When we are at war, and a soldier deserts his or her post, leaves, goes to the enemy and tries to help the enemy and hurt our soldiers, that is considered treason. In other words, broadly speaking, if you try to make war against or seriously injure the American government, which is basically its people, you are committing treason. But, every day in Congress, and for the last 8 years at least, Republicans have been working against the American people and in favor of international corporations. In some cases, as for example, currently, they work for American health care corporations whose interests are their stockholders, some of whom are not even Americans, and against the American People.
For some reason, apparently Americans believe that anyone is allowed to say anything they want on radio or television with impunity. Consequently, Americans do not fight back against a whole range of commentators, politicians, lobbyists, and owners of major international corporations who seek to destroy the American Middle Class while pretending to support America. This latter is of course a lie. Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal has become an American Citizen in order to live here and take advantage of all American society has to offer. But he is not a true American. He uses his media empire to support other corporations whose philosophy and policies are the same as his. Their goals are to destroy the American Middle Class. That is why all his outlets are fighting health care, unions, green energy and regulations on unfettered Wall Street gamblers. This support is done surreptitiously, by the transfer of obligations between corporations. Some do not want to be associated with certain Right Wing interests, like some of the Murdoch media spokesmen. So they use interlocking relationships. Who is to say what transpires in a quiet conversation between two members of boards of directors of two different companies with two different objectives. I may want something to which you have access. It could be a favorable editorial…news is all for sale these days…very little news is delivered objectively. Certainly not by Murdoch media. They have a point of view. So you get me a favorable editorial on television, and I get you access to a senior Republican Senator on a committtee who will fight against regulation on my company. It’s not in writing. It is guaranteed by the power that each party brings to the discussion.
Let’s take the oil and energy companies. They are fighting cap-and-trade and alternative energy sources as fiercely as they possibly can. But the gasoline companies know that Americans are one step away from nationalizing them after the $4.50 per gallon oil price fiasco. They know that the next time they do something stupid, they might not get away with it. It might generate an irrational response. We are all pretty committed to free enterprise of course, but as an angry response…yes…we could see government regulation, done on what would be termed an emergency basis, that would clamp down on oil companies very severely. So what do they do? They create a subliminally charged telebision message that quietly runs in the background across all statiions, very horizontal and not too deep. The message is that oil companies are basically energy companies and, like the rest of us, they want clean energy. They run these ads even though they know that it often takes forever for government to act. Partially because there are states where people will elect reactionaries in any political climate.
ENRON began as a company called Northern Natural Gas, of Omaha, Nebraska. Twenty years later, this company, formerly regulated, formerly providing excellent natural gas services to homes throughout the middle part of the country for many, many years became a private speculator, owner of pipe lines, controlling and speculating on all forms of energy. ENRON itself, which had been founded to purchase such companies as Northern Natural Gas to take advantage of an era when regulatory rules were removed, became so powerful that it could literally shut off the electricity in parts of California. It could shut down hospitals and turn off air conditioning in homes. Companies went bankrupt and people literally died. At what point does greed and neglect of social responsibilities become criminal? In the case of ENRON, it was not a $400 billion looting of California, or deaths from heat or bankrupt companies. No. The government didn’t step in and say: enough. It was only when employees and stockholders lost money, when ENRON went bankrupt and hurt Wall Street that there were investigations and eventually people went to jail, or had mysterious heart attacks just days before going to jail.
It is said by some in the Senate who are working frantically to try to get health care reform to the public this year that 14,000 people a day, right now, are losing health care coverage. 47 million people have no health care. The Republicans break that down–according to their own not-very-credible calculations–so that it turns out that, according to them, only about ten people are really without health care. But for some reason 76% of people surveyed nationally say that health care is their biggest problem and they want it solved. The Republicans say that many people will lose their private health care and be “forced” onto public health care. There are a lot of people out there right now who would love to be “forced” onto public health care…Medicare, for example. Republicans say that tax breaks and health care savings accounts are the solution. Well, if that is the case, the Republicans were in power from 2000 to 2008, why isn’t the problem solved? We have had all kinds of tax breaks. We have health care savings accounts. They don’t make the smallest, slightest dent in the problem. People like Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee know this. If some people outside Congress know about it, then surely Republicans who legislated these things know about it. So, what does that mean? Really, what does it mean? It means that they are lying. There is no point in being nice about it. We need health care reform. Ryan and Alexander are lying to the public to prevent the public from getting health care. We know that because a. they lied and b. those kinds of lies, if successful, would stop health care reform, leaving us right where we are now.
Why would we impute motives to legislators because they don’t agree with us? Well, because two plus two makes four. When a memo from the Republican National Committee, sent to all Republican legislators and all those working to promote the Republican agenda says that the job is to stall health care legislation…delay it until the enormous propaganda campaign against it will persuade the public with outrageous lies that people should go against common sense and their own best interests. When American people are dying for lack of health care and an organization tries to stop legislation that will help the American people, when does that become treason? When does free speech become shouting “fire” in a crowded theater?
The Republicans say that they are merely trying to find a better way. And the Democrats, because they now hold all the cards, don’t want to seem domineering, even though the more they try to engage the Republicans, the more the Republicans go on television and cry “rape.” In other words, the Republicans have figured out that if they keep pretending to be shut out, people will believe them. The Democrats should shut them out completely and just get good things done without them to show the American People what good government looks like. So, if you are saying what is patently not true…that the President is a “dictator” and that he is trying to “socialize” the country and that he is illegally president because he was born in Hawaii, and all this plus literally hundreds of insults and lies per day on radio and television…when does this become trying to “injure” the vast number (76%) of Americans who want health care? All these diversions are attempts to kill a health care bill. And when do we leave off the controversial and get into treasonous.
We need to get serious about this. The weenies at Justice and the ironically weak-kneed Harry Reid, a very tough guy with a very weak attitude for some reason, will not get this done. We need an organization to make these pundits and congress people pay when they tell lies that effect our lives and the lives of our children. Senator Jim DeMint, has said, that the Republicans need to defeat anything that President Obama wants to do. He has said on the floor of the Senate that he wants to destroy the Democratic agenda. He is essentially saying that he will hold 47 million families hostage for a foolish, partisan political attack.
We need to find a way to have the Justice department take people like Jim DeMint to court for espousing serious harm to the American People. He is no different from any spy or saboteur. Like the Republicans, they always have an excuse as to why they did something. The Republicans lie, as do bank robbers and murderers about what they did and why they did it. No one says, “Oh yeah, I stole the plans to a nuclear submarine and gave them to the Russians.” They say that they happened to be in a room with the documents and they thought it would be nice if they copied them and made wallpaper for their son’s room.
This is all about money. Campaign funds. Democrat Max Baucus who chairs the finance committee, one of those working on health care plans, got over $1.8 million from health care companies and he is doing nothing to get a public health care option. A public health care option would force the private companies to compete in a state or region with at least one entity that has good quality service at a reasonable price. Baucus isn’t the only one. Senator Enzi, Republican, on the other committee in the Senate working on health care, the so-called “Kennedy” committee, where he is the ranking member, got $579.000. But Sherrod Brown, of Ohio, a Democrat, is on the same committee and is in favor of universal health care and a public option. He is also in favor of making pharmaceutical companies compete for government business to lower drug costs. He received $1.3 million. On the other hand, Senator Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, who should be voting for a public option, has been holding out. He received over $1 million dollars in campaign contributions from health care companies. Senator Blanche Lincoln, from Arkansas, the poorest state in the country, where public health care should be a major concern, received $995,000. She is against a public option. Arkansas needs a new Democratic Senator.
Senator Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, $694,000…against public option. Republican Senators Hatch of Utah and Grassley of Iowa, both against the public option. Hatch got just under $1.3 million and Grassley, just over $1.3 million. Senator Cardin of Maryland, got $1.3 million…voting yes for a public option. Senator Collins and Senator Snowe, both Republicans, both from Maine, got $750,000 and about $450,000 respectively. They are both voting no and should be removed from office by the good people of the lovely state of Maine. Senator Barrasso, a doctor, a Republican, and a strong complainant against legal settlements against doctors (wonder why?) only in office for a short time, has received almost $300,000 already. He’s against almost anything that smacks of reducing costs for patients. Senator Spector of Pennsylvania, a recently converted Democrat, has received $1.3 million from health care lobbyists but seems to favor a public option. Senator Dorgan of North Dakota is an unusual case. He has received only $300,000 from health care sources. He is a very strong liberal on most causes and on universal health care. Yet we still do not know his opinion on a public option for health care. And finally, Senator Wyden, Democrat of Oregon has received over $650,000, but he has not committed. What we do know about Senator Wyden is that he has submitted a strong bill for health care reform and he has been a very strong advocate for the people on health care for some time. So we don’t know the problem there. But if he doesn’t vote for it…throw the bum out.
We need to toughen up in this country. If someone in Congress is doing something deliberately to harm your family and those of other average citizens, you need to take some kind of action. Our elected representatives need to know that they are not on their own when we elect them to act on our behalf. And those who would deliberately lie to make many of our citizens vote erroneously against their best interests and those of their families–we need to find a way to punish those people for treason. If it is treason, i.e. hurting millions of American families, but it is technically legal, then we need to find a way to severely punish them that is technically legal.