This isn't the America I was raised in.

When I was young I was taught that we, America, were the good guys. We saved the world from Hitler and the Imperial Japanese. And, the Vietnam war not withstanding, we represented truth and justice. We the people meant it when we said that. We took to the streets to demand Civil rights for all Americans. We took to the streets to demand an end to the Vietnam war. And we did it. We the people wrought real change in the US. When Richard Nixon tapped phones and used the power of his office to twist arms we forced his resignation, it was either that or be impeached. And soon after congress implemented the FISA court, so you needed a court order to tap a phone and spy on a fellow american. Sadly since 1980 I have watched all that I was taught that America represented slowly disappear. Interestingly the first inkling for me was the elimination of the CETA program. Anyone remember that? It actually put people to work, gave them training and experience and a paycheck. Our buddy Ronnie Reagan got rid of that. Then he proceeded to create a bigger deficit than ever before. Mainly due to increases in military budget, and he cut basic useful programs; "Eliminate Social Security minimum benefits. Cap the runaway costs of Medicaid. Tighten eligibility for food stamps. Merge the trade adjustment assistance for unemployed industrial workers with standard unemployment compensation and shrink it. Cut education aid by a quarter. Cut grants for the arts and humanities in half. "Zero out" CETA and the Community Services Administration and National Consumer Cooperative Bank." Quoted from this article. Maybe we should be glad that this was all that was trimmed from the budget, because if David Stockman had had his original way we would have lost much much more. I am an ole time liberal socialist and I think that the country needed those programs. The gap between the richest Americans and the poorest Americans continue to grow wider. It was obvious from George W.'s tax cuts that they were meant to be aimed at the wealthiest. So Paris Hilton got a nice big tax savings and I saw an $8 reduction in my taxes. I think I would rather they keep my $8 and create a national health plan. How about lifting the ceiling on social security and medicare taxes so wealthier people are paying their share? Why don't we re-establish the estate tax and funnel that money directly into social security. And finally why not make the social security fund a separate, protected fund so it can't be stolen from as it has been for generations. Let's stop tearing down the New Deal and Great Society programs that have and had been working. Let's put them back and help close the gap between rich and poor. It's time, because I don't know about you but I have had enough.
Now under the current administration, the closest to fascism than ever, we torture our prisoners. We can disappear someone for no reason other than the government says you are a terrorist. Bush the younger lied us into a war in Iraq and rhetoric is spinning up for a war with Iran. The current administration used the disaster of 9/11 to make political hay and force laws down our throats that remove our liberties and threaten our republic. The ill-named patriot act and the military commissions act to name two. This is not the america I grew up in. I don't know what happened to it, but I wish it would come back.