It's hard to relate to what happened, or rather, what didn't happen at the polls last Tuesday. In a way, the results were in a way Kafkaesque, that is if being a cockroach is appealing. My husband went to get a haircut in our quaint New England village located in Vermont and was greeted by a natural. home-grown Vermonter spouting that "the polls were over run with communists!"
The man's statement were just as illogical as the results of the numerous political races throughput the land were tallied. But who among us were surprised by the results? Like many progressive liberals, I too suffered from extreme apathy and apathy that veered towards anger as my email box overflowed daily with DCCC and candidate requests, even Barack and Michele, begging me to donate a mere $3.00 to support "our" candidates and ensure that the Republicans would not dominate in these 'pre-decided' elections.
I won't lie and say that I am completely happy with Barack Obama's performance as president. His administration is plagued by some very serious over-reaches (the treatment and prosecution of whistle blowers, the continued support of and defense of banks too big to fail and Wall Street which has continued to erode the middle-class, the omission of the single payer option in his signature health care law, just to name a few. And in my mind, all of these non-accomplishments and/or continued and expanded programs inherited from the Bush administration, really
dwarf what he has accomplished in his untenable position of being the quasi "commander in chief".
We as liberals failed not just because of Barack Obama but because we lack fortitude and the ability to address the very real concerns of voting citizens. Our people, thinking and caring individuals, regardless of political party affiliation, are just as guilty as being as the other side, the inflexible conservative, and yet there is a cloak of silence concerning our wolves in the hen house. The Dodd-Frank Act is and was a joke in its ability to tamp down the activities of the "Banks too Big To Fail" and the shenanigans of Wall Street investments and their reliance on questionable investment instruments.
And despite of these ills there is a democratic representative that wrote a pending bill (HR 1105) to exempt hedge funds and private equity firms from having to provide key disclosures. But then it does begin to make perfect sense once you know that the man was once employed as a VP at Goldman Sachs. It makes perfect sense that he would spearhead a bill to lessen or eliminate restrictions for hedge funds and private equity groups, right?
At some point, we the people are going to have to once again join hands and fight for our collective good! This mid-term election was not going to roll back and fix the problems that began decades ago. As much as we progressives like to turn back and look at Bill Clinton and the surplus he delivered to GW Bush, Bill Clinton is also the guy who ushered in NAFTA (outsourcing of jobs) , allowed the relaxation of rules/laws that effected how commodities could be traded, (think crude oil, corn, rice, etc) - another gift from Goldman Sachs - and of course the end of the Glass-Steagall Act.
To be sure, I think the country has benefited during Obama's administration but what the candidate Obama promised and what the president Obama delivered are two very different things.
There are few decent people who choose to enter politics and serve in public office as a life choice. Most people that "think" about public service as a career option automatically reject the idea of running for a political office because the press/media feel an obligation to dredge-up or even create dirt about anyone dumb enough to want to run for public office. Without truths and actions, our political system will continue to unravel and be perverted by unscrupulous, greedy bastards who cannot/will not perceive that we are all on a downward spiral and the future does not look bright!