Well, I just got back in after seeing "Capitalism: A Love Story" and like FlowerChild, my hair is on fire.

In the space of 2 hours and forty minutes I went from the "baby steps" I was encouraging earlier today to wondering if Chicken has pitchforks in bulk, or if I need to buy my own. At this moment, I'm ready for a revolution.

Now, I need to say, I have never been a Michael Moore fan. He has always been the face of the "libruls" in America to me, and not someone whose opinion I even wanted to hear, let alone ever thought I would agree with. Now he is my new hero.

The film is simplistic, but seems to be pretty accurate. I couldn't find much anything to disagree with, and found myself cheering (out loud, mind you) in the theater. My husband, the Libertarian, didn't even jab me in the ribs. Seems as if he couldn't find much to disagree with, either.

On the way home we had a discussion about Obama's Presidency and we pretty much agreed that he needs to step up to the plate and start cleaning house in Washington. If it makes him a one term President, so be it. In addition to the mundane things he has to do like get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and get us free from our dependence on foreign oil, and get our country back to work again, he needs to fulfill his promise of change. His promise of hope. If he doesn't, I believe this country will have lost it's best, and perhaps last, chance to correct it's course. 


I want desperately to see him get rid of any and all lobbyists he has around him, discontinue taking ANY money from them, and start working on legislation to do away with the lobbyists, period. They have a stranglehold on this country, and until they are unable to "buy" our leaders, "we, the people" will never get control of our country.

I want desperately to see regulations reinstated in the financial industry, and I want to see visible proof the issue is being dealt with immediately. Do you remember the anti-smoking commercial where a guy has a hole in his throat, is talking through some voice machine, then sticks his cigarette through the hole in his throat so he can continue to smoke, even though he is obviously killing himself? That's how the banking industry is...they are so addicted to the big bucks,  they can't help themselves. Even after taking the country to the brink of financial disaster, they are back to their old tricks. Without regulation and serious oversight from someone other than the rats themselves, they will do it all again, and "we, the people" will be the ones to suffer. Again.

I want desperately to see actual, real live reform of the health care/insurance industry, not this bull crap it looks like we are going to end up with. In my heart of hearts, I am not an advocate of getting the government involved in health care. I don't trust them, and every time I have an unpleasant encounter with a government employee, it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up thinking of them being involved with my health care. (My latest was with a TSA employee, and had I not had a fear of being put on the no fly list, I would probably have made a scene. There is something about little people being put in positions of total power, that turns them into unthinking monsters who are just "following the rules" and are no longer able to see the "people" they are supposed to be protecting.) But, since the industry has basically told us that they are going to increase rates dramatically if this health care bill passes, I say screw 'em. I want to see serious regulation of the industry like we do with utilities...no more outrageous profits, no preexisting conditions, no getting bounced when you get sick. I want to see preventive medicine covered, I want to see tort reform, I want to see competition across state lines, and I want to see members of Congress have to purchase their own insurance, rather than get it through their employer, so that they have to live with the same coverage and prices "we, the people" the live with. If these measures don't result in affordable health care for all, then I guess we'll have no choice other than TSA for health care. God help us.

I want desperately to see ethics in Washington, for a change. I want an end to the hypocrisy. I want to see our leaders live by the laws they pass for the rest of us. I don't want to hear, "well, it was just sloppy bookkeeping"  coming from the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee when he fails to disclose $500K in assets. When a guy can't even keep track of his own finances, should he be in charge of the Ways and Means Committee, even if he is a really nice guy? I want to see our leaders prosecuted when they break laws. I want to see them publicly disciplined and stripped of their chairmanships or kicked out of office when they are found guilty of ethics violations. They are in positions of public trust, and when they violate that trust, it HAS to be a big deal, no matter what party they are in. They need to put the country first, not themselves, and if they can't do that, they need to get a different job. "We, the people" deserve that much.

I want desperately to see those who run the businesses in America treating their employees like partners instead of commodities. There should be major tax incentives for companies who pay their employees a living wage rather than the minimum wage. For publicly held companies, the pay of the CEOs need to be tied to the pay of the lowest wage earners. No one actually EARNS $100M a year, and no one who works 40 hours a week should EVER be homeless or hungry or have to chose between medicine and food. Something is seriously wrong with a country where this is possible.

To be honest, there's not much going on in this country right now that ISN'T pissing me off. There is so much wrong that  even if I were to be the "Benevolent Dictator" I don't know that I would know where to start with getting us to where I want us to be, so I don't know why I think President Obama should be able to do it. But he promised me change. So I allowed myself to hope. I allowed myself to believe it was possible for us to be the country I dream of. So, dammit, that's what I want. I don't need it to be done in a day or a week or a month, or even a year. But I need to hear from my President that the change he promised is coming, in spite of the best efforts of some to stop it.  I need to see that it has started. And THAT I need NOW.