Well, it stinks. It isn't a deal that progressives liked, not many Democrats either. And down the road where the can is rolling around, are more stinky things waiting, many of them the same ones we just watched Washington play dodge ball with for too many weeks. I joined a rally this Tuesday in my community to protest Paul Ryan's vote. Of course Mr. Ryan was the author of much of this mess, if not the single author then certainly the scribe and the town crier. He took his version of Cut, Slash and Burn to his tea party friends and what resulted was the debacle we have recently watched, the republican congress people dressed like cheer leaders for corporate money and the wealthiest of Americans.
There were about 15 people at the rally with signs about Mr. Ryan losing his balance - as when he ordered a $350 bottle of wine for dinner. (That wasn't in southern Wisconsin, our wine here costs about $8.95 for red and sometimes $10.95 for white). Someone had a sign that was elegant in its simplicity and considering the noon hour sported temperatures of 90 with a heat index of 111, simplicity was refreshing: We Live In Your District, Too. So true. How many millionaires live in this town of 60,000? In this county? Can't be too many people. But there are lots and lots of Common People who live in the county.
We stood on the corners and showed our signs. Mine said Don't Destroy Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. One woman asked me if I had read The Deal before I came down to rally. I had not. She pointed to my sign and said - "Well, we don't have to worry about those, they're safe, they aren't going to touch those now." Are we that naive? I told her I wasn't that trusting and when this Committee forms, if it looks like a small version of congress then where will we be? Back on the phones, back in the streets.
And come to think of it, we should be in the streets all the time now. We are witnessing the bold theft of whatever it was we expected and believed our Democracy was and is but will never be again. Signs?! At least those but our bodies and our actions and our voices will be required more and more.
Here are some of the things I've been reading when I sit down to the Internet.
From People for The American Way:
"We can do this ... because we must do this. The Tea Party-created debt limit crisis was yet another reminder of how high the stakes are ... and how high they continue to be. So many of you have given time, energy and money to PFAW's Recall the Right campaign to take back the Wisconsin Senate from the Far Right and turn the tide nationally against Tea Party economics. THANK YOU.
The debt deal and the crisis from which it was born reveal the dysfunction of our political culture. The right-wing Republican positions on taxation, spending and deficits -- which unfortunately have set the agenda this last year -- have absolutely nothing to do with sound economics ... and everything to do with a dogged commitment to extreme right-wing orthodoxy and making the government, at every level, subservient to powerful corporate interests."
Be sure to check out this AlterNet Hot News & Views link to Rachel Maddow talking about the upcoming Wisconsin elections and dirty politics.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/?akid=7356.297081.LJc_r1&id=643623&rd=1&t=2
Also, for a breath of fresh air, watch Matt Damon school the media on teachers.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/643618/matt_damon_continues_defending_teachers%2C_makes_libertarians_look_silly/#paragraph3
It's less intense on the thermometer today. A relief. Still, I can see that dented can shining in the sun down the dusty road where it lies. I have work to do.
Power To The Common People!
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