A devastating hurricane hits the Northeast. Women’s rights are being restricted in states like Wisconsin, Texas, and Ohio. Global warming is continuing. In the six months after the Sandy Hook shooting, there were fourteen mass shootings. Inequality is rising: the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The unemployment rate is high. Minorities are being disenfranchised. And that is only a tiny scope of the problem.
Congress is doing nothing. In the 113th Congress, the House has voted thirty-seven times to repeal Obamacare, but not even introduced a jobs bill. A no-tax pledge forced politicians into disagreement; and the economy into sequestration. The Manchin-Toomey Bill, a common-sense bill for universal background checks for gun purchases was filibustered in the Senate and failed to pass the sixty-vote margin, despite getting 54 out of 100 votes and being supported by 90% of Americans.
This may not feel like extremism, but it is. I cannot think of a prior point in the history of this country that government so ignored the interests of the people it was supposed to represent. Republicans talk about how much SNAP programs lead to budget deficit; then turn around and give huge tax breaks to oil companies.
No more is America a land of opportunity. People work hard their whole lives earning only minimum wages. The middle class, the heart of our economy, pays more than their share of taxes, while some billionaires don’t pay a penny.
America needs to change. The working class needs to work to have their voices heard above the Tea Party and corporate America. The internet is a tool: a megaphone for free speech. Why not use it?
Stop Right-wing Extremism 