Have things gotten really worse, or have I just become an Old Fart?

[Samantha]

122. Although a Democrat won the last two Presidential elections

the Country is being run as if the Republicans had won. I was saying about a year and one-half ago that I remembered how bad the days were when Newt Gingrich was the Speaker and Clinton was President. That were really bad days. Everyday, a new fresh batch of excrement came flying out into the faces of the public. Some of the laws passed were just so bad, I don't even want to talk about them.

So awhile back, as I started out, I remember thinking these days are those days. Today, I think these days are worse than those days -- and that is truly saying something. And part of it is that for many suffering, there is no hope. Talk is cheap and we get a lot of that, but little more.

The one exception is the Affordable Care Act. For some, this legislation is a miracle, flawed as it is. But it will save lives. And that counts tremendously. What some people have gained in health care, though, they have lost in security of home, adequacy of food, inability to keep their homes warm in the winter and the resources to help educate their children properly. It does feel like we live in a third-world country, and we are still on a downhill slide.... Who knows where it will all end....

And some of the influences which have wrought these changes are known and despised by most decent people, regardless of party -- The John Birch Society and other white supremacy groups, the NRA which refuses to even abide by the standards recommended by a huge majority of its own membership, the Koch Brothers -- I guess I better stop here because it is depressing to me just to write this and to know I could spend the rest of the afternoon enumerating all of the negative hands we see molding our laws, our politicians, and thus our destinies.

So no, Armstead, you are not an old fart, you are in the middle of your life and you along with all of the rest of us in the Country deserve better.

Sam