MONDAY MONDAY

Sometimes I wish I had young assistants better versed in the intricacies of the web to post links to all the statistical evidence out there that Obama and the Dems—as inept as they have proven to be in getting their accomplishments recognized and in countering the right's humongous influence on the media—have slowed, stopped or reversed, as the case may be, much of the damage the Republicans did to our country when they had control of the entire federal government and all its branches.

But then, no amount of evidence can convince those brainwashed into the right's perspective that either its positions are the only correct ones, or that there's no point in even bothering to vote because both party's and all politics are the same or similar enough to not warrant participation in the democratic system of electoral politics at all.

I know it's desperate right now, or at least feels that way to many folks, but the answer is not more Republicanism, the same rightwing policies that led us into this seemingly desperate situation. There is a reason when you travel in Europe and much of Asia the roads aren't potholed, the mass transit systems run smoother and faster, the infrastructure is new or properly maintained and not crumbling like much of ours, and the reason is that their governments spend more on these things and raise the revenue by taxes that the people understand go to making these things possible.

Ever since the so-called "Reagan revolution" that destroyed the unions that made wage earners capable of owning houses and sending kids to college on one income, the idea that "government is the problem" has taken hold, especially after rightwing Republican administrations, including Reagan's and the last one, deliberately hobble government agencies and policies (fewer regulators, allowing corporate lobbyists to write the laws for their own industries, putting unqualified political cronies in positions of authority so when crises hit they screw up (Katrina anyone?) etc.) and then point at the failed results as evidence that government doesn't work!

Life is too short to stress out over the right's lies and distortions and even destruction of so much of what makes this country great, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't vote in the elections next month. Because there is a great difference between those who would extend unemployment benefits in economic hard times (Democrats) and those would vote against that (Republicans) and those who would vote for extending healthcare benefits (Ds) and those who wouldn't (Rs) and those who would nominate and vote in a rightwing Supreme Court justice who votes to give corporations the same rights as individuals though not the same tax status etc. (Rs) or a justice who recognizes that the Constitution does not give anyone other than individuals those rights (Ds), et-endlessly-cetera.

Cynicism and/or the feeling of futility that the right's overwhelming media influence has generated (along with the center's—i.e. Democrats, who for the most part are no more "left" than traditional Republicanism pre-rightwing takeover—failure to outmaneuver the right) among those of us who don't share their views is understandable but not very useful or productive.

If I was younger I'd run for office myself just to have a platform to voice counter arguments to the right's and expose their lies and distortions. I did it back when I was younger and though I didn't win or even get that high a percentage of the vote, I still had an impact, along with so many others at the time, an impact that did lead to some pretty major changes that made this country more free, more equal, and more tolerant. But I can still vote, and intend to, and intend to continue to encourage anyone who I come in contact with to vote as well and to vote for their own interests which have been dumped on by the rightwing Republicans for decades now.

[PS: And yes "lefties" and "liberals" and "progressives" have good reason to believe that the Dems are too often influenced if not outright controlled by corporate interests as well, but as history has demonstrated over and over again, there is much more room for influencing Democratic administrations and politicians to move in the direction of more individual rights and more control of corporations than there is Republicans. There's a reason Wall Street is sinking tons of money into Republican candidates and the few Wall Street Dems are sitting on their money this go round, because Obama and the Dems have introduced regulations that no matter how much you may think don't go far enough, went far enough to piss off wealthy Wall Street Democrats.]

[PPS: Read Paul Krugman's NY Times column for today after I wrote the above, and he makes a much more cogent argument for the basis of what I'm saying.]