For the last several years, I’ve written an annual Independence Day open letter. Each year, I usually begin by pasting in a speech of someone else from the past, like last year was Theodore Roosevelt, relating to what I’m writing about.

This year, I’m not.

This year, instead, I’m going to be boldly frank. Honesty, is the best policy, right?

On Obama

Not a day goes by that I don’t see a single piece of criticism for our POTUS. Indeed, there are a few things we should be criticizing him about. Namely having to play this ridiculous game we’ve created in American Politics where every president must be a 2 term president to really get anything done, and can only tackle the big stuff his second term. Otherwise he has to play right-of-center, unless he’s GOP. My criticism of President Obama comes mainly from his unwillingness to just ignore this ’2 term requirement’, and instead played hardball with the GOP from the get go. Unfortunately people in this country have really short attention spans, many of which have no clue today what “Fukushima Daiichi” means, despite it being all over the news a few months ago. They forget it was GW Bush and Co. that gave us 2 wars (1 of which we DEFINITELY should not have been in) that cost us billions and too many lives. They forget it was GW Bush and Co. that gave us two tax cuts that drastically reduced revenue. They forget it was the GOP pushing for deregulation that allowed the financial markets to spin wildly out of control in an orgy of greed, and they forget that it was the GOP pushing for deregulation that allows big corporations to pollute our environment. I criticism Obama for not wiling to really step up and tell the GOP to go fuck themselves, and removing his lips from their asses. We could have passed an excellent healthcare reform bill… but kowtowing to GOP interests turned it into a watered down mush. We could have had a lot of things, had we not had to deal with the party of not just no, but HELL NO. It does not matter what is put forward by President Obama, the GOP is against it. Their mission is to see that a black man only serves one term as President.

Yes, I’m pulling the race card here because it seems pretty clear to me that the incessant anger and resentment of the President, and the constant idiotic challenging of his citizenship, stems from deep rooted racism. No, they’re not standing there chanting ‘hang the N*****’, but they are pretty damn close. John McCain, their Lord and Savior during the ’08 Campaign, may or may not have legally been an US Citizen despite the Senate saying he is. No one would question a white guy from the Panama Canal Zone running for president with a huge legal question hanging over his very own birth certificate that would have ended up before the SCOTUS. However, a black man from Hawaii from mixed racial parents one of which was Kenyan, well you bet your bottom dollar that we got ourselves a bona fide usurper. Shucks, if it was 1950, there would have been no shortages of tree limbs and other sturdy places to make him dangle from just for even thinking that he had a right to the White House. The time when racism was the “in” thing all across the US wasn’t too long ago. Some may say it died in the 1970′s, but it is clear to me that it still goes on today. I’ve seen it with my own two eyes and I’ve been disgusted by it. So while some Obama-haters out there may like to pride themselves as being colorblind, pointing out one or more token minority friends, deep down that ‘uneasy feeling’ they get when they hear him speak is not because of the teleprompter (which EVERY MODERN PRESIDENT has used), but because he’s black.

Will Obama get my vote in 2012? Yep. Because out of around 500 campaign promises he made, he’s got a damn good track record, despite occasionally having to kiss GOP ass. Which is substantially better than the GOP’s 2010 campaign promises. I will make one statement here that is liable to cause a few people some grief, but that is if you vote for someone in a campaign based off of promises they make, and not their character, you’re an idiot. I didn’t vote for Obama because he promised to do this or that, or even because of his “Hope and Change” movement. I voted for him because he was exactly what we needed now. Someone cool, someone collected, someone intelligent, and someone willing to do the diplomatic work needed to fix our horribly shattered image abroad. McCain just didn’t bring that to the table, and Palin made me want to leave for Canada. Obama, though, is articulate, intelligent, and has a good sense about him. Knowing how the political game works, I knew for a fact some of his biggest challenges would have to wait until his second term. But, he was successful in de-discriminating our armed forces, and is now forcing the GOP to play chicken: run the economy off the rails for a second time, or, do what is right and raise taxes. He will get my vote again, despite my being a registered Green Party member (and those in the Green Party can sit their asses down… until we get our matters resolved unfortunately we’ll be making strategic votes for time to come).

On the GOP

I’ve always been at odds with the Republican Party, but always respected the need for a conservative balance to the liberal ideas I adhere to. However, in this last year the Republican Party has gone off the deep-end, in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, and Arizona, just to name a few. Their non-stop anti-union, anti-choice, anti-poor, anti-freedom campaign has really gotten me tired. I used to say if the best person for the job was a republican I would vote for them. Today, I cannot in good conscience ever place a ballot entry next to a republican name ever again. For me to explain in detail my disgust for the GOP, I would have to write a novel-length blog post. Let’s just say there’s enough out there in news articles to make my point.

On The People

Folks, it’s our 235th Birthday as the United States of America. In 235 years this small rag-tag group of colonies has changed the world. I would argue that not since the Romans has a single people had so great an influence far and wide. However, we need to decide now what that influence is. Right now that influence comes in the form of selective death. We kill some with bombs, and we let others die from oppression, starvation, poverty, and disease. We manufacture enemies, we use words but do not know the meaning of those words (like socialism), and we have become incredibly xenophobic. However, we’re the one of the last colonial empires on earth. We have military bases (colonies) all over the place. We’re constantly expected to be the world police, for good and for evil.

Well, we can change our violent nature and get rid of our debt at the same time. We desperately need to cut defense spending (which, is a misnomer, as it is often offensive spending). We need to make sure the UN is pulling its weight and actively pursue peacekeeping efforts through the United Nations. We need to be able to tell even strategic allies that their human rights violations are not going to be tolerated, and proceed with sanctions and the complete withdrawal of interests. We need to stop providing monetary assistance to anyone, and yes that includes Israel. We can send food, we can send equipment, but we won’t send cash. We need to first take care of our people at home, because our nation can only be graded by the welfare of our poorest citizens. We need to get off this idea that we’re “Taxed Enough Already”, and come to finally admit we like what we pay for by taxes: roads, schools, emergency services, infrastructure, etc.

We need to stop vilifying public employees regardless of union affiliation. I know it might be hard for some to understand, but once our tax dollars go into “payroll”, it’s not our money any more. If the police officers, firefighters, and teachers want to form a union, which is their constitutional right, and pay for it out of their paychecks, that is their right. It’s not supporting unions with taxpayer funds, as the TEA Party would like you to believe. It is those individuals freely associating themselves, which is their constitutional right. End that right, and you might as well burn the constitution while you’re at it. Telling public employees what they can and cannot do with their pay would be akin to your or my employers saying “We don’t like alcohol, so we’re forbidding you from using your paycheck, which is company funds, for that. If you want booze find another job.” Public sector employees did not cause the huge debt. It was deregulation and an orgy of greed. In short, it was the Private Sector.

We need to stop with this idea that the Private Sector is our lord and savior and everything can be fixed through that route. Do we already forget the days of child labor? We are taking for granted things like fire exits, 8 hour working days, and 5 day working weeks. Remember, the Private Sector isn’t looking out for anyone but Mr. Profit, and if that means having one less exit door, or not paying for breaks, or allowing lunches, or giving you weekends, they WILL DO IT. They have in the past, and given the opportunity, they will in the future. Some things are best public, some are best private. I would like to see more social-capitalism, but I can make do.

We have a huge challenge before us, if we are willing to take it head on. It will need us to do critical thinking, independent research and analysis, and to dare I say turn off the tube. If you don’t already have sites like Politifact.com and Propublica.org bookmarked, please do so. I also invite you to do something extraordinary. I invite you to re-register your political party as Green, and start participating in local chapters and online discussions. Only when we have a practical third-party can we hold Democrats accountable, and challenge the ignorance spouted by Republicans.

We can take back our country if we start demanding corporations be held accountable for their actions, remove their status as ‘persons’, make them pay their taxes, and tax the benefactors of their greed. We can take our country back when we watch chains and Multi-nationals die, and return to small local chains and local businesses that put their money back into the economy, that have civic pride, and are held accountable. We need another Wal-Mart like we need another hole in our heads, but we need more locally owned shops that have a steady stream of customers.

We can do this, if we want it.