gone. Throughout history until about 35 years ago we have been blessed with political leader who believed in and worked for the betterment of our great country. They were in the majority while those out for themselves were in the minority. Politicians may not have agreed on the best course or method for getting there but they were at heart, working for the good of our country. There was discussion and compromise and the result is we grew as a nation.
Then there was a subtle shift. It is hard to pinpoint exactly where it happened but slowly the politics shifted. We had politicians working not for the greater good but for the good of one small segment of society. They were growing in numbers and slowly gained a majority. Instead of working to lift the country they were working to lift corporations and the rich. This had happened before but not on this level. The last time the rise was stopped by a mixture of the courts and the economy dropping us into the great depression.
Follow on down below the orange snow doodle if you dare !
Back at the beginning of the 80's, we saw that once again we had people in congress working for that same small segment of society. We had a small majority working for the corporate pay masters and the rich. We saw the advent of trickle down economics, that horribly misnamed policy that advocated giving big breaks to the "Job Creators" in the belief that the prosperity would flow down to the masses. We saw the wealth flowing up and not much of anything flowing down except the droppings of a cow with the trots.
For twelve years the corporations reaped the benefits and took a dump on the middle class and the poor. Then along came Bill Clinton. He slowed it down. We saw the economy growing by leaps and bound and taxes on the corporations and the rich were back where they belonged. The corporations complained a bit but they were raking it in left and right but the end was in sight as we drew near to the turn of the century. By the end of his two terms we had a budget surplus, low unemployment and record highs for the stock market at the time.
Next election we saw the son on Poppy Bush steal the election in the courts. Change was in the air. Republicans now pushed for deregulation of the financial sector and others. Taxes were cut for them and the swing was back on track. Republicans won control of some state governments and used their new found power to draw new congressional districts favoring themselves. That was nothing new democrats had done similar things in the past. ( That will be the topic of another diary I promise. )
Then we saw our country attacked by terrorists. We rallied together and it suddenly became unpatriotic to criticize the president. Anyone who didn't agree with President Bush and his policies was branded a traitor and a lover of the terrorists. Bush quickly mastered the politics of fear and used it and out right lies to lead us into a war in the middle east. We quickly had major success, toppling Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath party government. Then the war was expanded to Afghanistan and success slowed down. He installed a puppet government in Iraq which promptly began to terrorize and oppress the former ruling party. Meanwhile the terrorists responsible for the heinous attack on 9/11 were growing stronger. By the end of his 8 years in office, Bush had managed to turn a large surplus into a huge deficit, mostly because he decided to cut taxes on the rich and corporations even more while we were waging two wars. Thanks to that and the deregulation of the financial sector our economy collapsed. The stock market was below 7,000 and our reputation in the world was in ruins.
So here we are in recent history now. The start of the Obama Presidency and the start of a brand new political agenda on the right. Republicans won more state houses and using that power drew up new congressional districts that truly favored them. Democrats got over a million more votes than Republicans and yet lost House seats. The House was firmly in Republican control and they showed us the politics of NO. No matter what Obama wanted they opposed it. If Obama came out in favor of Republican bills those bills were then killed. Despite that opposition he was able to turn the economy around. Republicans showed us they could care less about anything except the rich and corporations. They refused to close tax loopholes and rewrite the tax code to make it fairer.
We saw corporations paying less and less in taxes. They were making billions in profit and paying little to no taxes. The money was flowing up to the 1% and the middle class was close to extinction. The economy was growing quickly but the benefits were going to only a small number of people. Most of America was feeling crapped upon and the Republicans wanted to accelerate this. They tried to kill the ACA and put more bills up for votes that cut taxes for the rich ad corporations even more.
No longer were politicians working for the common good of the country. The Tea Party and the Republicans had decided that the only ones who should benefit were the 1% and corporations. They actively worked to destroy American values. We saw assaults upon education and unions. We saw assaults on Social Security and the social safety net. Meanwhile the stock market was hitting record highs. Jobs were being created but they were low wage jobs and Republicans refused to raise the minimum wage. Then we saw the mid term elections in 2014 give control of the House and the Senate to Republicans. Democrats did not turn out to vote. They sat at home and allowed the Republicans to steal the election.
So what can we do ? How do we swing this back so that we have politicians who want to improve the whole country ? Is it even possible to get back to that position ? Will we ever have a majority of politicians working for the common good and not trying to line their own pockets by kissing the corporate pay masters assets ? I don't have the answers. They may be out there.