The Elephant in the Room

[ronatchig]

http://www.alternet.org/story/19029/

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Americans have been ignoring the elephant in the room. It's that huge thing that's in front of everyone, but that no one mentions by name. Most people can't see it, while others intentionally disregard it, but many people just have a hard time articulating what it is.

Even its opponents direct little attention to the elephant itself; at best they tend to describe its various parts. Its ears are deregulation, its trunk trickle-down economics, its mouth media consolidation, its tail a pre-emptive war in Iraq, its legs record deficits, and its feet cutbacks in education, social security, America's safety net, even veterans' benefits.

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So how have Americans been faring under conservative policies these last couple of years?

Let's start with the basics. Conservatives turned a $127 billion budget surplus into record-shattering deficits with reckless tax cuts; in 2004 alone, the deficit is expected to reach $500 billion. Poverty is on the rise with more than 34 million Americans living below the poverty line, including 12 million children. As for the first job-loss recovery since the Great Depression, it's an "upside down recovery" according to the Center for American Progress, meaning that corporate profits have risen at the expense of wages and employment. At the same time the costs of housing, gas, and medical care have all surged by double digits, not to mention that 20 million working Americans have no health insurance. Conservatives' answer? Not surprisingly, Washington's one-trick ponies call for more tax cuts for the rich. More of the same failed conservative policies
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There is much more in the piece. It is imho it is great fodder for a LTTE campaign nationwide. Perhaps we could make our voices heard in a way that damns the entire GOP with facts.

Here is a rough draft of my letter any critque is more than welcome.

With the election drawing near, I feel it is time to give credit where it is due. The conservatives' policies have led us to a projected dificit of nearly $500 billion 34,000,000 people living below the poverty level, an economy that that has shed 1,500,000 jobs to outsourcing and downsizing while corporate profits and CEO saleries have skyrocketed. Real wages are going down while costs of living for things like gas, food, healthcare, property taxes and education have risen dramticly. Healthcare is less accesable to more working people while others cannot afford to have a home.
The conservative remedy: cut taxes further, both federal and state, for the wealthy and corporations, build more prisons, and question the patroitism of any who would complain.
No wonder Mr. Bush wants to screen all Americans for mental illness, we're all delusional if we believe this is good government.