My take on politics - Get Your Eye On The Ball!

I am not a political being.  In fact, politics bores me more than just about anything.  But I try to do my duty by keeping up on the news periodically and recently some of this stuff has gotten under my skin.  I'm annoyed ... by both sides.  Moreso by the Left, but the Right is doing their best recently...

So here's my mini-soapbox for the Republicans to read (and get mad at me about) and then afterwards you will have my idea for a proposal for a commercial that the Democrats can read (and get mad at me about).  Hopefully by the end of the day everybody will be mad at me and I can go back to living in my cave... :-)

REPUBLICANS:

• The right to own firearms is guaranteed in our constitution.  But we can draw the line somewhere, can't we?!  Nobody is arguing that I should have the right to operate a thermonuclear missile from my backyard because there's no possible positive outcome of that scenario.  Well, um, the same goes for the assault weapons, right?  And do I really need a high-capacity magazine?  And aren't better checks on gun buyers a good thing?!  PEOPLE!  If this is what the President wants then give away these obvious items in return for some real negotiating power on the economy - that's where we should be focusing our attention!
• Now on the economy...  We have got to stop getting caught up in the details of HOW and we've got to actually start balancing this economy and paying back that debt!  I'm thinking about my middle-school age children and it's killing me to think of the burden we are saddling them with!  Be willing to compromise on raising taxes AS LONG AS YOU GET REDUCTION IN EXPENSES IN RETURN.  Be willing to compromise on defense spending AS LONG AS YOU GET REDUCTION IN EXPENDITURES IN RETURN.  Get your eye on the ball, people!!!  We've got a piano falling on our heads and we're arguing whether the shadow looks more gray or purple.  GET ON WITH CUTTING THE DEFICIT!  If you don't, Greece of today is going to be USA of tomorrow!

Now, my little soapbox directed at the Republicans is over.

Now the commercial that deals directly with the absolute ridiculousness (is that a word?) coming from the Democrats (esp Obama) with regard to the debt ceiling:

I envision this overly made-up woman in furs and ridiculously overdone accessories sitting in this totally opulent house.  She's playing with a stack of credit cards and whining about how they keep getting canceled.  All she wants, after all, is to buy another fur coat and 3-4 new pair of shoes.

In walks her husband, exhausted.  During a brief dialog he pleads with her to stop spending and we come to understand that he is working 3 jobs to try to pay off the bills that she keeps racking up.  Their children are seen briefly in the background, horrified, as the father explains what just a few of the results of bankruptcy will be if she can't stop spending.  Her curt, cold response is that she won't even negotiate about whether or not we are going to pay our bills and then refuses to engage with him over the fact that it's her spending that's creating the bills and there might be a bigger issue here than whether or not we pay next month's bills.  

Then he changes clothes (either from a suit to a highway-workman uniform or visa versa - symbolizing that he's representing both white collar and blue collar workers) and stumbles out the door, exhausted from not being able to sleep while he works all these different jobs.  If you want a real emotional message you have the kids come tearing out the door after him, desperate for some time with their worked-to-the-bone father and desperate for an encouraging word to deal with their fears of what will happen to them if their mom won't stop spending.  

He looks right at the camera and says, "I'm sorry, children.  If we as a family don't stop spending like this there's no way I can make or borrow enough money to pay our bills.  By this time next year we're going to be homeless and destitute."  (Or some such melodramatic statement.)  Fade to black as the kids wail and sniffle in the background.  Perhaps a split screen with the wife/mother opening a closet and being hit by a falling heap of credit cards.

Mr. Obama, the reason the Republicans are hesitating long and hard before raising the debt ceiling is not because they don't like you.  It's because you are spending too much and our country does not have the means to pay for it!  You are ruining the lives of untold numbers of children whose futures, whose entire lives will be destroyed by the uncontrolled spending you are doing today.

Please, can we cut the rhetoric and the politics and get to the business of balancing the budget and paying off this debt?  We're running out of time!



PS You could do the commercial with the wife working 3 jobs and the husband sitting at home playing with his boats and electronics and fishing and SUVs and stuff as well.  I just dislike how all the commercials in the last few years always portray the man in the foolish role, so that's why I thought I'd try with the woman in that role.  But I suppose for effectiveness it would be reversed.