Why Vote For Obama

In a recent Facebook discussion, someone asked what about President Obama’s term in office has impressed me.

Oh, I thought, let me list the ways! For starters, he:

·     Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

·         Stopped the country’s plunge off the economic cliff and ended the Great Recession created by Bush and Republican Congress fiscal irresponsibility

·         Substantially cut taxes for working Americans -- twice

·         Private-sector jobs grew for the past 29 straight months

·         Rescued the U.S. auto industry, which resulted in saving not only hundreds of thousands of auto manufacturing jobs, but thousands more related jobs that would have been lost in a domino effect

·         Eliminated bin Laden and most of the other top al Qaeda leaders

·         Assisted NATO in ending Quadaffi regime

·         Delivered on promise to end the Iraq war

·         Ended Don't Ask, Don't Tell

·         Created Consumers Financial Board to help end financial industry gouging of Americans

·         Signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with provisions that:

Ø  Provides healthcare coverage for millions who previously were uninsured, including:

      People under 26 years old who can stay on their parents’ insurance plans

      People who were barred from coverage because of “pre-existing” conditions (which had become as ridiculous as having been pregnant).

Ø  Reduces a major reason for skyrocketing rise in healthcare costs – insurance premiums – by requiring 80 percent of premiums to be spent on actual care

Ø  Bars insurance companies from charging women higher premiums than men

Ø  Extends viability of Medicare and benefiting those who use the program in at least two ways:

      Covering preventative procedures such as annual physical exams, which Medicare previously didn’t cover, and other screening procedures, all of which is much less costly than trying to treat chronic and acute diseases after they have become advanced and create collateral damage

      Closing the prescription drug “donut hole” and allowing price comparison

      All reforms paid for by reductions in costs, not by increased fees to users or costs to taxpayers

·         Stands up for women by advocating for pay parity with male counterparts and against discriminatory policies that target, repress and denigrate women and put them at risk.

·         He has done all of that and more with his hands tied behind his back because of a Congress that will do nothing that Obama proposes – even measures that were, in fact, initially Republican proposals, such as the ACA insurance mandate – that would benefit the country for fear that it might help his re-election.

Here’s proof:

Ø  Republicans have mounted the worst filibuster record in Senate history, blocking bills that would have increased employment and blocking key appointments, including judges, to the detriment of the justice system

Ø  The McConnell rule, which Mitch McConnell articulated two years ago as “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” That’s the Republicans’ #1 priority.

      Not create jobs

      Not reduce the unemployment rate

      Not improve the economy

      Not national defense

Ø  While defeating President Obama might be the Republicans’ political objective, making that their number one governing objective has not been and still isn’t in the best interest of the country or the People

It is beyond me why anyone, and certainly why any woman, would not vote for President Obama.

I urge you to share this with everyone -- especially those who might be undecided in the upcoming presidential election or who wonder why they should vote for President Obama.

America, a Randian nation?

This blog post was prompted by a piece on today's National Public Radio's Morning Edition, which an NPR website headline writer dubbed "On Capitol Hill, Rand's 'Atlas' Can't Be Shrugged Off."

Ayn Rand, a mid-20th Century writer whose me-ism philosophy was informed by the political and social upheavel of her native Russia's Bolshevik Revolution and subsequent fallout, has become The Way for a plethora of today's Republican leadership. We should all have the right to keep all of our money and not to have to give any of it to that evil bottomless maw they call the government. (Nevermind, that the loudest of those Republican critics, such as John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, etc., ARE the government and, thanks to getting elected to Congress, will be very nicely taken care of for the rest of their lives by the very government they love so much to hate.)

Rand and her ilk, whether called libertarians, anarchists or something else, are the real moochers. (Moochers is what Rand called Americans who benefit from living in--and paying taxes to have--a vibrant society, even though Rand herself applied for and collected Social Security and used Medicare for her healthcare.)

Randians want all the benefits that come with living in a society--public roads, breathable air, drinkable water, safe food and drug supplies, an energy grid, etc.--but don't think they should have to pay for them.

The very regulations they eschew (see Illinois deadbeat dad and GOP Rep. Joe Walsh's rant) are as necessary for Americans' safety and well being as a strong military is for national security.

The most frightening aspect of Randism these days is that so many are falling under its fatal spell. We can view the U.S. of the future by looking at today's Greece, where Greeks won't pay taxes, and Somalia, which has no central government.

Although Rand's hypocrisy is stunning (read her novella "Anthem"), she was at least honest about being an atheist. Her politician acolytes of today claim to be Christians, yet there is nothing in the philosophy Rand espoused that in any way resembles what Jesus taught.

NPR's headline writer is, in fact, dead wrong. Rand and her "Atlas" CAN and should be shrugged off--or at least be seen for what they are: Architects of the demise of democracy.

I'm way too conservative to think that that is a good idea.