Those who have come on R&R know that I am a political poster. I am an unapologetic, liberal leaning, progressive democrat.

I have posted about many political topics but I would like to summarize my views.

I support the middle class and working class. The union movement and the government programs that resulted from it helped create the middle class. And these people are largely democrats. The republicans have never done one thing for the middle class and everything that you enjoy in your standard of living and workplace is a result of democrats.

I have said that there are 4 R's of republicanism: rich, racist, red-neck and religious right. That is not to say that everyone in the republican party is one of these. They aren't - but if you are one of these you are more likely to belong to the republican party than the democratic party.

I had an entire thread about republican hypocrisy and not one post was refuted. Sure there are examples of democratic hypocrisy but not on the large scale as in the republican party. They will talk about cutting the deficit while raising the deficit with tax cuts for their wealthy donors.

The new republican congress talks of nothing but cutting spending and the deficit when the american people are focused on the economy and jobs. That's because they have no jobs program and indeed their economic plan and spending cuts will cause a loss of 700,000 jobs and destroy this fragile economic recovery.

While they are giving your tax money to oil companies and the rich, they are saying - hey look over here, it's really Social Security, funding for family planning or subsidies for home heating that is the problem. And people who are either in denial or just don't fact check will believe this.

SS has NOT contributed one dime to the deficit. It has a 2.6 trillion dollar surplus and can pay out for the next 27 years. But you wouldn't know that listening to them. Medicare has been more of a problem because it is tied into the general rise in health care costs and rising premiums.

People on the right advocate for smaller government, less spending, fewer regulations and less government in our lives - unless it's in a woman's body and those who can marry then they want a large federal footprint. De-regulation worked out really well with the economic crash of 2008, didn't it? And people (and states with republican governors) are okay with cuts in spending as long as it doesn't affect them (just the other guy).

Those who think that they are self made and earned everything they have and need no help from the federal government can't get out of the house to work without all levels of government affecting the quality of their lives - from their clean air and Water, the inspected food they ate, the safety laws for their cars and the highways they drive on - and many many more.

The middle class has been sinking for 30 years while the rich get richer. You are all working harder and actually making less (buying power). These are facts the right doesn't want to talk about.

But the current line of thinking is to blame government, blame unions, blame public workers, blame teachers, the single mom,etc..These are not the problems. The problem is corporate america who owns you and their enormous influence on our government and our lives. They are the real enemy, not the government. They are laughing all the way to the bank because they have gotten working class people to take to the streets protesting a rise in estate taxes and hope you don't notice the power and money you have lost.

So, I am wasting my valuable time on here. I have a lot of work to do as I am involved in local politics. We are starting on our 2012 campaign to re-elect Pres. Obama and I will direct my time and talents in that direction.

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Cloeo’sMom,

Keep fighting the good fight. If most Americans would take a good hard look at the issues, they would see that the Republicans are destroying the middle class, women’s rights, social equality and everything else in this country. Sadly, most people can’t stop reading about Charlie Sheen or Lindsey Lohan long enough to see what is really going on. When they do look at politics, it is usually over some dog whistle issue that is meant to divert attention away from issues that really matter anyway. Like this sh*@storm in Wisconsin. The dbag governor is actually blaming the economic woes of that state on Unions while it is clear to anybody with half a brain that his tax cuts to corporations are the real culprit there. When will the middle class realize that breaking the public unions there is just the first step? Next will be the police and firefighters, and untimely all workers rights will be eroded because no one is left to fight against people like Walker.

For the most part, I have given up on this site. I think the reachable audience on here is very limited and I don’t want to have the same arguments with the same hard headed right wing sympathizers over and over again. My only hope is that all the info from the likes of you, Bjean, and to a much smaller extent me reached a few people in the middle over the last few years.