Today's vote shows that our representatives just don't care about us or our needs.
We do need to do something about this economic crisis. We really, really do.
But this? Shit.
I think today's vote shows us something a lot of us don't want to admit. Our representatives, the ones we vote for and give a damn about, don't have our best interests in heart. They don't even know what our best interests are, or care.
What did we want? We wanted our economy fixed. We didn't want to be saddled with a giant, nigh-unpayable bill which would do nothing but ensure that rich people got to stay rich instead of slipping into the dreaded middle class. We wanted the government to step up to the plate and rescue people who fell victim to predatory lenders, who made a killing in the past decade. Because that's what the government is supposed to do, protect the little man from the big man.
But our government and our representatives care only about protecting the big man. Yeah, we could claim that many of them bought into Bush's scare tactics (again). It's true, some of them still can't tell that the emperor has no clothes. But most of them are bailing out Wall Street because they believe that their job is to protect the vested interests who fund their campaigns.
And can we really blame them? They rarely see people like us, except at photo-ops. I've known people to wait for hours or days just to see a candidate they support. But if that person was a lobbyist, he or she would be having lunch with the candidate on a regular basis. So who are they going to trust and support? People they never even met before, or the guy who chats with them over a steak, and even picks up the bill?