Category Archives: #DearCongress

Because We the Overtaxed People have had it.

Mayday! Mayday!

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The NYTimes reports that, after Rep. Pete Gallego (R-TX) lost the election for his Congressional district in 2014, “researchers from the Baker Institute and the University of Houston’s Hobby Center for Public Policy polled 400 registered voters in the district who sat out the election. All were asked why they did not vote, rating on a scale of 1 to 5 from a list of seven explanations — being ill, having transportation problems, being too busy, being out of town, lacking interest, disliking the candidates and lacking a required photo identification.

“The vast majority of those who claimed not to have voted because they lacked a proper ID actually possessed one, but did not know it.”

“Nearly 26% said the main reason was that they were too busy. At the other end, 5.8% said the main reason was lacking a proper photo ID, with another 7% citing it as one reason. Most surprising, however, was what researchers found when they double-checked that response: The vast majority of those who claimed not to have voted because they lacked a proper ID actually possessed one, but did not know it.”

I’m thinking that if you are so spectacularly uninformed that you don’t know you have ID, you don’t know enough to vote.

 

The Campaign of 4-Year-Olds

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Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus says Trump supporters should “leave it to the professionals” when it comes to quelling interruptions.

Mr. Priebus also says the GOP could have a different candidate at the national convention in Cleveland this July.

A brokered, or contested, convention occurs when no single candidate has secured enough delegate votes to secure the nomination on the first ballot. Sadly a brokered convention can also occur when the party elite change the rules so the popular vote doesn’t matter.

The winning Demorat needs to have at least 2,383 delegates in the primaries and caucuses; the winning Repug has to get at least 1,237 of the 2,472 delegates. Hillary Clinton currently leads the Democratic pack with 774 pledged delegates to date, far surpassing Bernie Sanders’ count of 946. That means she’s currently well on her way to the nomination.

Say what?

Yeah, the guys on the other side of the aisle already cooked the books; they have “superdelegates” to swing the nomination wherever they want. Ms. Clinton has 469 cheaters, so she really is well on her way to the nomination unless the Sanderistas can take over that convention.

Mr. Priebus says the GOP could have a different candidate at the convention in July, too. Repugs are looking for ways to cook the books, too.

Donald Trump leads the Repuglican pack with 739 pledged delegates to date, far surpassing Ted Cruz’ count of 465, which means Mr. Trump is well on his way to the nomination, too.

Mr. Priebus is counting on the GOP having a different candidate at the convention in July.

Dear Reince Priebus:
I’ve been a Republican Town Chair. I’ve run for and held elective office. I’ve put governors and congressmen and bank presidents together to register new voters. Now I’m just a crotchety op-ed writer with a message.
You say, “We have rules.” We hear you say, “We are weasels.”
You’re going to have a populist candidate with pretty close to the 1,237 delegates required for nomination. If you go ahead with this plan to steal the nomination, just to give it to another party hack, you will have stolen the party that freed Americans from slavery and made it the party that enslaves Americans.

Remember the “stiletto” job the “mysterious cabal” attempted in 1964? When Nelson Rockefeller appeared at the convention, AuH2O voters shouted down Mr. Rockefeller and beat back your backroom deal makers.

And they were still so mad at the party that LBJ slaughtered Mr. Goldwater that November.

Here’s what is likely to happen. You give the nomination to another party hack. Demorats do the same at their convention:

  • It won’t matter whether you pick UNTrusTed Cruz or Mitt Romney or Bruce Wayne.
  • Repuglican voters will stay away from the polls.
  • Ms. Clinton will win the White House.
  • Democrats will win 7 of the 11 gubernatorial races, a dozen of the so-called “safe” Senate seats, and more than half the 18 retiring Repug House seats.
  • We’ll get a business friendly Supreme Court Justice.
  • Business pretty much as usual.

The bills getting passed will change but the real business of politics will just keep on keeping on. The trillion-dollar deficits will continue to fund your cronies. Congress will continue to do everything for themselves and nothing for us. You’ll grumble in the press and be secretly pleased that you survived.

That’s the best you can hope for.

Now imagine what happens if give the nomination to another party hack and the Demorats actually let Mr. Sanders win their Convention!

  • It still won’t matter whether you pick UNTrusTed Cruz or Mitt Romney or Bruce Wayne.
  • Repuglican voters still stay away from the polls. (New) young Demorats will turn out by the million.
  • Mr. Sanders will win the White House.
  • Democrats will win 9 of the 11 gubernatorial races, a dozen of the so-called “safe” Senate seats, and at least the 18 retiring Repug House seats.
  • We’ll get Stephen Reinhardt or Goodwin Liu or Vermont’s John Dooley as a Supreme Court Justice.
  • And a Sanders administration will start prosecuting all the bankers and businessmen he rails against.

Voter Considering Ballot BoxThat’s the second best you can hope for but you still haven’t thought about all those voters who stayed home.

This isn’t 1964 but this could well be your Viet Nam.

See, social media will keep that core of disenchanted voters alive. Sooner or later, we will elect a populist candidate. And we will throw out all your party hacks.

Here’s your real nightmare:

  • Repuglican voters will come back to the polls.
  • A businessman (and loose cannon) will win the White House.
  • In three election cycles, every sitting bum^H^H, ahem, politician will be replaced.
  • And then a populist administration will prosecute EM>you.

The Arab Spring can become the American Fall. You whining 4-year-olds won’ get a time out, though. That means actual jail time.

The country survived Viet Nam. The politicians didn’t.

We get a great choice this year. A loose cannon businessman v. a liar-turned-party-hack and a liar-and-party-hack v. a loose cannon socialist. I can hardly wait.

 

Burn the Bern

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That’s the word that has gone out to every Demorat and Repuglican hit team, too.

Demorats have poured millions of dollars into discrediting his ability to beat Hillary Clinton now and any Repuglican in November. Repugs chant “socialist,” and “communist,” and “unwashed masses” — the codewords they bring out to tar that which they fear.

Why are the parties so afraid of Mr. Sanders, too?

He voted against the Iraq war. He rails against big business and the rich. One of his most popular quotes is that if a bank is too big to fail, then it’s too big to exist. He wants dump ObamaDon’tCare (say what?). Don’t worry, he’ll implement Medicare for everyone. Including US Congressmen. He’s Elizabeth Warren but louder. He strongly wants campaign reform. He calls himself “independent.”

Worse yet, people love Bernie Sanders.

The fact that Mr. Sanders has never actually passed a piece of legislation doesn’t seem to matter to anyone; he has his say!

The Demorats have it much easier than the Repuglicans.

They have 718 superdelegates whose sole purpose is to put their fingers on the scale to prevent nominations like that of Bernie Sanders from ever happening.

If Mr. Sanders shows up at the convention with more delegates than Ms. Clinton, you can bet the marching orders are, “Burn the Bern.”

Tomorrow is another big day with five presidential primary elections and a Repuglican party caucus (Florida, Illinois, Missouri, the Northern Marianas, North Carolina, and Ohio.)

I expect you’ll vote for someone tomorrow. I hope you won’t vote for the worst liars in the bunch (pantsuit-on-Fire Hillary Clinton, UnTrusTED Cruz, or second string Marco Rubio).

Who’s left?

We need a loose cannon in politics now more than ever but we’ve been growing little water pistols and arming them with blanks, I wrote four years ago. It’s even more true today, although the water pistoleers are starting to load acid.

Loose cannons Bernie Sanders on the far left and Donald Trump on the middle right. I hope you will vote for one or the other. Instead of burning the Bern, let’s burn the parties.

I wrote more about Derailing the Donald over here.

Who knows? With two “populists” running head to head in November, anything can happen.

 

Derail the Donald

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That’s the word that has gone out to every Repuglican and Demorat hit team in the universe.

Forget Occupy Wall Street. Today it’s Occupy Donald Trump.

Repuglicans have poured millions of dollars into a negative ad campaign to discredit his ability to beat Hillary Clinton in November. Demorats chant “hatred,” and “racism,” and “uneducated masses” — the codewords they bring out to tar that which they fear.

Why are the parties so afraid of Mr. Trump?

“The Repubs are reaping the results of the misinformation, division, racism, and fear they have been feeding the public since Barack Obama took office,” my oh-so-liberal friend Fanny Guay said. That is the Demorat’s party line, but the reality is that the only people ever to play the division or race cards in politics are liberals.

And misinformation belongs to both parties.

Pundits and establishment Repuglicans alike pretend they have no idea what will come out of the Donald’s mouth next, but that’s not true either. We all know perfectly well what he’ll say and we think we know what he’ll do.

Establishment Repugs and Demorats alike know they won’t control a Trump administration they way they have controlled the process for decades.

The unholy triad of big government, big business, and big media reaps billions and they protect one another to keep it flowing. No one cares who sits in the White House as long as government keeps getting bigger, programs keep programming, and the money keeps flowing. It’s a filthy relationship that makes everyone filthy rich. Everyone except thee and me. Everyone except We the Overtaxed People. We get ripped off.

The maverick Donald Trump doesn’t need anyone’s help so the Dems can’t control him either.

Worse, the radical Donald Trump may well prosecute the movers and shakers of that unholy triad, starting with Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton themselves and that keeps people up at night.

Even Bernie Sanders wouldn’t do what Mr. Trump could.

Hence the adjectives thrown around. “Toxic.” “Racist.” “Scam.”

Misinformation. It’s what they do.

Is Mr. Trump causing or simply riding the toxic atmosphere?

John Dickerson took Mr. Trump to task for the violence at his campaign rallies.

I call foul.

Mr. Sanders says “Donald Trump has been incredibly divisive…”

Interesting. It’s Mr. Trump’s fault when his supporters take a shot, but never the good guys who the first punch. Never, Mr. Sanders said. “Our campaign has never once organized any effort disrupt Mr. Trump’s rallies…”

In fact, every news report I’ve seen blames Mr. Trump for the increasing violence at his events and every news report I’ve seen fails to mention the Demoratic candidates the violent protestors represent. And no reporter would ever blame a Demoratic protestor for the rampages.

A Gallup poll last year found that six in 10 Americans say that their trust in mass media ranges from “not very much” to “none at all.” Trust in the mass media has fallen even more sharply among those younger than 50.

I wonder why.

Mr. Trump has 460 delegates to Mr. Cruz’ 370, Mr. Rubio’s 163, and Mr. Kasich’s 63. Ms. Clinton has 771 pledged delegates plus probably 460 “superdelegates” vs. Mr. Sanders’ 576.

There are 718 superdelegates whose sole purpose is to put their fingers on the scale to prevent nominations like that of Bernie Sanders who displeases the party insiders. Right now the Repugs are wishing they had superdelegates. Right now the Repugs are probably rewriting the convention rules so they do have superdelegates.

Americans also gave the GOP a 63% favorable rating and the Demorats 61% in 2015. This is the only time since Gallup began tracking the parties’ images in 1992 that neither party has achieved at least 40% favorability from the public.

I wonder why.

Tomorrow is another big day with five presidential primary elections and a Repuglican party caucus (Florida, Illinois, Missouri, the Northern Marianas, North Carolina, and Ohio. Florida and Ohio are winner-take-all on the Republican side).

I expect you’ll vote for someone tomorrow. I hope you won’t vote for the worst liars in the bunch (pantsuit-on-Fire Hillary Clinton, UnTrusTED Cruz, or second string Marco Rubio).

Who’s left?

We need a loose cannon in politics now more than ever but we’ve been growing little water pistols and arming them with blanks, I wrote four years ago. It’s even more true today, although the water pistoleers are starting to load acid.

I wrote more about Burning the Bern over here.

Loose cannons Donald Trump on the middle right and Bernie Sanders on the far left. I hope you will vote for one or the other tomorrow. Instead of derailing the Donald, let’s derail the parties.

In any event, the only positive political ads on TV during the news are for Viagra and Cialis. Yeppers, we’re gonna get screwed.

 

I Solved the Problem!

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Lots of people believe that all they have to do is shout and they solve the problem.

Bernie Sanders hectors us on falling family income and wealth inequality and sticking it to Wall Street.

Donald Trump blusters about politicians and immigration policy and making America great again.

Oddly, this column is not about politics. I don’t care if Mr. Sanders has a higher net worth than 85% of his fellow countrymen nor what country Mr. Trump was born in.

The AARP has a great series of “Take A Stand” ads that I simply had to plug. See, their braying, trumpeting characters take us to a larger truth.

Real people point us down the same road.

“I had my say,” my friend Ashley Proctor says, satisfied. Having had her say, she can go on about her day with the warm feeling that she solved whatever problem that angered her.

Ms. Proctor thunders on regularly about how I don’t want people to get health care and the evils of non-traditional marriage and even how long it takes to defrost a turkey (longer, she thinks, in the frig than in a cooler).

Do you suppose that yelling at me about any of those will change my mind or change her life?

My friend Dean “Dino” Russell regularly rants on Facebook about ethanol in gas and solar deniers and illegal aliens. He mostly uses ALL CAPS.

I’m absolutely sure Dino knows that the people who agree with him just nod and click “Next” and those who don’t agree with him just shake their heads knowingly and click “Next,” too.

And yet we still have ethanol in our gas (and the price of corn has quintupled) and the entertainment industry still thinks E.T. should be able to vote.

I worry that soooooo many of my friends think that bombast is all it takes to change the world.

So what’s the problem? Pissing in the wind is a good thing, right?