Jesus God, the Rs plowed and seeded well and we're whacking around in the weeds.

[Skidmore]

I just returned from my weekly foray into town to get supplies. One of the stockers in the store and I struck up a conversation about prices. Well, the lady was upset by gas prices, food prices, pretty much the price of everything and worried about the housing finance situation. She and her husband both work minimum wage jobs, one at Wally world and one at this grocer. They have children still living at home. She's scared. I made a comment about how deregulation of key sectors of the economy had led to some pretty gawd awful corrupt practices and this is what happens when the justice system is politicized at the same time corporations are allowed to do pretty much what they want. She nods in agreement and, in the next breath, says that she has a problem with the government getting involved in regulating corporations. I asked her how she thought oversight of industries should be done and she says she thinks they should do it themselves. I cite a couple of examples of professions and industries that have been allowed to do just that and how ineffective it is to have the fox guard the henhouse. She nods halfheartedly, and repeats that she has trouble with the government getting involved. I point out that the economy has been managed in such a way that a problem with a company in say, Texas (e.g., Enron, can have repercussions for the whole nation. Look at the banking and finance industry now. She says the government would only make it worse. I said that we are the government. She looked and me and blinked. Silence. I asked her where I could find the grill brushes.

Tell me, who speaks truth to a person like this now? Who tells them that moving the chairs on the deck doesn't keep the ship from sinking? Who looks them in the eye and tells them that pride in the nation needs to start at home? Who tells this lady that gimmicks and high falutin' taskforces and pie-in-the-sky proposals won't make a difference until the people themselves step up to work on the problems? Who tends to the grassroots?

I'd rather the weeds get pulled so the grassroots can grow. I'd rather the soil be tended than we let one of our own tinkle on us and tell it is raining. Change comes from the ground up.

[RubyDuby in GA]

1. You can't tell a person like that anything because they don't want to hear it because it might make

them realize that they would rather just be spoon fed lies than actually do anything that would make them responsible for their own destiny instead of having someone to blame or hate. I'm dealing with the with my mom right now after having a rather disheartening conversation with her yesterday. I have greatly overestimated her intelligence.

[Narkos]

9. It's depressing, but the cons have played it well

They've essentially changed the American psyche with their relentless activism and talking points. This article by Sara Johnson highlights what Paul Weyrich and the professional wingnut crowd have done, so that we may learn from them.
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/learning-cultural-conservatives-part-i-messing-their-minds

[cali]

2. that person is part of a dwindling minority

All you have to do is look at the three special Congressional elections dems have won recently- all in repuke districts. Americans are completely disenchanted with the repuke brand.

[Skidmore]

4. Thanks, cali. I was so discouraged that I was talking to the steering wheel

all 20something miles home. And by the time I started unloading the car, I was really feeling angry.

This election feels like it is crawling at snail's pace.

[cali]

6. ;Hang in there. There will always be people like that but

this isn't the year the repukes will get most of them. And it's really and truly almost over. Hillary is out of time and out of money. It'll all be over in 3 weeks or less.

:hi:

[DJ13]

3. Reality wont set in until its too late for those brainwashed types

It will take a real crisis to turn their thinking around, a crisis so bad they will cry out for the government to "do something".

Many of them arent there yet, but when their credit cards no longer have enough of a balance to offset the rising prices they will be.

And at the rising rate of credit card delinquencies being reported recently, they will probably be at that point by the GE.

[shomino]

5. It all comes down to smart government vs. "big government"

Obama himself has said that he's not into "big government". There is such a thing as over-regulation, BUT.. and this is a big but... the important thing is that the regulation we do have is directed and enforced properly.

Over-government is not good, but the government we do have should be smart government and not the idiotic selective deregulation of the current Republican party.

Deregulation only works if you remove the protections from business (i.e. corporate-personhood) as well as the restrictions. Currently the Repugs are removing only regulatory restrictions and actually increasing regulatory protections for corporations, which is nothing but a recipe for disaster for anyone that is not at the very top of the economic heap.

[CK_John]

7. That clerk was probably being recorded and knew that their job depended on the answer. Things are

not always as they seem.

[Beregond2]

8. It has been part of the right-wing

playbook ever since Reagan to make people think "government is the problem." That may be the most unforgivable thing he did, fomenting this idea that the government is "them" not "us." It undermines the very soul of our democracy.

But it hasn't worked. Look at all the young people getting involved, taking back the reins. Lies always contain the seeds of their own undoing.