The Perfect Storm

We'd better learn to duck and cover, because the shit may soon hit the fan.  Love to mix my metaphors, y'all!
And all of this is the result of what I see as a perfect storm.
Let's start back in 2008, when this country elected its' first bi-racial president.  But, because his skin is darker than white, Barack Obama's election caused a great deal of concern among....some people....OK, a lot of people.  People, who were really racists, even if they said they really weren't, looked for excuses to denigrate the new president--so they could be as racist as they wanted, as long as they could claim it was really what he DID that they didn't like.
Also, because the election did not go as the GOP planned, they had a big, secret meeting on the night of President Obama's Inauguration.  Not to discuss how to help the economy, which had tanked during George W's watch.  The meeting was also not to discuss how the GOP could help the lower and middle-class of this country during this economic crisis.  No, the meeting was to discuss how to make sure President Obama was a one-term president.  To do that, they vowed to win as many seats in Congress as they possibly could in 2010, as well as in the states.  In the meantime, they vowed to stick together and vote against anything the Democrats brought to Congress before then.  And the thing is, if the GOP says they will stick together, they mean it.
Fortunately, the Democrats controlled the House and the Senate from 2009-2010, or we would not have the Affordable Care Act.  Unfortunately, that also gave the GOP the issue they needed to rile up the base.  With the help of Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, the money of the Koch Brothers, and the "Fair and Balanced" Fox ___ Channel, the Tea Party was born.

Please, let's pause now for a moment of silence.  For our country will never be the same. 

While the rest of us tried to make sense of the Affordable Care Act as it was being debated in Congress, the powers behind the Tea Party renamed the Act "Obamacare", scared people with talks of "death panels" and "micro-chips" and "taking away your Medicare" and on and on and on...and it worked.  I remember attending "Town Hall" meetings organized by the local Tea Party group, and the mis-information and vitriol began the moment Donn Brown, leader, opened his mouth. Even today people cannot explain what's in the Affordable Care Act, but they sure as hell like it more than Obamacare.

It worked, and people were scared, and the GOP base was riled, and they all voted in 2010 when the rest of the country (yeah, you--Democrats) couldn't be bothered to vote in those "unimportant elections".  The Democrats lost BIG across the board--in state and national elections.  Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives, and they lost control in a whole bunch of states.  AND, more importantly, a whole lot of Tea Party-backed candidates, who don't believe in much that the federal government does, including pay the bills of the nation, WON.  
And that couldn't have come at a worse time.
For 2010 was the year that Voting Districts were re-drawn, and many of them were re-drawn to become solid-GOP-no-matter-what-even-if-the-GOP-candidate-was-caught-robbing-the-liquor-store-owned-by-his-grandma.  So for the next 10 years, the voters of the United States are screwed, unless there's some kind of a miracle (I'm not holding my breath).   And, this also means there is no incentive for any speck of bi-partisan work on anything.  That's apparent, as Congress has done almost nothing of substance since January 2011. Except vote, over and over again, to obstruct the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
So now, in 2013, that whole lot of Tea Party GOP members have been RE-ELECTED, and believe their own insane ideas.  They are willing to ruin our country through economic idiocy and traitorous ideas, and even more crazy, there are still a whole lot of people who support them.  Therefore, these Tea Party GOP members are drunk on their own power, and are absolutely uncontrollable by the Grand Old Party.
And there's one more thing that adds to this Perfect Storm--the Supreme Court ruling in January 2010, which basically said "Corporations are people", and gave said corporations the wherewithal to spend unlimited amounts on political campaigns.  Our airways exploded with ads from PACs of all stripes, and it has continued even when there are no elections scheduled for the foreseeable future.  The messages are controlled by huge corporations, who care nothing for actual people.  Any time these corporations disagree with any member of Congress, they can spend $$$$$$$$ on attack ads that air the very next day.  People no longer can trust any ad or any "grassroots organization", because how do they know who is behind it?

So, here's where we are--in the middle of this Perfect Storm.  The GOP cannot control Tea Party-backed members of their party.  There's a lot of money flowing into ads against the Affordable Care Act, and anything else President Obama wants to work on.  The Affordable Care Act has been implemented, piece by piece, despite the efforts of the GOP (as of October 1st, people across America can sign on to the Heath Exchanges for the first time).  AND, the government of the United States needs to pass a clean (no strings attached) Continuing Resolution to keep the government operating.
First part of the Perfect Storm hits--the federal government shuts down.  Veterans suffer, kids can't go to Head Start, vital cancer research stops....to name but a small smidgen of what has happened.  It's bad.
But duck and cover EVERYONE--yes, everyone on the planet.  Because come October 17th, if members of the Republican Party in Congress have not come to their senses, the Perfect Storm will hit.  If members of Congress do not vote to raise the Debt Ceiling, it will be a world-wide financial catastrophe, the likes of which we have NEVER seen before.  Global markets will collapse, and hundreds of millions of people will face financial ruin.
I am so very frightened for our country, and for the impact we will have on the world.  None, NONE of what I've written is over the top, stuff I've made up.  Not a word of hyperbole.
Wake up.  The storm is coming, and only we--the adults in the United States--can stop it.  Do something.  Before it's too late. 

The Tipping Point

What's YOUR tipping point? What will it take to get YOU to phone YOUR GOP representatives in Congress and tell them "Enough is enough"? Perhaps it was the loss of Panda Cam. Perhaps your tipping point was hearing that little preschoolers couldn't go to their Head Start classes? Perhaps it was none of these. Perhaps you've been "really busy" and didn't have time to type out an e-mail. Perhaps you don't care.

Today, you should care. Today is the day that YOU call YOUR representative, and tell them to END the Shutdown. Why? Because you're going to look at the faces of the soldiers below--soldiers who just died in Afghanistan, defending your sorry ass. They are Jennifer Moreno, Jeremiah Collins, Patrick Hawkins, and one who has yet to be identified, but who DOES have people back here in the United States.

These 5 died for you and for me, but because of the government shutdown, their families cannot be paid their Death Benefit. This Death Benefit allows families to fly to Dover Air Force Base to claim the bodies, it allows families to properly bury these young people who gave their lives for US, it gives them money to fly family members to gather together to grieve the loss of these people who died unselfishly for you and for me. It gives them money at a time when they most need it--mourning the lives taken too soon in the defense of our country.

Our country. Yours and mine. Make that call. You no longer have an excuse. Our country has now sunk to the lowest of lows, and it's time for US to speak.

I'll make it easy: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Do it.