Snickering in Congress

Overnight Congress voted on the controversial tax bill that will extend the Bush era tax cuts. The only ones who have something to celebrate are the very wealthiest two percent of Americans. For the rest of us the tax break doesn’t amount to squat! But at least some of the millions of unemployed Americans will get an extension on benefits that will help them survive these tough times. But this story isn’t about the tax bill, it’s about the childish way our elected officials are behaving.

As I watched the news clip of the proceedings this morning, I was disgusted to here some Congressman say, “did we just win?” and then snicker. How dare they! How dare they play loose and fast with people’s lives and then have the unmitigated gall to mock the American people, the American voters, the ones who put them in office!!!!! Our Congress has just passed a bill designed to grow the wealth of the wealthiest Americans, I’m talking billionaires baby! The rest of us were thrown a few crumbs and most Americans don’t even realize just how few crumbs were thrown. I am reminded of Marie Antoinette’s famous quote, “Let them eat cake”. Perhaps, the next filibuster should be a recitation of, “A Tale of Two Cities”. Don’t any of these politicians study history? Don’t they know what they are setting us up for?

Partisan politics has ripped this country apart creating an ever widening abyss between the haves and the have-nots. I fully expect there will be rioting in the streets of US cities by the summer 2011. Once again it will be rising gas prices that touch off the loss of even more jobs and strangles our economy. If anyone recalls, it was high gas prices that set off the financial tailspin of 2007 and send us into the Second Great Depression.

The American people are teetering on disaster, not knowing from one week to the next if they will have a job. Any cost of living increases will end the economic recovery efforts that have cost us all billions of dollars. Republicans who have sold their souls to the wealthiest two percent of the people have betrayed the United States of America.

As the new Republican Congress takes office in January we will see more cuts to social responsibility programs and more favors to the wealthy and big business. I’ve never understood why older Americans lean toward the Republicans who would end Social Security and Medicare in a heartbeat if the Democrats didn’t fight tooth and nail to keep those programs intact. Oh yes, folks, we’re going to see some really nasty tricks in the months and years ahead now that the Republicans are in control.

The only recourse we have at our disposal is to VOTE! Vote Democratic! Vote Independent! Stop the Republicans from looting America!