HATE! GREED! FEAR!

I am certainly no psychologist but I have to confess that I do not understand the kind of HATE that seems to be rampant in this country at this time.  Has it always been there or are we just seeing it more in the open now?  What causes a man like John Boehner to hate so much that he will obstruct needed legislation in order to spend $500.00 an hour of taxpayer money to sue the President?  Is he so filled with hate that he will ignore the plight of people in this country who are struggling just to survive?  Is it hate or is it corruption or both?
Is it hate that makes a policeman shoot a little black 12 year old boy who had a toy gun?  Is it hate that makes a policeman shoot a bullet into a car windshield of a black father trying to get home to get his daughter's inhaler because she is having an asthma attack? What is driving this senseless shooting of black men and boys?  I thought we had come farther than this.
Power can be a very destructive force and I see those with power being driven by hate and rage.  It is very scary and I believe that chaos will be the result across this country as it has been in Ferguson.
Is it greed that drives people to trample one another trying to get the best deals on Black Friday?  Or is it desperation?  Is it Greed that drives men like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell to abuse their power so that they can line their pockets with huge campaign contributions?
Is it fear that drives someone like Senator Chuck Schumer to abandon his democratic values so that he can maybe keep his place in the Senate?  Is it fear of losing her support from campaign donors that someone like Susan Collins votes against the best interests of her constituents?
I am totally perplexed and concerned about where our country is heading.
Here it is the First Sunday of Advent, a time for waiting and reflecting.  In my mind it is a time to look inward and see where I am failing in my care for myself, my family and my country and then look for steps to correct these failings.  Today many people will light the first Advent candle of Hope yet how many are truly hopeful?

Honestly I am not a very prayerful person but today I would urge people to pray that this country can get back on track and that we can see that fewer and fewer people have to live in fear of being shot by a policeman who they should be able to trust, fear of being cold and hungry, fear of losing their homes, fear of not being able to access health care and fear so many other things.  I would hope that Hate, Greed and Fear can become a thing of the past and that we can be a more compassionate society.

CLARIFICATION

In my previous post I called the Democrats week willed and by and large they are.  But I did mean to point out that in the State of Maine two candidates stood out on their willingness to engage in the real issues and they were Shenna Bellows and Emily Cain.  Shenna ran an excellent campaign on little money taking on Susan Collins who was funded by large corporations and PACs, and addressed the real issues.  Emily Cain did the same and if it had not been the horrible, lying ads produced by Poliquin's campaign I think she would have won.  Kudos to both of these women.
On the national level the Democrats like Al Franken and Gary Peters won because they addressed the issues that people are concerned with  Instead of running away from the good things that have been accomplished during the Obama Administration they embraced them while others were afraid to do so and suffered the consequences.
Now let's hope that the basically corporate owned and corrupt Supreme Court does not take away the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (We need to stop calling it Obama Care and use its real name!) and toss millions of Americans off their health care.  Prayers are sure needed.
So folks maybe petitions and letters do not do anything but let's keep the pressure on and keep signing, writing and calling and maybe we can affect some change.

OUR VOICES MEAN LITTLE TO ELECTED OFFICIAL

I have been lax about posting here on my blog but I feel that time has come to an end.  The recent elections will have disastrous effects on all of us.  People campaigning for office whether it be local, state or national say great things and make good promises but when they take office they really do not represent our views, wishes or desires.  They spend a fortune in money and spread misleading ads on TV which people get so fed up with and then flood you with emails requesting more and more money and make numerous phone calls with unidentifiable  numbers until you are forced to unplug the phone.  Then they get in to their ivory towers and are isolated from the very people who elected them. and never listen to them.

It seems as if everything that is done is done for a political reasons and not because they really care about those who are struggling just to get food and shelter or because they care about the environment or that the banks and big corporations are ruining our country.  Why?  Because they are owned by the big corporations and are beholden to them.  Something is terribly wrong with this country.

In full disclosure, I am an ardent Democrat.  While not a Democrat Bernie Sanders is my hero!  Elizabeth Warren is my heroine! I care about what happens to my neighbors, the environment, the economy and many other things,  It should not matter if my representative is a democrat or a republican they should listen to me and others who contact them.  We are not stupid.  We follow the issues and have valid opinions but little of that seems to matter once they get elected.  Republicans stick to their issues and in my opinion do a great deal of harm to our society.  Democrats on the other hand are weak willed and afraid to stand up for the values of their party.  While many of these folks are really good people they are not responsive to their constituents.

A good case in point is Senator Susan Collins.  If you call her office to ask her to vote for or against an issue and want to know where she stands on an issue this is the response you get from her office.  "I am sorry the Senator has not made a public statement on the issue."  if you ask when she might let her views be known so we would know whether or not to support her position or urge her to vote a different way you get the same answer.  "I am sorry but the Senator has not made a public statement on the issue."  By the time she has  made a public statement the votes have been taken and our voice was totally discounted and not heard at all.

On the opposite side Representative Chellie Pingree's office is very open about her positions and they will actually have an intelligent conversation with you.

On the state level a state senator, who is no longer there, thank God, refused to even answer emails or return phone calls.  Of all the times I have contacted him I received two responses and one was a question about an issue as he was not familiar with and it was coming up for a vote! I was able to give him the information he needed.

The same is true at the local level.  Members of the Town Council have their preconceived ideas so firmly in their heads that they do not welcome any input that may differ from theirs.

So now in Windham we are updating the comprehensive plan and that needs to be done.  There will be two meetings for the public to have input and there is an online survey and these are good things.  But in the end a document will be written with nice language and adopted and then it will sit on some shelf gathering dust and elected and appointed officials will forget it exists just as they have done with the present one and go their own way and again the public's views will be forgotten.

So you can see that I am very disillusioned with government in general.  Now I am getting on in age and will probably not be around to see the devastation of our environment and the worsening struggles of the poor and middle class because of the widening income inequality but I care about what my children and grandchildren and great grandchildren will have to face and unless we make serious changes to the political process I feel we are doomed.  We are no longer the innovative society that we once were.  We are falling further and further behind other countries in education, health care and many other issues.  Racism has certainly reared its head and I would hate to be a young black man living in this country at this time.  Our President, whether you agree or disagree with him, is treated with disrespect and hatred because he is black  Terrible things have been said to him and about him.  I really thought we were better than that.  

Thank God, there are still some caring people who will try and feed the homeless, unless they get arrested for doing that, who will help folks winterize their home and provide fuel either in wood or oil, who will support food pantries, run soup kitchens and try and stop pipelines and save the environment.  But we are too big and it takes the government to step in and help.

Well enough of this rant but everything I said is important and I care deeply about our country and our state and I am sorry that elected officials are so blind to the real problems we face.  I am usually a very optimistic person but I have to say that I do not feel very optimistic at this point in time.