Seeing president Obama quickly get back to work after the election making his stance clear going into negotiations regarding the fiscal cliff, stating part of that will include raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, one would think other political operatives are doing the same, if for no other reason than to thwart the president, shore up their chances for 2016. Not so, while larger political headlines in the week following the election ranged from strange to bizarre, there was a whole local level of absolutely ridiculous headlines about what politicians were doing with their time. We’ve all heard the stories of, mistresses, lavish vacations, disappearances for personal reasons, using inside, work related information to make money, say in the stock market, nepotism, earmarking state, federal funds to nonsensical projects, outlandish benefit packages for congressional members; certainly now there are more than a few who wish that was the case. It’s a problem bigger than sore loser-dom personified by Mitt Romney’s post-election comments and continued by Allen West’s refusal to concede the office he ran for; people looking at states trying to secede from the union see it as a colossal waste of time, simultaneously other republican prominent faces have simply faded away. However this problem is serious not only in terms of where the GOP goes from here whether it faces extinction or redefines itself to become a viable political force once again representing parts of America; it goes directly to what Americans expect from their politicians on all levels, what they are not getting.  They solidly rejected tinfoil hat manufactured problems and extremist social ideas, agendas only to be bombarded by double doses of exactly that.

http://tv.msnbc.com/2012/11/17/black-voters-deeply-offended-by-maine-gop-chair/

 Click here to listen to the Maine RNC chairman with your own ears

In Maine the state republican national committee chairman stirred controversy and craziness when he spoke about unfamiliar persons who showed up to vote on election day mystified by quantities of black voters who suddenly appeared to exercise their right; adding to his confusion seemed to be where they had come from, as if he had never see a black person before in that area, vowing to find out how and if they came to be registered voters. Upon receiving the predictable backlash, he claimed he couldn’t possibly be racist because he has a black friend he plays basketball with; arguably the most offensive defense of a stupid comment ever made, yet a classic routinely trotted out by racist individuals trying to prove they are not. However if that was all it was, we would know what to do with it and move on; instead this man comes off mentally unwell, a decidedly harder thing for media, fellow politicians and the public to handle, partly because we’re left wondering is this first persons to decry slavery, first persons to believe in civil rights, gay rights kind of nuts, or is it the he needs medication kind of nuts. Sighs point to the latter; his follow up statement rules out the concept he’s just never seen a black person in his area before, making it all the more perplexing as to why he is threatened by black voter turnout, leaving us readers, news consumers to one conclusion, he’s out of his mind. Rounding out the ensemble of insanity is his appearance, a Wilfred Brimley style bushy mustache and either a pronounced speech impediment or nor-eastern accent contributing to the overall ridiculous feeling to the whole thing. To be noted the undertone alleging possible voter fraud is not based on his speculation said individuals were not Maine residents and subsequently not allowed to vote there, were not residents of the particular town, county resulting in the same conclusion, but solely based on the color of their skin. Similarly the potential voter fraud he swears to investigate is not based on a suspicion they are too young to vote, they did not have proper ID, registration or missed the latter’s deadline, and were still allowed to vote, against the law, because of poll worker incompetence, polling place disorganization or a flagrant disregard for voting rules but rather based on these people were black and the RNC chairman was totally unaware so many black people lived in his community. Neither were his issues regarding any voter fraud based on these were criminals, homeless loiterers there to harass voters, escaped inmates forfeiting their right to vote by being currently, or should be, incarcerated; no his complaint is they are black and being used to fraudulently take all of Maine’s 4 electoral votes, said in a tone usually reserved for geeks talking about evidence of little green men from Mars having visited earth. Logical people were quick to point out, if there was some sort of plot to tamper with the election, wouldn’t they do it in a much bigger state Ohio, where there were many more electoral votes to be had?    

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/49862781#49862781

 See local news footage and reaction to the now former Georgia senate majority leader

And the stories from the twilight zone just get worse from there; example, a Georgia capitol building seminar lead by republicans that included slides explaining how president Obama used cold war mind control tactics to win reelection. No you didn’t misread that; there actually was a slideshow, power point like presentation given in the Georgia capitol building to republican members of the local legislature that contained so called information on president Obama using mind control to gain a second term. Even more troubling, the presentation was created and given by the president and longest running member of the state legislature who up until this point had severed his district well, unfortunately making him someone people are likely to listen to. Additionally the man in the video link is correct; usually people who say these kinds of things are wearing a tinfoil hat only this time the person wearing the tinfoil hat is also the senate majority leader. Controversial former governor Haley Barbour got kicked out of the national governors association meeting for telling his fellow governors, party members “the GOP needed a serious proctology exam, needed to look everywhere…”  Actually Mr. Barbour you’re starting at the wrong end; these people, these political candidates and potential political candidates don’t need a proctology exam, they need a psychology exam. It’s a sad day in America when several of a particular party’s leaders say and do things leading reasonable, logical individuals to believe they could not pass a basic psychological exam, but there it is. Sadder still is when members of the public, candidate selection committees feel like they have to subject possible public office holders to a psych examination before placing them on a ballot, when voters feel like their new slogan has to be show me proof that you’re sane before I give you my vote. Now political experts do foresee a positive side to such headlines; they are starting to see a trend where above described behavior is no longer ok, no longer sanctioned by the rest of the party and Americans will be happy to know that the bushy mustache black people conspiracy theorist is no longer RNC chairman in Maine, nor is our mind control presentation author senate majority leader in Georgia. Larger problem, beyond the embarrassment they bring to their party, their issue platform, America as a nation, one, we would not know about the Georgia meeting if it was not for a watchdog member and his video camera along with content he was able to film before being thrown out; two, what else did/do such leaders get away with doing while no one was looking, before we find out their political leanings have gone round the bend?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yONiQ_KWJag

So what should your government be doing besides this strange kind of “governing” that doesn’t move the country forward, doesn’t solve the larger problems, doesn’t help the American people, doesn’t help local areas; how about rather than trying to secede from the union, rather than holding inquiries into how certain ethnicities of people became voters, dared turn up to exercise their civil right on election day using that energy, using paper and online petitions to tell Washington you appreciate your right to vote and would like to keep it, next time without the 8 hour long lines, would like to cast your vote before midnight on election night. Better yet tell them the best way for you to register to vote, to maintain your voter registration; tell them what your 18 year old used to register, same day registration perhaps. Maybe you like early voting because you can vote on weekends when you’re not working; people with disabilities that need assistance in voting, prefer early voting to avoid large crowds, lines; now is the time to speak up before these things disappear completely. As it is, officials had to be reminded why polling hours on Election Day needed to be expanded beyond traditional business hours of 8-5, giving working individuals a chance to vote after work. Rock the vote has over the last 2 election cycles become block the vote first eliminating third party voter registration thanks to things like the Acorn scandal; then it was voter ID laws still being contested in areas nationwide, laws on the whole that discriminate against older, disabled and minority persons who do not have a traditional driver’s license to use as ID.  What disgruntled members of the public and local officials should be doing is swarming their elected officials, Washington counterparts with what going over the fiscal cliff would do to your local community, your family, your taxes, your business, your child’s school. Tell them what it is likely to do to the local parks and rec, services to your disabled child, the local boys & girls club, strain on community food banks to feed people who can no longer afford food, potential services you might lose at the county health clinic because there aren’t funds to keep it open. Remind people of what analysts are calling the human-date; while everyone has a different view of what election results mean, what the message was Americans tried to send to their governing bodies, officials in charge of policy and law making, by calling it a human-date experts are trying to bring back, underscore   the human cost of going over the fiscal cliff, not attempting to solve current problems,  the responsibility our leaders have to individuals, families not just numbers on a spreadsheet, not just line items in gargantuan budget documents losing all tangible meaning, reestablishing the connection between what is done in Washington and the effect it has on ordinary citizen. Thousands could lose their job if the payroll tax holiday is not extended, with the loss of job comes a loss of health insurance if you had it, suddenly the county health clinic becomes more important to more people. And that’s just one of the potential domino effects of Washington dysfunction.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/49862781#49911154

 Go here to see just what block the vote tactics were used and what they are cooking up for 2016

Speaking of healthcare many Americans live in states and municipalities who have up to this point ignored the looming reality that everyone have healthcare starting in 2014, specifically the directive that states either create their own healthcare exchanges for individuals, employers to choose from, or let the federal government do it for them, going so far as to miss the deadline in notifying capitol hill which option they intend to use. Besides it being a dereliction of their public office to miss things like this, there are bigger implications stemming from the fact the affordable care act, popularly now called Obama care, was designed in the hopes places that already had exchanges could continue to use them, requiring only slight expansion, that those state exchanges could be a model for all areas, actually providing better, more comprehensive care than if the government set up the structure themselves. Again the American people are on the losing end of a meaningless ideology fight, as certain local members of government, ironically staunch advocates of states’ rights, local control, seem determined to let the federal government come in and set things up according to the strictest structures of the law so they can turn around point, saying see Obama care bad.  Individuals, families, persons in need of quality healthcare doubly lose because certain republican governors expected the supreme court to overturn the constitutionality of the law; undaunted by that failure they put their hopes in Mitt Romney would be the next president following through on his promise to repeal Obama care as one of his first acts in office and now that they are out of ways to circumvent what became law shortly after Obama entered office for his first term they ignore a deadline, beg for an extension, perfectly willing to give their constituents who put them in office lesser care options to prove a point, out of spite. Never letting them know it could have been different, of course

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755822/#49862471

 Click to find out which governors are shirking their responsibility to their states future healthcare

Something else needing attention saving the United States postal service with some very basic restructuring beginning with overturning the republican authored mandate that they provide for future retirees up to 75 years in advance within a 10 year window, a GOP engineered  idea that accounted for a significant majority of the billions of dollars the post office found themselves in the red; after that allowing them to modernize, allowing rural post offices to also dispense wanted hunting and fishing licenses, be able to provide simple copies of  documents, have a notary on staff to notarize needed documents for citizens. More importantly remove federal law and local ordinances that make those 3 things illegal, because not saving the post office, as an institution, is not an option. Reaching outside nostalgia for a public, cultural institution, the reality corkboards and printed statements don’t get viruses like computers do, junk drawers with credit card statements don’t get hacked, there remains the serious implications of no more postal mail, removal of postal boxes, closing of post offices, the effect on poor and older persons the limitations of transportation and logistics to pay bills in person, the fact you can’t pay a credit card bill in person. Forgotten are those same older and poorer people sans computer access to play bills online,  to say nothing of the knowledge to do so, the strain longer processing times place on households struggling to make ends meet. There remain the consequences to business, particularly small business, if their shipping costs should drastically increase suddenly forced to depend on giant shipping companies, UPS and others for shipping needs once provided by basic mail; they frankly go out of business because they can no longer move their product across the country.              

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755822/#49862614

 Visit link to find out what a dying post office could mean for you

Unfortunately instead of coming up with a comprehensive plan to deal with any of these real and tangible problems, pass laws, create regulations that ensure people have a fair opportunity to gain the things we all need, we have political operatives manufacturing problems they want to deal with. They want to cope with their losses this election, their crushing defeat by trying to figure out how certain groups became legitimately registered to vote rather than taking a hard look at why they might have voted for the other guy, don’t want to face it could have been their stance on particular issues, blatant ignoring of others, overt shunning of minorities. So this is what they choose to focus on how our sitting president gained a second term by fraud, control not the twin dooms of sane, logical and popular policies meant to help Americans pummeled by recession, out of work through no fault of their own, struggling to stay or regain their place in the middle class, fighting to keep their home, rather than calling them takers, saying they don’t want to take responsibility for their lives. Wake up America these are the kind of people you voted for; these are the kind of people you sent back to the United States House of Representatives. One resounding question remains why; why do we do this to ourselves? You know it says something when Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. makes more headlines for disappearing on his office staff later found undergoing mental health treatment at a renowned hospital or generating identical amounts of headlines after winning an easy reelection he didn’t even participate in announcing his resignation, press revealing he was readmitted to another prominent hospital for treatment of diagnosed bipolar disorder. We are more shocked by someone not making bizarre statements showcasing an obvious personal issue conversely getting help, realizing they cannot do the job they were elected to and leaving said job before being forced out, than we are by people flamboyantly displaying behavior proving they never should have been elected in the first place and need to be removed immediately.            

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