A glimmer of hope
Every now and then I see something that causes me to hold out hope... hope that Americans have had it up to here with the politics of hate, division and diversion.
Can it be that the long night of oppressive neo-con rule is coming to an end? The GOP's election strategy has been to demonize their opponents since the days of Newt Gingrich.
Democrats, they warn, will tax average Americans into poverty.
Instead we got "trickle-down" Republican policies that routed the wealth upwards, leaving working-class Americans at the doorstep of poverty.
Democrats, they warn, are soft on national defense, will destroy America's military and will strengthen our enemies around the world.
Instead we got Republican neo-con policies that botched the real war in Afghanistan, led us into an unnecessary war in Iraq...and has over-stretched the US military to such a point now that America can't even provide the troops and resources to finish the real war in Afghanistan. And Pakistan.
Democrats, they now warn, are "socialists"...who will redistribute the wealth.
They don't seem to see the contradiction of the Bush White House redistributing nearly a trillion in taxpayer money to Wall Street and banking firms.
But hey, I'm supposed to be talking about hope...hope that Americans finally "get it"...even those in Red States. Here's something that sparked a glimmer of hope.
Remember Rep. Michele Bachmann, a neo-McCarthyist who said on MSNBC last week that Obama "may have anti-American views" and then called for a media "expose" of anti-American Democrats in Congress?
Well, the hopeful part is that the GOP fundraising committee pulled the plug on Bachmann.
From The Associated Press: "WASHINGTON (AP) — National Republicans have yanked TV advertising for Minnesota GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann's re-election bid after she suggested Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may have "anti-American" views and urged an investigation of unpatriotic lawmakers.[..]"
The most hopeful note of all is that Bachmann's opponent has received $1.3 million from people all over the country since her comments, and it's growing.
People all over the country sent over a million dollars to a Minnesota congressional race. Imagine that.
