If you watch television and are a registered voter, you don’t need to have another person tell you that you need to vote for or against a candidate next Tuesday. So I won’t.
You already know that as a Democrat I believe my party supports people far better than the GOP and its close ties to business.
When my father used to use that simple comparison, I would always think it had to be more complicated than that. But in fact he had it right all along.
Look at any newspaper: The All-Republican group of Park County Commissioners voted earlier this month to allow El Paso Exploration and Production to drill a trio of exploratory wells in search of rich natural gas supplies. While the commissioner group added some possible protections, the approval says little for consideration of the long run which could lead to another 300+ wells puncturing the landscape, pumping unknown and some-toxic chemicals into the ground to release the supplies. It doesn’t say anything about the likely round-the-clock traffic that will decimate the area north of Hartsel. There are, after all, few voters in the area and the prospect of a few million dollars for county coffers down the road outweighs their quality of life.
Just look at our children. More than one in three kids in Park County schools are now eligible for reduced-rate lunches, and in some areas nearly half. It relates to the poverty level and reduced income brought about by the Republican-created recession. The money to fund such programs doesn’t grow on trees and comes from your tax dollars. Of course, some folks who didn’t live during the depression might not appreciate the idea of soup-lines and starving families. They cry NO NEW TAXES and blame the Democrats.
Look at our Health Care System, only partially repaired during the first two years of the Obama Administration. Democrats led the way in creating some reform – believing people in our community we call America deserve a dignified level of care regardless of their status in life. The Health Insurance Industry spent millions in lobbying money to assure that they could continue to profit off of the health misfortunes of others.
Why not make money by refusing to provide even basic care to those without the money in an industry that still gets away charging $700 a month to -- RENT -- an oxygen contractor that can be purchased new for only a little more than a fee for a single month? That’s one from personal experience. My party compromised too much and instead created a mandatory insurance system which stripped out some of the injustices but created others as a way to compromise with a GOP US Senate with its heels in. But the error was still slanted for the people.
Look at our Financial System. The Republican Senate, only a few years ago operating in tandem with a Republican House and White House, put the United State deep into debt by using credit to fund two wars and cutting taxes for the most wealthy. They changed bankruptcy laws to make it harder for individuals to get a fresh start and looked the other way when the Banking industry was able to change interest rates at whim and stuck credit card users stuck in a cycle of debt with usury level interest rates. The Democratic Party has made some progress there, too, by creating a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help look out for the little guy who has had no weapons to fight when the companies force people from their homes or try to level the playing field.
When you’re sick of all of the negative advertising, much of it paid for by nice-sounding organizations that serve as shills for corporate interests, remember that it was a Supreme Court created by George W Bush that led to an “activist” ruling allowing unlimited and secret sponsorship of them. It’s using money to continue to move the wealthiest Americans into the role of Kings.
If you care about people over profits, the support for the Democratic Party is obvious.
This column was originally published in the October 29, 2010 edition of The Flume, the paper of record for Park County, Colorado. The monthly column is titled "Democratically Speaking"
This column was originally published in the October 29, 2010 edition of The Flume, the paper of record for Park County, Colorado. The monthly column is titled "Democratically Speaking"
