I received an email from a MI congressman cheerleading today's Senate vote 74-26 approving the budget control act of 2011. I could throw-up. I think I know why a bee will sting even if it means its death. I get so perturbed with the PR campaigns and the foolishness that are deeply polarizing this country. The verbiage coming from the conservative right wing is for the most part a garbage dump with a grand opera exterior and the rest of congress, save a few progressive representatives and senators, are playing in the same trash can symphony. Their clanging and banging is so noisy, I think people rarely hear anything else; like, every president, for the last several decades (right and left leaning), has asked for a debt ceiling increase. This year's increase had no reason to be so monumental, so grand and epic that something had to be done...or ELSE!
Yes, we need to reign in our spending, and our spending of what we don't have will eventually lead somewhere harmful. But the charades of the last couple weeks and this supposed fix is silly, if not worth stinging (in a non-violent resistance sort of way). The government is not to blame! So many people quickly use that language, an easy out from the work of engaging with and understanding the world. Very little trickles down from the rich, the supposed "job creators." If we keep blaming the government and turning a blind eye to corporate regulations, undue incentives, illegal environmental and labor practices, and very limited taxation, our country will continue on the same downward spiral to join the bee on the ground.
Options exist for maintaining (even expanding) many government programs for the poor, the middleclass, the environment, the elderly, research and cultural progress without increasing debt. Today's vote severely limits one of the leading means for this---taxing the rich to help pay for the common good. The other one is limiting defense (war) spending, how much talk of that have you heard?
Derek
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