Congressional Elections Of 2012

Public Opinion Supports Gay Marriage, Path To Citizenship, And Responsible Gun Measures, But Right Wing Does Not Care!

Ronald 25 Comments

It is clear that public opinion polls, along with the results of the Presidential and Congressional Elections of 2012, indicate a desire to move ahead on many issues, but the Republican Party, which only won the majority of the House of Representatives by gerrymandering (losing the popular vote nationally for Congressional seats), refuses to budge!

The majority of Americans support:

Gay Marriage Rights

A path to citizenship for illegal immigrants over time and with penalties

Responsible Gun Measures, including universal background checks, and restrictions on some kind of weapons and size of magazines–particularly after realization that at Sandy Hook Elementary School, over 140 bullets were fired in just five minutes, killing 20 children and six teachers and administrators.

The Republican Party in Congress and nationally has less than 30 percent public opinion support, the lowest in modern times, but it has no effect on party leaders or members, and there are still examples of gay bashing and immigrant bashing, only worsening the image of a party out of tune with the American people!

The Coming Right Wing Takeover Of Most News Media: A Threat To America’s Future!

Ronald 6 Comments

The right wing LOVES to claim that the news media are overly liberal, when that is a massive falsehood, and has been so for many years.

YES, the New York Times and Washington Post, and CBS, NBC, ABC and MSNBC are liberal, and there are others.

But talk radio has been dominated by the right wing for twenty years; Fox News Channel, owned by Rupert Murdoch and operated by Roger Ailes, has been spewing right wing propaganda for 17 years; the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post are also owned by Murdoch, and now the greatest threat to the promotion of truth over propaganda is emerging with the report that David and Charles Koch, the infamous Koch Brothers, who tried to fix the Presidential Election of 2012 with their engagement in spending hundreds of millions of their assets on Congressional races and the Presidency, allowable under the disgraceful Citizens United case of the Supreme Court, are now attempting to buy the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, along with other smaller papers owned by the bankrupt Tribune Corporation!

This will mean that the Koch Brothers will be able to extend their evil influence, already affecting our political and legal system,. our educational system, and having worked against health care and labor as part of their goal to control the American future in a deleterious way!

Of course, our system allows anyone to use their wealth to purchase and use their influence in any way they wish, but it is a sad day for American journalism, nevertheless!

Solution To The “Fiscal Cliff”: If No Results, NO Salary And NO Benefits For All Members Of Congress!

Ronald Leave a comment

It seems, as the author writes, that there will be no solution to the “Fiscal Cliff” crisis by the end of today, and that means massive tax increases for everyone; the end of unemployment compensation for two million people; and the possible doubling of milk and dairy prices. The likelihood of a recession returning, just as the economy was starting to improve, is a very real possibility!.

The answer SHOULD be that Congress must suffer too, if this is to happen! Their recklessness and irresponsibility is outrageous to the extreme, and no promise of improvement is likely anytime soon. They are undermining the respect for their institution, and turning the American people into a total disgust for their government’s inability to work for the public interest!

So there should be a public demand that ALL members of Congress forfeit their paychecks of about $175,000 per year per member, and ALL their medical benefits UNTIL they show responsibility and maturity to resolve this issue of the “Fiscal Cliff”! And there should be no back pay when the solution is finally reached!

Of course, in reality, no such situation can be forced, sadly, and of course, many members do not live on their salaries anyway, and are independently wealthy, but it is time through marches and demonstrations on Washington, DC, and across the country, that the people make it clear that they will not allow the anti government Tea Party Movement to “blackmail” the nation. It is time for Speaker John Boehner to assert his authority over the reckless members of his caucus, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to stop the maneuvering that prevents action in the Senate!

The Democrats are not totally innocent, either, by any means, but it is the GOP which has caused this crisis, since the Democrats and President Obama won the elections in November, and are entitled now to make policy for the nation, without anarchistic, terrorist like actions by the Tea Party Movement and its extreme right wing membership in Congress and across the country!

We can only hope for a miracle as we go into 2013!

Meanwhile, I wish all my readers a very Happy New Year, and hope for statesmanship and rationality in the New Year!

Tomorrow will, happily, be a day of celebration historically, and if one is not sure what this author is referring to, it will be answered tomorrow–a day in history that is one of the greatest moments in American history! See you in 2013!

The Republican Party Crisis: Does It Have A Future, Or Is It To Go Into The Dustbin Of History?

Ronald 4 Comments

As we enter the year 2013 in two days, the long term future of the Republican Party as a legitimate long term alternative to the Democratic Party is in dire threat of disappearing into the dustbin of history!

The Republican Party lost the Presidential and Congressional Elections of 2012 in a sound repudiation, with Barack Obama soundly defeating Mitt Romney. The US Senate, with 23 of 33 seats up for election being Democratic seats, and expected to lose some seats, ended up winning 25 of the seats, gaining three seats and only losing Nebraska to the Republicans. The US House of Representatives, while remaining in Republican hands, saw a gain of ten House seats by the Democrats. If it was not for gerrymandering by many Republican state legislatures, the Democrats would have gained control, as they won more total votes nationally in House races than the Republicans.

So the GOP really was walloped, and yet the party seems unable to accept what happened, and have allowed themselves to be hijacked by extremist groups, including the Tea Party Movement, Americans For Tax Reform, right wing talk show hosts on radio and Fox News Channel, the National Rifle Association,The Koch Brothers and other millionaires and billionaires, right wing preachers, and anti immigrant nativists and anti women’s rights elements, therefore resisting the need to move back from the extreme right to the moderate center, where the party had many victories over the years as a more mainstream conservative alternative to the Democratic Party.

It is now a moment of reckoning, as the Republican Party is about to implode, as public opinion polls make clear that the party will be blamed if America goes off the “fiscal cliff”, and taxes go up on everyone, and ruthless spending cuts, which hurt the most needy and disadvantaged in our society, occur!

There is a possibility that the Republican Party will go into the dustbin of history, if they do not reform in time for the midterm elections of 2014, which could, ironically, lead to the demise of the party on its 160th anniversary, having been founded as a reform oriented party in 1854, replacing the Whig Party!

John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have a major burden to deal with as the New Year begins, and their own personal futures, as well as that of their party, is meeting the challenge of becoming what they once were, a mainstream centrist party that can appeal to the changing demographics of America, or be replaced by a modern day Whig Party, with statesmen and leaders on the model of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, and former Whigs who started the Republican Party, such as Abraham Lincoln!

The 113th Congress Most Diverse Congress In History

Ronald 2 Comments

One of the greatest results of the Congressional Elections of 2012 is the tremendous diversity that will be present in the upcoming 113th Congress, which begins on January 3.

Just in the new membership, there will be:

4 African Americans
10 Latino Americans
5 Asian Americans
24 Women
2 Hindus
1 Buddhist
1 Non theist
4 openly gay
1 openly bisexual
1 gay of color
4 born in the 1980s

It will include such likely stars of the future as:

Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, whose brother, Julian Castro, is Mayor of that city
Joe Garcia, who is the first Cuban Democrat to represent Miami
Ted Cruz, second Cuban Republican Senator, from Texas
Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, first Hindu Congresswoman
Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, first Buddhist Senator
Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Iraq War hero and diabled from her service in the war
Lois Frankel of Florida, former Mayor of West Palm Beach
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, professor and promoter of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, first openly gay Senator
Patrick Murphy of Florida, youngest member of the new House
Joseph Kennedy III, son of former Congressman Joseph Kennedy II, and grandson of Robert Kennedy

It will be a most interesting Congress coming up in 2013-2014!

An Interesting Solution To The Probable Hillary Clinton-Joe Biden Rivalry For The Presidency

Ronald Leave a comment

After delivering a lecture this evening to a very interested audience about the Presidential and Congressional Elections of 2012, one participant came up with an excellent idea regarding the likely rivalry that will develop between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden for the Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party in 2016.

While certainly younger and newer faces will compete with both Clinton and Biden for the Presidency, the potential rivalry presents a real problem, not only to their friendship and admiration for each other, but also for their boss, President Obama, who owes a great deal to both of them, and would, most certainly, rather not have to pick between them, or look ungrateful to either of them.

The solution would be, as this person said, to select one of them for the first vacancy on the Supreme Court, most likely to replace Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, in 2013 or 2014.

Either one could sit on the Court and do an excellent job, but probably Hillary Clinton would be the better choice overall for the Court, a job that is highly prestigious, but far less intense than being Secretary of State or President. And she could serve for as long as she wanted, and it would be likely to please her husband, President Bill Clinton, immensely, and save her the rigors of a Presidential campaign.

It would give Joe Biden the chance to be the nominee if he can overcome younger opponents in the primaries and caucuses, but his age of 74 in 2016 would not be a plus, although he does possess immense energy.

At worst, he could become Secretary of State under another Democratic President in 2017, or be the second choice for the Supreme Court, if a second vacancy developed during the second Obama term.

The point is that both Hillary and Joe are treasures, and they could serve in other less, but prestigious positions, and continue their contributions to American government in their older years!

The Reality Of The Next Decade: Split Government Control!

Ronald Leave a comment

It is now clear that our political system is facing a long period, probably at least a decade, of split government control on the national level!

The Democratic Party has a long term edge with the electorate, as a result of the two Barack Obama Presidential victories, with the only difference being the loss in 2012 of Indiana and North Carolina.

But with the growing Hispanic and Latino population in Arizona, Texas, and Georgia, the likelihood of those states turning “blue’ from “red” over this decade, is becoming more likely, and with that manifestation, the Electoral College situation will become much more one sided than it is now, and yet still allow for some states to wander over to the other side without affecting a Democratic victory for the White House.

Additionally, with the surprise gain in seats by the Democrats in the US Senate, only losing one state, Nebraska, and gaining Maine, Massachusetts, and Indiana in return, and more Republican seats up for reelection in 2014, the likelihood of the Senate staying majority Democratic for the long term, continues to grow.

However, with the gerrymandering of seats by Republican legislatures and Governors in 2010, even though the Democrats won more votes for the US House of Representatives, the Republicans were able to hold on to the majority, although reduced by about eight seats. The Democrats will have trouble gaining 17 seats or more because of the gerrymandering, and even if they do gain a slight edge, could easily lose it two or four years after winning the majority.

So the likelihood of a Democratic President, Democratic Senate, and a Republican House becomes more a normal situation until at least the next reapportionment of seats after the 2020 Census, and the Presidential and Congressional Elections of that year, but with the advantage that 2020 is a Presidential year, while 2010 was not.

So this means the odds of a long range stalemate and gridlock in American politics are clear cut!

Teabaggers: Don’t Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out To Canada Or Australia!

Ronald 2 Comments

The moronic Tea Party Movement has suffered a major defeat in the Presidential and Congressional Elections of 2012, and many are planning a move out of America to other English speaking nations, specifically Canada and Australia.

They do not wish to go to Great Britain, where the Conservative Party is in charge of the government, because their brand of conservatism is not conservative enough, and they actually have national health care and believe in global warming and climate change, so horrors to the idea of living in such a nation!

Now Canada sounds good to them, and has a conservative Prime Minister, but these Teabaggers seem not to be aware that they also have national health care and other socially advanced programs, more so than the United States.

Now, Australia sounds good, but they have a “radical” government led by a woman who is an atheist, so damn it, that is no good either!

In fact, all three nations believe in science, have advanced health care, and none of them allow religion to have such a foothold over their politics as we tend to do, or did until this recent election, when the religious zealots, who want a theocracy, lost out, along with the Teabaggers!

Where are these ignorant, moronic Teabaggers to go? Well . . . ..

I have an idea! Get a rocket ready at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and do not charge the Teabaggers for the cost of the trip!

And you ask: Where would they be going in the rocket?

How about a one way trip to the moon, no possibility of return to earth?

Now that is a NICE thought! Have a good evening!

The Multiple Meanings Of 2012 Election

Ronald 5 Comments

2012 will go down in history as the year of tremendous movement forward in so many ways.

It is a year that sees tolerance, open mindedness, fairness and equality moving forward.

It is a year that sees a greater accomplishment than 2008–the reelection of an African American President, a reaffirmation of what was done in 2008, and in many ways greater than the initial election, because it gets rid of all doubts that, somehow, 2008 was a fluke, a mistake, that would be rectified.

It is the year that women came to realize true liberation from men bossing them, controlling them, dictating to them, regarding their own bodies, and their own opportunities for fair pay and equal educational opportunity. And so many more women will now be serving in our government, and holding male politicians accountable.

It is a year when Hispanics, Latinos, and Muslims, and really all racial and ethnic minorities, realize their electoral power, and are able, finally, to fight back against racism, discrimination, prejudice, and bias, and take their place in the community of Americans who will have influence and significance, rather than just white Anglos, who slaughtered native Americans, took over North America, and thought they would control America, dominate America, shape America in their image for eternity, which is, happily, no longer the future of this great nation, which benefits from diversity and from equal opportunity for all based on merit, not skin color or nationality or religion or gender!

It is a year when the power of organized religious groups to control and dictate their agenda on America has been soundly defeated, and the danger of theocracy has abated, as a result.

It is a year when American can celebrate, as we are now moving forward toward better times, and with the old power structures that impede us, including corporations, knowing they will face appropriate regulation, and that the wealthy will be required to pay their fair share to this nation, which has given them such great opportunities, and assisted them in their acquisition of wealth!

It is also a time when the hope is that overseas interventions will no longer be the norm, except when a true threat to our national security, and in so changing our view of the world, we are allowing many young men and women to have a normal life after serving in the military, and cutting the waste and corruption of the war industries that cause so much of our national debt.

So for these and other reasons, America has a lot to celebrate!

2012—The ULTIMATE “Year Of The Woman”!

Ronald 1 Comment

The year 1992 was called “The Year of the Woman”, as we saw more women elected to public office twenty years ago, than at any other time in American history.

Well, now, step aside, as 2012 is now the TRUE “Year of the Woman”!

In 2013, there will be TWENTY women in the US Senate, and SEVENTY SEVEN women in the House of Representatives!

Additionally, the state of New Hampshire will be the first state to have an all female leadership, as Governor, in the US Senate, and in the House Of Representatives!

With so many women having political influence, and with the likelihood of one or more women planning to run for President in 2016, the role of women is rapidly becoming one of great admiration and significance historically!