The financial crisis is affecting lots of people and even some traditional Republicans, who for years have endorsed the lack of regulation that created this disaster have had enough. It turns out that decency and honesty which are real values were missing in the halls of big business and the halls of congress. I cannot remember a President since Jimmy Carter who really held big business’ feet to the fire. Many of the conservatives idolize Ronald Reagan and while he was preferable to our current occupant of the White House he was no paragon of virtue either. Reagan was going to get government off everybody’s backs and he began to strip away the regulations that had been put in place after the Great Depression. With Reagan we had Iran-Contra where we were actually trading arms for hostages. Ollie North and John Poindexter were lying to Congress. Then came Bush 41, who was at heart an excellent man but he too was surrounded by individuals who led in time to the savings and loan debacle. Then came Clinton who was brilliant and had some bright minds around him but the Republicans spent more time investigating whether a White House intern had sex with Clinton and whether he’d done something illegal in an Arkansas land deal. None of those incidents taken together have had the negative impact of the current fiscal fiasco.
The party of Barry Goldwater has slipped a long way from a party of principled politicians to group of hacks and criminals more intent on lining their own pockets and those of corporate executives than of really protecting the interests of average Americans. I love it when these crooks preface their remarks with “the American people.” They don’t give a damn about the real American people. The United States faces a landmark election, an election as important as any in our history. You can bet the Republican dirty tricksters who have already been gerrymandering will try to rig yet another election. Be prepared for more voter fraud and hanging chads. They will not give up easy. I hope and pray everyday that real Americans can restore our country to its proper place in the world and at home.