Yo, Marchers! Where Ya Been...?

Wow.  My fellow Americans, finally appearing to pay attention.  They’re not paying attention, of course.  They are, in the words of Stephen Stills a long time ago, “singing songs and carrying signs, mostly say hooray for our side….”  Still I wonder, where the hell have they been?

“They” were the crowd that descended on the nation’s capitol with so many positive vibes.  The signs were sooo poignant.  “Obamacare makes me sick,” said one.  “I’m not your ATM,” opined another.  Still other signs skipped all those tricky word things and went with imagery, like Obama in a Hitler mustache.  So, he’s a far righty?  Others, clearly conflicted about where to put Obama on the political spectrum, labeled him a communist.  Or is it lefty?  Oh, well, as long as they’ve labeled him something extreme and they’re supported by a like-minded mob it shows they’re paying attention.  Not.

Again I ask, where the hell have these people been?  And why, when they finally did come out, did they march against their own interests?

Where were they for Ronny Ray-guns?  Until W emerged, Reagan was arguably our worst modern President, at least if you want to use spending other people’s money as your yardstick.  Our federal debt went from $900 billion in 1980 to more than 3 trillion under Ronnie before George Senior kicked in a trillion of his own spending.  It was unprecedented. 

Understand, that’s how Reagan got us out of the doldrums of the 80’s, he ran up the federal debt by spending money future generations would have to repay.  George HW did the same thing.  Now, Ronnie claimed to do it to beat the Russians, and George HW did it because Ronnie did it, but the point is, they were spending our children’s money to run their government.  I was furious!  And I was alone.

I was alone when W took office and redefined bad leadership.  In his first year he passed a trillion dollar tax cut, which went primarily to the richest Americans.  It was a joke and it put our government a trillion in debt right off the bat.  W finished as strong and wrong as he started.  In just his final year in office he ran up more than a trillion, the all-time single-year record so far.  Where were the protests? 

Where were the protests when we decided to invade Iraq?  Please don’t tell me that Saddam was a threat and everyone thought so.  I didn’t think so.  I said as much.  I mentioned constantly that we’d been flying over the country, dozens of times a day for a decade.  They couldn’t hide a mouse fart in that desert.  But no, somebody waved a flag and called Saddam a name or two and in we went.  We’ve been spending 2 billion a week there for years and since that money isn’t in regular appropriations, it means our grandkids will pay for it.  Why no protests for that?  What the hell, people, this health care you hate so much will save lives.  The Iraq war, which started under false premises, has killed 4,000 Americans.  Why has no one marched for them?

Why are people marching against health care?  Why would they march against something as bloodless as health care when they couldn’t be roused by Americans dying over a war built from lies?   

I’ll tell you why.  Because there weren’t any big, silent corporate sponsors to help pull together a phony national protest against the Iraq war, that’s why.  The very same insurance companies and lobbyists who organized the so-called spontaneous town hall “protests” were behind the Washington march.  Former GOP Congressman Dick Armey is one of the prime movers and he’s been a shill for the anti-health care crowd ever since he slithered out of office a few years ago. 

The saddest thing of course is that they were marching against their own interests.  Not only are they acting as pawns for the insurance industry, they’re hurting themselves.  Trust me, the only people who won’t benefit by health care reform are millionaires, and the only millionaires at that march were the people behind the scenes pulling the strings. 

So.  If they weren’t paying attention for Reagan and Bush One, if they weren’t paying attention for W’s fat-cat tax cuts and his phony war, is it even remotely possible that they’re paying attention this time?  Nah.