First off, let me be clear that I’m not bitter about the results. I actually prefer having each major party represented in some fashion, to keep things somewhat balanced and representative. Besides, the Democrats were in full control for two years, and spent most of their time squabbling and whining about “getting in trouble” with Republicans. Please! A little forced compromise is usually a good thing.

That said, I’m not happy that Americans have become so jaded (or ignorant) that they think any old dogma-spewing candidate will do. Much of what you were told from these “outsiders” was one huge pack of lies.

The Tea Party preaches smaller government, but many of the major candidates don’t really care about the size of government, only that Big Business has first dibs on all aspects of your life. The freedom they are preaching for is NOT what you’re going to get with less government. You’re only trading “of the people” for “at the whim of the corporate machine.”

Jon Runyan, newly elected “anti-spending” Republican Congressman from District 3 in New Jersey, owes his fame and fortune to public funding of football stadiums. Sure, most of the funding is state and municipal, but rest assured, both types of funding are almost always offset by seeking more federal grants to pay for other projects. (Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field used $180 million in public funding, and assuming a 20-year life, that’s $9 million in socialized spending per year…for one industry.)

After the election, Tea Party leadership went on TV (which shouldn’t have even happened in my opinion) to say that they don’t hate Obama. Need I even BOTHER recapping the last two years? Every major Tea Party event was FILLED with baseless vitriol and manufactured outrage about every aspect of Obama’s life, heritage, and intelligence.  Much was based on race or religion and thus clearly rooted in hate. Aside from the widespread racism, lying about someone, PERIOD, is rooted in hate.

A few times, we were reminded that this move “gives power back to the people.” Does it now? The new “populist” Speaker, John Boehner, has more ties to corporations than Nancy Pilosi could ever dream of.  Anti-bailout? Pro-small business? How could he be, with a long-lasting romance with Citibank and Goldman Sachs, among many other megagigantacorps that don’t play well with small business, and would just as soon see you rot in hell.  This is why his crying and preaching about small-business and the little guy left a rotten taste in my mouth. The hypocrisy was enough to rot teeth.

Dozens of times I heard “The people have spoken,” which is already getting ridiculous. First, the President’s party almost ALWAYS loses power in midterms—only twice in the last 75 years has the President’s party not lost seats during midterms. Often, both the House AND Senate flop to the other party. Polls will show you time and time again that Americans prefer both parties represented, because, just as we saw, one party controlling all branches simply isn’t very effective.

And aside from that, Republicans and Tea Party folks are already forgetting that the people spoke in November 2008, and they were begging for health care reform, tax relief, more spending on the PEOPLE and less on corporations, as well as protections from the excesses of Wall Street. Where were you after the people spoke in 2008? Already manufacturing outrage and making signs saying “Fire Pilosi” and “Show me the birth certificate,” and you were busy helping Republicans obstruct anything that might make the people feel like they mattered.

The last two years have been spent doing NOTHING other than plotting a win this month, NOT thinking about or acting on any issues that mattered. Your manufactured concern NOW for the people’s voice is as repulsive as your manufactured outrage over manufactured issues. Republicans won in many cases NOT in some populist zeal to take back government for themselves, but in a desperate move to remind do-nothings (on all sides) that you are not getting paid to spend two years campaigning for the next election. Never mind the fact that MANY voters just stayed home in disgust.

You see, most people only want to vote in the “big ones” and to them, that means presidential elections. Those who have easiest access to the polls are the ones who stay home all day listening to fatheads on TV spewing for-profit nonsense and the idle rich, who can simply vote whenever they like. (I’m in a lucky minority of folks who have the day off, paid, on mid-term AND presidential elections.)

The simple fact is, people are disgusted with ALL of Washington, not because it’s TOO affective on our lives, but because it’s ineffective in fixing problems. The Republicans in the House aren’t going to be any better.

And for people who are sick of this madness in general, here are a few suggestions:

• • Demand that we change a few things. US Representatives should have 4-year terms, elected on every Presidential election cycle, and US Senators should have 8-year terms, elected every OTHER Presidential election cycle.  States should also only hold statewide elections on Presidential election cycles. Period. Congressmen who are only concerned about re-election rarely do what is NEEDED to make this country great.
• • Congressional districts should ONLY be drawn by non-partisan citizen groups. Lines should be drawn county-by-county as much as possible, rather than chopping up towns and neighborhoods just to get the “right mix” to guarantee an outcome. If you think there is no problem, check out Texas. Both parties have played this game, and both must stop. Controlled elections are NOT free elections, no matter how many flags you wave.
• • Demand that “news” channels be forbidden use of that term unless their network airs at least 20 hours of real news, not yelling and screaming about manufactured outrage or scaring people into buying books to save the country! Better yet, donate to PBS and watch NewsHour.
• • Call for an end to all Federal discretionary spending in states that rallied around small-government and less spending. Is there anything wrong with giving them what they want? Many states, Rand Paul’s Kentucky included, get FAR MORE back from the Feds than they pay in. Just about every “red” state does.  Time for a reality check—GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!
• • Explain to people what fascism and socialism are—and do the same for just about every other “catch phrase” used on Fox News. I’ll get you started:

fascism (ˈfæʃɪzəm) -n.  any right-wing nationalist ideology or movement with an authoritarian and hierarchical structure that is fundamentally opposed to democracy and liberalism.

Fascism very often melds corporatist interests with governmental control. Free markets are stifled by corporate control of all aspects of the economy. Jews in Germany operated outside of corporate interests, and thus had to go. We’re already to the point that US corporations can essentially take out any small guy who gets in their way, and have full blessings of the government, impeded only by the very liberal anti-monopoly regulations we have. (They’re working on dismantling those, right now!)  Letting corporations dictate the value of human life after buying a few politicians is as close to fascism as we’ve come so far.

socialism (ˈsoʊʃəˌlɪzəm) -n. a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

Had President Obama advocated taking over all factories and utilities, then yes, socialism would be the right term.  Letting people collectively bargain for better health insurance is NOT socialism, particularly when the plan was for a PAID system like Medicare. It was “conservative” obstructionism that turned the bill into what it became, a way of protecting corporate interests and keeping American lives as nothing more than commodities for corporate control.  The great irony is that many old people currently on Medicare were rallied together against “a government takeover of health care.”

• • Stop sniveling and have some pride in your message. This country now thinks the person with the biggest mouth on TV is the most trustworthy. After all, they wouldn’t be on the “news” if they were lying. Liberals, and the real patriots are drowned out by loud-mouth, self-serving corporatists. Stop letting it happen. Call ‘em like you see ‘em.  The fatheads on Fox are nothing but snake-oil salesmen, convincing Americans that the country is sick and only they have the cure…for a price, of course. A fool and his money (and sense) are soon to part.

So what is all this hoohah over boycotting Target? It’s clear some people just don’t get it, and I find that sadder than the deed itself.

You see, it all started when a bunch of big money interests figured out a way to allow corporations to openly give to political candidates. In order to use the typical doublespeak  to lull the masses into blind patriotic adoration, the big money worked its magic through “Citizens United.” After all, what could be wrong with a group of ordinary citizens uniting for a better country? Problem is, that’s not what they are. They are pro-big business, and are content to let the REAL citizens be at the whim and fancy of CEOs and the politicians they buy. Getting the Supreme Court to say that corporations are the same as “the people” probably had these guys giggling like school girls the night before the big dance. But that’s another discussion for another day.

With the ruling, companies like Target are allowed to give money as if they are individual voters. They can use the money they make from customers to buy and control politicians, making their interests far more important than the customers that gave them the money to begin with. Trust me, a hundred donations of $1500 from regular people mean NOTHING compared to one donation of $150,000 from one corporation. Anyone who thinks differently should withdraw from the real world completely, because you clearly don’t live there anymore.

So, Target decided that a certain candidate in Minnesota will further their interests more than his opponent. That part of the motive is understandable, but a $150,000 donation gives them an unfair advantage over the people who will actually go out and vote. It gives them an unfair advantage over the little mom-and-pop store down on Main Street as well. (You see, these days, “pro-business” really means “pro-corporation.” Don’t be fooled.) The donation is easily enough to sway an election for a state-level official. This newly legal corporate meddling will be the downfall of our representative government long before any of the “boogie-men” the “right” is currently in a frenzy over–and the lemmings don’t realize how badly they are being duped. If you think the “evil socialism” is bad, wait until the corporate Plutocracy sets in. At least in socialism, the PEOPLE make the choices, in a Plutocracy the few that control the money, control the decisions. Target’s donation is one move closer to that.

As if that’s not bad enough, their dream candidate has a few dirty secrets, only they’re not really secrets. Though he probably screams about government interference or about liberals hating freedom, he believes the government should, in fact, restrict freedom. He’s perfectly content with the government dictating what a family is. He’s perfectly content with restricting civil rights of tax-paying citizens to placate tax-dodging religious organizations, all in the name of a few votes. And Target is perfectly happy with supporting such a creep, while preaching in its ads that we should all be unique and different and while giving money to every kind of organization imaginable. Target has been good to people, donating to great causes over the years, and setting aside 5% of its profits to the communities in which it operates. This is unheard of in the corporate world. This is what makes the whole thing so unbelievable.

The hypocrisy of giving to a bigot stinks of rotten filth, and Target should sincerely be ashamed of the donation on those grounds, if no other. Imagine the outrage on the “right” if Target had given money, not simply to a gay pride parade as they have in the past (that doesn’t infringe on anyone’s civil rights), but to a candidate who wanted to tax all churches except his own. Perhaps he wants to flat-out make his own religion THE religion, and everyone who refuses to convert would have fewer civil rights. Perhaps everyone with blue eyes (or green, or brown) would have fewer civil rights simply because of how they were born.   Sounds ludicrous… just as ludicrous as the “right’s” objection to equal civil rights for gay couples. Had the government not interfered with marriage over the years, there would be no civil benefits attached to it, and the entire argument would be moot. But it is a valid argument in the society we’ve inherited. With this donation, Target puts its interest in lower minimum wage and lower corporate taxes over the equal rights of its customers.

I choose to not shop at a store that is proud of their donation to a candidate who is content to restrict rights on any group of people for how they were born. PERIOD. I choose not to shop at a store that supports the unraveling of our individual rights as taxpaying voters. And I certainly choose not to shop at a store who arrogantly does both… and can’t imagine what they’ve done wrong.

So, goodbye Target. It was nice knowing you. This was a pretty big shopping month for me, with quite a few “catch up” purchases on top of the typical groceries. My $400 went elsewhere this month…and will continue to do so.

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For the latest on the story: See Yahoo News.