Budget Crisis Questions For Obama And Boehner

This is not the post I wanted to write today - or ever, when you come right down to it. I prefer to share the things that make me happy. Instead, this is what you get, because I'm disgusted and angry!

Hey Obama, Boehner:

Although this message is for the whole gang, I'm addressing the question to you two. You've chosen to become the "faces" of this selfishly motivated, well orchestrated and highly artificial "crisis". I've left off honorary titles, because you are not acting with honor. I've left off any courteous form of address, because you are not behaving courteously; not to each other, nor to the millions of Americans you were elected to serve.

THE PREAMBLE:

My mother is 85 years old. Neither I nor anybody on this planet knows how much time is left to her. What I do know is that worrying about whether her next Social Security check will be issued on time, if at all, is not something that leads to a longer life. Worrying about whether her health insurance carrier will expect her to make up the difference if they don't receive their cut of her Medicare for the month doesn't help either.

THE QUESTION:

How are you going to return my mother's life to her intact when you've finished using it to play your peevish, petty, childish, self-aggrandizing name-calling games? When did you ask for or receive permission to use this type of fear-mongering tactic to allow yourself to strut around feeling important? I don't recall any campaign promises along the lines of "If you elect me I will make certain that the security of older Americans will be threatened just long enough to make me look good for the upcoming elections." Did I miss that speech? It's long past time for you posturing ninnies to realize that you are just the hired help, and you need to get down to some serious work.

Truthfully, Mom's OK for the short term, but who knows how long this idiocy will continue? After all, this is the government that stood by while millions of people lost their homes, in great part due to inefficient, if not quite illegal, banking practices. It is also the government that eventually decided to come to the rescue of the banks rather than the dispossessed ex-homeowners.

It is the government that faced the problems of unaffordable health insurance costs by making it illegal for citizens not to purchase unaffordable insurance.

It is the government that holds that corporations which,...

... although they cannot vote, can influence the outcome of elections with nearly unbridled spending.

... although they cannot serve on a jury, can influence lawmakers to stack the legal deck in their favor through nearly unbridled spending.

... although they cannot breathe air nor drink water, can weaken the protection of natural resources and air quality through nearly unbridled spending.

... although they cannot serve in the military, can reap ridiculous profits from war-mongering, influence peddling and overpricing.

I have often heard it said that "We are fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here." I believe THEY are fighting US over there, because they know that it costs us trillions of dollars more to wage war in their lands than to strengthen our homeland security. Look at our weakened economy. They also know that much of that cost will be in the form of military hardware left behind, some of which will inevitably fall into their hands. Are we to take comfort knowing that some American corporations have still made profits on that hardware?

I want to make it clear that I am not speaking against our military personnel, nor trying to belittle their impressive achievements. I feel that they are the real leaders in the areas of courage, loyalty and dedication to protecting this country. I hate to see their efforts so poorly rewarded in terms of health care and support for veterans, while being so callously exploited by politicos seeking photo ops and sound bytes for their election campaigns. When they are not simply taking credit outright.

But most of all this is the "government of the people, by the people, for the people", and YOU, Obama, and YOU, Boehner, are not permitted to make it perish from the earth. Don't think that our memories will falter by the time the next elections come around. I'll be quite busy reminding everyone I know.