Are we forever doomed to be screwed by our government?

[Cyrano]

I know of only two eras in the 20th century when our government actually gave a damn about the needs of ordinary, powerless Americans.

The first was during the Great Depression of the Franklin Roosevelt era. It took years for him to repair the damage done by his Republican predecessors, but we ended up with social security, a minimum wage, the right to unionize, and so much more.

The second was during the Lyndon Johnson era. (And yes, I know that he should rot in hell for giving us Vietnam.) However, on the home front, he gave us medicare, medicaid, the voting rights act, and the civil rights act.

The main mission of the Republican Party is to take away all the benefits passed on to Americans by Roosevelt and Johnson. The Republicans like to sneer about these benefits as "entitlements," "welfare," "government give-aways," and, well, you name it.

So I guess that members of congress are "entitled" to their top-of-the-line medical coverage, their expense accounts, their tax-payer financed vacations, "fact-finding" tours to Tahiti, and countless other perks they receive at our expense.

But God forbid any of us "ordinary" Americans should receive health care, old-age security, or the right to vote. There is one basic truth that Americans need to understand. Republican politicians are among the most despicable, uncaring, worst pricks in the world.

Right now, Obama is trying his best (although most of his efforts are behind the scenes) to get us as close as possible to universal health care. And he is constantly attacked for doing nothing. If nothing else, understand this. He is not our enemy. The Republican Party and blue dog Democrats hold that distinction.

So here's my question. Are we going to let our government continue to screw us with an occasional break and a few crumbs now and then? Or are we going to find a way to fulfill the promise that was foreseen by our founding fathers? Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can get our government to respond to the needs, wants and desires of We The People?

[Political Heretic]

1. "Obama is trying his best (although most of his efforts are behind the scenes)"

Then how do you know this?

Look, I think Obama's been very "in front of the scenes" this week, and I said so:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6074371&mesg_id=6074371

But it bugs me when people say "he's working behind the scenes" as the immediate excuse when they don't see any action on an issue.

[scheming daemons]

2. Did FDR and Johnson accomplish all that in just 6 short months?

Nope.

[Chisox08]

10. FDR did acomplish a lot to pull us out of the Great Depression

All in his first 100 days. That is why the first 100 days is the measuring stick for all Presidents after him.

[scheming daemons]

17. But it wasn't clear at the end of the 100 days that it worked......

....just like it is not yet clear how well Obama's Stimulus worked.

[Cyrano]

16. Oh, c'mon. I never said they did. It took years of hard work and arm twisting

[UP_4012]

3. I have thought about this very subject for a long while.

It seems to me that we are being perpetually screwed over. They really don't care. They have no reason too at all, NONE. They don't have to worry about being re-elected, the gerrymandered districts take care of that. They don't have to worry about health care, old age, day to day living, BECAUSE WE PAY FOR IT. Even if we elect a Democrat as President, we still have to deal with re-do's of previously disastrous appointments. I really cannot see a break in this cycle. It seems that unless we clean the whole lot of them out and start over, we can't really get anywhere.

[Cyrano]

8. Even cleaning out all of them won't help.

It will just leave us with a whole bunch of newbies who won't be able to find the bathroom for the first year or two. Not to mention learning the nuances of governing which will take a lot longer.

And once they learn how to govern, where's the guarantee that they will be any better than those they replaced? "Power corrupts and ..." Well, you get the idea.

[UP_4012]

11. Fair Point.

[indepat]

4. Yes, oh hell yes for Congress is beholden only to the corporatist lobbyists

:P

[indepat]

5. Yes, oh hell yes for Congress is beholden only to the corporatist lobbyists

:P

[sharesunited]

6. I'm always on the lookout for something nice being said about the Blue Dogs.

We count them in the majority and presumably can be depended upon for something other than obstructionism.

So what is it? What good are they, and why are they called Democrats at all?

[Cyrano]

15. They call themselves Democrats, but they are from conservative districts or states

The truth is they are Republicans in Democratic clothing. They can be counted on to vote with Dems on many issues, but not the BIG ones.

The only power the Democratic Party holds over them is to withhold reelection funds. However, this leads to a Republican being elected.

It's a no win situation.

[FiveGoodMen]

7. As long as the propagandists for the government's worst behavior are on-air 24/7, yes.

The news needs to be news. Not entertainment. Not government-prepared fake news releases.

The White House press corp needs to demand real answers.

Fox needs to be burned to the ground and buried in nuclear waste. And then guards posted lest they rise from the dead.

Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and every other motherfucker-for-Jesus that claims (or actually has) a hot-line to the White House needs to be taken off the air.

-------

Can't do any of those things? Then the short answer is: Yes, we're doomed.

[OHdem10]

9. Thanks for giving LBJ and FDR the credit they are due. Many of

our own members of Congress drank the Regan Kool Aid and
tried to throw FDR and LBJ out of America,s memory.

[mitchum]

12. I am afraid so

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

Thomas Paine

[Chisox08]

14. I still do not see why poor people vote Republican

It doesn't serve their best interest. We could have had Universal Health care by now, no trade agreements, better social programs and we would not have been involved in 2 illegal and pointless wars. I'm also tired of seeing Democrats who are no better than Repubs.

[scheming daemons]

18. Poor people who are socially conservative vote Republican....

[Chisox08]

19. I understand that but it does them no good.

[Cyrano]

21. Yep, social conservatives vote Republican. And in so doing, they

are voting to screw themselves beyond belief. It's incomprehensible that they have not made the connection between their votes and poverty, starvation, lack of health care, and lack of anything that could make their lives better.

I don't know how to explain this except to call it some kind of Jeeezus sickness. -- suffer now, get your reward in the next world.

[zeemike]

20. yes until we realize that it is not our government.

But is the sole property of the rich and famous.
And so we will have to take it up the ass or get some balls of our own.