Look Doug, Go to your local party, get involved, do something. I have, my dad is, try to get involved and help fix the problem not just give money away. when you go to the store to by groceries, look around, its not USSR yet, but we are going that way!
You're preaching to the choir here, Marc! I have a friend who is all tied up in knots about the current national political situation. I keep telling him that if he wants to have any feeling of control, get involved in local politics. Run for the school board if you don't want the kids watching the special CC broadcast the Obama administration is pushing. Run for city council. Run for the county commission. Do something, ANYTHING, other than gritching and moaning and becoming generally just unpleasant to be around. Falls on dead ears, he doesn't want to make a difference, he just wants to gritch and moan and generally make those around him very unhappy with all his grumpy ol' man antics.
As for me, the city council is getting tired of me, but as long as I am entitled to 3 minutes of time before them, I'll keep on giving them a piece of my mind. Hasn't made any difference, wouldn't make any difference if Obama or Pelosi or Reed would give me 3 minutes, either.
Bottom line is politicians make laws that will benefit themselves first and the rest of their constituents second and the rest of America last. Look at the S/S debacle, when S/S was first proposed and enacted it was specifically prohibited for congress to raid the contributions. That didn't last long, pretty soon congress found a way around that and ever since the contributions have been shunted to the general fund. Of course S/S will be bankrupt soon, but if the funds had been protected as was originally intended it would be on solid ground.
As for the health care issue, I don't know what it's like up in Grapevine, but down here close to Houston the public pays for those who don't have health insurance, anyway. The issue that galls me is the uninsured (indigent) illegal aliens, who seem to be more than happy to take their kids to the emergency room every time they sneeze or fart. You'd be surprised how much $$ the Fort Bend County Commissioners put into the "Indigent Health Care Fund" at the first of every fiscal year, even more surprised how many times during each fiscal year they have to go back and add more $$ to the "Indigent Health Care Fund". Who pays that? Those of us who live here through our property taxes....that includes renters, as any landlord will have to charge enough to cover his costs, including taxes. But those of us who are responsible enough to carry our own health insurance get to pay for our own care as well as the care of others who are not stepping up. So, Obama wants to fine those people....GOOD, I say. Make them pay SOMETHING, even if it is only a fine, to offset the cost to us responsible parties.
As for the issue of tort reform, I'm all for it. However, politicians seem to listen better to the insurance industry and their lobbyists who can pay millions of dollars for their 3 minutes (they call them campaign contributions), don't care so much to hear from those of us who can't pay.
They are all the same, I've started calling them Demopublicans and Republicrats, there is no difference between the two parties. We truly NEED a viable, independent third party to get this country's leadership straightened out.
I seconded someone's tongue-in-cheek nomination of Ron for President of the world in a different thread sometime back, he responded and reminded me he doesn't care much for politics. I think that's EXACTLY the kind of person we need in charge, somebody who doesn't care how many backs he can scratch so that he gets his scratched, somebody with no favors to repay, somebody who doesn't really care about politics, but really does care about America.
IMHO, though, a comprehensive universal health care package is a good way to start making the costs more equitable for those of us who are sick and tired of staying healthy and seeing the healthy pay for the sick and tired who won't pay for themselves, if you get my drift :idea: .
Doug