Friday, January 28, 2011

State of the Union

If I were to give Barack Obama a grade for his State of the Union address, It would be a 70%. Obama is a very talented public speaker, but his state of the union speech just wasn't nearly as impressive as some of his other speeches, such as his campaign speeches or his inaugural speech. Certain things that were said bothered me. For example, when making allusions to immigration  the president never actually gave his own plan with what to do, he just said something needs to change. But something he did say made it sound like he wanted to keep immigrants and give them amnesty. Also, Obama was trying to force the same agenda he has been trying to push through for two years now, right back at us. Especially infrastructure and internet, and not extending tax cuts for the top 2%, which will promote class warfare. Mr. President also talked about our "sputnik moment" as an analogy to say to say that he wants to see that kind of progress for our country today, that it had at the height of the space race. However, at least in my opinion, building high speed railroad, providing high speed internet or hiring more teachers, is no apollo project. One last thing, senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina said on his facebook page " When your car is spinning out of control off of a cliff, you hit the break, not cruise control." Hitting cruise control was exactly what Obama did when it comes to freezing spending, which he says will be result in a saved $400 billion is merely a drop in the bucket when an administration spends $5 trillion dollars in its first two years like his did. C-

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The System

So, the new congress takes office today, and that fact spurred me to write another article, this one merely showing my thoughts on the current state of affairs, in general, of U.S. politics. To get atraight to the point, our two-party system needs serious reform, by which I mean, that we need a diferrent system. What's happened in this country since the dawn of the current two-party system is a sort of false schism, a sheer mockery of true ideological differences. Though I prefer not to go into, cliches about the political engineering of this country, the fact still (supposedly) stands that we live in a place where different views are encouraged and accepted, and the current state of affairsin Washington and across the country allows for none of this.

I feel as if I'm rambling quite a bit here, so forgive me.

More coherently: We have here "Republicans" and "Democrats." Starting on the "right," the GOP, started as an anti slavery party, with foundations in classical liberalism and fiscal conservativism, has turned into a mockery of itself, a bloated group of corporate payoffs who get nothing done that doesn't suit the true heads of this country. Democrats are the same way. Started as a party of the common, blue collor man, the politically correct elite, like the maggots on the carcass of a dead animal, have infested the Democratic party and made it a mere shadow of its former self. The result is a group of career politicians who don't represent the will of the people, or even conflicting views at all beyond the key buzzwords of the current day. All the senators and representatives chat and have coffee at "The Monocle" on D Street, play golf together and accept their corporate sponsorships, and then when congress is in session they sit and argue about nothingness. They stop beneficial progress and encourage detrimental policies. They all fight for their own agendas, or those of their handlers, and any true "man of the people becomes so caught up in parliementary procedures so antiquated that even the British Parliament no longer utilizes them that no real discussion ever happens. The mojority of the time the will of the people isn't even expressed. It's a sham, and they've duped everyone into believing it.

Which leads me to an easy solution: fire congress. It's the only way. Fire congress, and start over. Draw, from the common man, a politician that represents the will of the people, and that will stand and protect those interests when challenged. The way to achieve this, you ask? Easier said than done I suppose. However it starts by embracing the third party, and giving them equal ability hold office. Stop stigmatizing them as "third party." Call them by their names! Those parties that the people don't particularly enjoy will be weeded out, yet it's as if in the current state of affairs they never had a chance in the first place. They're muzzled, and when they finally are allowed to speak out, the big players make them, like so much else, a mockery of true thought. The rent is too damn high, but that never means I would vote for Jimmy McMillan, and when people like him comedically steal the show from anyone with real thought, they do make things hilarious (which is always necessary), but also allow the big players to move their pawns into place. In New York, Cuomo, the main man, who had family in politics, and who has possible mafia ties, was elected. I wonder why. Paladino, who had a 6 point lead, self destructed, and the insertion of ridiculous candidates like McMillan stopped not only him from reclaiming ground, but also the legitimate Green, Libertarian, and other candidates to be even remembered, let alone considered for election. We need to start over, elect actual pooliticians (not pawns), and return to the foundations of the system, for though some like to believe that progress is necessary for greatness, even if true, progression from a shoddy foundation leads to structural insecurity, and untilmately, destruction.

It will be difficult though. To quote comedian George Carlin: "The owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now. The big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have *owners*. The *own* you. They own everything. They own all the important land and all of the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for Senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls. They've got the judges in their back pockets and own all the big media corporations. They've got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars a year lobbying. Lobbying for what they want. And we all know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don't want. They dont want a population capable of critical thinking...It's a big club and you and I ain't in it...The table is tilted. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. Good, honest, hard-working people: blue collar, white collar, it doesn't matter what color shirt you have on, continue to elect these rich ****suckers who don't give a **** about them. They don't care about you at All! At all! And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. That's what the owners count on. The owners of this country know the truth. It's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."' A bit more optimistic than Mr. Carlin, though of an agreeable nature, I believe we still have a chance to disband the big club, and beat the owners at their own game. I don't now how just yet (help me out if you want), but it starts with us, the people, fixing the system which has become so corrupted, on both sides of an aisle which shouldn't exist, which should be an arena, where people can enter equally from all sides. That's the way to fight back. HTinking critically, stopping this garbage.

I end on a positive note. A new congress, comes into office today. A new congress, which has the same pawns of the big players, the same people who like us Americans to be a willfully ignorant working body, the gears of a well oiled machine, pacified by fake arguments and trivial nothingness. Hopefully though, we can find a few gems, athe few politicians who have not yet been corrupted, and who could hopefully be the front lines of a fight for freedom

Until next time, I bid you fare well, and may the force be with you, always.

~ Jeff