A Letter to The Democratic Party

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9/27/11

Dear Democratic Party,

As a fellow progressive liberal, it pains me to say that you have disappointingly failed the American people.  You have allowed right-wing conservatives to mislead the American people on numerous issues, rewrite history, and misconstrue the constitution into some falsely warped ideal that supports racism, classism, and fascism. You’ve allowed lesser informed Americans to believe that observable, peer-reviewed science is debatable. As a result, science and education programs, which are the pinnacles of our nation’s success and innovation, have received numerous budget cuts. Despite all of the evidence, say, for man-made global climate change which is easily accessible at the home pages of such credible institutions as NASA and the EPA, many conservatives use pseudo-science or, worse, faulty religious principles to combat the tedious findings of our nation’s top scientists. I’ve had many arguments with former friends of mine (who were conservative) that literally REJECTED the evidence by NASA yet could not find any credible source to oppose this evidence. They even go as far as to use science (when they actually decide to do so for once) to point out our earth’s continuous heating and cooling over the course of its lifetime and falsely assert this as their evidence that global warming is not man-made. The saddest part about it is that some conservatives will go so far as to even acknowledge that there is climate change, but they won’t accept evidence that it is man-made, and despite this, they refuse to do anything about it anyway.

Let’s say, for instance, the MIB (for sake of argument) operated a covert operation wherein they created a sizable comet in space, which they somehow lost control of, putting it on a collision course with Earth at dramatic speed. Let’s say NASA satellites uncovered this. Conservatives would argue that there is no such comet, and even if there was, not only is it “impossible” to prove that it’s man-made, but we shouldn’t do anything about it at all. Are you kidding me?! A comet IS HEADING RIGHT FOR US!!! Things like this are what make America the laughing stock of the world. Our nation lags behind even some developing nations in most academic areas, but we are FAR superior, of course, when it comes to wasting money on unnecessary wars and wasting money on our poor healthcare system.

Speaking of wars, the war on drugs has got to be the worst federal policy ever established in our country! It has been shown to not work, recognized even by a multitude of countries internationally including entities such as the UN! Even worse, marijuana has been shown time and time again that it is a very powerful medicine that alleviates numerous symptoms, yet marijuana is still considered to be a Schedule 1 drug (meaning that it has no medical benefit and causes the most harm out of all drugs). How can something that has been scientifically verified to be a very helpful medicine also be considered a Schedule 1 drug ? The least you could do is fund more research to be done to determine once and for all whether it really is a helpful substance or not. However, millions upon millions of non-violent, mostly law-abiding Americans have been incarcerated, having their lives ruined, mostly due to simple possession charges! Your continual support of the prison-industrial complex is ruining our nation and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars annually on a war that CANNOT be won! Our founding fathers OWNED HEMP FARMS for crying out loud! And speaking of hemp, hemp has been shown to be one of the strongest, efficient, and plentiful fibers in the world, yet it is outlawed because of its affiliation with marijuana. This is just plain foolish! We have a global warming crisis coupled with mass deforestation and desertification, and you want to continue to disallow a fiber which can actually help curb these things? Senseless!

Furthermore, you’ve allowed the deregulation of banks in 1999 during Clinton’s Administration by erasing the Glass-Steagall Act, and by doing so, you are responsible for the housing/banking collapse and the subsequent Great Recession. In addition, you have allowed banks that were “too big to fail” to become even BIGGER, and the Dodd-Frank bill is not strong enough to keep banks regulated to ensure that they are not continuing their practices of screwing over hardworking taxpayers. You have allowed a continually increasing wage gap between the rich and the rest of America, which sees the rich gaining massive profits and tax breaks whilst the rest of America, many of which (such as myself) who have lost their jobs and have a hard time finding work, see less profits as inflation, war, and greed continue to drive down the value of the dollar and keep people out of work. Speaking of the rich, for some reason you won’t strongly target the rich to pay their fair share despite strong evidence that the top 1% holds 60% of the nation’s wealth and that the more money they’re allowed to keep, the more money they will save.  It has been shown that even a small 4% increase in taxes on the richest Americans can bring in $700 BILLION over the next 10 years!  Yet, you allow the right to continuously mislead the American people into choosing against this because of the repeatedly debunked conservative belief that the rich will stimulate the economy and create jobs when they are taxed less.

Click to learn more about this historic law, The Banking Act of 1933 and its importance.

The unemployment rate has stayed at a constant rate of 9%, while unemployment for African-Americans (such as myself) is nearly double that at 17%. College graduates (as I am as well) are finding less and less employment opportunities post-college, causing us to return home, and those lucky enough to find something usually can only find minimum wage jobs to pay for the thousands of dollars of debt accumulated in the hopes that they wouldn’t have to take these kinds of jobs in the first place.  I live in a house full of people who have not completed post-secondary education, yet I, the one with a college education am the least financially stable. I find it sickening that all throughout childhood and adolescence, we’re all taught that an education is the key to success, yet we live in a land where we’re actually punished for having an education! Either we have too much education or not enough experience, which is circular logic that permeates every place of employment. For instance, I had finally found a minimum-wage, entry-level position in 2009 at Walgreens after a friend who worked there put in a good word for me. My college education had no effect on my being accepted there, as none of my co-workers had college education. Our store manager, only a few years older than I, landed his high position merely because his father works in the corporate offices of Walgreens. This goes to show that once you have friends in high places (or in this case, family), it’s not difficult to carve out a comfortable niche for oneself, but for those who don’t, it’s not an uphill battle, it’s more like a mountain climb with no support attachments (in fact, I would say that the debt from school is more like a weight pulling us down, working against us in our climb).

The roots of all of our problems are political corruption and bipartisanship. It is no secret that politicians are given lovely contributions from many well-known corporations to push whatever agenda helps corporations attain ever increasing short term profits, whether it be to deregulate an industry, cut taxes, block reforms, etc. Citizens United didn’t help matters either. This is where the problem of bipartisanship comes into play. Instead of making sound, helpful and progressive decisions which will unquestionably benefit our country, you allow jackasses to cloud national discourse with misconstrued facts, pseudo-science, and religious beliefs, leading to many of the unhelpful policies which have been enacted. You can’t negotiate with crazy people or ignorant people! That’s crazy! That’s like arguing with a child! And you wonder why people like Ron Paul have such cult followings…

Is this REALLY the guy who will save America? Click for 10 Reasons why this may not be the case!

I say all of that to say this. YOU CAN HELP FIX THIS!!!! For starters, STOP SUCCOMBING TO REPUBLICAN DEMANDS!!! Sure, the republicans are well funded and are pretty well organized. However, YOU CAN BE TOO!!! There are countless liberal grassroots organizations, like MoveOn.org, Left Action, Democracy for America, Union of Concerned Scientists, Sierra Club, Wealth for the Common Good, Human Rights Watch, NORML, and The WE Campaign (to say the least), all pushing for the solutions for our social, economic, environmental and legislative needs. Get them excited and get them on your side! There are so many liberal mouthpieces, online, on television and in print. Help them help you! The more people can understand about what’s going on in our society and how everything generally works, there is no question that they would be more willing to support you! We shouldn’t have to “Occupy Wall Street” and things of that nature because it is YOUR job to discipline Wall Street when they let down the country! YOU promised to make these changes for the American people, and now is NOT the time to back down!

In addition, stop succumbing to the corporate elites! You have lost touch with the American people, most notably the minorities and the youth, because of your consistent pandering to those entities which care only for their own welfare, but YOU CAN CHANGE THIS!!!! Push for saving those social programs to help Americans resist poverty and enjoy useful, long-term employment! Push for continued funding and support for education! Our nation has made great leaps and bounds in technology, engineering, and the like because of our high value of education. We have unfortunately lost our place at the top as the best and the brightest in math and science, and we are letting other developing countries innovate at higher rates than we. We can reclaim the title with renewed support! Push for strong reforms and regulations in the financial, legislative and environmental sectors to prevent mishaps like the Gulf Oil Spill and the ’08 Financial Collapse!  A stronger tax code will help close the loopholes that allow corporations to avoid paying the taxes required of them by law. Push for higher taxes on the wealthy! This doesn’t have to be permanent, but in times like these, we can’t afford not to! Push for the end of the Drug War! It’s a huge waste of money that has only hindered social progress. Push for cutting funding from the military! Not to say that we don’t need strong defense, but most of our funding is supporting unnecessary wars, flawed foreign policies and excessive equipment. We can be more efficient (and more moral) than that! Push for environmental sustainability! The global science community is almost entirely unanimous in their findings concerning the occurrence of global climate change. With all of the discoveries and advances made by our nation’s greatest scientists such as those at NASA and the UN, coupled with the seemingly exponential increase in extreme weather conditions causing massive damage to nations around the world, it would be foolish to deny the work of these scientists and to sit and do nothing! Push for the separation of church and state! Our nation was founded on the freedom of religion, and everyone has a right to believe, even proselytize whatever they want; however, religion is to be kept separate from public policy, especially when it is blatantly exclusionary, separatist, anti-science and just plain harmful for our country!

The list goes on and on. There are so many things that we as Americans need BADLY, and we can only do so much in a civil fashion to obtain the things we need to make our society better. Trust me, I know that it won’t be easy at all, but we didn’t come all this way just to give up now!  We must stand together as a society. Remember, democrats, that you aren’t all just politicians. You are Americans as well. Many of you, like us, come from humble beginnings and weren’t afforded the benefits and luxuries that you do now. Understand that many of us are struggling more than ever just to make a decent living, and we could sure use your help! Please, I’m begging you, stand with us as we try to make America the greatest country on earth again.

Sincerely,

The Ultimate R.A.G.E.
Chicago, IL