From sea to sea there is voter unrest that poses extreme risks for incumbents of both parties. There is almost universal revulsion against Washington and a belief that politicians don't protect citizens from hostile forces that threaten them.
The conservative base threatens insider Republicans. Unrest spreads among the Democratic base about Democrats who are high-profile, low-courage, and possess no fight for real transforming change. Independents lose faith in them all. The contagion of anti-Washington sentiment reaches pandemic proportion.The voters are right. The fix is in. The word is out. The discontent is everywhere. Official Washington becomes a besieged fortress of insiderism surrounded by voters demanding change and agitated as business as usual continues despite the speeches, sophistry and spin poured by politicians divorced from the powerful forces of worry and fairness that motivate the people of the nation.The voters are not stupid. The voters are not happy. The politicians do not listen.
America
has ended a rip-off recession and entered a rip-off recovery that is a
Depression for many Americans and a life of deep worry and genuine
trepidation for many others. Soon the jobless rate will reach 10
percent, a politically explosive moment. Americans know the real
jobless rate is much higher.
Voters are gouged by gasoline
prices that are rising again. They are gouged by banks that raise their
interest rates and increase their fees with lending practices worthy of
"The Godfather under a law the president and Congress falsely claimed
would protect them.
Voters are gouged by insurance premiums
that rocket to the skies. They worry (correctly) that premiums will
soar even higher after the current bill is enacted. Even a lobotomized
public option that voters strongly support is squeezed between a
president who does not really support it, insurance lobbyists who try
to kill it and a Congress drenched in special interest money.
Voters
are not stupid. They know they paid a king's ransom to bail out banks
that treat them like they are serfs in feudal England, pay themselves
titanic rewards for it and grease palms in Washington with legal
bribery called campaign donations.
The fix is in. The word is
out. The voters are not happy. They know that nothing has changed. They
know that pain has risen in their lives while the president claims
credit for doing little. The Republicans claim credit for doing
nothing. Big donors are promised secret access to high-level officials
in a town that has no shame and will not change.
Real wages
continue their 20-year decline. Wall Street compensation reaches
all-time highs. Foreclosures continue to mount. The president and
Congress do nothing to stop it. Many homeowners fear they will be next.
All suffer as the value of their homes decline.
Nothing has
changed in Washington. Money talks and the public interest walks.
Nothing has changed on Wall Street. Speculators reign while taxpayers
pay. Nothing has changed on Main Street. Eloquent speeches do not stop
the pain, worry or truth that the John and Jane Does of America are
still being scammed.
