How Does it Feel?

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By Mike Malloy (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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I have a question for all those working-class Democrats -- especially the ones employed directly or indirectly by the U.S. auto industry -- who in the 80s became so-called "Reagan Democrats" and voted Republican for the next 20 years. The question is this: Given the "fuck you" attitude being contemptuously displayed by Senate Republicans where it concerns a rescue plan for your industry, your job, your life, how do you feel now about your abandonment of the Democratic Party?

Huh? Got an answer? Nothing deep. Just a quick sentence or two would do. I mean, how does it feel to have spent all those years voting your bigotry and your willful political ignorance and your sheep-like need to be manipulated by the thugs who infest right-wing talk radio, and now that your whole life is collapsing because of the policies of these Republicans (who never gave a shit about you anyway) you get to watch and listen as they kick you and your family to the curb and say, naw, we don't think the "taxpayers" wanna bail out the auto industry; we don't care if another three or four million more families head for the homeless shelters and food stamp offices.

Seriously. I'm just curious. Because, you know, there were a whole clutch of us on the near left (we were called liberals) who warned about this happening; who screamed and beat our fists on the floor for years and said to our fellow Democrats -- don't be fooled, don't buy the lies, stay in the Democratic Party, fight for your rights, your families, your jobs. If the Democratic Party needs reforming, stay and do it. Don't get sucked into the abyss created by Republicans who want to see you and your kids and your spouses and your dreams shredded, ripped to pieces by their insatiable greed and their hot-blooded insistence on turning this country hard right, neofascist, ugly, divided.

And, so, here we are today, right? While you are being eaten alive with anxiety and fear and uncertainty about the immediate future, a bunch of these slimy, stinking Republicans are refusing to allocate a miserable 15 billion -- the cost of a few of weeks of death and destruction in Iraq -- in an attempt put together by those Democrats you willingly abandoned in the 80s to save your industry. Arrogant bottom-feeders like Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, sounding like he had a mouthful of grits and boiled owl shit, tells the press, naw, he ain't goin' along with no bail-out plan cuz then whut? Those boys'll jest be back with their hands out next March and our beloved taxpayers ain't gonna go fer this.

Jesus god. How do you do it? How do you support these right-wing vermin election after election? How many times do they have to bleed you dry before you realize their game? What are you getting in return? Laws that stop the queers from getting married? Bullshit talk about the sanctity of marriage? Phony-ass tax cuts that never, ever benefit you? The right to stop a woman from getting an abortion if she feels it's necessary? What in god's name is it?

Well, never mind. Don't answer. Don't waste the energy you're going to need in figuring out how you're going to survive in an economy that was designed in the Reagan years to utterly bankrupt every single social safety net put in place over the last 75 years. They're nearly all gone now. Soon to be completely useless. Bankrupt. Empty. So . . . how does it feel? Are you satisfied? Happy? Feel like your team won?

Just asking.

www.mikemalloy.com

Mike Malloy is a former writer and producer for CNN (1984-87) and CNN-International (2000). His professional experience includes newspaper columnist and editor, writer, rock concert producer and actor. He is the only radio talk show host in America (more...)

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