State Governments

The “Poverty Belt” And The Republican Party

Ronald 12 Comments

America has a “Poverty Belt”, recently outlined by the Centers for Disease Control, states that have higher rates of poverty (30 percent or more), and substantially lower life expectancy.

These states are, not surprisingly, the Confederate South of the Civil War years except for Virginia and Florida; along with Kentucky and Missouri, two states of the “Border” South which had slavery, but stayed loyal to the Union during the Civil War; and West Virginia and Oklahoma–therefore, a total of 13 states!

These 13 states have not only extreme poverty and lower life expectancy rates, but also high levels of poor education, higher crime rates, poor nutrition, higher unemployment, inadequate food and housing, and less access to quality health care.

And these states with the highest poverty percentages are dominated by the Republican Party, and won all of their electoral votes in 2012, and most have Republican state legislatures and Republican Governors, and elect mostly Republicans to the House of Representatives and US Senate.

Do Republicans, by their words and actions, give a damn about these horrific conditions in their states?

The answer, clearly, is NO, and no one can claim otherwise, as the reality on the ground proves this sad fact!

The question is WHY the voters of these 13 states constantly vote to send, to the state capitals and Washington, DC, individuals who show a callousness to their plight, and set out to make certain that conditions can never improve! What is in the psyche of these voters that they do not get the message that the GOP is not concerned about them, and instead works to limit the freedom and justice of African Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, women, the elderly, and the young?

And, instead of wishing to make the lives of working class or poor whites better, the intention instead is to promote ignorance and fear among them to keep power, and do nothing to improve the lot in life of the citizenry of their states!

What could be more despicable and outrageous than that reality?

The Tragedy Of Detroit: A Sign Of The Future?

Ronald 51 Comments

Detroit, the “Motor City”, the fourth largest city in population (1.8 million) in 1950, has declared bankruptcy, and has shrunk to 700,000 population in 2010.

This city, which was the center of industrial expansion, success, and prosperity in the first two thirds of the 20th century, is the largest entity in America ever to declare bankruptcy!

At least $18 billion in debt, the impact of this bankruptcy will likely cause further decline of the once great city, which is now a total disaster in relation to housing abandonment, crime, destruction of education, and the total deterioration of the quality of life for those who remain.

And the idea that those who have devoted their lives to working for the city–as cops, firefighters, teachers, social workers and others–will now be likely to lose their pensions in their old age, is totally unconscionable, totally immoral! Why would anyone ever wish to work another day for a government that will not keep the legal agreements to its employees who devote their lives to service, often at much lower rates than workers in the private sector?

If this can happen in Detroit, is that a warning sign that other cities, and state governments, could also cancel all obligations to their workers, and leave them impoverished in their old age?

Are governments now to become no different than corporations who too often cheat their workers out of a hard earned pension, while the elite at the top continue to enrich themselves in a greedy manner?

If this becomes a trend, it will not be surprising if we see people unwilling to work for government at all levels, and that will lead to chaos and anarchy, as we cannot allow all government workers, or any of them, to be so totally mistreated and disregarded as if they are willing “slaves” who can be kicked around as no better than garbage!

The “Bully” Governors Continue Their Attacks On Women, Labor, And Minorities

Ronald 2 Comments

The ranks of “Bully” Republican Governors who are doing everything possible to promote restrictions on the right of women, labor, and minorities continues, and includes utterances as well as actions.

So we have Governors in the South, but also in the heartland and also northern New England who are demonstrating just how mean spirited they are, and their willingness to take away basic rights and impose state government restrictions on many of their own citizens, while condemning the federal government for what they claim are abuses of power! These Governors need to look in the mirror!

Among these Governors are the following:

Bob McDonnell of Virginia
Nikki Haley of South Carolina
Rick Scott of Florida
Bobby Jindal of Louisiana
Rick Perry of Texas
John Kasich of Ohio
Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania
Rick Snyder of Michigan
Scott Walker of Wisconsin
Paul LePage of Maine

So we are seeing all kinds of restrictions on women’s health, attacks on labor rights, and moves to create new barriers to voting in all of the above states, and even others controlled by Republican legislatures and Governors.

The real abuse of power is going on at the state level, while the national level is working to advance the rights of these above named groups, and others, as well!

Marco Rubio Response To State Of The Union Speech Of Barack Obama Comes Up Short!

Ronald 14 Comments

Florida Senator Marco Rubio presented the official GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address last night.

As always, Senator Rubio comes across as charismatic, handsome, well spoken, and a pleasant personality.

But when it comes to substance, Rubio was wanting in many ways.

He hardly touched on foreign policy at all, spending most of his time condemning “big” government, claiming that it cannot solve people’s problems, forgetting that he is where he is because of help from government through student loan programs, which he pointed out he had just paid off finally after many years of payments.

Rubio failed to realize that it is government which provides so many opportunities and forms of assistance, including his mother’s Medicare and Social Security.

Rubio forgets that it was the interstate highway system, initiated by Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, which has allowed the nation, and particularly Florida, to become a success story in growth of population and economic opportunity.

Rubio criticizes government, while making sure that he spends his career in government service, including the Florida legislature, where he spent a decade.

It is also ironic that Rubio and his party attack “big” government, when George W. Bush led the greatest expansion of government in four decades!

Rubio offered no hope for any solution to gun violence, and denied climate change, just as he has, earlier, questioned evolution, so he believes that science has no validity, while invoking religion, of course, all of the time, forgetting that we have a Constitution and Bill of Rights that promotes separation of church and state.

Rubio also shows bad math, as he claims Barack Obama has raised the national debt more than any President, which is not true, and fails to reflect the deep chasm we were in when he took the oath of office, the worst since 1933!

And his belief that often corrupt state governments, including his own state of Florida, can do a better job of operating safety net programs, is belied by the stark truth of just the opposite result!

So Marco Rubio gives a good speech, but the details come up short, if one is interested in reality!

But one thing Rubio accomplished is to make him more noticed as a leading Presidential possibility for his party in 2016!

BIG Government IS Essential In The 21st Century In Third Largest Nation On Earth!

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The tragedy of Hurricane Sandy has brought to the forefront a reality that many Republicans and conservatives have refused to recognize—BIG government IS essential in the 21st century in the third largest nation on earth, and we cannot go back to the past concept of small government, and leaving everything to Mitt Romney’s concept of privatization!

We are a nation of 315 million people and counting, and this is very different than when America was a nation of 4 million in 1790; or 31 million in 1860; or 125 million in 1930; or 200 million in 1970!

The states have proved over and over again that they are incapable of handling the issues and problems of their population, without assistance from the federal government.

It is time to say that states rights is dead, in the sense that states cannot be allowed to stand in the way of progress, cannot be allowed to dictate differing policies that affect the American people in a detrimental way!

The Civil War was fought over states rights, as one of the issues, and we have had problems with states rights advocates ever since, who choose to use state power to promote racism, discrimination, and prejudice. The time for state leaders to understand that such policies are no longer acceptable is now, at a time when states fully understand that it is the national government and its bureaucrats who are the only ones who can be relied on to deal with man made or natural crises.

The only thing that is obvious is that the BEST people must be hired to run federal agencies that deal with crisis, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and that we must have Presidents who realize the need to prioritize such activities, rather than those, such as George W. Bush, himself incompetent, who allowed FEMA to fail to react properly to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, or his dad, George H. W. Bush, who failed to react properly to Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

This is proof that what we need in the Presidency is a person who understands the role and need for national government, not someone such as Mitt Romney, who only thinks of money and privatization every day of his life, and does not give a damn about ordinary people and the struggles they face every day of their lives!

We need a leader, such as Barack Obama, who has empathy and compassion and concern, not a plutocrat, who is only concerned about the power of the Presidency, and wants to bring us back to the Gilded Age, when we were a nation of 50 million people!

The need for government has been so well displayed now, that for anyone to advocate small government, and returning power to the corrupt state and local governments, or to privatization, needs to be repudiated in as strong a manner as possible!

Medicaid Expansion And State Governors: Reaction Based On Party Affiliation!

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The federal government has offered to cover Medicaid expansion for the poor and uninsured in 2014 and after, because otherwise, millions of Americans will have no health care coverage, and that will increase the number of serious illnesses and deaths long term.

But predictably, and sadly, we find most Republican Governors refusing to expand their Medicaid system, including Bob McDonnell of Virginia, Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Rick Scott of Florida, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Rick Perry of Texas, Jan Brewer of Arizona, Paul LePage of Maine, and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, among others.

Meanwhile, most Democratic Governors, including Andrew Cuomo of New York, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Dan Malloy of Connecticut, Martin O’Malley of Maryland , Jack Markell of Delaware, Mark Dayton Of Minnesota, Pat Quinn Illinois, and Jerry Brown of California, among others, have made it clear they will expand the Medicaid coverage.

The contrast is startling, as GOP Governors, following in tune with the Republican House and Senate minority members, are in lockstep, making it clear they will not support expanded medical coverage, as part of their plan to wipe out ObamaCare, despite the Supreme Court decision last month!

The fact that the federal government would pay most of the costs, an estimated $931 billion through 2022, with the states only having to pay $73 billion, has had no effect on the Republican Governors!

Reverberations Of The Citizens United Supreme Court Case: Sheldon Adelson, The Koch Brothers, And The Destruction Of American Democracy!

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Two years ago this week, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, decided that corporations were “people” and had a right to “freedom of speech”, meaning unlimited ability of groups and individuals to spend money and form Super Political Action Committees.

As a result, the Koch Brothers (Charles and David) spent enough money in contributing to state and congressional races to be able to bring about a Republican House of Representatives and many Republican state governments in 2010, leading to the turmoil of the Tea Party Movement in the past year.

Now Sheldon Adelson, an extremely wealthy casino owner in Las Vegas, along with his wife, have contributed $10 million to the Newt Gingrich candidacy, so that he can compete against Mitt Romney, and it has led to the Gingrich success in South Carolina.

Our political campaigns are being “bought” by wealthy people, and distorting the concept of American democracy, making our political system a mockery!

Action must be taken as soon as possible to overcome this horrible Supreme Court decision, but even if it occurs, this year’s election has already been besmirched by the corruption of the extremely wealthy who are doing everything they can to make the government their private possession!

The Arrogance And Gall Of Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump, And Herman Cain Toward The “Occupy Wall Street” Movement!

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When the Tea Party Movement, a right wing reactionary group with fascist tendencies, formed in 2009, the Republican Party, conservative talk radio, Fox News Channel, and wealthy people on Wall Street embraced it, and they set out to further harm the middle class and the poor, and are still in the process of doing so on Capitol Hill and in the state governments!

Now that the outraged “99 percent” have decided to march and demonstrate and occupy Wall Street, but also march and demonstrate in dozens of cities all across America, demanding action to make our government deal with the corruption on Wall Street, the mortgage debacle, the unemployment crisis, the health denials to millions of citizens, the pension disaster, the long term student loan mess, and the homelessness and poverty of millions of children, we are being told by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump, and Herman Cain that these people are “losers”, or as Cain says, if one is unemployed or not rich, don’t blame anyone, blame yourself!

For an African American candidate to ignore totally the reality of his own race being in worse condition than ever due to the Great Recession and its supposed aftermath, is a total disgrace, and shows how becoming wealthy can totally corrupt a person’s judgment and make him look down on those who are less fortunate, not only of his race, but across the board, despite the worst unemployment since the Great Depression, and caused by Wall Street and the corporations!

These right wing fascists should be warned that if nothing is done to deal with the economic crisis in this country, there is the terrifying danger of real bloodshed and violence breaking out, and that would be a total tragedy!

Just as in the Middle East with the “Arab Spring”, we are now seeing the extension of what began in the state of Wisconsin and elsewhere earlier this year, and the government cannot ignore this, as that is a danger to the future of the nation!

Sarah Palin On Third Anniversary Of VP Nomination: Don’t Forget Me As I Exploit My Celebrity And Gain Attention!

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Former Vice Presidential nominee and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin showed up in Indianola, Iowa, on Saturday, on the third anniversary of her becoming a national figure.

Reading from a text, she issued attacks on Barack Obama, saying he had not been fully vetted, an interesting statement, since she herself had not been fully vetted, and had John McCain done so, he would have chosen someone who was qualified in an emergency to become President of the United States.

Palin has exploited her brief moment on the national stage for all it is worth, demonstrating she is a good capitalist, while at the same attacking “crony capitalism”, implying her criticism of Republican front runner Governor Rick Perry of Texas. It seems as if she is jealous of Perry having a lead, when every poll shows only a very small percentage, including the adoring fans who showed up at the political rally, interested in her running for President!

The odds of her running are slim, as she well knows she has no chance to be our President, but she seems unwilling to drop the idea altogether, so kept the crowd wondering if she would announce for President by the end of September, which is really the deadline if one is to build a campaign organization, which she has taken no steps toward creating.

Palin gave her own prescription for economic recovery, showing she has no clue to the reality of our economy. She called for the following:

1. Repeal the Obama Health Care plan.
2. Cut back federal regulations.
3. Increase domestic energy production.
4. Give more spending authority to state governments.
5.Eliminate all corporate income taxes.

Palin also criticized Establishment Republicans who attack the Tea Party as a group of “hobbits”, which meant she was attacking her former running mate, Senator John McCain, without mentioning his name!

She also attacked the “permanent political class”, referring to those who have held public office a long time, including Rick Perry, and by implication, John McCain.

Apparently, the fact that she had LESS political experience than Barack Obama in public office, and quit as Alaska Governor in the middle of her one term, even evoking surprise this week from former Vice President Dick Cheney, is seen by her as a plus, but by no one else who has any brains in their head!

So Sarah is basically just saying she does not want to be forgotten, and is exploiting her celebrity, and gaining attention from those who have no clue as to how to run a government and take responsibility for serious problems and issues!

A Horrifying Scenario: A Tea Party Republican Congress And President–What It Would Portend!

Ronald 2 Comments

Any sane, centrist oriented American, who might be disgusted with and frustrated by how the federal government is working these days, and therefore is tempted to join the Tea Party Movement that has taken over the Republican Party in the House of Representatives and in many state governorships, needs to realize what would happen if the Right wing tilt that began in the midterm elections of 2010 went all the way to a dominant Tea Party Republican House of Representatives, Senate, and a President Perry or Bachmann!

The purpose is not to promote horror and fear, but to make people realize, based on the agenda of the Tea Party Movement, what would happen without any barrier in the way, such as one of the legislative bodies or the Presidency being in the hands of the Democrats.

In no special order, the following would be likely:

1. The repeal of the Obama Health Care Plan in its entirety
2. The privatization of Medicare over ten years
3. The cutting of Social Security benefits over time
4. No government assistance for home owners in trouble on their mortgages
5. No federal limits on greenhouse gases, and the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency, and therefore no limits on strip mining of coal or regulations on oil drilling
6. A “war” on labor unions, and the elimination of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, plus the end of the minimum wage laws
7. The elimination of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and lack of regulation of big business and banking, regarding consumer rights, including the right to lawsuits for malpractice or discrimination
8. The cutting back or elimination of the federal Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Transportation, Energy, and Health and Human Services, or agencies within those cabinet agencies at the least, as well as the Federal Reserve Board
9. Promotion of anti abortion legislation to end legal abortions
10.Enactment of laws to discriminate against gays, and return “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the military
11. Restrictions on immigration, and deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants
12. Promotion of Christianity in all areas of government institutions and activities
13. Refusal to raise the debt level, and ruthless cutting of government programs to deal with the elderly, the poor, racial minorities, and the disabled instead
14. Further cutting of taxes on the wealthy and corporations
15. Promotion of a right wing based education system in the areas of science and history in the schools
16. End of funding for National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting System.
17. Cutbacks on civil rights enforcement for African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, and native Americans, and total end of affirmative action programs
18. Growing hostility and confrontations with the Islamic world, as part of the Christian crusade against Muslims
19. Civil liberties limitations in the name of public safety against domestic terrorism, including against social media and public demonstrations of protest against government policies
20. Making the Supreme Court more right wing than it is now, guaranteeing the longevity of conservative Republican Tea Party policies for a generation or more

Can anyone reading this list NOT be terrified at the thought of a Tea Party Republican dominant Congress and President?

This is why it is ESSENTIAL that at the worst, we have a divided Congress as we had under President Ronald Reagan from 1981-1987, with a Democratic House and Republican Senate and Republican President, with the House under Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill preventing the worst excesses of the Reagan agenda, and in the process, actually making Reagan look a lot better in history than he would have without a Democratic House of Representatives.

And based on the present situation we face, it is clear that it would be better to have a Democratic House and Republican Senate, the opposite of what we have now, as the House has greater impact and control over spending and the budget. A Republican Senate, as has occurred five times in the past century, is far less negative and destructive than the present experience with a Republican House!

While hating to think of a Republican Senate, it seems likely now with only four seats needed to gain control, while for the Democrats, regaining 25 seats for a majority in the House, seems more than likely to occur!

So a split government the opposite of what we have now might be the best scenario, if not an all Democratic controlled Congress and President, to avoid the nightmare of a Tea Party Republican dominated government!