The Unclad Soul

I’m not sure I could be more disheartened about our political system. I feel sorrow and dismay, anger and disillusionment, and I do not know what the answers are to our corrupt and rotting national political apparatus. A character in N.K. Jemisin’s novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms , speaks for me, “…and when I lift my head to scream out my fury, a million stars turn black and die. No one can see them, but they are my tears.” The Republicans are doing everything in their power to completely dismantle the orderly flow of Congressional procedures. Going on 6 years now they stubbornly and arrogantly refuse to cooperate with the President. They serve in their elected places of responsibility only to block his judicial appointments, to discredit and sabotage the Affordable Care Act with nothing to replace it, to defund public education, to bow down and kiss the feet of the wealthy, to interfere with any economic progress whatsoever because they are terrified a Democrat might get...

My friend Jennifer Ables reminded me the other day that not all Republicans are bad. And she is right. And the frustrations and anger I express on here toward Republicans and the Tea Party is not directed at my friends like Jennifer. Not at all. Although, as I said to her, I don’t really understand how some of my friends can vote for and support Republicans since the party seems totally controlled now by Tea Party extremists.  People like Ted Cruz who cynically uses and manipulates voters in order to elevate himself. What has he done for America? I can't think of anything positive. He and his small but noisy crowd of followers in Congress seemingly have no interest in serving our country or helping make it better for all of our citizens. They appear to only care about playing the game, beating their opponents, making lots of money, and doing everything they can to smear President Obama and keep him from leading the country. Now, after weeks of holding the nation in limbo, hurt...