Super-Pacman

I think Stephen Colbert is a comic genius.  For those who do not know him, he is the host of the Colbert Report on Comedy Central.  His character is Stephen Colbert a blow-hard conservative pundit who loves being in the middle of the story.  He is the perfect satirical character in our modern age.  Mr. Colbert deeply loves what I call performance art, whereby he takes his character into the real world and interacts with it.  He ran for president in 2008, testified before Congress, interviewed many members of Congress and frequently made himself part of numerous debates.

Now, in his own intelligently comic way, he is rallying against the Citizen’s United Supreme Court decision. That declared money a form a speech and the government cannot limit or force disclosures on giving money to candidates or political movements. This decision has allowed for “Super-PACs” that can raise unlimited funds. Allowing the “Super-PAC’s” to spend it they want, and have not have to disclose anything about the PAC, who gave the money or what it was spent on.  The decision is bad law and contrary to past decisions of the Court.

Earlier this summer, Colbert appeared before the Federal Elections Committee and petitioned for his own Super-PAC.  The Super-PAC, which Colbert called “Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow” was granted permission to form last month.  He is now actively raising money to be used for whatever political purpose he wants. 

Yesterday, he ran two ads in Iowa urging people write in Rick Parry (vs. Rick Perry, the governor of Texas) in the Ames Iowa Straw poll.  Colbert is using these ads to rage against the machine that allowed him to create his Super-Pac.  His position is that Super PACs distort the truth and harms our political system.  I pray Rick Parry receives a significant number of votes on Saturday proving his point. 

The system is broken and is a complete bastardization of the idea of corruption free government.  The only bad part of all his is that it takes a comedian to point out the insanity in the system.  Gobble them up Stephen! 

Opprotunity Lost

The lack of leadership on both sides of the political aisle was on full display during the debt ceiling debate.  Personally, I believe the majority leader in the House, Eric Cantor, and the minority leader in the Senate Mitch McConnell bear more of the blame for the failure than most, but there is plenty of blame to be shared.

The problem with both Cantor and McConnell is they have both publically and repeatedly said the main goal of the Republican House and Senate is to limit the President to one-term.  Such comments demonstrate these party leaders have taken a position of party over country. This position is both a disgrace and a disservice to the American people and the Republican Party.  

The President put many of the Democratic party's most protected government programs on the table: Entitlement reform and tax reform. These are two key issues that have defined the Republican Party for decades. Yet, the two leaders refused to agree to these Republican ideas so as not to give the President a victory.  This was an opportunity lost for the county, because these two so-called leaders failed us by walking away of the discussion and refusing to participate in governing our country.

Despite this wildly reported fact, there has been no rebuke, no public outrage, no commendation, and no demand that these two resign their leadership position.  Rather, they have been praised by the political operative on the Right and the rest of us keep our head in the sand. 

We cannot continue down this path of politics over leadership and party over the nation’s well-being.  Maybe we do need another revolution, but more along the lines of an Arab Spring than a Tea Party rally.  We should not allow this opportunity to be lost.

Bloomberg to the Rescue

 (New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg) 

In the New York Times today there is an article on a new program that Mayor Bloomberg is spearheading to help young minorities with job training, mental health and physical health. New York City has long been a city of progressive ideas but what makes this plan extremely unique is that the Mayor himself is using his own money to help fund the program. I find this extremely admirable and a bit scary. We now live in a time where we have billionaires run our cities, states, and nation and they must use their own money to fund government programs. Instead of appelaing to the people for the long term benefits of providing a level playing field to ALL people, our Mayor is just ponying up for not just the youth but all of us. Currently 84% of inmates are either Latino or Black and the long term implications of this is higher spending on jails and less added to the overall economy. 

What we are lacking is the long term vision to see that investment in people by the people creates longer term economic solvency, healthier families, and greater opprotunity for all. But instead our leaders in Washington are dismantling our government in a haphazard way that will have the exact opposite desired effect of solving our country's financial problems. 

It is amazing that Mayor Bloomberg is willing to give $30 million dollars to help support those who need it the most but this is just a beginning and we must realize that the more people we put in jail, give a half-assed education to, limited access to health care, and poor job training WE will be paying far into the future.