A layman's perspective of politics

I think I can speak for most citizens when I say we are sick of politics as usual.
Politics as usual seem to encompass an insidious, blatant corruption at just about every level-local. county, state and federal. Layer it with an arrogance reserved for the wealthy, the greedier than thou corporate bonus slackers and the laugh in your face wall street /bankers using their blanket mandate from the prior repubulican government to take every dollar possible from the citizens of the US while off shore banking profits, using tax shelters and outsourcing jobs, I guess you could say we are not only sick of it but cynical, angry and outright hostile.
Yes Americans still want to believe in something. Thus the finger pointing at specific political parties.
As if all of them aren't responsible for the current state of affairs.

Our destructive devisiveness does nothing to force change in our country's manner of doing business.
In fact, spinning our wheels states it mildly.
It seems as if we are on a path of self destruction, our anger loose, our beliefs staid, stubborn and sadly, ignorant.
Those who could put us back together, those we believed would change the direction and destiny of our country -are those we elected, hoping change, change which would address the ills of our country, our economy, our civil rights, our very democracy, present themselves as charlatans-lying with aplomb, brazenly twisting truth, and no longer caring if citizens call them on it-because we no longer have  consequences for unethical behavior, hypocritcal acts, yes, even illegal behaviors are acceptable in our hall of congress and government seats of power.
How did we get here? One of the greatest democracies in the world? The doors to opportunity are now in India, perhaps other countries which, while having problems, still have a dream of a better world.

I keep waiting, pollyannish though it may be, for my fellow citizens, waiting for their anger, sense of justice, hope for the future of their children, and yes, that old work ethic Americans have proudly adhered to in eras past, to wake up, to notice and take on the brokenness of our country-one crooked politician, one greedy bank, one selfish lobbyist at a time-to vote-to speak-to let the two party system which is  curently failing us, which has failed us and will continue to do so unless we vote-not for the two party system, but for the mavericks, the independants, the ethical outspoken eccentrics and innovators-who will speak and act on the truth.
This nest election, we need to vote for neither party.
Remember those signs from the last election? "Anybody but Bush?"
We need new slogans-anybody but democrats or republicans.
They are destroying our country.
Continuing to vote for them as if we have no other option is not the democracy our country founded.
Let us change our own destiny, as citizens of the United States.
Begin by listening and then send the message to all parties-you are failing us.
Remember us? The citizens of the Unites States?
You are failing us and we can do something about it-
We can vote you all out. Both parties. All of you.
We can, and we will.

Bernanke-We Don't Care Who Broke It-FIX IT!

Politicians don't get it.
We don't really care who broke it anymore.
We don't really want to sit around and point fingers at parties.
Fix it.
Quit with the partisian politics and fix it.

We don't see any miracles in the sky when it comes to the economy.
The 10% unemployment rate is a number-a joke.
More than 10% of our workforce are out of jobs. Many quit looking. Many keep looking -now struggling to live without unemployment benefits.

We watched the bailouts of wall street, the big banks, we agreed to the millions of dollars poured into  Workforce for job trainings.
What do the American people get in return?
More empty words. Millions of dollars to wall street fatcats and bank parasites while our credit lines have dried up, interest rates soared, banks and credit card companies inventing more ways to take our dollars.
Utility bills rising, grocery bills soaring,-
We are disgusted, disallusioned and fed up.
The Republicans may feel they have the answer.
Fools.
We see our government turning their backs on us for their own greed.

Fix it.
Create jobs.
We supported the bailouts and the "too big to fail" corporations and financial institutions have let us, the American people out on the streets. literally, in the cold.

Those of us who supported President Obama feel just as disallusioned as the angry tea partiers.
Fix it.
More of the same doesn't help us.
Until the financial institutions of America understand their fatcat dollars come from one source-US- the American people-and evenutally, if the government doesn't intervene, we will find a way to circumvent the current system, and we will develop another way to deal with our economic rape by financial insitutions.

Congress, fix it.
We have lost trust in you and the United States government.
The deal making, the trade offs, the greed, the corporate payoffs, the donation game, the corporate trips and overflowing coffers?
We are sick of them and we are sick of your behavior.
Paul Wellstone truly was the last of the great altruists.
Our government is overrun with moronic, greedy, carpetbaggers and we are sick of them.

Old Rich White Men Run Our Country

What did we expect? When rich old white men run the country? Did we expect them to relate to the United States rainbow of citizens in our country?
Every time I click on a news article about Wall Street, big banks, health care corporations or big business a sea of  old white  male faces surround me.
Who runs our country?

Old white men.
Who allows it?
Why do we keep voting this way?
When will we learn ?
Is this a country of rich old white men?
Sure looks like it to me.

Can you guess who these white men are?

From the "Helpless Middleclass" Why we vote for either side

We are desperate. Obama promised to clean up government. The Republicans promised to ?? All we know is the change we need ain't happening. The corruption in our government is played out in daylight. Harry's health care deal displayed the rawness of the"deal".Disallusioning, to say the least. Maybe we justn't haven't paid much attention to how our government operates. We all thought , naively, perhaps, that honesty and at least a modicum of fair play still went into the deal.
Can we blame the democrats? I doubt it-did we point fingers at the republicans?
Now what do we do? Vote for the other side again?
Let's get real here, folks.
Neither government party is representing our best interest. Banks, credit cards, wall street-all are out of control. Laws don't represent citizens anymore-they represent big interest-blatantly representing big interest.
We need to clean up government. New parties need to step up. Throw them both out -when our elected officials no longer represent us we don't need them.
Obama doesn't have much time to make the big changes we need.
I don't think even us dreamers, who voted for him, believe his "Change we Need" anymore.
In fact, we all still believe in the mantra-just not the messenger.
Change is needed for our country. Big change.
Just not from these parties.
Let's cut our losses.
Find some honest people who can step up, courageous people, who are not afraid to make the changes we need.
So this is a plea.
Honest, non political, non game players, please step up to the plate and lead us back to our destination-
the path which leads us to care for our citizens, allow a level playing field for businesses and workers-and encourages compassion and common sense amongst citizens.
This divisiveness needs to go.
Today.
Is there anyone without a selfish, personal, greedy agenda out there?
We need you.

Double Up Folks, Changing the American Way

Americans have a long history of moving hundreds of miles away from family members. In fact, the sixties boomers were famous for cutting family ties. Over the last fifty years, cultural standards have dictated that living alone, or away from family defined our maturity level in terms of development. A man was considered pretty strange if he still lived at home after college. Our expectation that we all live alone until we find mates worked until housing prices soared.
Yet it had it's drawbacks. All that independance encouraged us to spend that alone time fleeing any or all parts of relationships which felt uncomfortable. Don't like intimate conversations? Go home. Want to avoid dealing with a crisis? Stay home and send flowers.
I know one man when dating, refused to take women to his home. He would spend the night at women's houses but avoided giving his address or inviting women into his space.

Throughout the eighties and nineties, sending mom or dad to a nursing home to die was considered the norm. Middle class families didn't have time to care for the elderly. Careers were too important. Culturally this norm was acceptable.
Single parents living alone with their children suffered the cultural norms. Living alone with children, without support, many women lost jobs when children got sick, the car wouldn't start, an emergency came up.
I remember when my daughter got the chicken pox. I worked at a hospital which provided sick care to employee's kids. Chicken pox wasn't on the list of approved illness. It usually takes a week to recover. My employers weren't very understanding and asked, "Isn't there a grandparent or relative to watch your child?"

Living in Las Vegas and teaching school on the east side I discovered my Hispanic students and families secret strength. Relatives shared living space. More than one family lived together. Families had more money. Newer cars. Kids went to school with their cousins. Families celebrated holidays in large groups. If a child was sick, more than one adult was available to help.

I moved to Florida hoping to have that kind of environment for my daughter although she was in her last year of high school. Her dad lived three miles away. I had hoped we would be a family together.
Unfortunately we all make choices. One major issue in family living is committment. If everyone isn't comitted to working together for the good of the group, it doesn't work. It didn't work out. Too much damage to our daughter to stay and try and make it work.

Friends of mine, who struggle with the same issue of living alone and trying to make it believe the same thing I do-we can improve our quality of life by pooling our resources and our friendship. Yes, we know it isn't a panacea. Yet, as many other cultures around the world know, the strength in numbers, income and emotional support outweighs the desire for total privacy.
With three wage earners and two potential wage earners, we are going to rent a home larger than any of us could afford separately. We will pool our resources, divvy up the chores, sacrifice a little privacy while still having separate bedrooms and realize the benefits of having "extended family"-the knowledge we are never alone in this world, and we all contribute to this sense of support.
We all came from large limited income families. We know and remember the importance of  qualities such as "sharing", compromise", "tolerance" and "loyalty.
We also remember it was never easy, but then, believe it or not, man/woman wasn't meant to live alone, in isolation, without human interaction.
Somehow, somewhere along the way, the United States has developed a culture of isolated humanity. It seems to make it esier to ignore the homeless, the poor, the sick, the out of work, those who just aren't strong enough to make it alone.

Maybe our economic crisis will change this. I hope so.

Gov Jim Gibbons-Giving Lessons on Killing Education

"We want to protect education as much as we can..Jim Gibbons"

Gov Gibbons has a mission-to destroy the state of Nevada. Killing education will do it. Ignoring the wisdom of educators was the beginning of the end. Breaking the unions will finish it.
Gov. Gibbons is not a bright man. If he had the ability to reflect, use those higher power thinking skills taught in school, he would come to the conclusion educators, business leaders and owners, corporations and research scholars arrived at years ago-killing education is the death knell for a state.

Corporations will not expand or build in a state which places such little value on education -they desire an educated climate. It
is good for business. Employees of major corporations do not want to live in a state which places education at the bottom -nationwide.

This line of thinking really isn't one. Gov. Gibbons demonstrates to the state of Nevada and the nation, he is an ignorant man.  An uneducated man. A man without the ability to reflect, see the bigger picture, weigh the future consequences of his decisions.
All these skills are taught to children in Nevada. Despite his poor leadership,  his sorry role model for students, and shallowness.
The state of Nevada is evolving into just that-a sorry state of affairs.
How incredibly sad. Jim Gibbons will now offer up our children as sacrifice  rationalizing his perceived grand plan of keeping  his mantra "No new taxes"
.
He has given up the poor, the elderly, the abused, the homeless, the unemployed and the disabled.
Who will be left in our state? Business cannot make a profit without people.
When the State of Nevada turns its back on the citizens, what is left?