The Curse of the Last Eight Years

Those of us who voted for Al Gore and John Kerry knew this would happen, and yet enough of us sat at home on election day that we allowed Dubbya and his minions to get selected (choice of words intentional) not once but twice.

It hit home to me big time this week, when I went to the grocery store. Yes, I have been following the news of the war, and of the housing sector debacle, and of the Fed's bailing out of an investment bank for the first time in history, and of the kajillion dollar deficit in the federal budget, and of the absurd price of gasoline in spite of no oil shortages, no refinery slowdowns and oh, yes, Exxon Mobil's kajillion dollar profits. And yes, I have noticed that the America dollar isn't worth the paper upon which it's printed.

But the fallout of all these splendid disasters has now started to hit at the real heart of the American people, that is, in the price of food. Walk through the aisles of you grocery store and you will notice that every price on the shelf tags is way out of line. Paper goods are obscenely overpriced, the price of basic food staples have also increased dramatically. I was shocked that the single bag of groceries that I brought home yesterday cost over $40. This after having just spent $50 to fill up my car.

The Europeans have paid high fuel prices for years, and they tell us we should too. The difference is in the fact that most Europeans are taxed to the hilt, and gas taxes are just one more way for European governments to raise revenue. We don't operate on that system here, and the reason for our high gas prices is, well, greed.

History proves that a nation's people will tolerate just about anything but hunger. Most major revolutions have occurred when the general population was at or near starvation. Pay attention America, we're up! If gas and food prices continue to soar, and middle to low income families continue to be turned out of their homes due solely to the greedy lending practices of avaricious lenders, there will be open revolt.

It is time that we went to the polls and elected a government that was again of and for the people, and not hell bent on power as the present administration is. Let's learn from our mistakes people. We've less than a year to go of the Bush disaster. Let's not make the same mistake in 2008.