I'm really frustrated and really angry about a lot of stuff. The tone here at DK has changed in the last 12 months, primarily because the burden of steering this huge, limping ship of state is not as easy as we all thought. We all believe(d) that President Obama, in whom we had placed so much hope, would make things better almost instantaneously, and that hasn't happened, has it? We all have opinions of what issues we would have taken immediate action on and how we would have dealt with certain personalities in both parties. Here's my list and I hope you would add to it and/or make comments.
- Members of the Bush administration broke the law and should be held accountable.
a. They cooked the intel and convinced our allies and the UN that Iraq was a threat to the world
b. They lied to the American people and the world about WMD
c. They condoned torture in violation of Geneva Conventions and our own military code
d. They promoted rendition of prisoners
e. They violated the Constitutional safeguards for quick, speedy trials with right to an attorney
f. They violated the Constitution by passing the Patriot Act which takes away rights to privacy
g. The Dept. of Justice became a corrupt, political arm of the executive branch
- Democrats continue to keep weak, simple-minded chair persons in crucial positions within the Senate and House. There are so many well-spoken, intelligent CongressCritters that should be in leadership positions that are not. It's time for those who are 70+ years old to retire and for younger more energetic, less "bought & paid for" reps. and sens. to replace them. I'd much rather see Whitehouse, Feingold, etc. in charge than Byrd, Lieberman, Reid or Baucus. We must primary out Blue Dogs and do-nothing types.
- It's time to stop being the police of the world. We have troops in about 90 bases scattered around the planet. We need to draw down our forces and let regional armies take care of their own problems. I'd much rather see us expand the Peace Corps, where we actually assist in bringing agriculture, education and technology to other countries. Our whole history seems to be punctuated with war after war after war - let's try being the peace makers for a change. I'm very angry about the increase of troops in Afghanistan - a very poor decision, in my opinion.
- We need a liberal/progressive group of excellent spokespersons to counter the crap spewed by the right with facts and data within minutes of their accusations. This president has ignored or given a very weak response to most of the lies from GOP congresspersons or other GOP/right wing pundits. We need to jump on stuff quicker.
- What's with all the huge conglomerates and monopolies? Why on earth should huge banks buy up other huge banks? Why should Comcast be allowed to swallow up NBC? These become gigantic, too big to fail corporations that don't serve this country or its people, only the bottom line of their investors. We need more regulation and restriction on these massive takeovers.
- I can't stand the thought that big banks and investment firms are boldly allowing enormous bonuses to their CEOs and top management. Stop this insanity, especially while there are homeless people living in tents in most of our major cities in the US, while 1 in 6 children in the US go to bed hungry and 10% of our workers are unemployed.
- Ken Salazar has done little or nothing to stop the killing of some endangered species or the continued drilling or mining that we expected would greatly change once the Bush administration was ousted. I want him out - please join me in writing protest emails, letters or making phone calls to get rid of him.
- We could be making a much bigger effort to start green technologies going - right now. We recently lost a company that could have brought 300+ jobs in Michigan to Canada, merely because they got a bigger, monitary offer for starting up from the Canadians than our state could afford. This is where the US govt could have stepped in and made a difference....and they didn't. We are going to Denmark as observers more than leaders, which greatly saddens me.
- There should be more help to the individual states from the feds. A small portion of the TARP funds could have helped California, Michigan, Louisiana and a few other states that have to make huge cuts in vital services such as education, police, fire etc. because of loss of taxes due to unemployment, home foreclosures or businesses shutting down.
- There is so much that hasn't even been addressed yet and we are one year into this Obama administration. Where is the action on employee rights? Where is any decision about gays in the military? Where is a reasoned stand of marriage equality? Why is it so difficult to pass a health care bill that helps our people when at least 40 other industrialized countries around the world solved this problem years ago?
We all have to be on his case to make the right decisions for our future or he'll listen to the DC beltway madness instead of "we the people". I send emails to the White House regularly, with suggestions or constructive criticisms of policies. I hope you do too. We can't be complacent and just give up. Keep his feet to the fire as he asked. Don't get me wrong, I continue to support the President because he's so much better than any alternative. He has the potential to be one of our great presidents and what a shame that he has inherited this Bush mess. Get angry folks; get out those mops and direct that anger into being the change we want.