9/11

It is the ten year anniversary of 9/11 and, since Obama was elected President, there has be less media focus on terrorism. Bush's infamous color code warning system has faded into oblivion. Obama's mission that led to the assassination of Osama bin Laden, was executed while he was telling jokes at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Republicans have been focusing on tax cuts for the wealthy and global corporations, and the acquisition of absolute power. The debt issue, though a truly serious issue, appears to be their way of attempting to destroy the middle class. Democrats and moderates appear to be genuinely concerned about jobs and maintaining the standard of living of the middle class by the creation of jobs through shared sacrifice, greater taxes and government stimulus.

The war on terror is still a critical issue but it is best fought, not on Fox News, but behind the scenes by the intelligence agencies using covert and psychological tactics, much in the same manner the execution of bin Laden was carried out. In this manner, politicians and the American people can focus on the critical domestic issues at hand.

It is extremely important to realize that America's strength in the world is a result of the economic strength of its people and the freedoms we have, things Republican don't really care about. Remember what Perry said about Romney in the recent GOP debate. He stated that Dukakis (A DEMOCRAT) created 3 times as many jobs as Romney did as Governor of Massachusetts.

Are Republicans PART of the Problem?

The principal fallacies of the Right Wing Spin Machine of this Millennium are entangled in dishonesty, selfishness and utter refusal to examine the big picture.  It is great to be in favor of the the historical American values of self-reliance and hard work, but impossible for these values to produce economic security or social justice in a society where there is no longer equality of opportunity and the power elites are rapidly creating an unlevel playing field so that their children can continue to rule the world while brilliant poor children are turned out to crime or hard labor.

It is a shame that the Republican party has turned it's back on it's great presidents like Lincoln, who articulated in the Gettysburg Address the idea that our country would never measure up to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence as long as we allowed a wealthy class to own a class of slaves; and like Teddy Roosevelt, who understood that keeping government small required government to keep the mega corporations and monopolies of his day (many of which were small by today's standards) less powerful than our nation's government.  Republicans have even turned their back on the not-so-great Republican Presidents like Eisenhower, who at least understood that the way to pay off war debts was to use the graduated income tax, and that the people who profited the most from the "wartime stimulus" that ended the last Depression should be willing to repay the most to put our government back on a sound financial footing.

It's a screwy world out there, and getting scarier all the time, and unfortunately the educational system and free press are under severe economic pressure at a time when we have never needed them more as a society.  And that is not to say that the lies and distortions of Fox News are any worse than the "Entertainment Tonight" mentality of the other major broadcast networks.

In order to solve a problem, you must be aware of the causes of the problem. You can not wish problems away by worshiping with snakes, citing platitudes that may or may not have been appropriate 100 years ago, or fortifying your own position, to "ensure" your own survival no matter how dire things get. And certainly not through the self-delusion of Republican archaism.

My father taught me that cliches are absolute truths, essentially distilled wisdom from the ages. He told me that I should never refute them and should try to never use them. In this case I am going cite one. If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.