U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dead at 79

Apparently most of the geniuses commenting on this, who think it is Obama may be the only one lacking in public support, are totally UNAWARE that this current congress has the lowest approval rating EVER. So the obstructionist wastes of public money who occupy the majority of congress are NOT who the public will retain after the next election. This is not a team sport, it is about service to the common good. It is about doing the job one is hired to do, which most, on either side of the isle, are not.

The primary duty of government is to protect the people and the environment upon which all life depends. This has been massively avoided by a group of “legislators” , from both sides of the isle, that sit in those chairs, when they deign to show up, and vote in the interests of Big Weapons, Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Banks, Big Money, (Big whatever) that is giving them money, not the people. Then when they are broke, they look for the poor to give up more and steal from our infrastructure, our law enforcement, our education system, our Social Security (that we paid for) , our environmental protections, (drinkable water, breathable air, etc.) and our children’s futures.

We act as if this were the price of “capitalism”, which is not a form of government, but of commerce. Commerce backed by the government against the interests of the people is fascism (a form of government much closer to what we are currently experiencing) , which is not what we were established to be. We were originally meant to be a democratic socialist country, with government mitigating the excesses of capitalism , which is what WE THE PEOPLE means. It is not written as “We the Uber Rich”, “We the Wealthy Industrialists” , etc. Reading the personal writings of the Founding Fathers makes this quite clear. The American Revolution was fought against the corporations of England, with the Crown as the strong arms of policy. Back then, we all but completely outlawed corporations, which were only allowed very limited public projects, were disbanded at the end of each project and had many constraints, including strict control on profit, executive pay, and any damage to the public whatsoever equated immediate disbandment.

Tea Party types, take note : The Boston Tea Party had no problem with the local government, they were demonstrating against The East India Tea Co., an English corporation. But look where these corporate entities have taken us now. We fight day and night with each other over issues that often end up going against our own interests just so our “party” can “win”. Only every time we end up the losers. These Uber Rich interests keep winning against all of us because we allow ourselves to be distracted by side issues and non issues and manufactured fantasies while they pillage the planet of resources that rightfully belong to us and to the future. This is why I have registered as an Independent since I could vote in ’68.

Perhaps we could not consider ourselves “Conservative” if the candidate is conserving nothing for the environment or our true rights as individuals. Perhaps we could refrain from the title “Liberal” when a candidate is taking a large fortune from corporate and banking interests in exchange for favors. Perhaps we could consider ourselves “social” in our Democracy, in that we are stronger and happier when we are all treated with decency and fairness, in a “society” that creates a healthy “social ” atmosphere, with adequate education, good roads, appropriate law enforcement, libraries, hospitals, emergency services, firefighters, enforcement of water and air regulations, Social Security (another program we pay for), reasonable zoning, well regulated municipal transportation (including airports), etc., and other vital social programs.

While many rave against “big government”, I do not see them leaving in droves for countries that lack these amenities. If we allow the discussions to become a tad more civil and, yes, “social”, perhaps we will attain a government that better serves the people as opposed to the opportunists who thrive on our being so easily distracted into childish bickering and name calling.

Just a thought.