By Rodney Beard
By the time that you read this, the mid-term elections will be over. The most recent polls that have been released give the Republicans a hefty lead and it seems to be apparent that they will be in control of the House and Senate.
So get ready to feel the pain, and I’m not talking to just the minority communities that will be hurt the most, I’m talking about all of America. If you think you haven’t seen anything done yet, you will now see that scenario broadened to include both houses.
If you didn’t vote because we just don’t do it in down-ballot elections, President Obama was not on the ballot, you just didn’t feel like going this time, or maybe did not realize the scope of the ramifications…well get ready. We are getting ready to see some mighty big changes.
The 1% is getting ready to receive a nice big fat raise. Their already swollen bank accounts are getting ready to blow up and ours will shrink. What may be getting ready to happen is that they will do what they do, like shut government down and that will sink the economy (which has grown by 3.5%) once again.
Some of us who did not vote and had jobs for the last few years will go back to the unemployment line, and they will block unemployment benefits to save money for themselves while others suffer, especially those whose benefits have already been denied.
And, speaking of unemployment numbers rising, well you may as well forget a comprehensive jobs bill, Fair Paycheck reform not just for women but all of us, not to mention those who were looking for a minimum wage hike to $10.10 an hour… that “ain’t gonna happen.” We had an opportunity to fight them but didn’t show up for the battle.
Not voting in this election is going to hit us in the pocket as gas prices will rise again and very sharply to record levels. The 1% will reap heavy rewards from big oil companies and you will pay more at the pump to line their pockets. The gas pump prices that we are enjoying right now will be like it never happened. We had the opportunity to save at least $300.00 per year, consumer confidence was at the highest level in 7 years…but oh well.
There is so much more that is at stake, and if we didn’t vote we asked for it…Obamacare being messed with, the Supreme Court striking down the ban on housing discrimination, women’s rights violations being even more egregious and openly offensive, and immigrants being left out in the political and racial cold.
If we lost this election it’s because we didn’t get behind our President who is in my opinion, the greatest reformer in modern history. He is also the most vilified president in my lifetime, and I’ve had knowledge of them since Eisenhower. They had a plan that they stuck with from the night that Mr. Obama was inaugurated and they did not deviate from it, yet had no shame. It wasn’t his policies, Obamacare and immigration reform was theirs, it was his skin color and that is the root of racism in this country.
I think that it’s a so sad the way this man has been treated by us, them, and his former supporters. He has been faced with more issues as a President than I can remember…the recession which he successfully resolved, the wars he got us out of (and more looming), ISIS, Syria, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, etc. He has been bombarded with baseless scandals by awful people (Darrell Issa…repubs.), and a Congress that has conducted themselves like impetuous racist little children, only to name a few. Now Democrats are running away from him and his policies instead of to them, and if we lost, it’s because “we” didn’t go vote.
So I guess we just have to hit the ground running for the next election in 2016 and vote them out for good. But before that happens we must actively educate ourselves about the system, get rid of voter apathy, teach our kids on the importance of their vote, and make sure we all come together for our personal self-interests as a community.
Enough is never enough for them, but at some point it must be for us and our generations.
Let me know what you think.
Rodney Beard
pastorbeard@comcast.net