The Presidency: Republican beasts, or Democratic collaborators

[Cyrano]

Yes, it really does make a difference who is president. A Republican president (a Sarah Palin, a Newt Gingrich, a Huckabee, or anyone else of their ilk) would only put us in a far worse place than we are.

A Democratic president, on the other hand, would only be the lesser of two evils. I’ve given up on the possibility of ever seeing another FDR, JFK, or even a Lyndon Johnson in our lifetimes. (Regarding Johnson, he should rot in hell for Vietnam. But let’s not forget that this was also a president who rammed through Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act.)

Jimmy Carter was/is a decent man who meant well, but accomplished nothing.

Ever since, we have been ruled by Republican presidents (Reagan, Bush I, Bush II) who couldn’t have cared less about the American people. And also by a couple of Democratic presidents (Clinton, Obama) who couldn’t have cared less about the well being of the people who elected them.

In some cases, Clinton and Obama had little to no choice as to their decisions and actions. But in far more cases, their decisions/actions screwed the American middle class to the point where there is little left of the “American middle class.” Whatever their beliefs/values, they became part of the Washington world which is a different planet from that on which most of us live. In short, they ended up collaborating with those who don’t care whether we live, die, or struggle to survive with as little as possible.

So what are we going to do in 2012? Most of us will probably vote for Obama as the lesser of two evils. The world that many of us grew up with is gone and we have entered a new “dark age.” I know that, some day, there will be another renaissance, and that I probably won’t be around to see it. Nonetheless, I hold out hope for our grandchildren and great grandchildren.