Voter Anger
I keep hearing about voter anger this, voter anger that... and it got me thinking about a few things.
Who started this anger? The Tea Bag "movement" (and I must admit, I cannot call it a "movement" without an immature grin) started to gain more media attention after the election in November 2008. Can we all say a collective 'Thanks, Dick" to Dick Armey for lining his own pockets by preying on the most feeble-minded among us?
Make the GOP squirm by voting them out of office in two of three branches on government? NO way! We'll show you how mad... we can tell people... they should be.
We'll cook up some cockamamie story about how the gubment is going to put bar codes on your bullets, and lock you in internment camps for conservatives, and convince you that *you* are paying more taxes even tho' you are not (if you only knew how to read your paycheck), and that you need to be MAD! MAD! MAD! that a group of religious people would DARE! to build a cultural center with a basketball court within 5 million light years of lower Manhattan, and convince you that returning the income-tax to pre-Bush era levels will annihilate the smoldering cinder that is our economy.
Really? Most of those baggers don't even understand how the tax code works. First, those folks in the highest brackets pay taxes only on the amount *over* their first million dollars of income. See, if you make $1,000,001 only that extra *buck* is taxed at the higher rate. Second, most of those in the highest tax bracket haven't created significant jobs in years (I need to do some research on this and post a source, but my work impedes me from doing much more than observing at the moment). But, seriously. When was the last time someone like Paris Hilton created *a* job that didn't involve her hands, mouth, and her boyfriend's sex tool?
I am *almost* as sick of hearing how mad voters are as I am about how folks want their country back. Back from what, may I ask? From the previous administration (the threat of the almighty presidential veto) and the 109th and 110th Congress' crappy policies both domestic and foreign that have crippled our economy and hamstrung our ability to house, feed, educate, and employ a rather frightening percentage of Americans?
Really? Are you mad?
When I ask myself that question the answer is simple: Yup.
I am mad that the bankers on Wall Street are back sitting high on the hog while most Americans (read 98%) fret about their savings, mortgages, health insurance, and livelihoods. Have you seen the stock market lately? It's not a barometer of how healthy the *economy* is; it tells us peons how rich the rich are.
And I am mad that I keep hearing about really fucking stoopid people (see Paladino or O'Donnell or Angle or Palin ) and knowing that the sheeple in the scared 20% are going to once again fuck the rest of us come November if we don't keep off our asses and get to the polls in a few weeks.
In my opinion, it's a good idea to ask who is *profiting* from all of this pissed-offness... and the answer to that question will tell you who the real target for all of that misplaced voter anger should be.
*Post Script* October 2: Apparently, Tea Baggers are facing some backlash about their views from neighbors and friends. They liken it to "coming out" and say they have been "persecuted" for unpopular views. Karma is a bitch, huh?
