Some people say there's no difference worth mentioning between Republican and Democratic politicians. They're equally bad. These are usually people who don't like tension or confrontation or dealing with ambivalence. It's much more convenient to dream up a false-equivalency between the two major parties. It relieves them of any responsibility if the wrong group gains power.
There is a difference, however. What is that difference, ah, I have it now. It's the intelligent look on the face of the cow. Oh, wait, that's another story my dad used to tell about girls chewing gum. He was not a feminist.
But consider this: Almost every single piece of progressive legislation - legislation which provided assistance to the people of this country over the past 50 years - has been enacted by members of the Democratic Party! Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, business regulations to keep the bankers honest, FDA regulations to keep your medicines safe, environmental regulations to save your national forest and parks and keep our water safe to drink and our air safe to breathe. Regulations to keep our food safe to eat. Legislation to protect and improve our public schools. Laws protecting the right of workers to unionize and bargain for fair treatment and pay. Laws protecting the right to vote. And much more.
This is the truth: The Republican Party has fought every single one of these legislative efforts and every one of these regulatory actions! If the Republican Party had had it's way, there would be no Social Security, no Medicare, no Medicaid, no welfare for single moms and dad, no protection for workers, no health care for anyone (except themselves), and today it is the Republican Party that is trying to destroy our public schools, privatize our prisons, deregulate just about everything, and chainsawing the right to vote for millions of our citizens. And significantly, it's the Republicans who have fought tooth and nail any attempt to deal with what is most likely the most serious challenge we have ever faced as a nation and as a world - that of climate change and global warming!
The presidency is where the difference between a Democratic president and a Republican president becomes most clear, even when a Democratic president, such as Barack Obama faces intense hatred and hostility.
Think of what might have been if the duly elected president of the United States had been allowed to take office in 2000. Al Gore won the popular vote! But Florida Governor Jeb Bush and his cronies were able to game the system to such an extent that the matter went to the U.S. Supreme Court which handed the presidency to the loser, his brother, George W. Bush. And what a loser he was.
If Al Gore had taken his rightful place in the Oval Office, we would not have gone to war with Iraq. The billions of dollars wasted in that effort would have been put to much better use. The thousands of our service men and women killed for no reason whatsoever, would still be here serving their country. The many thousands maimed and forever damaged by that war might well be providing many much-needed services and enjoying life with families and children. And the hundreds of thousands (some say millions) of Iraqis who lost their lives would still be alive to love and be loved. We would have given no cause for offense in the Middle East which led to the rise of various terrorist groups. And torture would not have become national policy!
If Al Gore had been president, the budget surplus left by President Clinton would likely still be intact. There would have been no recession which has caused so much heartache for so many millions of Americans. We would have reined in the vast illegal Wall Street conspiracies which devastated our economy. And one of the most important issues - that of climate change - would have been faced and actions taken to mitigate the damage which is already upon us by rising seas.
Finally, if Al Gore had been president, we would not have a Supreme Court controlled by unrepentant oligarchs [appointed by George W. Bush] who bow, not to the Constitution, but to the rich and the powerful. The rich and the powerful would not be able to buy elections as they do today. It is reported that the Koch Brothers alone, through their various phony organizations, plan to spend over $800 million to get "their man" in the White House! That would not have been possible if Al Gore had been president.
Jimmy Carter is, I think, basically a good man, although he has made some outrageous statements relative to Israel for which I think he should be ashamed and somehow do penance. Israel is not now, nor has it ever been, an apartheid state. He knows better!
But having said that, I must say that his latest word on the current situation in our nation is worth listening to and heeding. Carter says outright we are no longer a democracy! The average person in this country has no influence whatsoever. We are run by the rich and the powerful. We have become an oligarchy in which the very wealthy have gained control of our government on most every level.
Any further pretense of being a democratic country is futile.
Which makes this next election so damn important. Just take a look at the 17 bozos riding in the Republican clown car. There isn't one of them who should get anywhere near the Oval Office. Not one of them is remotely qualified to be the president of the United States.
Hell, most of them aren't qualified to run a McDonalds!
