GOP Win in Massachsetts

Yesterday in Massachusetts, the Republican candidate, Scott Brown, took the Senate seat vacated after Ted Kennedy's death. I was concerned about the Democratic candidate but I am now concerned of the repercussions of having a vindictive Republican party that will do their utmost to block everything that Obama would like to get done.

I regretfully predict that if anything does get done for the rest of Obama's term, it will benefit big business more than the average Americans that need help the most.

Republicans are crowing today about their victory, some rather smugly. The Right Wing "tea party" movement is claiming their success in changing the political landscape and the media backs them up. I wonder where these "teabaggers" were when Bush was trashing our economy. Hopefully, the "teabaggers" will also go after the Republicans if they attempt to do to us again what they have accomplished in the past decade.

The Democrats in the Congress and Senate seemed to climb on a high horse when Obama was elected and they, undoubtedly gave many of us a bad taste in our mouths, even so, there was a glimmer of hope that Main Street could see some sort of benefit.

The Republican party now have the numbers to block anything they see fit...which appears to be everything Obama wanted to accomplish, and with the GOP track record of deregulation and Corporate interests, we all have reason to be worried.

Does anyone remember Phil Gramm? He was the Republican who slipped deregulation under the radar when Clinton was in office. I mention this because it is his responsibility, in part, that allowed Wall Street to made dealings which backfired on us, making the Wall Street bail out necessary. The lax standards that he and his cohorts in the GOP made possible is why Bernie Madoff got away with his fleecing of American investors. He was also John McCain's economic advisor who tried to tell America that the economic woes we had were only in our head and stated that our economy was strong on the day that the bottom fell out of the market in 2007.

I still get angry when I think of Tom Delay. He is the one who told the national press "I AM the Federal Government!". I would have liked to tell him to shove a sock in it because he did not represent me or many others I know. He was the power behind the "K Strreet" deals and the attempt to make sure that nobody could be hired or keep certain jobs if they were a Democrat. Organized, legal discrimination by those who are responsible for writing our legislation.

It doesn't give you a warm and fuzzy feeling, does it?

The current Republican minority has already made it very clear that they will not work with Obama, not that they couldn't, they do not want to. They have bowed to the likes of Rush Limbaugh and others with extreme views.

The Republican party had no compunctions about spending this country into debt for wars of choice or any other ludicrous idea that Bush had but they never seem to want to spend any of OUR tax money on things that would benefit America as a whole.

If we are not willing to spend what is necessary, we will not have much of a chance to fix what is broken here at home. The GOP tries to scare America to death over the idea of having a program that they want to give the label of "Socialism". America would be seriously up the creek without a certain amount of socialism within our country and without any social programs we would be...well, we would be a good deal more like Haiti than America. Socialism is a much hated "no-no" for the Republican party until Corporate America and Wall Street fall on their faces. When that happens the plan is for socialist aid to bail them out so they can keep their profits private. We can bail them out with our tax dollars while our infrastructure crumbles and jobs are lost but whatever profits they make is not part of the social effort to keep them from going bankrupt.

Health care reform is sorely needed but now it is doubtful that we will be able to see much benefit if reform does pass. The pharmaceutical companies will still see a huge profit margin as will insurance and health care providers. There will be little change, if any, in the outrageous prices we pay because it will not be beneficial to our elected officials. CEOs will still get astronomical pay compared to the little guy who actually does all the hard work Not much will change from what it is.

Main Street is tired. We are tired of bailing out Corporate America only to be told that we can not benefit from doing so. We are tired of the wealthiest Americans being allowed to wiggle out of their fair share of taxes they pay compared to what we pay. We are tired of the special interest buying legislation that allows more corruption.

I, for one, am tired of the Republican party using scare tactics on the public to get what they want. It is sad that the majority of Americans are not smart enough to see that behavior for what it is.

I truly hope they prove me wrong.