Introducing the Congressional Voter Index

The Congressional Voter Index:

This index is a measure of the true balance of power on the hill reflected through victories and the mood of the electorate. May 15th may be an outlier, or it is an indicator that the Democrats seemed to have gotten some control in the debt ceiling debate. May fifteenth is also a turning point for the Democrats who were riding on Obama's coat tails after the raid on and killing of Osama bin Laden.

The Democrat's horrible handling of the debt negotiations lead to a massive loss for them during the summer, as well as a loss of the public's trust. However, this was not the end of the Democrats because they had another trick up their sleeves: the American Jobs Act.

Failing to act on a package, any package, that would produce jobs and failing to gain the lead on the messaging, the Republicans began to suffer and never regained their footing. The Democrats continue to control the messaging, but will this trend hold until November 2012?

2012 Map, thus far!

Obama - 286 | Romney - 185 | Toss Up - 67

I Expect Obama to Win in 2012...If the Vote Happened Today

Northeast
Obama - CT, DE, MA, MD, ME (AL, 1, 2), NY, PA, VT
Romney - NH (Yes; I do expect Romney to carry New Hampshire)

The South
Obama - DC, MD
Romney - AL, AR, GA, KY, LA, MS, OK, SC, TN, TX, WV
Toss Ups - FL, MO, NC, VA

Midwest
Obama - IA, IL, MI, MN, OH, WI
Romney - IN, KS, ND, NE (AL, 1, 2, 3), SD

The West
Obama - CA, CO, HI, NM, NV, OR, WA
Romney - AK, AZ, ID, MT, UT, WY

That's 286 electoral points for Obama and 185 for Romney if you weren't keeping track.  It's interesting to note that the South is still somewhat sold on Obama.  Obama will carry the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia and all of the toss up states are in the South.

The Progressive Contract

As the campaign seasons heat up, you will hear more and more Republicans signing contracts and pledges.  Republican's have already pledged to take welfare from teen mothers (Republican Contract With America); destroy our healthcare system, kill Social Security, kill Medicare, continue the Ponzi scheme of feeding the coffers of the wealthy with the wages of the poor, deregulate Wall Street, bring education back to the time of segregation and high drop outs, dismantle earnest efforts for energy independence, destroy the environment, limit our right to vote (Tea Party Contract); ensure the poor and middle-class shoulder the burden in an effort to stabilize the economy, make abortion services almost unobtainable, eliminate due process, erase any hope that children of illegal immigrants who call themselves Americans from becoming legal Americans (GOP.gov Pledge); respect the marriages of others unless they're a same-sex couple, believe that same-sex couples make horrible parents, sex partners, and are likely to be involved in legal troubles and addiction, eliminate welfare for single parents, defend the unconstitutional DOMA [Destruction of Marriage Act], fight to enshrine bigotry within the United States Constitution, reinstatement of DADT, abolish abortion, put girls under lock and key until marriage, ban pornography [damn the First Amendment!], reject Sharia Law [doesn't the First Amendment and Article IV of the Constitution already do that?] (Bob Vander Plaats Pledge for 2012ers); again, enshrine social inequalities and bigotry into our constitution, appoint activist judges [but they support conservatives, so they're not really activists], institute McCarthyist witch hunts into supporters of same-sex marriage and gay persons, eliminate due process in the District of Columbia (NOM Pledge).

All that ruining of America is a lot to take in, I know; for these reasons alone, we as progressives must not become short sided of our goals.  I just saw a new progressive contract that was emailed to me; I'll not name the organization, but I found this alarming.  Why change something we already have, something that is already tried, true, and more importantly, trusted.  We as progressives have followed one pledge, and one pledge alone.  It is the Progressive Contract which I derived from FDR's October 31, 1936 campaign speech we know as, "I Welcome Their Hatred!"  In that speech, he laid the pillars and foundation for what would become the cornerstones of the modern progressive and democratic movement.  This contract is still in use today and should remain in use for as long as the American progressive movement shall live.  This is the first pledge, the first contract, and the only contract that stands by the everyday American.  This is who we are, not only as progressives, but as a nation.

Below, are the enumerated promises made by FDR to the American people; below is the true progressive pledge to America.

The Progressive Contract
By Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Our vision for the future contains more than promises.
1. Improve working conditions for the workers of America
1. Reduce hours over-long
2. Increase wages that spell starvation
3. End the labor of children
4. Wipe out sweatshops
5. End monopoly in business
6. Support collective bargaining
7. Stop unfair competition
8. Abolish dishonorable trade policies
2. Cheaper electricity in the homes and on the farms of America
3. Better and cheaper transportation
4. Low interest rates
5. Sounder home financing
6. Better banking
7. Regulation of security issues
8. Reciprocal trade among nations
9. The wiping out of slums
10. Better land use and reforestation
11. Conservation of water all the way from its source to the sea
12. Drought and flood control
13. Provide useful work for the needy unemployed
1. Refuse to accept the disparagement of the unemployed
2. Keep government on the side of the Good Samaritan
3. Continue insurance for the unemployed
4. We prefer useful work to the pauperism of a dole
14. Continue our efforts for young men and women so that they may obtain an education and opportunity to put to use
15. Help for the crippled, for the blind, for the mothers
16. Provide security for the aged
17. Protect the consumer against unnecessary price spreads
1. Protect against the costs that are added by monopoly and speculation
2. Continue our efforts to increase the consumer purchasing power and keep it constant
For all these, we must continue to fight!

No Deal: My Letter to the President

Dear Barack Obama,

No deal, Mister President!  No, I’m not talking about your capitulation on our nation’s solvent social safety net, I’m talking about any deal to trim the deficit whatsoever in conjunction with this debt ceiling vote.  I, and more than likely, the majority of the American people, want to see this debt ceiling vote come to a head with no political bipartisanship affecting its outcome.

The American debt ceiling is not a tool to use as a weapon against the heads of the American people and the economy, nor is it negotiable, raising it to pay our debts and keep the government functioning is constitutionally mandated; you, Mister President and constitutional scholar, should already know this.  If you offer any type of deal, be it good or bad, even from a progressive stand-point, this will open the Pandora’s Box for what can be leveraged with the debt ceiling vote, so offer no deal!

Offer no deal and use your constitutional and executive authority to raise the debt ceiling yourself with the aid of the Treasury Department; our economy is at stake, America is at stake, Americans are at stake, do not throw any of these things or people under the bus with meaningless political theater.  Allowing any deal undermines the authority of the executive and sets a precedent for others who will follow this Congress to use the debt ceiling as leverage against a sitting president.  I and the American people understand the deficit needs to be tamed, however, I must urge you that doing so with the Full, Faith, and Credit of the United States and the economies of other nations which rely on our economy to keep the markets stable and fair with proper competition literally at gun point would be the destruction of any recovery made thus far since the end of the Great Recession.

Sincerely,

A Concerned American Citizen

Opposing Same-Sex Marriage is un-American

The Constitutional Argument for Same-Sex Marriage Equality

Banning marriage equality for same-sex couples is and will likely always be unconstitutional in the United States.  State statutes and constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage violate the first, fifth, and fourteenth amendments.  The first amendment promises the right to freedom of speech, same-sex marriage bans curtail that right.  The fifth amendment states, "No person shall be...deprived of life, liberty...without due process of law[...]"; allowing a public vote on banning same-sex marriage is a violation of the due process clause of those people adversely affected by the law that deprives those people of life and liberty.

The fourteenth amendment is the most obviously violated of them all when marriage equality is denied to same-sex couples.  The fourteenth amendment is broken up into four parts, or sections, less the enforcement section.  Bans on same-sex marriage easily violate the first section of the fourteenth amendment, which states, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."  In this amendment, the due process clause is viewed as so important to the fabric of the United States and for the protection of its citizens, the clause is reiterated.

As for the actual body of the constitution, the so-called "'Defense' of Marriage Act" (DOMA) is a major violation of Article Four.  Article Four states, "Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof" and "The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States".  DOMA gives permission to the states to ignore these clauses completely in the case of same-sex marriage.

I am gay and therefore will always support marriage equality for same-sex couples, but as a supporter of the United States constitution and as an American, even if I was personally against this, I would still feel compelled to support marriage equality for same-sex couples on the basis of the law.  I do believe it would be un-American to take action contrary to the support of marriage equality for same-sex couples.

Keith Olbermann Signs Off

This past Friday was a very sad day in honest journalism as we have learned very abruptly that Keith Olbermann was signing off even though he had two years left in his contract.  In a time where we need more in-depth honesty in the news, not less, we have lost a powerful light in an age that seems to be getting darker and darker.  Olbermann will be missed and so will, MSNBC’s “well-oiled Ferrari,” Countdown.

I have no doubt Keith’s sudden departure had something to do with the inevitable take-over, not merger, of NBC/MSNBC by the conservative media giant, Comcast.  It would seem that we liberals are being silenced not only within our own government, at times by our very own Democratic president, but in the media as well.  Were it not for Olbermann, MSNBC would not be the left-leaning, liberal media outlet it is today, and for that, among many other reasons, we must thank him.  Olbermann has given liberals a voice on the cable news medium that was needed sorely during the almost tyrannical Bush administration, the moral emptiness of the Republicans’ rise to near power within our Congress, and now during the tea party, gun-wielding, Congresswoman shooting insanity that is gripping America.

We can only hope MSNBC will continue to be the voice against that tyranny, moral emptiness, and insanity; however, most importantly, we can only hope MSNBC will continue to be a beacon of truth in what is becoming, in part due to Conservative media, America’s Dark Age.  Please excuse me if you think I am sounding a little melodramatic, but this nation is overwhelmed by news organizations giving a platform to groups who promote hate and a culture of fear against the government and liberals, CNN not withstanding!

My final message to Comcast and conservatives:  I will gladly take the biased liberal media at MSNBC over the lies spread by Fox News.  Lastly, to Keith Olbermann:  good luck in your future endeavors; I hope this is not the last we will hear from you because you are already extremely missed in an age when we need your voice more than ever before.