Depression has set in......

[caty]

Fighting back tears, when I watch the news about something tragic that has happened to someone, I can understand. But, I shouldn't have to fight back tears when I watch politics on the news. And I know that it's because there are many tragic things going on in this country that I have no control over.

If the majority of the people in this country are either so ignorant or so heartless as to vote for teabaggers and rethugs, than I have to find a way to live through these times. I've already gone over our budget to limit spending even more than we already have and to put some money away for when Medicare fails us when we reach that age. I'm betting a lot of people are doing this, which means less spending by many which will harm the economy. I'm not trying to harm the economy though. I'm just trying to figure out a way to survive what those teabaggers are forcing us into. They ARE trying to harm the economy. If they crash our government, they have the perfect excuse to totally end Social Security and Medicare. They won't be satisfied until they do.

So, I will vote a straight Democratic ticket in every election and I'm going to limit my news viewing to just one hour a day. I just can't handle all the stupidity and evil I have to listen to on the news in big doses anymore.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Right there with ya!

I'm considered to be a pretty pessimistic person by virtually everyone who knows me, and I never expected it to get this bad.

[roguevalley]

16. me too. the disappointment in having lived in an America that

was one and having to live in this ditch of a country now while fat fucks drive by in their cadillacs and flick their havanas at me is almost more than I can handle. I only listen to the stories on Rachel, Lawrence and others that are actually funny or schadenfreude: Murdoch, etc. the rest? My health can't take it. I'm older. I don't have to live in Bladerunner world as long as some of you. I am so sorry. I hug you tightly.

[graywarrior]

2. Vote and fight back.

[Fire1]

3. Amen. n/t

[Armstead]

5. And kick the asses of those we vote for

...just sayin'

[graywarrior]

8. Hold their feet to the fire.

And screw bipartisanship. They want war? I think they have no idea what's coming.

[county worker]

4. I know this sounds corny but don't think about it all the time.

Most of us are living in the future or the past. Spend some time in the present moment. Learn to meditate or go out and spend some time in nature or have some good times with friends and family. The politics will still be there to worry about but you don't need to spend every minute worrying about it.

I personally can't deal with all the negative things there are going on around us all the time. I have to put it aside for a while.

Tonight instead of turning on MSNBC to hear about the market crash, I am picking up some Mexican food from the taco place and my wife and I are going to watch a movie together. Tomorrow I'll worry about the stock market.

[Imajika]

6. Politics is an ugly business...

Always has been, always will be.

I think why a lot of people are so hurt right now, perhaps yourself, is because of all the promise we all felt just a few short years ago when President Obama was elected. How soon people forget how the Republicans treated President Clinton - and unfortunately, how favorably many Americans responded to them by voting in a Republican Congress in 1994 that survived till 2006.

Politics haven't changed, and never will. We've been through terrible economic times before, and will again. The regressive Republicans and baggers (and baggers aren't new, they are just the grass roots of the Republican party that took a more prominent role within the party) will always be like this.

Voting the Democratic ticket is good, but please don't tune out. We need your voice, we need people like yourself to keep fighting for what is right even when it feels hopeless sometimes.

[Faygo Kid]

7. I fear a worldwide depression may become reality now.

Obviously bigger market forces at work here than the teabaggers, but they and the Kochs and Fox and their minions bear their share of blame.

[BOG PERSON]

9. voting is sort of like masturbating if you think about it

it is done in isolation, for the purpose of self-gratification, sometimes a person will be stimulated to do it by media that is pure fantasy and probably funded by shady sources, etc. i'm sure people can think of other ways the two acts are similar.

[provis99]

10. stay far away from the comments section on Internet edition newspapers.

The demented psychos that post there make Teabaggers look reasonable. You will become scared, angry, and sad, if you read to much of the crap floating around in the Internet sewer out there.

[southerncrone]

11. The sad irony of all this is that many of the grassroots teabaggers

are either on SS & Medicare, or had/have jobs working in govt agencies! I know many teabaggers who work/ed for TVA! This is the case in other agencies, too.

There has to be some sort of mind control/crazy pill/hysteria creation going on. Faux Noise, Gush Limpballs & Belch for examples. Not to mention the pulpits of America have been taken over.

If you own the media & the belief systems you own a populous. ;(

[WingDinger]

12. Do the healthy thing, Like men do. Lash out in anger at the rightful recipient.

Nothing feels better than taking charge. Get pissed. Then, get even.

[socialist_n_TN]

23. Yeah, that's my take too. I don't know if you and I are

unique, but when I start to get down, I get angry. I see SO many people whining about depression and giving up, yet if you ask them to take a look at Marxism as an answer, they'd rather consider suicide than go Red. I just don't understand it. You would think that supporting the oldest and most unabashed anticapitalist politico-economic system extant today would be a natural if you're THAT depressed about the situation. But it's still "better dead than Red".

[Juche]

13. I'm probably going to move overseas when I retire

That will be 30+ years from now.

FWIW, I can 100% relate to feeling despair over how people can think that this is a good way to run a country, that letting insurance companies deny life saving care on a technicality, or never feeling secure enough to retire makes one 'free'. And yeah, the GOP wants to collapse the economy. If the economy gets better, Obama gets reelected. That is the last thing they want.

But I'm probably going to move to a middle income country, largely for health care, someday. Even now medicare premiums are about $115/month. Medigap is about $100+, I think medicare D is $30 or so. So you are talking $250/month for medicare. In Mexico you can get on a state plan (that is about 80% funded by the gov) for $250 a year. Even if you pay the premiums 100% yourself with no Mexican subsidies it is still cheaper than medicare and medigap. In a variety of middle income countries you can get health insurance coverage that is high quality for $200/month or less, sometimes a lot less (like less than $100/month). The fact that most of the rest of the world thinks of health care as a human right to provide to everyone as efficiently as possible, and not a tool to make as much money as possible, helps keep costs down everywhere but the US.

But that is today. With the endless rightward march of the US, combined with health inflation, combined with income inequality health care will be a major mess for people like me as I get older. I don't see how anyone can live in the US and expect to either live with security or retire with dignity with our health care system. In between the tea party/plutocrats who want to cut all aid and help to anyone who isn't rich and medical inflation, I assume medicare will be totally unreliable by the time I need it. SS should still be there (its issues are largely overrated) but medicare who knows.

I have no idea what'll happen when I need to retire. But hopefully I can find a middle income country and just relax.

FWIW, my neighbors are diehard conservatives. Their daughter lives and works in a foreign country. The parents seem to hate Obama and socialism, but the daughter is more pragmatic. While on the phone with her and the parents were dissing socialized medicine the daughter basically said 'one of the main reasons I left America is because it doesn't have socialized medical care. If they did, I'd move back'. It caused a huge fight in her family. But she is right.

Anyway, not to hijack the thread with medical care. But I think that is going to be a major driver in emigration over the next few decades. You can never be financially safe or secure in America. You can never say 'I can rely on my nest egg being there' due to our health care system draining it at a moments notice. In other countries you can.

[caty]

14. I think I just

went on "news" overload during the two weeks before the debt limit had to be raised. And I kept watching afterward to find out just how bad things are going to be.

I know I can't keep doing that. And I do have better things to do. I just have to get back in the habit of doing them.

Thanks for all the great comments.

[Bluerthanblue]

15. please do

take care of yourself.

The current atmosphere of hatred, selfishness, rage and divisiveness is so toxic.

you aren't alone

:grouphug:

[SusanaMontana41]

17. You're not alone, caty. We're shoulder to shoulder with you. n/t

[Duppers]

18. Same here

You're quoting my conversations with my hubby.

:(

[Kahuna]

19. Things were turning around in this country until moronic Americans

allowed the teabaggers to take control of our government. If they (moronic Americans) had been paying attention to the baggers they would have realized that they were about dismantling government.

[nc4bo]

20. So much is the Dems fault. Seens as not sticking up for the commoners

economy in the tank, no jobs, many without healthcare, food, housing....

Sure there was legislation that was supposed to address these issues but in reality, most people haven't benefited from any of it. I suspect because so much of it is weak and more pro corporatism than pro-The People.

All those factors create a huge lack of enthusiasm for voters who so enthusiastically voted D in '08. Left enough of a crack to allow the fringe to sneak in there. Politicians/Parties who continuously ignore the citizenry or have gained the reputation of ignoring the citizenry shouldn't be surprised when the citizenry stay home.

[Kahuna]

24. Things may not have been progressing fast enough for you but

they were progressing and going in the right direction. Because of your kind of thinking, now they're going in the opposite direction.

[nc4bo]

21. {{hugs}} nt

[caty]

22. I signed a petition today

to recall Rick Snyder, here in Michigan. Damn that felt good!

The pollsters said that they were getting a fair number of Republican voters who are unhappy about losing their state income tax reduction on their pensions. I've always said that whatever the rethugs, and now the teabaggers, do that hurts Democratic voters also hurts Republicans voters. And it's seems to be coming true. Wait until those S.S and Medicare receiving teabaggers get the bill. They will learn a painful lesson when they are hit in the pocket book.

Maybe we have to go through this dark time to come out into the light later on.