America Has Spoken And It Said: "Hell No We Can't!!!"

[Wetzelbill]

My latest column. -WB

America Has Spoken And It Said: "Hell No We Can't!!!"

For OpEdNews: Bill Wetzel - Writer

Nearly two years ago I received a phone call. It was from a formerly homeless friend of mine. He was a Vietnam vet and a recovering alcoholic who was just starting to get his life together after a series of health problems forced him to sober up. I had been working with him on a project of mine, a short documentary film about his life, homelessness, battle with drugs and alcohol and interest in writing. Bill was an interesting guy, outgoing, intelligent and fun. I was expecting his call, however it was immediately obvious that he was shook up.

His voice wavered as he said to me: "Bill, Tom is dead".

Tom was Bill's best friend. A skinny whisper of a man who, like his friend, was a military veteran and a bad alcoholic. Unlike Bill, Tom was quiet, meek, and spoke so softly that you could barely understand him. I always looked at Tom with sadness, he seemed to have given up on life. He walked around spiritless and defeated. But he was a sweet guy, the kind of person who appreciated an act of kindness. I could see him brighten slightly when I'd give him a few dollars, or when I'd give him some cookies or whatever other food I had made. He sometimes would tell a funny story, like how he once lost his hat for a few days and when he found it and put it on a cute baby gopher came crawling down his head and over his face.

But now Tom was dead.

Found by his best friend, lying homeless and broken. He was literally in the dirt. He literally had to sleep and wallow near his own urine and feces. He may have frozen in the night, he could have had some other ailment, maybe he drank himself to death, or he maybe just totally gave up on life. But he was dead. That was for certain. A United States citizen who served his country in the military, died alone and penniless, while lying in the dirt. Let that sink in for a moment. Could you imagine dying that way? Could you imagine any of your closest loved ones living a life like that, dying in the dirt?

He deserved better.

I am under no delusions. Homeless people are often homeless for a reason. They have problems. Mental illnesses. Drug and alcohol addictions. Lack of personal responsibility. But all too many slip through the cracks. Certainly we can do better. And certainly we can watch out for the people who serve this country in uniform a little better too. They are more than campaign props and applause lines in a stump speech.

Which brings me to this. Several years ago, Senator Barack Obama introduced the "Homes For Heroes Act" in the Senate. This bill would help provide housing for low-income veterans, alleviating at least some of the problem. But it didn't last long in the Senate. In fact, virtually anything that would help low-income people or veterans doesn't last too long in the Senate. Why? Because Republicans kill almost anything that doesn't help their base, the incredibly wealthy. They have consistently killed bills that would help veterans with medical care, treatment for mental illnesses and PTSD disorders. They even stanched a 2006 amendment by Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed that would have purchased much needed equipment for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan because it would have been paid for by rolling back capital gains tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

Here is what I'm getting at.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/America-Has-Spoken-And-It-by-Bill-Wetzel-101103-819.html

[RainDog]

1. Republicans just said no for two years - and they had a media megaphone to cheer them on

and those things worked in their favor.

whether people think the particular compromises were necessary in order to get anything done or not, the truth is that people did not like what they saw.

For two years, business got to dictate policy with the Democrats (just as it always does with the Republicans and the "Third Way") and the result demonstrated that politics is a blood sport and if you don't want to fight against the right rather than appeasing them or being right-lite, you will not make progress.

An extremely vocal minority of Americans are batshit crazy - the opposition demonstrated they are nasty f-ers (fighters) who will use racism and fear - but at the very bottom of it all, people are freaking sick of the govt. being in bed with big business while telling the American people it's for their own good.

Republicans want power. They pretend what's good for 5% of the population is good for everyone - even when data is available that shows the largest tax cut in history created zero job growth - even when the U.S. has abandoned manufacturing for the search for cheap global labor - to the detriment of the middle class. Republicans appeal to people's selfishness and fear.

They refused to govern - to work with the current President, they obstructed progress and pretended their own actions didn't create the very problems the Democrats were trying to address. This is the flip side of their time in power during the Bush years when the Republicans tried to deny Democrats access to committee meetings - they don't give a crap if that Democrat was elected to his or her position by other people in this nation - they don't want to reach across the aisle - they want to annihilate it.

Bush started the bail out of the financial industry but Obama got the blame. Michael Moore put it this way: You rent your house out to a bunch of frat boys and they trash the place. So you ask someone to clean up the mess. After two years, you see the place is still a mess. But you no longer blame the frat boys. You blame those you asked to clean it up.

It didn't help that the bail out was hoarded rather than invested in the growth of industries. The press says the financial sector is scared. Of their own shadows? The chamber of congress funneled money to right wing candidates and causes...without any requirement of disclosure. Maybe that's where the money went. Self-interest to the point of pathology for a nation.

The teabaggers are angry and their anger was egged on and its public face was funded by wealthy right wingers. Those wealthy right wingers do not want to have regulations, even when those regulations protect the American people from financial fraud like the last economic meltdown they spurred with their desire for a casino economy. I guess that's fun when you have millions to burn. But not so much fun for people who work for a living. These same wealthy right wingers got us in a mess in the 1920s. And in the 1980s with the S&L bailout. And with NAFTA, the third way highway paved with good intentions and false promises.

When the Democrats compromised to try to get something done, they alienated the left, but didn't gain any friends on the right side of the aisle - this position goes double for social issues. Sometimes politicians have to take bold measures to bring a nation to its senses when a loud and persistent minority have a media megaphone that distorts the voice of the people - people who aren't financed by big industries like insurance and the pharmas or Wall Street or socially conservative religious groups whose opinions are formed by bronze age understandings of humanity. Those folks are always going to be part of the national conversation - so you govern, in spite of them. for the benefit of democracy, human rights and the general welfare.

Americans are ignorant about the causes and the best solutions for problems. That's because the media preaches the economic equivalent of creationism on the nightly news. But they aren't stupid and they see the "inbeddedness" between govt and big biz and want it to stop because they know it corrupts our legislative process. Some people come to the conclusion that no govt is better than bad govt. Of course, when we all start dealing with bad roads by tearing them up and putting in gravel, or when those who voted for cuts find this doesn't put money in their pockets - maybe people will decide govt has a use and it's better to try to regulate the abuses rather than give up on the process.

The last two years were a waste of opportunity because Democrats want to be part of the country club rather than the commons.

[Wetzelbill]

2. Amen!

I'd rec it if I could!

[HillbillyBob]

5. I would also rec if i could!

And as they so loudly and frequently reminded us there is always the 2nd amendment remedy available to us.

[ihavenobias]

3. # 6. n/t

[Wetzelbill]

4. Thanks!

Then somebody promptly voted it down, lol.

[Wetzelbill]

6. Kick before I leave

for a while.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. I hope the lame duck Congress will hold a few votes on veteran's issues ...

get the Repubs clearly on the record as being heartless as ever, just so voters face an early reality check.