AMERICA: NO LONGER THE BEST NATION IN THE WORLD?

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Have you listened to the Republicans lately? Ever since the coincidental win of Scott Brown in Massachusetts the GOP has been pompous beyond the extreme. They continually talk about how the “American people” have spoken. It is one state, not the entire country, therefore it should be that 52% of the people of Massachusetts have spoken. Speaking of the country I doubt they have forgotten that it was the Republicans who, at a minimum, plunged us into two wars, ran up a 1.3 trillion dollar deficit, destroyed the economy, the environment, and the morale of an entire nation. Did we forget that at the end of George Bush’s feckless presidency we were standing on the brink of financial ruin?

If you listen to the MSM you will learn that the Democrats are finished. Their agenda is now impossible to complete, the mid-term elections will be a Republican sweep, and the president, although still loved by the majority of the electorate, will never be able to accomplish anything ever again. He is doomed.

The facts are that first term presidents more often than not reach their lowest popularity rate at the end of their first year. They discover that it is a lot tougher to keep those promises than it is to make them. Secondly, the newly incumbent administration invariably loses seats in both the house and the senate. Remember when Newt Gingrich, riding the coattails of his “Contract with America” mantra, captured the majority of both houses in 1994. Unfortunately, Americans have short memories.

The Tea Bag crowd so distorted the message of health care reform it is doubtful that anything meaningful can ever come of that piece of legislation. It boggles the mind why people would prefer the stewardship of privately owned insurance companies whose entire motivation is profit as opposed to the health and welfare of their policy holders. Does no one find it disturbing that the United States ranks #55 in the world when it comes to providing health care to its citizens?

Health care is not the only area where America lags behind its neighbors. Did you know that we are way down on that list when it comes to providing efficient cell phone service? There are dozens of countries that do it better than we do. How about broad band availability and speed? Some countries offer speeds up to 100MB whereas the average speed in the United States is 1.5 Mb per second. I am tired of hearing “America is the greatest country in the world.” We are not. Our roads and bridges are in disrepair and we are mired in and influenced by antiquated laws, greedy bankers, crooked and self serving politicians, broken borders, and religious extremism. The religious have far too much power and their power grows, especially when republicans are in control.

In conclusion, I urge liberals and progressives to speak out when they disagree with the president, but not to abandon him. It goes without saying that he has made some decisions which infuriate me. He has also failed to make some decisions that equally infuriate me, and soon I will be complaining most vociferously, but I will not call him names nor will I abandon him. He is not a magician. I am hopeful this election will open his eyes as it should open the eyes of democrats everywhere. We must keep in mind that in 2012 it will be Barack Obama versus a republican, likely a tea bagger, and even more likely a Sarah Palin, or a Mitt Romney. Do we really want to see another Rightie in the White House? Think about that. Think about it long and hard….

About Post Author

Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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14 years ago

Nope…no abandoning … not here. Bitching, yes. Abandoning no.
But even our lonesome little office downtown has registered those ‘missing in action’ … damn!

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