The Repetition of History:

I used to belong to a Dickens's reading group and still get their enjoyable emails. I received the following email from them:

Dickens and America's Defaulting, Nation and State "According to media reports (which has now become the accepted and conventional belief), this will be the first time the USA has ever defaulted on its debt obligations. But as highly respected financial reporter Nicholas Kristof reported in 1998, that is not the case"

´They were the world's richest and shrewdest investors, and they rode a wave of globalization to buy bonds in a promising developing country. When that country defaulted, they were livid. The year was 1842 and the
country was the United States.'

- Nicholas Kristof, in the September 20, 1998 issue of New York
Times International

And, coincidentally, for five days that same year, planted directly
across the street from the symbol of the nation's failed financial strength (The Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia) was Charles Dickens.”

to which I replied:

It is sad because we in this country keep repeating history over and over and over again as witnessed by the content of the email above. Someday which I surely hope and pray not THIS day our nation, our empire will fall in one nasty lumbering heap because, in my opinion, many if not most people in this country see this nation as an "I" and NOT a "We" nation. They do not understand it is not big government that creates recessions but big government which pulls the nation stuck in the grimy ideological muck back from recession/depression.

The Knownothing Tea Baggers say big government is the enemy. I say it is the solution and when the private sector fails which it unceasingly does -- even in Dicken's day, government needs to be there to provide the life preserver against economic catastrophe. That is what FDR's New Deal was all about -- government coming to the rescue of an economy gone wild by the omnipresent human characteristic of greed gone mad.

One article I read recently said it well describing American political thought (I forget the author): "Joe the Plumber THINKS he is one clogged toilet away from living in the Hamptons like a CEO from Goldman Sachs." He is wrong. The CEO of Goldman Sachs lives in an exclusive club and it is NOT about Joe the Plumber. The corporate stranglehold on this nation committing it to an oligarchy is sowing the seeds of its own demise. It has happened many times in this nation's history but now may be the worst. As the late George Carlin said in one of his Utubes entitled "The American Dream" -- "It's the American Dream alright because you have to be asleep to believe it!" I wonder what Dickens would think.

This Day of Infamy: Remember this day of infamy, liberal, progressives, moderates and other humane peoples of all political stripes as a day in which the hostage holding terrorist Tea Baggers put a gun to America's head. In our civilized land (at least for the moment) we settle things in a civilized way -- non violently and by our vote.

Remember, as I surely will, to settle the score and in 2012 relegate the Tea Bag Knownothings to the ash heap of history. Our nation is dying a slow and painful death and that is exactly what the Tea Baggers truly want -- a white nationalist oligarchy to call their very own. The oligarchs, though, do NOT want the Tea Baggers for their own. They want to use them as water carriers to make the very very rich even richer. The Tea Baggers WILL be voted OUT of office but they cannot be voted out of office soon enough for me! Tomorrow is, indeed, another day and I cannot wait for it!

Holding Your Nose and Taking the Bitter Pill: The debt ceiling deal stinks and we as progressives are holding our collective noses to accept it BUT what else could the president have done: refuse to compromise and the nation would go into default? Default would do ENORMOUS damage to EVERYONE not just the left but everyone on every side of the political spectrum.

This SHOULD pass and even when it is done it is not a done deal. Things can be argued, will be argued in the coming months and in the 2012 election but right NOW this nation cannot default on its debts no matter what the political philosophy. I am a liberal Democrat in extremis BUT even I realize that a default could mean that our elderly, our disabled, our military and others would not receive Social Security checks and other governmental payments. It could mean for many that they WILL not eat, they will not take their medication and the security of their families would be pushed over a cliff. Some would simply shut themselves in whatever is left of their homes and prepare to die. It is that simple. The president KNOWS it and that is why his compromise and bitter pill default eliminating medicine will pass and should.

The time was during the 2010 mid term elections to NOT vote for Tea Party Republicans or ANY facsimile thereof. They step on their own toes and take up the cause of the top 2% wealthy wanting to eliminate programs their own families need to survive. It is IDIOCY and why then I became so depressed about it. I KNEW why I was depressed. Yes, spending cuts need to be made and they have zeroed into a problem BUT it should not be done on the backs of those who can afford it least. As negative as this deal might be it is not over yet even WHEN the bill is passed as I think it should because default is NOT an option. That is what you WILL have if it is not passed.

I think the president knew he must hold his nose and do this so that this worst of all situations -- default -- does not happen. Elections matter. If the clock could be turned back I believe the 60 or so Tea Party Republicans would NOT have been elected. But they were. So deal with that horror and pass the default eliminating bill. Then argue like heck to form it in a more equitable fashion and MOST of all return the Congress to Democratic hands in 2012 while at all costs preserving the Obama presidency.