The loss of credibility in American Politics

(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

The election of 1994 was a referendum against Democratic rule.  The House saw a 54 swing in votes from Democratic to Republican.  The Senate saw an 8 seat swing from Democratic to Republican.  It was an election where Republican politician’s promised, through the “contract with America”, that members of Congress would be held to the same standard as the rest of the country.  America responded to that promise.  

By 2006, America came to the realization that Republican’s had broken that promise.  The lies from the Bush administration, about the secret energy task force, the Iraq war, spying on American’s, and torture, had finally taken its toll on the GOP with voters.  In the 2006 election, the power of Congress again changed hands because a political party had lost its credibility with the public.

The 2008 was a continuance of the 2006 election for the fact that the Democrats in Congress seemed unable to govern with the slim majority they had gained two years earlier.  The excuses were that they didn’t have the votes, they didn’t hold the Presidency, and without those things, they simply could not govern against the GOP.  Voters responded by giving the Democratic Party the majorities necessary in Congress and the White House.

Now, it is the Democratic Party that is again facing a loss of credibility with the voters, and, it started with President Obama’s decisions and actions that, once elected, were contrary to what was promised on the campaign trail.

The 2006 and 2008 elections were brutal to the GOP because for eight years the Republican politicians supported every lie, every abuse, that came to put the stamp of epic failure on the Bush administration.  These were not minor abuses, but, major abuses of power.  A CIA operative was outted for political gain by the Office of the President.  An American President had put into place a system and regime of torture.  The President and his cabinet had politicized every aspect of our government in the hope of keeping perpetual power.  And, these abuses were finally put on display for all voters to see.

Voters left the GOP until only 20% still identified as conservatives.  Independent voters supported the Democratic Party by a margin of almost 2-1.  The American people spoke loud and clear, “fix this mess!”

President Obama squandered his credibility, and the credibility of the Democratic Party, very quickly.

By not holding those in the Bush administration accountable for their crimes, President Obama signaled that no government official will ever be held accountable for their abuses.  These are people that knowingly tortured people being allowed to walk freely in our country.  These are people that outted a CIA operative.  These are people that lied our nation into a war.  These were people who attempted to subvert our democracy, our government,  and our constitution.  All are free.

President Obama has said that he will continue the practices of these criminals.  That some people will continue to be held indefinitely, without charge, without a trial, because the government has SAID that these people are terrorists.  He has continually floated the notion that this abuse will be taken even further to include people being arrested who MIGHT be “dangerous.”

These are not crazy rantings by people who become unhinged, who believe that the President is secretly a Muslim, or was born in Kenya.  This is not “tea-bagger” crazy rantings.  These are documented facts by people such as Glenn Greenwald, Seymour Hersh, and others.

We, the people, know that health insurance in America has become a sham.  We are the people who are denied coverage, denied claims, and who have our policies cancelled because we suddenly demand the company pays claims.

But, President Obama squandered his credibility on the health care issue when he made the backroom deals with the health insurance companies, took single-payer and the public option “off the table”, and simply left America with a bill that requires every American to buy these policies under threat of fine or even arrest.

The Democrats, and President Obama, are now trying desperately to be seen as champions of the people, not “insiders” working for those corporations that fund their campaigns.  Blanche Lincoln has earned her primary challenge, and, she will lose her seat.  

American’s are tired of getting screwed over by the government officials elected to serve us.  The mantra of “throw the bums out” crosses both political lines as politician’s from both parties have shown the people that they only vote for the prosperity of corporations, not the people.

The politician’s are seeing this at the polls at a faster rate because of the Bush administration’s criminal actions, and, the pure unwillingness of the Democratic Party, with a Democratic President, to bring about the change that was promised to us.

The rule of the Bush administration was the worst ever in American history, yet, he and his minions are allowed, even courted, to talk about their criminality, as if it was somehow just a policy difference, by a media that was complicit in the Iraq war, complicit in the outting of a CIA agent, and that is bought and paid for by corporate money.  The same corporate money that has bought our government.

The cycle accelerated from a few decades to a few election cycles simply because of the pure extreme of the criminality that the Bush administration was shown to have perpetuated in our government, and, the Democrats refusal, due to their own complicity in those abuses, to hold these criminals accountable.

While pundits talk about whether Sarah Palin will defeat Obama in 2012, the discussion of the fact that our entire system is now broken is left out of the discussion.

Richard Nixon was forced from office because his administration was complicit in a break-in to find out what the other political party was planning.  George W. Bush was allowed to serve out his term after all of his criminal acts became public, and worse, the following President has shown that any future act, no matter how bad, will not hold consequence.  That is just how far our system has fallen in a mere 40 years.

The American public, as a whole, has woken up.  We have seen the criminality, and, that there will be no consequence.  We have seen the worst, and, that our government is now broken to the point that there is no accountability in it.  As a veteran of the first Gulf War in Iraq in 1991, this is not the America I fought for, that we swore to protect and defend.    

The mentality of torture by our military and government is now so pervasive that a veteran of the latest Iraq war was arrested for torturing his own child using water because she wasn’t learning her ABC’s.  Do the google on it.  As a former law enforcement officer, I know that this mentality of torture has found its way into our police forces as I hear about people being tasered dozens of times by officers.

The GOP has been left with people easily manipulated.  The Democratic Party has their own apologists.  But, the growth of the Independent vote, those who decide every election, has grown in the past few years, and, for reason.  We see the facts, and, we are tired of watching it.

Being a veteran that held a Top Secret clearance while on active duty, I know that there are secrets that our public should never be allowed to know.  Those secrets were never supposed to be that our nation tortured people, or, that our government implemented a regime of torture.  They were never supposed to be that our government wanted to, much less actually did, imprison people without charge, without trial, keeping them in jail forever simply because the government has called them a “terrorist”.  But, that is exactly what our government has done, and, were the secrets our government tried to hide.

When you talk about a “slippery slope”, how soon before anyone who dissents is considered by our government as a “terrorist”?  How soon before those who swore to defend our constitution turn their guns on our own people?  This has happened before, and, like everything, will happen again.  Kent State.  The concentration camps that housed those of Japanese descent during WWII.  The attacks and arrests by our government and law enforcement in NY just a few years ago.

Our government is broken.  Our system of justice is now broken.  Our ideals set before us in our constitution are all but defeated by those who are supposed to champion them.

I don’t watch FOX News.  I realize, like many, that it is just a propaganda station for the GOP.  But, I also am tired of watching yours, and Keith Olbermann’s show, where you tell us what we already know – that Republican’s lie.  We know this.  We understand this.  It was OUR vote that threw the bums out in 2006 and 2008.   But, our votes haven’t brought the change promised us, either.

People are getting their news from the internet more than any other source today for a reason; it is where we get the truth, and, where the information actually matters to us.

President Obama may win against a Mitt Romney, or a Sarah Palin, but, that doesn’t mean that he and his administration have brought to us the change promised.  They haven’t.  Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers are still protecting Wall Street over Main Street.  Rahm Emanuel is still trying to play politics while protecting the corporations that fund campaigns.

America woke up and speeches are no longer working.  

(my letter to Rachel Maddow)