Politics in America

We have some very difficult times ahead of us in this country.  Barack Obama is at the end of his term with only two years to go before he is a free man, once more only a citizen and not a chief executive.

But the Republicans who won a majority in the last election in both the Senate and the House are suddenly acting as if they are possibly more powerful than the President which is making things a bit tense.  However, tense as it may be, the people will have a chance to see what would happen if the Republicans gained any more power than they already have.

The Republicans have taken off proving that they intend to make their views and opinions dominant.  The problem will be to know if the American public is aware of this or not.  Too often, Americans tune out politics rather than tuning in.

One issue that has popped its ugly head is that of Iran and its nuclear weapons so that the Majority leader Boehner has invited Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before Congress without even consulting President Barack Obama, and Benjamin Netanyahu accepted.   Netanyahu and Obama do not get along very well so that this appears to be an insult and an affront to the President who has decided not to invite Benjamin to the White House or to the State Department.

I believe that Benjamin Netanyahu palpably hates Barack Obama. I am certain that he scorns him as much as he had Yasser Arafat from the way he behaves.  So his action to accept John Boehner's invitation to speak says volumes about his attitude about Congress and the President.  In this case, I am definitely disapproving who I call Bonehead Boehner's decision to do this stupid and meaningless act.

Naturally, all the Obama haters will approve of this insult to the White House, but I personally find it distasteful, repugnant, and downright insulting and wrong.  The President is the person who should have initiated any such visit by Netanyahu and not John Boehner who is bonehead of the week in my opinion.

Netanyahu is upset with Europe who has finally acknowledged the Palestinians as a state so that the Palestinians have charged Netanyahu with being a war criminal.  Turkey is one of the main countries that is opposed to the Israeli's for having bombed a ship that was carrying medical  supplies to the Palestinians for the wounded and the ill.  Netanyahu is having a hissy fit about being considered a war criminal but the nations who believe it have the United Nations assistance.

I suppose that Netanyahu is wanting to impress Congress with how dangerous the Iranians are.  Europeans and Americans are both trying to work out a program with Iran to limit their nuclear capabilities.  So that is the reason that Boehner has asked Netanyahu to speak to Congress, to attempt to persuade them to fear Iran already more than they already do.  What a useless and unnecessary speech!

No matter what happens, this is a most unpleasant event which spells real trouble for both Congress and the President who had said that they had wanted to work together.  Like heck!  It looks as though they are declaring war on each other.  Not what Americans want to hear right now.

But I am hoping that the Republicans do show all their cards now that they think that they have the upper hand.  It will either make Americans approve or disapprove their antiquated thinking.

There is little doubt that America is moving.  America is making great changes.  Some appear to be for the good while many seem to be going backward instead of forward.  I think that we are spending way too much time on war games rather than building bridges, highways, and other infrastructure programs to keep the nation safe and sound.

If the Republicans really want to be accepted as credible then they will have to prove that they have the interests of the nation at heart, not their own petty personal interests.  Americans themselves are going to have to learn not to go to extremes in deciding upon the leaders of our country.  Too many serious issues which caused a particular party to win are too often neglected and forgotten once the elected official takes office.

Headlines persuade people too much.  Illegal immigration, excessive force by police officers,  ISIS and Al Qaeda, school shootings, and sex trafficking are problems making the news daily it would seem.  Just the problem of gun control alone sets people on fire.  Children who kill their mother in a Walmart, or their baby brother at home, or the latest one is a child who killed himself using his parent's gun are the latest bad news headlines we read.  It is senseless!

So I do not anticipate any good news in the coming months, and for a time, it made me feel depressed.  I mean who can feel happy about all the bad news that we are fed on a daily basis but we must know what is going on around us.  I overdose on positive thoughts to make me realize that I am very lucky, very fortunate, not to be bothered by any major problems of my own but more by learning of the plight of others.

Yet I can do nothing to solve any of these problems.  I can only listen and hope that someone who has the power to impact these miserable lives will do so.  It is an endless cycle of bad news from each and every part of the world.  Surely, there is something that someone can do to right these wrongs.   We would hope.