What Iowa Missed

Boy was that depressing.  I just watched Michelle Bachmann ending her run for liar in chief as she only garnered 6% of the Iowa Republican Caucus vote.

I guess I can take solace in the fact that there are still four more candidates for liar in chief who remain standing, only one of whom doesn't even know he is in the running.

Newt Gingrich has deluded himself for so long that he actually believes his lies, whilst the other three, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, all understand that they are lying, but will never admit anything.

I'm sorry, but it was Newt that brought out the L word, and it is time to start applying it to each and every candidate, because they are all lying.

How far does the lying go?  Well, I could understand if, in fact, they believed they were telling the truth, but the fact is that they have canned all of their responses to any questions around the lies they weave, and my Mom would call them out if she could.

For instance, on the Senate floor Rick Santorum said that being gay led to bestiality.  Now I don't know for a fact, but I believe there are a lot of lonely farmers out there who have enjoyed a specific relationship with a beloved sheep more than any gay person would have.

OK, so I don't know this to be the case, but did my writing it make it true, or was it a straight out lie that I am fully aware of making?

So let's get rid of some of the lies.  Michelle Bachmann specifically said that we should rally around anyone who garners the nomination and my question becomes, well, how come you didn't rally around the man that actually won the last election with 370 electoral votes and 57% of the popular vote?

If you're going to rally around a President, then why not the one that is already elected?  This is a part of the lie.  By suggesting that only the next Republican to be elected deserves rallying behind, they negate the entirety of the last election cycle.  Supposedly Barack Obama somehow sits in the President's chair, flies on the plane, signs acts into law, and yet he really isn't the President.

A lot of Democrats tried this tact on President Bush after a Supreme Court election, but I have to admit, I accepted him as the President because he took the oath and sat in the chair.

This doesn't mean that I liked him, but even after 9/11 I thought that he, at least, had the right people in place to do the job necessary.

But there were tons of failures there, and I fail to see just how failure and Barack Obama can be in the same sentence if one takes a real honest look at the accomplishments for the people his Presidency represents.

There are plenty of things I can disagree with in this Obama administration, but I can't fault this President for his efforts to actually fulfill his campaign promises.

Health care reform was at the top of his promises, and he fulfilled that promise.  It is law, and it is not ObamaCare.  The House and the Senate created that law, and all the Republicans walked away from the process.  The Republicans put in over 700 amendments, got 167 of them approved, and day by day there were less and less Republicans in the room.

The Republicans have said, time and time again, that they were excluded from the process, which may not be a lie, but it is when you understand that they excluded themselves from the process.

They also have said, time and time again, that the Democrats had all the power they needed to enact any laws they wanted, but Ted Kennedy was on his deathbed, and others of the "Blue Dog" bent went with their Republican buddies.

Any attempt to misinform the people is a lie, hence the Republicans are liars.

There is a strict construct of the differences between Democrats and Republicans, which is that Democrats actually look forward to rational debate on subjects before Congress, whereas Republicans simply do not recognize that there are any Democrats in the room.

There's nothing wrong with the Affordable Health Care law, at least fundamentally, but like any new law involved with an evolving society, it needs to be tweaked over time to offer the best service to all.  It is not socialism, but rather a moment in time when we have recognized that all people cannot be productive citizens if they are ridden with disease or chronic problems which won't get resolved without health care.

Even the most remote and ancient of tribal communities had health care.  It is called shamanism, where a learned person devotes their lives towards the health and well being of their tribe.  This is historical fact, not BS.

If our most ancient of tribal units understood the benefits of health care for their people, then what is so hard about us making this fundamental leap towards universal health care?  Does anyone suppose that healthy people aren't a better member of society, a better worker in the fields, a greater hunter in the forest?

If a man were mauled by a beast on a hunt and yet lived, do we suppose that there were Republicans within the tribe that suggested just leaving them behind to fend for themselves?  Were we to judge based on current information, I believe that the answer would be yes.

In a lot of cases, in fact more than I really wish to examine, today's society would prefer to push the sick and wounded down a grinder rather than thank them for their sacrifice for the greater good of the people.

But we see it happen all too often.  Every time we have a war and then end up with a Republican in power, the care of our Veterans is cut, and this has happened time and time again.  But bombs, well now, they need to be replenished.  Besides, there are always more troops available.

And our people, at least some of them, are willing to go out with their M-16s, AR-15s, Glock 9mm and Colt 1911As to protest a Presidential speech at a town hall meeting.  I remember this happening time and again at Barack Obama town halls, but I don't believe anyone would have done so during the Bush43 regime.

In fact, I remember that protesters were placed in cages miles away from the events they were protesting.  How important is your right to free speech if you are placed into something that looks like a jail cell?  Is this just a ploy to remind you that you COULD be in jail if you continue to protest?

But I also remember a man, sitting on the ground at one of these Tea Party gatherings, who was sick and out of work and got accosted by at least 10 men who should have known better and had a greater capacity for understanding.  Obviously they didn't as they berated this man with slurs and threw dollars at him.  His protest was far more prescient than theirs.

Or the applause at a Republican debate just held recently as the audience cheered the number of Texas executions, or booed and berated a combat veteran who admitted to being gay as he tried to ask the Republican candidates a question via a video connection.

There is nothing reasonable about any of these things, and yet, because the Republicans don't make an effort to curtail such actions, they are liars when they describe the clear blues skies of yet another Republican administration.

Honestly, how can I believe them?  How can I accept their statements as fact when the facts I see are that they are not truthful, which again my Mom taught me, if you aren't telling the truth in full then you aren't being truthful.

I assume Frank Lutz would have a different spin, but I believe I trust my Mom more than Frank Lutz.

And you know, I believe the last 10 years of this country have just about stretched everybody thin, to the point of breaking.  We have established a low brow estimation on all of our known problems and hope that nothing happens until we become smart enough to tackle them.

We tally up science as if it is a consensus rather than facts vs. fiction, and we talk about jobs when we react with political efforts that promote the wealthy without producing any jobs.

We constantly act against our own best interests when people, of some supposed stature, get up in front of us and tell us what THEY think are our best bets.

I don't need someone to lead me through life, but I want someone to lead the country reliably, knowledgeably and with a true understanding of history. 

And I don't need half of the country listening to the lies and yet not recognize the liars.

An as such, I would recommend Jon Huntsman as the next Republican candidate because that would mean we would actually have a choice.
Otherwise we'll watch the crowd of so called "achievers" get whittled down to one inept and unacceptable candidate that couldn't get elected as dog catcher in your own town.

Comments

[Bill Perkins]

It's always encouraging to come back and see your column is getting the attention it deserves.

[Roger W. Norman]

You are indeed a hard taskmaster, Bill Perkins.

Just for the record I have been in pain 24/7 for the past month or so. My hands don't even work to type most of the time, but I think we've finally figured out what to do.

A year of pain is more than I would wish on anyone.

Roger

[Bill Perkins]

Roger, I'm sincerely sorry to hear of your health issues. I'm familiar with back pain that emanates throughout my hips and legs when it flares up, but some epidural shots that have kept some of that under control. Otherwise, I've never really had a chronic pain issue, but the back problem has given me a window into that world. It is difficult to function when you're hurting, but I hope you'll be able to make some progress. Best regards, Bill