Dear James, Daniel and Emily,
I can't say I didn't see or at feel this coming on some level. This electoral year has grown so outrageous and out of control, that I have just about run out of gas to fuel the outrage machine. It has reached the point that pointing out another case of G.O.P./Tea Party hypocrisy/craziness feels like one of my favorite lines from Apocalypse Now:
"Accusing someone here of murder is like passing out speeding tickets at the Indianapolis 500"
Now it has reached the point of physical violence between groups of supporters. And some candidates seemingly advocating open insurrection if their party doesn't win the election. Are we this close to turning into Weimar Germany?
And the point that I just cannot understand is this: do these Tea Party Neo Cons not see how they are being manipulated by the very same corporate interests that nearly wiped out our economy for their own greed and gain? The next time I see a
commercial paid for by big money corporate interests accusing a Democrat of supporting the bail outs I may just throw a shoe through my TV. This all stems from the combined forces of the Great Divergence coupled with the Citizens United decision. That decision made it easy for those with money to pay to keep control of our government. These corporations are flat out of control, and the more news we see and uncover the more obvious it is that the real cause of the Recession was not some shadow government program forcing the banks to loan to poor people, it was banks doing everything in their power to make money, even if it turns out
they fundamentally broke the law to do it.
This is what the election campaigns on the part of many of these Tea Party activists boil down to:
1. Wall Street destroyed the economy, maybe causing me to lose my job in the process, so I am mad as hell.
2. The government bailed out Wall Street, so these Fat Cats did not lose their shirts or pay the price for their greed, this makes me mad at the government
3. The Democrats took control of Congress and the Presidency right after the bail out, and failed to restore the economy and my job, so I'm mad at them
4. I want to toss the bums out of control, but I have no money to pay for the election.
5. Wall Street wants to be sure they won't pay the price for their mistakes, and can continue to run roughshod over the economy so long as they can make a huge profit, and those Democrats are calling Wall Street bad names and trying enact the bare minimum regulations that might keep all of this from happening.
6. Wall Street tells the angry people they will pay for lots of election campaigns pointing the finger at the Democrats as being responsible for this mess.
7. Angry people take the money because they are mad, and human nature says you have to do something when things are bad, like a drowning person thrashing around in a pool of water.
8. Wall Street has the very likely chance of getting loads of people elected who will do their bidding because who paid for that election? And the first thing they will ask of these elected officials? Get rid of or weaken all those laws that will keep them from making money hand over foot using barely legal schemes again.
9. The economy continues to flail and slow, and the angry people get angrier. And Wall Street sits back and smiles, knowing they have bought at least 2 more years of weak or lax regulation, with no penalties for failure.
That last part is supposition and theory on my part. If you know your history you know that the New Deal essentially saved capitalsim in this country, there was every reason, in the face of the Depression, to go whole hog Socialist, like many European countries. Well if the big corporations, and the truly wealthy don't see that, and understand that failing to let the Democrats accomplish the same thing this go around is in their best interst they could very well suffer in the long run. Because if the Republicans do gain control of the House, and continue to abuse their ability to stalemate the government for 2 years, and the economy fails to rebound, all of those angry people who voted for the Tea Party this go around? They could very well turn their anger on the real culprits next time, and it could be real ugly.
It really focuses on nutrition and breaks down what is and is not really good to eat and why. Having grown up with a Vegan father, but being a typical American male I had never given much thought to the idea of not eating meat, that thought was just never a possibility.