On Nov. 2, Americans went to the polls and voted – in large part- for Republican candidates. The chorus most frequently heard was a need for smaller government and lower deficits. Look at what we’ve done!

Spokespersons for the victorious party are on every media outlet (although most heavily seen on Fox News), proclaiming the need to cut “social programs” to save money.  Simultaneously, they are pushing for the most expensive possible program currently on the table: the extension of Bush-era tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, which would add much more to the deficit- with no benefit to the nation at large- than all the “social programs” they are trying to eliminate.

I have always believed in voting for my own informed self-interest.  As a middle class American, that means choosing leaders and policies that will build America’s strength, protecting America’s economic stability, and allowing the poor and middle-class to share in the American dream.

But, in this past election, millions of Americans trooped to the polls and voted against their own best interest and for the continued concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the mega-rich and the multi-national corporations.

The refusal to extend unemployment payments to our huge jobless population (made jobless by the exporting of American jobs by these same corporations) is an example of the new contempt for average Americans; and the insistence on extending the tax cuts for millionaires shows where the true interest of these so-called leaders lies.

These newly elected Congresspersons are burning up the airways with threats to weaken Social Security, water down Medicare, eliminate several Cabinet-level Departments and roll back health care reform that protects Americans from the greed of the health insurance giants. We shouldn’t be surprised about this proposed war on the middle class.  These candidates told us what they stood for. One famous one even wants to roll back parts of the Civil Rights Act.  So, why did we troop to the polls in support of this radical agenda?

Because we no longer have access to an effective and balanced information media in this country, and had no idea what the election was really about.

The conversation was based on straw men, false assumptions, and lies – bald faced and outrageous lies. We listened to the clown that is Limbaugh, the villain that is Hannity and the lunatic that is Beck. And now…look at what we have done!

Norm Boyd

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