It is stunning to learn that Kennedy's seat went Red, and it's ominous for America. But it's not so surprising when you look at trends that have dominated the last few decades. What's most surprising about it, though, is that, after eight years of Bush, and a disastrous decade of Republican policies that Americans' give any credibility to the Right.

Obama's been in office for barely a year. He's stabilized the economy, and, with the stimulus programs, saved jobs and gotten money flowing, keeping us from a worse disaster. Given a financial meltdown, the worst since the Great Depression, a war on two fronts, that no one really believes in, oh-- though we support the troops, of course- given hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes and pilfered pensions, Obama has a massive job ahead of him in turning around Bush's legacy.

Tax cuts, pay outs to conservative friends, causes, and supporters have left us with billions and billions of debt that fiscal conservatives love to descry.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. But you see, no matter how awful the fix the Bush administration left us in, no matter how much worse off American's has been in the last ten years... No matter how complete and visible the failure of their core ideas; free market economics, deficit spending--- the Democrats are left holding the bag. Newly energized neocons still manage to have a lockhold on the American psyche.

No Taxes! Down with the Government!

Who wants to pay taxes? Not me. Sticker shock arrives on my desk every April, even worse now that I own property. My friend Rick used to say that the only way to get the American people to pay attention is to hit them in their pocketbooks. That's where it hurts. So, even when threatened with storms and severe hurricanes, species extinction, droughts, famines-- you just can't get many working people to care about global warming, he would say, when it doesn't cost them personally.

And Republicans understand that. The recession has hit people's pocketbooks big time, and the populace seeks blood. If you need a red herring to lead them away from, let's say, anger at the banks and Wall Street, or anger at Bush or anger at insurance companies that continue to raise their rates, while denying coverage... Or anger at corporate lobbyists who are getting fistfuls of government handouts while hacking away at the safety net that protects average Americans.

What better than a Tea Party? A new tax rebellion.

There's nothing new about this so called populism. We've been whacking at the Taxman now for thirty years. The very top 5% of Americans are paying much less in, but I'm sure it feels, to the middle class, who are losing ground in other ways, that they pay more.

No matter that, in fact, the Democrats have not raised taxes, nor plan to. Obama has promised he would reduce taxes for the middle class and family, and hasn't, so far, cancelled the Bush tax cuts. In fact, nothing has changed about that since a year or so ago. So why all the anger?

Every day, all day long, Americans are being shouted at from that screen in their living room, and now from their e-mail inbox and social networks, that the Democrats are the enemy, set to fleece Joe Six Pack for whatever they can get.

or thirty years Republicans have successfully branded the Democrats as irresponsible with money, YOUR money. If facts mattered, Ronald Reagan tripled our national debt while in office, while Bill Clinton's policies encouraged prosperity, reduced the deficit, and balanced the budget. Only to have Bush, once again, push us, pedal to the floor, back into the red.

Pedal to the metal. Republicans continue to thrive on the illusion, the wish fulfillment, that you can have it all, without paying for it.
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It is heartening to see, as Americans are pour money into earthquake shattered Haiti, that, despite the recession, we care that we are still moved to such generosity and compassion for people.

Money is power. And Republicans understand that. They spend money like water when they in power, and violently descry spending when they aren't.

Having found that they can rouse Americans anger, and direct it at so-called socialists, supposedly tax happy Democrats- well, facts don't matter. No matter that want to restore a progressive tax that would take some of the burden off the middle class, and stimulate the economy by taking it from those who've cashed in on the Bust. Democrats want to bring down health care costs, which are a large part of that hit on the pocketbook, cost which are partly responsible for our sluggish economy.

No matter that, outside of inchoate rage, the Republicans don't have to have anything, really to offer. The party of Optimism, has become, conveniently, it seems, the party of Pessimism.

Understanding what's really wrong with America, is not so easy to sloganeer. Government, is, for all it's faults, really our only hope of containing corporate power.

Conservatives, and some Democrats, in cahoots with finance and media moguls, are busy ripping the average American off, while, at the same time proclaiming to be Everyman's champion. To have some understanding of what's gone wrong in America, it helps to know something about Chicago School economics, and of the way lobbyists are sitting on the desks of your Congressperson, urging and, in some cases even writing laws in exchange for cash.

It's not that I believe Americans are stupid, I do think that modern life has become so complex, with so much hype and vested interest, that it is hard to tell who is telling the truth. Things are changing so rapidly, our children no longer belong to us, having money to pay your bills or pay your employees-- depends on being on top of unpredictable trends and active competitors.

Precisely when we need a populist uprising, and genuine protest, we have a Faux Tea Party insurrection, which, by massive corporate media amplifying it's tiny rallies, has become a real force.

If Democrats have failed, they have failed to take Change! momentum, atttack Republican ideology, build an equally powerful media empire, and frame what has happened to Americans in different terms.

Is that going to change? I hope Obama will be roused to show a bit more fire. I hope that the grassroots movements, from which real change comes, will get new energy, and the wonderful fresh idealism of young people, who are quietly building community networks, and living heartful lives, will be what constitutes real change.