Last night Republicans in Iowa showed they believe Mitt Romney to be the best candidate to go up against President Obama in 2012. But it wasn't an easy victory for the man most believe to be the GOP establishment pick. He won by the slimmest of margins and could have very easily lost to Rick Santorum had a few more sof the votes gone the former Senator's way. People came out in support of Santorum in part due to his strong Christian conservative values, his stance on the increasing defense spending, his opposition to gay marriage, his anti-abortion stance and more.
Though it's too early to tell which candidate will win the national GOP primaries all together, the projected favorite is Mitt Romney. This is because polls show most Republicans believe he has the best chance against President Obama in November. Of course the final result of the GOP primaries is a long way away and things could happen to shake up the race and provide drama in any given GOP primary as Herman Cain found out.
On the other side of the coin the Occupy Wall Street movement has been going pretty strong for most of last year and though they have suffered serious setback due to government attacks, raids, efforts to keep them away from their freedom of speech, assemblage and political ideology, they are still holding rallies and protests nation-wide. They were very active all through 2011 and after the cold of the winter and renewed strategizing along with the same strategies which made them so successful previously, they may very well be up and running at full speed by the end of the spring or beginning of summer if they choose.
They have captured the nation's attention this year.
That said, one group that has been conspicuously quiet this year has been the Tea Party. So loud, so much a part of how Republicans thought in 2010 and so great a presence in American media, they have all but vanished this year. Why? As strong as they had been all the way from 2009 until the elections in 2010 they were this supposed grassroots movement that claimed fervently they weren't going anywhere and cable news networks kept intimating they were here to stay.
They were to be the conservative check from the people even though they had huge corporate funding, had training courses they were bused to had huge networks all over the country had concerts with huge sound systems and were in the end funded by big corporate big wigs. There was no way they could do all the computer training courses and seminars in how to build political networks and small organizations without considerable funding. Nonetheless they said they were angry, pissed and ready to take Washington for their own side and beliefs.
Yet after one election, which didn't elect a huge number of their kind of Republicans, though a modest number, they have almost disappeared. They claimed they were “going straight to the White House.” But Mitt Romney isn't exactly a Tea Party candidate. Even if he chooses someone more likely to cull Tea Party like votes as his running mate, he'll be running the show. Heck no matter how much he wants to deny it the so called Obamacare health bill was heavily influenced by so called Romneycare bill passed when Romney was Governor of Massachusetts.
Where are they shouting people down at town hall meetings ready to take the White House for themselves? Where are they marching in huge numbers at every single campaign stop they support and loudly decrying the ones they don't as they did in 2010? Has the funding from people like the Koch Brothers, who Herman Cain so openly acknowledged to garner more Tea Party support for himself, faded?
Even so they could be out marching and rallying. The Occupy Wall Street movement has done a lot and sacrificed even more of themselves for the cause as individuals and garnered huge media attention, and they haven't had even close to the same level of support monetarily. It takes emails, facebook posts, tweets, texts, im's and calls to get together a rally and with the huge infrastructure they built it should be no problem. The Tea Party's number one issue was President Obama. He's still there and here is their chance... where o' where have they disappeared to?
Someone should set up a website offering prizes to the people that can find them on a map. Could be a huge prize in it for them. A new state lottery ticket perhaps. Locate the Tea Party in three scratches and win a thousand bucks! Lol.
Of course alternately people could say exactly the same thing about the Occupy Movement here in America. They are mad about issues that started way back in 2008 at least in terms of public visibility, the Wall Street scams that lead to the crisis have yet to be prosecuted as President Obama promised he would do if elected, so why now? I mean I support their message and want to see many of the same changes implemented, at least in a larger sense, but why this year specifically?
And why no alternate voice? Why was there no alternate voice leading up to the 2010 elections? That was right after the bailouts and there was a huge social issue in healthcare reform on the agenda. Where was the alternate voice?
Actually those are better questions really. Where are the alternate voices now, and where were the alternate voices then? When the Tea Party was rallying and occupying town hall meetings where were the alternate voices? The movement was brutally in your face, and that didn't sit right with a lot of folks, but the message resonated and fired up their base. The tactics did scare a lot of normal folks. If someone had planned a movement to inject life into the base of the Republican party but that would be too over the top to last the Tea Party would have been it. That way the GOP would never really be threatened.
Of course critics of the Occupy Movement's American branch could say the same things. They could say if they are so fired up where were they in 2010? Weren't all those people just as mad? Michael Moore's and likewise the Matt Damon narrated documentaries were out in 2009 and 2010 respectively. The left was fired up and angry then too. Why did they choose the year after the right surged to – well have a left surge? They could say, if someone had planned a movement meant to fire up the Democrat base, but be too over the top to pose a challenge to the establishment, the Occupy Movement or their 99% outgrowth could be it.
Of course unlike the Tea Party the Occupy Movement is still here, and they can prove that idea to be wrong through their actions. But the fervent and hardcore Democrats, progressives and liberals sure were quiet in 2009 and 2010. Hardcore Republicans sure have been quiet since the 2010 elections. Very odd that people were satiated that easily if in fact they ever were.
There have not been many changes in the actual system due to either of those movements as of yet, and that's what it really comes down to. It's the two party system that really let us down. The two parties have taken their focus away from the people and treated them as a necessity like cleaning the toilet bowl or something. They love a clean toilet bowl but hate having to touch the stuff. That stuff is us to them – or that's how it seems. “Tell them anything to get elected, then do whatever you want once you're there.”
That has been the way we have seen things going for decades now and that still hasn't changed. If we select from two “promise the world” but do very little candidates this year will we really see that change? We need real representation. We need more choice. I don't suggest having 20 parties in Washington, etc, but I do suggest two are just too few. When they cooperate, fine not great, but not bad. When they don't as they have since 2009 we gets nada, and we're paying these jerks.
What I do suggest is that we need more than two parties. Again, two just isn't enough anymore. Allowing ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security and molested by their groping perennial come ons isn't going to help us, the nation or our kids. Starting at the presidential level isn't the way to go either in my view. Can you imagine how polarized we'd be with one party in the White House and two completely other ones, that have always been threatened by any challenge to their domination and circle the wagons like John Wayne against blond guys dressed in red paint and black wigs charging at them, in Congress?
It needs to start in Congress so when a party says “No! No! I ain't gonna pway mommy!” There will still be adults to get work done and we will get our money's worth. We need more than ambiguous pandering annual shows meant to say “the establishment cool, yo.” We need real fixes, not free candy. We need to make our political choices based on what we really believe and not always feel we have to sigh and succumb to the lesser of two piles of transfat with sugar whipped in and a crushed multivitamin mixed in if we complain too much and if they're really feeling generous a picture of a pop star printed on edible paper stuck haphazardly on top, as if to say, “see we care.” We need a system that works for America again. Jobs, schools, spending, healthcare and more issues are on the line. Our real say is on the line. What will we do?
To read about my inspiration for this article go to www.lawsuitagainstuconn.com.
Original: Based On What We Believe