Have the 'haves' given up anything yet?

ETS,

Hit the nail on the head! Carter is right of course. "We the people" get the type of government we deserve.

Most progressives, like myself I am ashamed to say, have simply sat back since the election and waited for Obama to fix everything bush and his criminal government screwed up. Doesn't work that way. What Obama has to deal with is not easy, nor will it be fixed just because he wants it to be fixed. We all need to work harder to help him in his almost impossible task.

We have to contact our representatives and let them know that we are behind the kind of change Obama wants. We have to convince Obama that it is a losing cause to struggle for "bipartisanship", as that will never happen given the nature, and stated obstructionist goals, of the current republican party. We have to push for the amendments to The Constitution mentioned above - amendments that progressives have been proposing for many years now.

We have to also bring back the "Fairness Doctrine" for our media, and use it carefully to get more of a progressive voice on our airwaves - both visual and aural. We need the level of saturation of the country enjoyed by fox news, limbaugh, hannity, and the rest of the right wing propaganda machine. This machine simply has too much of a foothold on the country right now. The tea-baggers, the birthers, the deathers, the 12ers, the overt anti-Obama racists.... are all nurtured and egged on by this machine, and can do real damage unless their message is blunted by the truth.

We need also to learn more about the events of 9-11, the why's of the Iraq war, the why's of the financial meltdown (money simply does not disappear, unless it was never there to begin with), the why's of how the religious fanatics in this country got as much power as they now enjoy, etc...

I am ready to support these causes, because I know that if I do not, things will not improve for my family and the families of others.  

As a fellow American I support your First Amendment right to piss and moan but when I read comment such as the above I must ask the musical question: Well, what are you going to do about it?

I mean, isn't it a little late to be whining about the political direction the is taking since President Obama took office back in January especially if: 1. you didn't participate in local and state party conventions, caucuses etc and see to it, planks in the platform  and candidates you like got support; 2. you voted for some third party candidate who had a snowball's chance of getting election in the first place; 3. didn't vote at all because "they're all corrupt."

Look, Jimmy Carter is right, American deserves government as good as its people. And right now it looks as if the American people are one sorry lot and we have the government we deserve. It seems to me that most Americans are ignorant of how our system of Constitutional representative democracy is supposed to work. I'll tell you what it isn't: The president is not an elected dictator and the Congress is not a politburo. A president can not just wave a magic wand and make everything right, nor can a president just propose and Congress dispose. Constitutionally legislation is deliberately designed to move slowly. Congress is by definition a deliberative body and, yes, it is fucked up and corrupt.

What I prescribe to a measure of balance and equity into our national legislature, as well as White House, are two amendments to the US Constitution, one denying corporations 14th Amendment protections and First Amendment rights and the other to provide public financing of all elections from the presidency on down. Long shots but worth the try. 

So I come back to my original question, What are you going to do about it?

ET Spoon

For whom? By what act? The bailout of Wall Street banks? Helping to break the UAW for GM and Chrysler? Attacking with Predators the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan? Sacrificing the economic health of Americans by throwing us into the insurer's lions den?

I think your comment should read "He promised to do a lot of good things, but ended up being almost as bad as McCain would have been."

And invest it in health care, education, roads, infrastructure and housing for the poor and destitute.  If a church owns real estate or rental projects or is in the stock market or high finance they should be taxed on every bit of profit they make.  No exceptions.

Just this old Chief's 2 cents

F--- the Rich - I am tired of hearing how I am supposed to kiss their foot for supposedly creating jobs.  Labor Creates Capital!!!!  F--- Moderates, F--- Bi-Partisans, F--- Conservatives, and F--- the Upper Class!!!!!  Capital isnt the sh--.  Rich people are always saying that Capital is the sh--.  F--- that - Labor is the SH--!!!!  Upper Classes created Conservatism, now it has become bad for business and they can no longer control it!!!!  They won't negotiate - We'll take it all!!!!  Health Care or Guillotine!!!!! 

Every once in a while somebody posts a scorecard.  Although things haven't gotten better, I believe the line is that things would be much worse with McCain/Palin.  Who can argue?  Obama _is_ better than the lowest (very) common denominator.

The Democrats are in no way "left wing".  They just play leftists on TV.

For a REAL leftist party, check this out: http://www.ilgp.org/about/2008-common-platform-for-green-party-congressional-candidates

Compare this to the Democrats' platform, and you'll never mistake Democrats for leftists again!