Y’know … all the political game-playing, threats, backstabbing, obstruction and more these days takes a toll on a person’s psyche. We … the vast majority of us … are good citizens. We vote in every election, we pay our taxes every year, we don’t break the laws of the land. And in exchange, all we ask is a government “by the people, of the people, and for the people” – a government that uses our tax dollars wisely, that doesn’t waste money on frivolities, that sees to our national security, protects us, and helps those in need. Instead, we have a Congress that is 99% dysfunctional, members of Congress to whom we pay a salary that is multiple times higher than our own every year, that spend all their time playing political games. I’M DONE!!! I will not pay one more dime in federal income taxes!!! Oh wait … I’m retired and on Social Security … I haven’t paid federal income taxes since 2009.
But seriously, my friends … we are paying for the likes of Kevin McCarthy, Joe Manchin, Mitch McConnell and too many others to name in a simple post to pursue their own agenda, mindless of what is best for this nation. Their top priorities right now should be:
- Addressing climate change in the most aggressive way possible, which would include phasing out all fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy sources ASAP (Don’t believe in climate change? Step outside and take a deep breath … or try to)
- Passing voting rights legislation prior to the November mid-term elections to ensure that every person age 18 and over has not only the right, but the wherewithal to cast his/her vote.
- Passing legislation to protect women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and other civil rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ultra-dereliction of duty in their latest session and their threats of more to come going forward.
- Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage.
- Passing gun regulations that actually do something, that ban military-style weapons, that enforce strict background checks, and that incarcerate those who violate these regulations. Remember Uvalde? Remember Parkland? Our children’s lives are at stake here! And our lives … remember Buffalo? Remember Indianapolis on July 4th? We aren’t even safe in the damn grocery store, our kids aren’t safe in school, and Congress sits on its collective ass!
- Passing legislation to ensure that corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes! Why the hell shouldn’t they? What – is Jeff Bezos so damn special that he should not only have more money than he knows what to do with, but shouldn’t have to even pay to help keep this nation running?
- Addressing education in such a way that ensures our children are learning the facts about such things as the history of this nation, about other cultures, about life.
There are plenty more, but these are the core things that come to my mind right this minute that Congress should be working on. But you know what the members of Congress are doing? They are campaigning for the November elections, understandably, but they are also colluding on ways to screw the people of this country out of the democratic principles that we thought were guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution! Oh yes … half the members of Congress are actively colluding on ways to further restrict our right to vote, to keep women from having the right to even protect their own body, to keep non-Christians from having a voice, to keep LGBTQ people from being treated fairly and equally, to ensure that we are not safe from gun violence anywhere, and to shove a single religion down our throats. And worst of all, they are colluding in ways to return a megalomaniacal dictator to the White House in just over two years.
My friends … this country no longer has the right to its name, for it is no longer the United States of anything. United? What a joke! Perhaps the most tragic part of the 4 years of hell we lived through under Donald Trump is that it has so divided us that we may never heal the rift. Families have been torn in half, friendships ruined, marriages dissolved … while Trump laughed his way all the way to the bank … on our dime. Okay, water over the dam, let’s put the past in the past and begin the healing process, right? Well … no, not quite, for the 40% or so of this nation who identify as Republicans have deemed that theirs is the one and only right path, that this should be, in their eyes, a white, Christian, male-dominated, straight nation. I don’t know about you guys, but I absolutely refuse to live in such a nation as that. I. Refuse. The politicians, however, members of our not-so-esteemed Congress, are using every tool they can find to widen the divide, to ensure that dispute, hatred, and even violence divide us even further.
Some claim a civil war is on the horizon, some claim they want their states to secede from the U.S., but those aren’t the particularly bright people, for they have little comprehension how that would even work. No, I don’t see a civil war on the horizon … what I see is people being driven into their shells, finally throwing their hands up and saying, “I’m done … I don’t give a damn … I’ll just focus on my own little life and let them have at it.” And when that happens, my friends, we will be “ripe for the picking.”
And to end with a bit of political humour … a new ad from Meidas Touch putting “Dr.” Oz right where he belongs …
Filosofa's Word 