A sad tangerine and a sad state of affairs

by Cathy Sewell

The funniest thing I have heard out of all the debt crisis talk was Jon Stewart with a photo of John Boehner looking awful this past Wednesday. Stewart remarked "he looks like a sad tangerine". Thank goodness for humor during this depressing time.

It's not so funny to the jobless, the homeless, those in need who are disabled and will have to wait for checks. When did we, in our society, come to warfare on the poor and disenfranchised? Worse than that, when did we come to a time when we have giveaways to the richest 1 per cent of our country on the backs of those who can least afford it? Has our society turned its back on fairness and rooting for the underdog? Those two principles are the foundation (Rs like to cite "individualism") of our American society--or they used to be.

Republicans like to say that Democrats are stirring up class warfare and that President Obama is "anti-business". To those of us in the Progressive camp, our President has done more for business than we thought he would ever do. He has given small business tax breaks, among other things, favorable to business in general.

We are an inclusive group, we Democrats, and we believe that all boats should rise with the tide, not just some, so small businesses should flourish, too, like the middle class, which has made this country unique and powerful. Most disastrously, our middle class, under W, has eroded so that the rich are now richer and the middle class is losing ground.

President Clinton has encouraged President Obama to use his executive power under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States to raise the debt ceiling. That is a bold and decisive move. We will hear calls for impeachment from the other side, but it will rally the people, who according to most polls, are in favor of the President's approach. Like he did with Osama bin Laden, the President needs to take the risk and save this country from those who would destroy our society as we know it.

We are at a point where we need everyone to pitch in to elect Democrats in 2012 so that this nonsense stops and we can keep moving forward in creating a society that creates a place for all to flourish. If you would like to get involved in supporting our Democratic values, email me at candj.5@comcast.net or call me at 630-629-1125. I know you will be able to make a difference in the 2012 election.

Cathy Sewell is First Vice-Chair of the Democratic Party of DuPage County