Napoleon “Ted Cruz” Bonaparte

I’ve heard it said that everything is bigger in Texas. If so, then nothing can be bigger than the Texas-sized ego of Ted Cruz.  This was especially apparent during a recent interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Candy Crowley.

It seems as if it wasn’t enough that Mr. Cruz’s efforts led to a federal government shutdown.  Now, Mr. Cruz wants to ensure that shutdown remains in effect.  Despite the fact that there have been 44 attempts to undermine “Obamacare”, Mr. Cruz wants to use the debt ceiling as a means to advance his own personal agenda against “Obamacare”.

Mr. Cruz’s rationale for this is simple.  According to him, “Obamacare” “would destroy the private health care system.”  Really Mr. Cruz?  Apparently you haven’t noticed, but the private health care system IS ALREADY BROKEN!  Don’t believe me, just ask someone that has a pre-existing condition that can’t afford health care!  “Privatize” is the Republican Tea Party answer to “fix” everything.  The only thing health care privatization “fixes” is the bank accounts of doctors and politicians like Ted Cruz.

Mr. Cruz went on to state that “Obamacare isn’t working”.  Once again, really Mr. Cruz?  “Obamacare” was only implemented 5 days ago.  Don’t you think it’s a bit premature to state that the system isn’t working?  Or better yet Mr. Cruz, are you afraid that “Obamacare” just might actually be successful?

At this point, I feel there are a few things quite apparent here.  First of all, the angst that Mr. Cruz feels towards “Obamacare” is nothing more than a manifestation of the jealousy he feels towards President Obama himself.  The reality is Mr. Obama is President and Mr. Cruz is not.  More importantly, Mr. Cruz will NEVER BE PRESIDENT.  As a result, he will never be taken seriously. At least as seriously as he wants to be taken.  Mr. Cruz has always been nothing, will always be nothing, and his current actions only serve to reinforce this.

Ted Cruz is nothing more than a modern day Napoleon.  Texas’ed sized ego with an equally large inferiority complex. Completely out of touch with reality.  A bane upon society.  A loser in every sense of the word.  “Obamacare” won’t destroy the private healthcare system.  It’s fair to say at this point “Obamacare” will work.  The only thing amiss here Mr. Ted Cruz is YOU and the rest of your Republican Tea Party puppets!!

The Silent Majority Isn’t So Silent

It’s becoming difficult to put into words the rage I feel every day when I wake up and our “leaders” in Washington still have not come to an agreement on raising the debit limit.  As politicians continue to jockey along party lines, “We the People” are once again swept aside as our supposed representatives of the people play homage to the political action groups and bankrollers that put them in office in the first place.  I am the “silent majority” that is fed up with Washington’s tomfoolery and my patience is rapidly wearing thin with our elected officials’ unwillingness to compromise (Zickar, 2011). 

The majority of Americans aren’t caught up in the circus act that has come to define the “far right” and the “far left”.  Most Americans don’t have time for that kind of extremism.  We simply fall somewhere in between and we go about our business accordingly.  We expect our elected officials to serve with our best interest because…well…that’s what they’re getting paid to do dammit!  Our elected officials are adults.  We trust they will act like adults and we afford them the means to do so without excessive oversight.

The problem is today’s politicians aren’t acting like adults.  Like spoiled little brats, they’ve abused the means we’ve afforded them.  Unsupervised, they have allowed themselves to be unduly influenced by grassroots organizations such as the Tea Party.  Like little elementary school children, they have blindly signed pledges and pacts spearheaded by political action groups like Grover Norquist’s “Americans for Tax Reform”.   Finally, they have prostituted their souls (and votes) to any big business willing to finance their election, and re-election, campaigns.  These actions are not the actions of adults.  Despite the belief otherwise, these actions do not represent the expectations of this country’s “silent majority”.

Drastic changes need to be made to the way in which our political system is structured.  The status quo isn’t cutting it anymore.  While some advocate yet more commissions to develop and oversee change, the reality is we already have too many damn commissions that do absolutely nothing to invoke change (Zickar, 2011).  Two changes which would bring our elected officials back in line with the expectations of this country’s “silent majority” include the abolishment of political parties and the elimination of campaign monetary contributions by political action groups and businesses. 

Abolishing political parties would accomplish two important things.  First, by abolishing political parties, elected officials would be forced to concentrate and vote on the issues rather than party line ideology.  This would force elected officials to pay closer attention to their constituents’ expectations.  In addition, this would eliminate the deadlock which has come to define today’s federal government.  You can’t vote strictly along party lines when there is no party.

Eliminating campaign monetary contributions by political action groups and businesses would go far in cutting down the amount of influence these entities have on today’s politicians.  No longer would our elected officials feel “obligated” to vote in favor of an entity that helped bankroll and secure their election or re-election.  Nor would these entities have the means to strong arm our representatives into voting in ways that are beneficial to the minority goals of the entity and not the good of the nation.   As with eliminating political parties, this would place control of our politicians back into the hands of the people and force our “leaders” to pay closer attention to their constituents’ expectations.

I have been told my ideas for change are “naively simple”, unrealistic, and not attainable.  I agree they are simple.  However, they are anything but naïve and are quite realistic.  What I propose is attainable…but if only our elected officials grow up and act like the adults we expect them to be.  If change is to occur, our elected officials must be willing to put the good of the people above their own personal greed.  It’s what this country’s “silent majority” expects and our “leaders” are running out of time to take heed. 

 

References:

Zickar, L. (2011, July 23). CNN Opinion. Retrieved July 26, 2011, from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/07/23/zickar.silent.majority/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Tea Gone Sour

As the debt ceiling debate rages and the rhetoric heats up
in anticipation of the 2012 presidential election, the Tea Party’s fundamentalist agenda becomes clearer.  The Tea Party’s
current attempt to strong-arm those on its payroll to resist any type of
compromise regarding raising the debt ceiling shows just how willing the Tea Party is to advance its own agenda at the expense of the nation as a whole (Travis, 2011).

Due to lack of historical precedent, no one truly knows what will happen if the debt ceiling is not raised and the federal government defaults on its debt.  However, one does not need to be an economist to understand the potential dire consequences.   Interest rates may rise, government programs like Medicare and Social Security may suffer cuts, and federal civilian employees may once again be faced with the life-disrupting, nerve-racking likelihood of furloughs (except for our nation’s “leaders”, who will continue to draw their six figure salaries) (National Journal, 2011).  In addition, stock prices will fall, which could have devastating worldwide effects and further suppress an already struggling domestic economy.

Yet, the Tea Party puppets don’t seem to be all that concerned about these potential dire consequences.  In fact, it almost seems as if the Tea Party is going out of its way yet again to paralyze the federal government.  Despite the assertion by the Tea Party that there is an “inherent benefit to our country when private property and prosperity are secured by natural law and the rights of the individual”, current and past Tea Party attempts to paralyze the federal government have done much to undermine the prosperity of the individual while ensuring the prosperity of those that bankroll the party’s existence (Tea Party Patriots: Mission Statement).

I agree with Tea Party assertions that the federal government must spend more responsibly.  Our federal government should not be spending more than it makes and cannot continue to do so. Changes clearly have to be made.  However, these changes have to be implemented responsibly.  Raising the debt ceiling is obviously not the fix for what ails us.  However, paralyzing the federal government by not raising the debt ceiling is not responsible change implementation either.

 

References:

National Journal. (2011, May 27). Six consequences
of not raising the debt ceiling. Retrieved July 17, 2011, from
GovernmentExecutive.com:
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0511/052711-debt-ceiling.htm

Tea Party Patriots: Mission Statement. (n.d.). Retrieved July 17, 2011, from Tea Party
Patriots: http://www.teapartypatriots.org/Mission.aspx

Travis, S. (2011, July 15). CNN Politics.
Retrieved July 17, 2011, from CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/07/15/tea.party.warning/index.html?hpt=hp_t1