a century the Patriot Act which limited a number of individual liberties was passed by Republicans and Democrats alike. Most admitted they never read the bill. Who had time after all it was less than 45 days since 9/11. The extension of the same Patriot Act was recently approved once again by Republicans and Democrats alike and without reform in order to appease the opposition.

Cherry picked intelligence and outright lies about mushroom clouds over Ohio used a pliable media to stoke the required amount of fear and hate needed to generate American public support for a war that violated international law, the Geneva Convention and our own Constitution. A war that the Bush Administration said “would pay for itself” was given approval by the lock step Republicans and weak kneed Democrats to afraid to look weak.

In the process war crimes were committed by George W. Bush and members of his Republican Administration yet today’s Democratic President doesn’t go after the war criminals that are free to roam the country clubs but promises to enforce federal law if marijuana is legalized in California especially the ghettos - so much for a nation of laws and not of men.

In addition during his first four years in selected office President Bush proposed tax cuts for the rich not once but twice which were approved through the reconciliation process both time in the Senate the same reconciliation process that the Republicans accused Democrats of trying to use to pass health care as if it were a slight of hand that offended them.

The purpose of the Bush tax cuts was that those who received the biggest breaks i.e. the rich would invest this financial windfall in the economy thereby creating more jobs. This was the Republican approach of stimulating the economy. The reality was that the rich used most of that money to enhance their financial portfolios and if they did create any jobs most of those were overseas.

In 1933 Congress passed the Glass Steagall Act to control the kind speculation that resulted in the great depression and regulate banking somewhat was repealed in 1999 with a Republican majority in both houses and signed by a Democratic president who chose to appease the party that was being funded by the banking industry rather than represent the American people who would and now suffering the consequences of Bill Clinton’s failure to stand up to the growing tyranny of the minority.

The result of the Republican economic stimulus i.e. less taxes and less regulation was a nation on the verge of economic collapse which threatened the global economy. Two years after he left office the results of supply side economics are evident by the abundance of foreclosure signs from coast to coast, the increase in unemployment and a middle class that dwindles and swells the ranks of the working poor.

When President Obama entered office he inherited a trillion dollar debt from the previous administration that started with a 235 billion dollar surplus. The opposition was immediately evidenced by right wing Republicans (are there any other kind remaining after the tea party purges?) publicly claiming they hoped Obama failed.

In essence Republicans hoped that the change America voted for in 2008 failed and did everything in their political power that the wealthy could afford to buy to insure they and not the common good of America succeeded. It is of little consolation knowing that this transgression was made possible by the appeasement of the Democratic Party.

During President Obama’s first two years he proposed legislation to reform the same Wall St. actions that led to economic collapse in this country and sparked global economic crisis. He appeased the Republicans and gave the country a watered down version of Wall St. reform insuring that the shit will indeed hit the fan again.

In addition the Obama Administration proposed legislation to close the tax loopholes for corporations that shipped American jobs overseas to increase their profits which trickled down in larger dividends to their share holders. Once again Republicans stood in the way.

It took George W. Bush and the Republican majority 6 years to take this country to the edge of the abyss with less taxes and less regulation then gave Barak Obama and a Democratic majority two years to fix it while they stood in the way and obstructed every piece of major legislation intended to stop the bleeding and make this a more stable society.

Albert Einstein was said to have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. If Americans vote the Republicans back into office as they are expected to do today it will be nothing more and nothing less than insurmountable evidence that we are an insane society and If the polls are right, tomorrow I’ll be waking up a sane man in an insane society where past is prologue and the centre cannot hold.