Who’s with Me?

Because of President Bush’s perceived coziness with Big Money and Big Oil, the Republican Party was “referendummed” out of the Oval Office in 2008. “Bush and all his greedy friends have ruined the economy for the next decade." is what the “experts” told us. A majority of the country believed it and the polls showed it. Personally, I don’t think an Abraham Lincoln/Ronald Reagan ticket would have held onto the White House. The country was ready for a change.

The typical voter felt left behind by their government. Most of us felt like those who were in charge, “them greedy Republicans”, were taking care of themselves and forgetting about all of us out here punching clocks in their companies. While they were shooting craps with our 401ks, we were dodging phone calls from collection agencies which happened to be owned through a shell corporation by the guy we worked for. And we quietly revolted.

The Tea Party erupted. The Taxed Enough Already Party exploded from a shared sense of abandonment by We the People. The business friendly cadre we elected didn’t control themselves, and some of us lost our retirement money and our homes. Greed, and nothing but greed, created the calamity we are all enduring now. No spin will change this fact. A bunch of greedy elites with powerful connections got into a peeing contest and now we all need a towel. The government we trusted failed to protect us from their cronies. End of story. Save the spin for your $80,000.00 speaking engagements. We all know what happened. In 2008, the typical new Tea Party member was removing Republican elephants from their bumpers. But now,in 2010, we are starting to see some donkey stickers get scraped off.

Now we are starting to see that Democrats have wealthy friends too that want their turn at the Capitol Trough. We see that POTUS is unwilling to rein in his union buddies in South Carolina where Boeing is trying to create some non-union jobs. President Obama’s biggest contributors were awarded huge contracts but didn’t create any jobs with those contracts. Nancy Pelosi’s personal worth rose by 62% while many of us lost everything. Yes it’s true. Democrats like money too.

So what’s a working stiff supposed to do? I don’t have any political muscle. I don’t have an oil well or an abortion clinic. I’m not either party’s pet. Who’s watching my back? Whose not too busy tweeting pictures of himself to actually represent me in government?

This is the view from the couch. We’re about to be assaulted by misleading political ads designed to divide us and make us angry at the “other guy.” One ad will tell half the story and then their opponent’s commercial will tell us: “What Candidate X won’t tell you is…” We’ll hear everything except a straight answer and in the end, most of us will just stay home on election day. What the modern campaign process has taught us is neither party is looking out for us. Neither party can keep their promises. Both parties benefit from political strife and get rich off the campaign contributions.

There’s been too much precious blood spilt giving me the privilege of voting. And to have the privilege is to have the responsibility. So, I’ll be there on Election Day. I’ll vote. But I won’t be voting for the one I want. The guy I want has already turned his back on crime and left politics. I’ll be voting for the same guy I always vote for; the lesser of two evils.