WILL INDEPENDENTS RUN THIS FALL?

Stop it! You're choking him!

With Health Care Reform, Bank and Wall Street legislation, amongst a host of other worthy efforts being stalled in Congress because of the Republican Super-Minority and an almost complete lack of any Democratic testicles, this fall’s election promises to be an exciting one, filled with all sorts of demagoguery, lies, and populist quotationism.  Democrats might or might not have a platform to run on, depending on what they get done between now and then.  Republicans, on the other hand, are already crafting their message.  “Common Sense” solutions, fiscal conservatism, and National Security will be in the trumpet section of the Republican band this year.

But who else will be running for office?  Will there be third-party candidates?  God bless us all, will there be honest-to-goodness Independents?  I truly hope so.

And what would an Independents’ platform be for 2010?

“I’m not one of them”.

A most effective platform, if you ask me.  Republicans believe they will regain the House and Senate by right, while Democrats are hoping to retain both by action.  But if real, honest Independents run, it could throw a wrench into an already muddled election cycle.

In my heart, anything that will make both parties pause and say, “Oh shit” is fine by me.

WHY, JOE LIEBERMAN, WHY?

In 2000, Joe Lieberman ran alongside Al Gore as his Vice Presidential candidate in the Presidential election.  At that time, some eyebrows were raised, as it was believed that Lieberman was chosen for his ability to deliver the eastern seaboard, as well as his appeal to more conservative Democrats.  But it was also Lieberman’s position as President Clinton’s most vocal Democratic critic that made both perfect sense, and caused one to scratch his head in confusion.  If you recall, at that time, Clinton has just escaped his sexual scandal, and was basically retreating into silence in the last year of his Presidency.  Democrats needed someone like Lieberman to help win New York and Florida, and to grab some of the conservative Independents from the Bush Campaign.  Lieberman made perfect sense in that respect.  His criticism of Clinton over the Lewinsky sex scandal made him more appealing to Americans who saw Al Gore as four more years of a Clinton White House.

Since that time, Joe Lieberman has been a Republican.  Oh, I know he ran as a Democrat and then as an Independent, but he is a Republican through and through.  He is also an egomaniac, repeatedly drawing attention to himself as the only Democrat to vote against many domestic liberal agendas.  His most recent foray into the spotlight has shown Lieberman to support any health care reform that does not include a Public option; only to backtrack and tell Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that he also won’t support a health care reform bill that has a medicare buy-in included.

Basically, that’s the stance that Republicans have taken for the last seven months.  No Public option!  No to ending insurance rejection based on pre-existing conditions!  No to ending rescission!  Yes to forcing every American to buy bad health insurance!

Why?  Why does Joe Lieberman support the health care status quo?  If you look closely, he has always supported it. Under the so-called “party of the people,” the Gore-Lieberman ticket supported globalization, the death penalty, limited expansion of health coverage, and the allocation of federal resources for debt reduction rather than to rebuild inner cities or reduce black infant mortality.  His position today against health care reform should be no surprise to Liberal Democrats.  He is, in most respects, a Republican masquerading as an Independent.

Amongst his top ten contributors for the last five years are Purdue Pharma and Aetna.  Also in that top ten were Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.  Simply stated, Joe Lieberman is in bed with the two industries that have either killed more Americans or cost more jobs than any other.  Maybe he comes off as the apologetic father in Alf, (he certainly sounds and looks like him), but make no mistake; Joe Lieberman is as anti-American- small-guy as there exists in Washington today.  He can frequently be found on the side of big business and corporations, and rarely votes in favor of issues that would benefit the little guy; you know, you and me.

All of this leads us to ask, why?  Why, Joe?  Why are you against health care reform?  Why are you for giving favorable treatment to corporations that allow Americans to die, or kill their jobs?  Why are you always for the big guy, and rarely for the little guy?  Why are you an almost total sell-out to big insurers, Pharma, and Wall Street?  Why are you against basic health care for all Americans, but for gigantic Wall Street bonuses?  Why are you for Aetna, and against every other American’s healthy life?  Why are you sleeping with Purdue Pharma while everyday Americans become sicker or die because they cannot afford the skyrocketing costs of medicine?  Why, Joe Lieberman, why?

Why have you sold the American people out?  Why have you sold your old party out?  Why are you so hellbent on giving Independents a bad name?  Why are you for Socialized Medicare for yourself while you leave the rest of America to fend for itself?  Why are you against the same type of health care plan for all Americans that you received for free as a Senator?

Why, Joe Lieberman, did you promise to support a Public Option in your 2006 campaign if you had no intention of keeping your promise?  Could it be because since the beginning of 2005, you have received over $1,000,000 in campaign contributions from the health insurance industry?  Did you know, Joe, that most Americans won’t earn $1,000,000 in twenty years of hard labor?  Yet you accepted more than that amount in the last five years from health insurers who use shady practices to withhold basic health care from all Americans while retaining very healthy profit margins.

Why, Joe Lieberman, why?  What does that look like, Joe?  Does it look like you have been bought by the health insurance industry?  Does it have the appearance of outright bribery?  Why, Joe Lieberman, why?  Why have you put yourself in a position to look as corrupt as you do?  Why does your stance against health care reform appear to be a position that health insurers had to give you more than one million dollars to purchase?  Why, Joe, why?

THE MOB…AMERICA

In the movie The Gladiator, there is a line one of the Roman Senators uses.  “Rome is the mob”.

So is the theme for today’s post.  This year’s election has heated up earlier than usual.  The two sides (are there really only two people running for president?) are already at each others throats, and if the  mainstream media has anything to say, it will only get nastier.  Watching the two party conventions, I became convinced of one thing; there truly is a mob mentality when party members come together for rallies and speeches.

That’s amazing, but not nearly so much as the fact that neither party can see beyond their own ideology.  Visit one or the other’s blog, and leave a comment disagreeing with one person, and you are immediately attacked by the mob.  It makes no difference if what you said was true or not; if you disagree with the mob, you’re wrong.

Watching Sarah Palin and Barrack Obama give a speech is a thing of beauty; until you wake up from the stupor of agreeing with all that they spoke.  Then, you realize that both sides are right, and both sides are wrong; but only if you are an Independent.  If you are a Republican, the Democrats are completely wrong.  If you are a Democrat, the Republicans are just plain silly.  Here in the middle, you are left hoping someone will do the right thing, and break this country from its stupor.

For neither side can be entirely right, but either side will tell you that they are; and their followers will agree wholeheartedly.  God save the man or woman who disagrees with them.  Have you ever seen what happens when a mob attacks one person?

Political parties are becoming almost completely reliant on the mob.  Gone are any new ideas, or any great willingness to compromise in order to do what’s right for this country.  I no more believe John McCain’s “Country First” slogan than I believe Obama “can do it”, when it comes to ending partisan politics in Washington.  So long as political parties exist, Washington will stagnate.

The theme of this year’s election is “Change”.  As in, change Washington, change the way we do things, change taxes, change our reliance on foreign fuel, change our morals, change healthcare, change Social Security, change our underwear.

The call for change has come from the middle, and the left, and the right.  It has come from citizens sick and tired of seeing Congress do nothing.  It has come from watching a president lie and spin and hide.  It has come from economic downturn, and sinking standards of living.  It has come from a new generation of American Citizens who no longer believe that “if it was good enough for my grandparents, it’s good enough for me”. It has grown from the country needing to fix Social Security and Healthcare for over twenty-five years, while neither party has so much as moved a step toward a solution.

This call for change did not originate with Obama or McCain, despite what either one has to say about it.  They call for change to save the country, and their mobs believe them.  I’ve got news for you.  The country isn’t in danger.  The two parties are.

So what is this call for change really about?  It’s about two chronically ill political parties, desperately clinging to their power.  Rather than blame themselves for the mess they are in, they call for change, as if neither had a hand in what is going on in our government.  The left and the right sop up their every word as if it is gospel.  It has to be the other side that is wrong.

The middle, the Independents are left watching this cat-fight, and they are the only ones who know why change is necessary.  It’s not necessary to save the nation.  Real change is only necessary to save the two ruling parties.

What if we independents said, “we refuse to save you, we won’t vote for you anymore.”  What if Independents began a grass roots movement to eliminate Democrats and Republicans from their local elections?  You know, Thomas Jefferson said a nation needs a good revolution every so often.  Revolutions always start at home, with the citizens.  It will be no different now.  The two parties can cry for change all they want, but Independents no longer believe the parties are capable of change, and thus, we no longer believe they are capable of governing.

MY FELLOW AMERICANS

As I have watched these last two weeks, the proceedings of the two political party conventions, I was struck by the subtlety of a simple statement.

I listened to the talking heads and spin doctors as they told me, time after time, that the Democrats spoke to the Independents and undecided’s at their convention, while all this week, it’s been reported that the Republicans have spoken only to their base.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I listened, both weeks, as I waited for the words that tell me I am part of something bigger than myself.  I remember them best when I remember Ronald Reagan speaking them at his first nomination acceptance speech.

“My fellow Americans…”

There’s just something about those words that includes everybody.

I heard that phrase often this week, during the Republican convention.  I did not hear it once at the Democratic convention.  Instead, repeatedly, I heard the words, “My fellow Democrats”.

I know, it’s such a small thing.  It’s subtle.

But an Independent like me notices subtle things like that.  I don’t know what the media was listening to these last two weeks, but I am certain of what I heard.

The Democrats are speaking to themselves, and to an Independent like me, it sounds sort of elitist; sounds like something I am not a part of, like something they don’t want to include me in.  I’m an Independent, but I’m not a Democrat.

I don’t know what the Republicans are saying, but because of that phrase, I’m listening.  I’m an Independent, but I’m an American first.

The subleties of language seem so insignificant at the time, except to those who are listening, hoping to be included and welcomed.  We are the people who are Independent because we don’t trust either party to change.  We are the people who are only paid attention to when those two parties need votes.

Both parties had a chance to grab our attention these last two weeks.  Only one party tried, and it wasn’t the party that cares about our feelings, or is known for tolerance and liberalism.

And the party that didn’t will wonder this year again why so many states look so red.

Palen Can Thank Obama Supporters For Her Rock Star Status

Now that we’ve heard Sarah Palin recite the speech written for her (and please don’t come here trying to tell me her opponents haven’t done the same thing, pleeease), it’s game on.  If this were a normal election, her speech would have been about it for the Vice Presidential candidates; save for maybe a poorly viewed VP debate.  Let’s face it, people just don’t vote for the VP.

Until now. 

Democrats across the nation swamped blogs and news websites with derogatory comments about the Republican Veep Nominee.  Bringing into question her morals and experience, they did the one thing they could not afford to do in this election; make it about more than the issues and the country.  They have made it about experience (but don’t want you to talk about Obama’s lack of it), Change (as if either of the two parties are capable of accomplishing that whale), and about Sarah Palin.

Big Mistake.

Sarah Palin, last night, proved to the nation that she is not too small for the stage.  She held her own in terms of explaining herself and her experience, and in more than a little way, refocused the election microscope back onto Obama’s inexperience.  Needless to say, with an election season nearly three times as long as the normal baseball season, things can change yet, and probably will.

But one thing that won’t change is Obama’s supporters.  They are behind him one hundred percent, and willingly defend him and attack others even when he doesn’t want or need them to.  It is my opinion that Obama has been trying as hard as he can to rise above the pettiness of politics in this election; to make his campaign about who he is rather than who screwed what up.

Unfortunately for him, his supporters just won’t let him do that.  Had they said “Sarah who?” when McCain announced his running mate, and left it at that, the Republican campaign would have died a rapid, silent death.  Instead, Obama’s supporters attacked Palin with an intensity not seen since the last Pit Bull attack on a small child.

In essence, this is now a race because Obama’s supporters have made Sarah Palin a celebrity.  They’ve made her as exciting as their own candidate; at a time when this election direly needed to be about the country, they made it about two people.

Who wins?  I don’t know.  Sarah Palin has not had enough time to piss me off.  Barrack has had more than enough time, and has accomplished it.  McCain?  Well, let’s just say he’s a Republican; there’s no change there.

But it’ll be interesting, I promise you that.

ON THE FIRST DAY

Adding fuel to the fire

A new blog!

What am I going to write?  What am I thinking?  Does anyone care?

At some point early in all of our blogging “careers”, each one of us has asked ourselves those questions.  I just care less than the rest of you about the answers.  I don’t care if anyone reads this garbage.  It’s therapeutic for me.

I am not serving anyone here.  If I said I was, I would be a liar.  Let’s face it; our blogs are about us, even if we say they are not.  Each one of us has an ego the size of Mount Rushmore; that’s why we want to see our written words SOMEWHERE.

Hey, no one can reject me here.  Oh, they can tell me I suck, whisper dark tidings in my ear, or tell me to go to hell, but they can’t decide what I PUBLISH.  Only I do that, here.

We love to write; that’s what we do.  I’ve written blogs for five years.  I’ve started two, and ended two.  This is my third.  My second was a rather decent success, but still, I got tired of it.

So now I am blogging incognito.  And I am blogging about politics and political parties, and how much I hate both.

If you are a card carrying Republican or Democrat, and proud of it, you and I are going to have fun here.  If you are an independant, welcome, and let’s find a way to rid ourselves of these leeches called political parties.  If you are none of the above, what the hell are you doing here?  ;o)