Us and Them

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Here is my latest complaint about politics in this country. If you voted for Barack Obama because you thought he was going to change Washington D.C., then you deserve every bit of disappointment you're feeling today.
  • The American Presidency is one of the WEAKEST heads of state on the planet
  • The powers-that-be in D.C. are extremely happy with the status quo - the special interests (teachers, lawyers, doctors, big pharma, big oil, farmers...) and the career politicians will continue to do all they can to resist change
Between these two reasons and a hundred or so others I could list, it's no surprise at all that Obama hasn't changed Washington. To all you independents and Democrats who are crying foul, get over it.

Now let's examine the Republican + Tea Party message. "How's that hope and change working out for you?" implies that nothing has changed. "We need to take back our government" and "Obama has implemented his socialist agenda and we need to undo it." both make it sound like Obama was the most successful President ever; that he's conducted a complete re-write of American government in just two years.

So which is it? Both of these things can't be true. The Democrats and cynics are mad at him for not delivering the change he promised. The Republicans and Militia men are trying to tell us that our nation is falling apart because he's changed so much of it.

This is like the people who say they want smaller government and then complain that the Federal government is not giving their state enough money. It's like the people who swear they support a free market but somehow farm subsidies and trade tariffs are acceptable. The Christian Right thinks that the evolutionists are winning and thus poisoning the minds of our youth with this crazy science stuff. The Evolutionists are screaming that the Christian Right is winning and thus poisoning the minds of our youth with this crazy Creationism stuff.



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