An Obligatory Liberal Blog Post

Alright, I suppose I should let you know what I think of the whole mess in the Gulf of Mexico. So, here it goes.

This whole situation disgusts me. I am ashamed, both for the apathy of my country's government and my fellow citizens. The circumstances seem disastrous and I can't even begin to offer how subdue the impact of this ecological catastrophe on our nation's fragile coastal environments. This whole event has created a void of faith in the possibilities of the American experiment and makes me weary to handle the world that I and my generation have inherited.

That's it. I mean, what more do you want me to say? I can't offer anything new that hasn't already been said elsewhere or even by myself over the past few months. Needing clean energy. Needing regulations on out of control big business. Needing to concern ourselves with welfare of our environment at least on the same level as our economy. Needing to think in the long term instead of what supports our short term excesses. This is what happens when you let the businesses run wild in the hopes that their short-term profits will froth over into the cups of other 98% of the population.

But why do anything about them when they benefit us so much in the short term. Look, derivative spending and junk loan sales has big bank profits skyrocketing, with only 98% of the people of the United States suffering through the recession it's fueled! Look, our country has the highest quality of health care in the world, for those who can afford it! Look, our factory farms and genetically modified crops have created a surplus of food in the United States, even though its made our country into an obese state and created unknown health problems (and potentially crises) for generations to come! Look, our taxes are so low, though our children are some of the dumbest in the developed world! And now look, we get our cheap oil addiction fix domestically, and it will only cost us the health of treasured natural estuaries from Mississippi to God knows where up the East Coast.

Even President Obama, an individual that I have invested no small amount of hope and support for, is indulging in the short-term mentality; he refuses to take off-shore drilling off the Energy Reform Bill table even after this crisis has erupted to proportions where half of the water resources of the United States and millions of people's livelihoods may be destroyed. And Mr. President, you're still seeking political consensus? With all due respect, President Obama, there is a time for concession and there is a time for doing what is right. You gave behemoth banking institutions hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars with absolutely no requirements to break up their trusts, reform their business practices, or even pay back the loan. You let the needs of the American people slide away by letting go of a public option, lifting anti-trust exemptions from the industry, and woman's right to choose on health care reform. You've pushed off real elimination of Don't Ask Don't Tell until 2013 or later. The time for political points is not now; now is the time for real legislative change.

You can see the payback of making concessions to big business right now out in the Gulf of Mexico, and coming soon in the Atlantic Ocean. Is it fucking worth the cost?