I Don't Want the NeoCons in Charge Any More

For the past eight years, well, really 12, the neocons have been running things. They wasted millions of taxpayer dollars to go after a sitting president, and, for the first time in history, a First Lady, for something that was irrelevant to the administration since it happened fifteen years previous, and ultimately proved to be nothing. (Oh, how it must gall them to see Hillary Clinton running the State Department!)

They vigorously supported deregulation, revived the trickle down economics that caused the recession in the 1980s, spawned a president who was the embodiment of the Peter Principle, dismissed as unimportant millions of dollars that disappeared during a war that did nothing to combat terror but everything to suck up billions of our dollars and destabilize a region to enable terrorism, proudly supported the exportation of thousands of formerly American jobs, promoted the erosion of the Constitution, cheered a two bit mayor turned governor with a trail of questionable and unethical actions as the savior of the movement, and loudly suppported giving billions of taxpayer dollars with no tracking of how it is used to bolster an industry that thinks that it is important to give hefty bonuses to executives who orchestrated the industry's failure.

And yet they were surprised when they lost the election. And now they are sanctimoniously blaming the current economic crisis on the evil liberals. They are outraged at the idea of the American people knowing how their money is spent. They are offended at the idea that the government should put money into education and health care. They are indignant that the wealthiest Americans be expected to pay higher taxes.

They cling to the myth that Americans are right of center, with center being moderately conservative instead of truly center. No wonder they were surprised when they lost the election.

Here's a clue: Trickle down economics, with tax breaks to the wealthy, didn't work in the 1980s. I can personally vouch for the fact that nothing trickled down to me. In my modest clerical job, my salary was frozen, a department of eight busy people was reduced to six and we were expected to get the same amount of work done in a day (I still have dreams about that period), and my rent increased by 50%. The tax cut resulted in a check for $27 and a reduction in a refund the following year. (I was earning in a low enough tax bracket that I actually received a modest refund.)

Don't tell me that tax cuts work. All they do is allow wealthy people to keep more money. They do nothing to restore jobs, pay medical bills, prevent mortgage foreclosures, allow middle class America to afford health care, or get people spending again. The wealthy just do not spend in a way to keep the economy moving. You will not see them frequenting small business. And you sure won't see them shopping at WalMart or Target or Macys'.

I want the neocons shoved aside. I want to end the piecemeal approach to fixing the economy, and see something comprehensive that will actually have a chance to work.

So take a hike, neocons. Shut up already about socialism and overspending. Go play your "Mine" games in a corner, and give the grownups a chance to fix this mess you made.