Why Aren't 'We the People' Being Heard?

[Faux pas]

Whoop-de-do, we won back the house and senate in 06. All these blustery,
pompous, arrogant representatives 'of the people' proudly proclaimed 'the people have spoken'. Yes, and we keep speaking, loud and clear, we want bushco out of power, and we don't want to wait until his 600+ days in office run out. Why isn't anybody listening now?

Oh, impeachment isn't our top priority, THEY say. Excuse me????? We didn't vote you in the run your own agendas, we voted you in to do OUR bidding. Somewhere along the line all the fools on the hill have lost sight of this, now that they got what they wanted by snookering us YET AGAIN.

I'm tired of writing, calling and signing petitions. I pissed and sick and tired. Tired of the important things being lost and business as usual continuing on merrily while we truly stand by helpless and hopeless.

I WANT our troops home.

I WANT housing for the homeless, medical care for the sick, real educations for our children.

I WANT big business to be cut off at the knees and made to bring the jobs back where they belong, pay their share of the tax burden and fine them into the loss column if they don't comply.

I WANT politics to have nothing to do with the justice system.

I WANT a lot more, but right now my pissed and sick and tired brain can't think any more.....

:rant:

[Labors of Hercules]

1. If we had voted more of them in you'd get it all fast...

but as it stands now, we've got a limited majority fighting an entrenched regime. It takes time.

[Faux pas]

2. I know it takes time. I don't hear any of them reassuring us

that they are and will take care of business. Have you heard something that I haven't? If so, please share.

[Labors of Hercules]

24. What more assurance do you want?

They've vowed to maintain a tight level of oversight and as proof are bringing up new scandals almost daily to build a case. Impeachment is not something you do without a case for conviction, and it's not like they can give us a play-by-play of this part of the process...

"Okay folks, make sure not to tell anyone in the administration, but next week we'll be going through all public White House emails to find a case for impeaching *, and on Tuesday we'll be sending a team to look through his sock drawer... shhhhhhh..." :sarcasm:

[cali]

3. sure is a lot of petulant foot stamping

going on at DU lately.

[tavalon]

6. Could be because

they aren't listening to us. First, it was because they were in the minority and now it's because they don't have enough of a majority. The new minority doesn't seem to be having any problems getting their agenda through.

[mondo joe]

10. Really? Which agenda did the new minority get through?

Maybe I missed something.

[live love laugh]

9. It makes you wonder doesn't it? n/t

[Selatius]

4. Do you have money?

Congressmen can't win unless they have money to air ads. Working people and poor people, they don't have much money. The people who employ the working people and the working poor, the people who own this country, they usually have much more money than the workers.

[Faux pas]

30. No, I don't have money. How could I when my buying dollar is

worth about 2 cents? I think the campaign budgets are beyond ridiculous and should be drawn from a general campaign fund, funded by the taxpayers at a dollar a throw.

[mmonk]

5. Show me the money.

[OhioChick]

8. Exactly. n/t

[mondo joe]

7. Which democrats ran on the platform your describe?

Who ran on impeachment?

Who ran on cutting off big business at the knees?

[rinsd]

33. Keith Ellison had impeachment as part of his platform

But he "betrayed" the "people" by voting for the recent funding bill.

[earth mom]

11. Your thread is dead on! Now, prepare for the dem & corporate apologists aka DINOS to tear your OP

to shreads. Dems in power? Whoop di fucking do. :puke:

[cali]

13. I don't think much of this thread at all

and I'm not a DINO, I'm a liberal democrat, a strong supporter of Bernie Sanders and the Progressives in my state. You don't get to decide what I am just because I don't agree with YOU.

[Faux pas]

15. I see they have appeared. If they didn't like or didn't agree with

my rant, they could have just moved along. A rant, is a rant, is a rant. Very simple concept if you ask me. I appreciate that you appreciated it. Thank you! :)

[Individualist]

12. Government of, by and for the people is history

We now have government of, by and for the corporations. We, the people, don't matter.

[Faux pas]

16. Agreed. Maybe we should all incorporate en mass and

beat the snot out of the competition. Silly, I know, but I like that idea.

[JanMichael]

14. Because of fundamental problems of what we call "democracy?"

Ask Aristotle, what we have is a Plutocracy/Aristocracy not a direct, or by lot (or by stratified random sampling), democracy.

If we did this would be a much different world.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Ok here are some clues to you

of all the candidates that ran on get out of Iraq now, only ONE got elected.

That should tell you something

The other...

Lets assume I got elected, for fun sake, for the Green Party...

Now before the house is a bill to build a new power plant IN MY DISTRICT

Now I'm green right? On principle I should be against that... RIGHT?

If I get emails and letters from my district asking me to vote FOR IT... Ir represent them, I should do the right thing and vote fir it.

We do not elect leaders, we elect Representatives, and yes the squeaky wheel gets listened to more often than not

Which reminds me, in all this foot stamping HAVE YOU written your Reps?

I make it a point to write them at least ONCE a week

It is my job to demand what I want, it is their job to count mine and the hundreds that like me do this. Unfortunately not enough people pester their reps

Oh and the green candidate, before I have people screaming, I used as a dramatic example

[Faux pas]

20. I guess you missed the part of the rant where I said I'm tired

of calling, writing and signing petitions. Writing, as in emailing. LOL I email whenever I hear about some new stunt, trick or pile of bull. So, I guess I'm emailing more than you are, at least 2 or 3 times a week.

[leftofthedial]

18. because the plutocrats know we are easily distracted by shiny objects

and hand waving

so that's what they give us to keep us from noticing that we are being screwed

[Faux pas]

21. LOL Guess they've down graded from smoke and mirrors. n/t

[Vidar]

19. Because, in between elections, only money matters to most of them.

[Faux pas]

22. Sad but true. n/t

[leftchick]

23. good rant

I want it all too but until the influence of the DLC/AIPAC and corporate dollars is eliminated we will have more of the same from both parties. It sucks.

[Faux pas]

27. Thank you. "The change" needs to be bigger and broader

for sure. I'm thoroughly disgustipated.

[PhilipShore]

25. The system has to become more liberal

Most of the people voted for a more liberal, and accountable America, and I'm sure -- some of the Democrats generally want to do the job that they were elected to do -- however -- 90% of the Democrats are not qualified (they simply don't know how) to make the changes, that are more socially responsible.

Those 90% are Reagan, DLC, Blue dog Democrats; much different then liberal Democrats, and of the traditional Democrats of the 1960s. But the Party has a few good liberals, Dean, General Clark, Gore, possibly Edwards, and others.

The American people have to demand changes -- and vote all the Republican/Democrats out of office, and replace them with qualified liberals, to make the change.

[Faux pas]

28. I've always been a believer of tossing out the useless at the

first opportunity. If you're not doing the job to my satisfaction, out you go. LOL, like my one little vote rules over all. :)

[qwlauren35]

26. Question????

Did every single Democratic candidate run on an anti-war platform????

I honestly didn't get that feeling, but maybe I missed something.

I got the feeling that a lot of people were angry with Bush and wanted more accountability. But I'm not sure that wanting the war to end was the ONLY factor in flipping Congress.

Please don't think I'm not disappointed about what's going on. I am. I wanted so much more to happen in terms of ending the war. And the LAST thing I expected was for the presidential race to get a kick-start that overshadows everything so many of us were hoping to see come out of Congress.

But this seems to be one of those things that makes me feel simple minded. There are undercurrents to what goes on on Capitol Hill that I'm not privy to. There are reasons why things aren't working out as expected. I just don't know what they are... and I have no idea if I could impact them even if I did.

That's probably why I stopped the letter writing and petition signing. My face turned blue, and it didn't matter. If I continue to focus on something I can't seem to affect, I might go mad. So I've gone back to putting my energy into the things that have results on a local level. I'm not at all proud, but I value my sanity. And watching the War continue drives me insane.

[Faux pas]

29. The fliers and emails I got/get from my Congress person, state(d)

that she was fighting against the war, fighting for health care, fighting for seniors, etc., etc., etc. She also sends out a weekly email to keep her constituents informed of bills she working on. One voice against the rolling thunder....

I value my sanity also, unfortunately, it might be too late to save it.

[rinsd]

31. That's the problem when you substitute your opinion for the "people's"

[Rex]

32. Because Big Biz and the Establishment are in agreement to keep

the working class under the thumb of consumerism.

'What's in your wallet!?!'