By Timothy V. Gatto

During a conversation with my wife, she mentioned that her mother was very disenchanted with the Federal government. The government is denying recipients of Social Security their cost of living adjustment for the second year in a row, but still they manage to give the wealthiest Americans a continuation of the Bush tax-cuts. I told my wife that she would probably blame it on Obama seeing that she isn’t very involved politics and she would only see the simple version of what happened, and that it was the Democrats and President Obama that extended the Bush tax-cuts for the wealthiest people and cut COLA for people on Social Security. I also remarked that the Republicans would probably use that to make political capital with, even though the Republicans were the ones pressing the deal.

My wife, who is very astute, asked me why in the world was I taking the Democrats side since we both came to the realization that they were both sides of the same coin. You see, I was a faithful Democrat for decades but decided both political parties were working for the same people and it sure isn’t us. She said that in thinking that way (partisan political groupthink), I was being used by the politicians and that no matter why, or the way it happened, the tax cuts for the rich still got extended and that the people in Washington wanted that all along. Now was the time for them to divide the American people through politics by getting them to blame the other party. BTW, they both do it in exactly the same way.

She didn’t have to say that twice. I sat down and thought about it. Here was another “deal” cooked-up by the politico’s in Washington that again voted to keep the rich satisfied at the expense of the Middle Class. Even though I knew the circumstances, it was still the same old story; they got me to fall back into the same old trap of blaming the Republicans.

That’s the way things work in America. If there is something that the politicians want and they know that the people don’t want it, they pull a partisan stunt like this. This way the people won’t blame Obama because he “had” to extend the tax-cuts for the wealthy in order to extend benefits for the unemployed, but his hands were tied. They put this into a political “compromise” so we could take the good with the bad.

In reality, the majority of the members of the House and Senate, whether they are Republican or Democrat, never wanted to remove those tax-breaks in the first place. Almost every member of Congress is a millionaire or will be soon. Their greatest political allies are the people that finance their campaigns. It is those people that call the shots. The simple question to ask yourself is why would a wealthy person finance the campaign of a politician that raised your taxes and took more of your money?

Now THAT is the way things work in Washington. The people won’t just be angry with one political party and we will stay divided and fight over what really happened while the politicians and the people they work for will laugh at us. I hate to break anyone’s bubble, but I believe that the American people were blindsided again.

Will it happen again? Of course it will. Today I was watching television and saw those commercials about all the pharmaceutical products that will cure all of these diseases you never knew you had, or probably will get sooner or later, and you should call your doctor right away and talk to him about it. I watched a diabetic supply commercial with Alan Thicke and he had under his name on the screen “Famous television Dad”. What kind of crap is that? Who cares about what a “Famous TV Dad” thinks about diabetic supplies? Apparently, many people care or they wouldn’t use that particular definition. There are many people in America that believe because he was a good dad on TV that he is a good man in real life. They don’t lie on TV, do they?

While I’m on the subject of television, what is it with all of these disaster and “end of the world” scenarios? My wife keeps asking if they are setting us up for something. Do they know something that we don’t? Between the end of mankind and alien influence and first encounters, there are so many of these docudramas that you would believe they are “prepping” us for something or just trying to keep the people scared out of their wits. You should see some of the e-mails I get from people about the end of the world. To some of you people out there, this stuff isn’t to be taken lightly.

Another thing while I’m on a tear is that there is a Democratic website out there called “Obama’s Suggestion Box”. There is a place on the bottom that mentions advisers and it has my blog http://liberalpro.blogspot.com. I believe it's still out there. Let me tell you that in no way am I connected to the Obama administration. I believe that this was done intentionally to make people doubt the motivation for what I write.

Now that I’ve probably ruined your day, I’ll close now. I feel I’ve gotten some of the things that have been bothering me of late off my chest and dumped them on you. I think I write for therapy more than anything else. I’ll pop back up when I’ve got a few more things on my mind, meanwhile have a great day!

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timgatto@hotmail.com Read Tim's Book "Complicity to Contempt" and his Novel "Kimchee Days or Stoned Cold Warriors From Oliver Arts and Open Press and available on Amazon and all other online bookstores.