It is so hard after listening to the likes of Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and Rush Limbaugh for the last two years to believe anyone who voted for the GOP ticket to be anything beyond evil, bigoted, ignorant and/or insane.  But I understand that sometimes people become so entrenched in a belief that they cannot see clearly.   Or maybe they do, but given their choices they go with what they believe to be the lesser of two evils.  Perhaps, some Republicans will find this a condescending or pompous perspective but if I believed otherwise I would be a Republican.  Moving on, I believe that many Republicans are good citizens who simply believe that as a country the platform of the Democrats is taking us to hell…pun intended.  And yet, I don’t think most Republicans are pleased with the way this thing is playing out in Washington...most of us are not pleased.

When one posts an article on Newsvine, you never know where the discussion will go.   Some of the discourse here has been good and just a sharing of one’s own experiences.  Some dialogue is sensible, fair, understanding and solution-seeking.  But, some discussion has been polarized just like our politicians on the hill.   We won't talk about the crazies...but you know they are here, too.

 I do not believe for one minute that every wealthy person, or every Republican, is happy with what is going on in Washington or thinks the very same way as a Mitt Romney or a Mitch McConnell.   I am a staunch Democrat and I don’t agree with everything President Obama or Nancy Pelosi believe in. 

But what I do know is that as a country we are at a point where a change must come.  That change must come and it must be fair not only to the wealthy in this country but the middle-class, those in poverty, our elderly…to everyone.   But that doesn’t mean everybody gets what they want, perhaps not even what they need.

I do believe the tax cuts for the wealthy need to go.  Warren Buffet believes they need to go.  Bill Gates believes they need to go.  And, they are certainly not middle-class or impoverished.  I believe that we have to look at Medicare and Social Security but not by raising age limits across the board.  We definitely need to take a good look at Social Security Disability and re-investing in the Vocational Rehabilitation so we can get those some of folks back to work.  It’s already too high for people who work in strenuous occupations.  I believe there are big gains to be made by streamlining these and other government programs to decrease and prevent waste.    I believe we can make some reasonable cuts in the defense budget.  I could probably stand to pay a bit more in taxes… but don’t eliminate the entire middle class tax cut.  The wealthy can do without one more car, but there are others who cannot miss another meal or medical treatment.   There are some people, some due to their own, actions, who lost their homes…their only home.  Not just one of three…but their only home.  So we put measures in place that help people who have never had much not get into this situation again when a predator puts it before them.   We make predatory lending practices illegal…that is what laws do, protect citizens…sometimes against themselves.    We have people on Wall Street who stole millions from our citizens and most of them are walking the street, while we have children in jail for shoplifting.  We have some families that can handle the expiration of middle-class tax cuts and families that it will leave homeless.  We have families that can afford or forego $8.00 a gallon milk, and families that will make the choice between medicine and nutrition for their children. 

We must have leaders that understand these dynamics.  I don’t believe that to be the case at this time in history but I am hoping they prove me wrong.  I’m a Democrat and see things in a liberal way, so I certainly believe that most of the problem lies on the GOP side of the house.  That said, my guess is that there is plenty of blame to go around.  But the bottom line is that we expect our elected officials to seek understanding, to study our society and the programs they were elected to oversee.  They were not just elected to vote by what the loudest or the wealthiest of their constituents support.  They were elected to make the best decisions for our country as a whole while doing their best to look after the interest of their constituency.  It’s a lot of work, its complex work and we pay them a lot to get it done.

It is time they held up there part of the deal.