Hook, line and sinker

If you listen to the media recently you would believe that you, as a registered voter, were blindly mad at your incumbent. So much so that in the 82 primaries on Tuesday a whole two incumbents lost. These guys are showing the analytical skills of a Dylan Rattigan guest. Turns out people are pissed because the economy sucks. The economy continues to struggle because Republicans take good bills and make the useless (see Paul Krugman on the stimulus). The right insists it wants to create jobs but offers no solutions other than out dated theories that have been proven time and again to do the exact opposite of what they claim it will. Republicans use the ignorance of their uneducated base to make the rich, richer.

One pertinent example of this is the BP oil spill. The Republicans weakened regulations so much that BP could run roughshod. They let the MMS become so dysfunctional it became as corrupt as Enron or the Mexican government. They rail against new spending then complain when the government doesn't have the resources to properly combat this disaster. They act like this was the result of the perfect storm when it is business as usual. BP is the kid that got caught stealing not the only kid stealing.

While some of this is convincing to the Republican base the argument the right will make that really hits below the belt is that we need the jobs these oil rigs create. On this I call Bullshit. This is fear mongering. This is the Big Money of Big Business talking through their socially accepted mouth piece known as the Republican Party. The truth is continuing our dependence on oil creates very few American jobs. What is does create is millions of jobs in the Middle East (and of course it also makes the big donors from big business richer). If the right truly cared about jobs and the debt they would push for big taxes on oil and big subsides for renewable energy (the kind not owned by ADM since ethanol was just another great Republican scam created by a big business and big donors for Republicans). The tax on gas would lower our debt or at least allow the government to subsidies the renewable energy jobs that can't be outsourced. This would also bring the cost of oil in line with the cost of renewable energy eliminating the easy out Americans use of "renewable energy is too expensive". This is the tactic we did for another American addiction - cigarettes.

If want a way out of the economic crisis it starts with an educated public. Failing to know the facts allows for a continuation of the class system that the Republicans helped create, and unfortunately even if you vote for them you will not be joining their club.