When will it all end?

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Boy, I sure am glad that the Republican party is still waving the flag of de-regulation as the savior for the economy.  Because we are seeing how well that anti-government, no taxes regime has done for us: worst financial disaster since the Depression, worst mining disaster in 25 years, biggest oil spill ever, unemployment stuck between 9-10%.

At this point all the cries of fiscal responsibility sound to me like the cries of Southerners claiming that Segregation and Separate but Equal were decent solutions to race issues.  Let's be honest, the great lovers of low taxes and fiscal responsibility are following in the footsteps of the political philosopher who once claimed that he wanted to shrink government just enough to drown it in the bathtub. 

Corporations left to their own devices, free from oversight and regulation will not behave as responsible citizens out of pure altruism.  There must be independent oversight, and that oversight must be funded and functional.  And all of the outsourcing, and shrinking of government over the past 30 years has resulted in a government that either will not or cannot perform the necessary regulatory tasks to keep our people safe.

And I cannot help but despair that this message will fail to disseminate properly before we face an even bigger catastrophe.  The foxes rule the hen house in Washington, and people fail to see the hypocrisy in clamoring for the Federal government to do something about their pet issue: immigration, national defense, terrorism, but then turn around and vote party line for the political party that preaches a fiscal position that will inevitably result in a federal government that cannot solve their issues due to lack of funding. 

Yes, watered down health care reform passed, and there's a good chance a watered down Fincance reform will get signed into law too.  But none of these address the bigger issues with a political culture that thinks that the best solution to high unemployment is to cut government funding for jobs and unemployment support that could get us out of the recession we face. 

I've been in a dark mood concerning politics lately, watching the Gulf Coast face environmental Armageddon, knowing there is precious little that can be done.  And knowing that it happened because our political culture has become infused with a sense that private for-profit corporations will always do the right thing, when history has shown us over and over and over again that is just flat not true.