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What do the two extremely consequential Supreme Court decisions this week have in common? In one decision we have a basic gutting of the most important section of the Civil Rights Act, and in the other we have the overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act — leaving many Americans scratching their heads. The decisions appear to be liberal in the striking down of DOMA, and conservative in striking down the key section of the Voting Rights Act.

But the liberal/conservative lens is the wrong one to be using to view these momentous Supreme Court decisions. What they actually have in common is that they both take power away from the federal government, and give it to the states. Under these decisions all states now have the right to establish their own individual voting requirements, and now have the right to establish their own marriage standards.

The practical effect of these “states rights” Supreme Court decisions is to empower states to both discriminate against minorities in voting laws, and to also empower those states that have codified marriage equality. But both decisions support the basic battle cry of the old Confederacy: STATES’ RIGHTS!

Make no mistake, the Conservatives on the Robert’s Court intend to curb the power of the federal government and turn the UNITED States of America into a loose confederacy of states!

Don’t be lulled by the “appearance” of a liberal Court decision — our courts are at risk and the meaning of America is on the line.

ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES.

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We can feel it … can’t you? Just as Ronald Reagan turned the country to the hard-right, Barack Obama is turning the country to the center-left. It just doesn’t seem fast enough or far enough for many on the left —and impatience abounds. But, it is happening, while Conservatives are floundering around in the past.

What a pleasure to witness our nation moving into a new future of pragmatism and sensible, logical problem-solving. It feels a lot like watching a child grow up — from magical thinking to maturity.

On almost every issue from wars, raising taxes, marriage equality, immigration reform, women’s right to control their own family planning, and yes —- even on guns — America is leaving the old and tired ideas behind.

It’s important to remember that our nation didn’t get to this place overnight. It took over 30 years for Reaganism to take hold and turn Americans into “rugged individualists” — or as I like to call us, the “greed is good individualists!”

Progress won’t always be even. Sometimes it will be really fast, as in the new consensus view on marriage equality. Sometimes it will be very slow, as it most likely will be on gun-safety.

But, it is happening, and it’s really nice to be able to acknowledge that!

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Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan are closely linked in the minds of both Conservatives and Liberals — on both sides of “the pond.” The two served as heads-of-state at the same time in the 80’s, and together they transformed both nations by instituting radical free-market economic theories.

As America observes the death of Margaret Thatcher and the predictable articles lauding her tenure, we must also take a good look at the results of her austerity, union-busting, and privatization policies. Great Britain is today suffering the consequences of her misguided leadership, and America is still paying a huge price for Reaganism.

Both Thatcher and Reagan cut unions off at the knees, which combined with their massive tax breaks for the wealthy, led directly to the beginning of the great income disparity both countries are now suffering. Income disparity has huge negative impacts on nations economies, according to The International Monetary Fund.

For really good assessments of the reign of Margaret Thatcher as England’s Prime Minister, check out this article on msnbc.com , and this one at New York’s Daily Intelligencer.

Maggie Thatcher and Ronald Reagan drug their respective countries into extreme conservatism, and both nation’s are paying the price today.

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Our nation’s level of rising income inequality started in the 1980s with the GOP “theory” of Supply Side Economics — otherwise known as “Trickle Down Economics.” Their theory asserts that if taxpayers give the wealthy and corporations huge tax cuts and tax havens, that the bounty produced for the 1% will somehow “Trickle Down” to everyone else and that the entire nation will prosper.

Clearly that theory did not work. There are a multitude of charts and studies that thoroughly de-bunk this idea. And, our own observations and experience tells us that IT DID NOT WORK! Wealth trickled UP, and our nation’s debt ballooned.

But, what we ALL need to understand is that the Republican Party is still advocating for this failed economic policy … and they are actually Doubling-Down on Trickle Down. The Ryan Budget cuts taxes for corporations and the wealthy — it cuts taxes for the affluent to even deeper levels from where they are now, which are already the lowest they’ve been in decades.

THE GOP IS ONLY PROMSING MORE OF THE SAME OLD VOO DOO ECONOMICS!

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RISING INCOME INEQUALITY

It’s easy to see that a massive wealth transfer began in America in the 1980s. The logical conclusion is that Reaganomics, a.k.a. Trickle Down Economics, has dramatically harmed our country.

Eventually, the 1% will be forced to face the masses and explain just why it is fair for them to be raking in the overwhelming majority of the economic gains, while everyone else is living paycheck to paycheck.

Check out this Forbes article, “Average America vs The One Percent.”

Forbes tells us that, there is a fallacy about hard work: “It’s a common belief in America that all people have the same opportunity for success as the top 1 percent. Most people consider success to be a by-product of hard work, and hard work is something that Americans are extremely familiar with. In fact, Americans have increased productivity by 80 percent since 1979; unfortunately, their income hasn’t risen accordingly, if at all.”

The New York Times reported in October 2012, “Income inequality has soared to the highest levels since the Great Depression and the recession has done little to reverse the trend, with the top 1 percent of earners taking 93 percent of the income gains in the first full year of the recovery.”

The question is: What will it take to make them face up to America’s economic inequality? And, what will it take to force them to face the fact that income inequality produces a weaker economy for all of us? Here’s another great Forbes article on how damaging it is to the economy for this income inequality to continue, “How Income Inequality Is Damaging the U.S.”

In the long run, our nation’s elite are thinking short-term. And … one day, maybe sooner rather than later, the masses will demand an answer. Will the 1% be able to handle that?

WHAT WILL THEY SAY? “LET THEM EAT CAKE!” ???

“First you win the argument, then you win the vote.” So said Margaret Thatcher, the first woman Prime Minister of England. Eugene Robinson wrote a wonderful column this week in The Washington Post, comparing the transformational English leader Margaret Thatcher to our own Barack Obama.

Mrs. Thatcher was Prime Minister from 1979 – 1990, when Ronald Reagan was President from 1981 – 1989, and the two of them were on the front lines of the new Conservatism … they were the advocates for cutting taxes, a tough foreign policy, and were the pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-boot-strap kind of leaders.

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were both transformational leaders. They moved their respective countries drastically to the right politically. And, both countries are still paying the price for that “experiment” today. Trickle-down economics did NOT work. Aggressive foreign policy did not work. Abandoning the poor did not work. Conservatism has come up short.

But, Maggie was right on one score: First you win the argument, then you win the vote. And, Barack Obama is winning the argument … big time.

He’s won the tax debate, recent polls show that by wide margins the American people want taxes raised on the wealthy and on corporations. They don’t believe that giving huge tax breaks to the 1% will trickle-down money to them, because we’ve tried that and it didn’t!

Obama has won the “entitlements” debate. The American people overwhelmingly want Medicare and Social Security to stay intact and not be cut. They favor raising taxes to keep these popular programs as they are.

He’s winning the gun debate. Oh, progress will be incremental, and much slower than many of us would like, but we will win this argument, and there will be some restrictions on guns.

And, he’s been very persuasive on education issues, with overwhelming majority support for universal pre-school for four-year olds, for expanding Federal support for college and job training programs, and for raising standards for public schools.

Climate change, marriage equality, minimum wage, and so many left-of-center issues are polling with very high approval ratings among the American people.

YEP ~ FIRST YOU WIN THE ARGUMENT!

The chart below compares the cost of healthcare among a group of modern, industrialized nations. It should be noted that each of these other countries have all residents covered for their healthcare, while the U.S. does not.

This next chart compares government healthcare spending per capita in the United States and Canada. Clearly while the United States spends more on healthcare, Canada covers healthcare for all residents, while the U.S. doesn’t.

And just what are we getting for all this money we spend on healthcare? What we get is that the United States of America rates #40 in life expectancy, behind Taiwan, Cuba, Costa Rica, etc.

Canada rates #11 in life expectancy, while Japan is #1, Italy is #5, France is #7, Sweden is #8, Israel is #9, Germany is #20, and the UK is #23. For further information on life expectancy around the world check out this Wikipedia page.

America actually spends more on private and government-provided health care than Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Sweden or the United Kingdom. In each and every one of those countries there is government-based systems that cover everybody — while we leave millions without healthcare coverage.

And, with all this extra spending on healthcare, life expectancy is higher in these nations than in our country. Where is all this extra spending going — the extra spending that is bankrupting our country? Why, it’s going to massive inefficiencies that Obamacare is intended to address, and to Insurance Companies, of course!

For an in-depth read on the subject check out Ezra Klein’s article at his WONKBLOG.

DYSFUNCTIONAL MUCH?

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How far can they fall? This once proud party can no longer effectively govern, their approval poll number is 26%, and they’re seen by most of us as election manipulators and cheaters.

And worst of all, what they mainly seem to do is whine and complain and portray themselves as “victims” when in fact — they are the bullies. Tune into any Fox News program, radio talk-shows on the Right, or any rightwing blog, and all you hear is faux outrage: There’s a war on Chrismas; Acorn stole presidential elections from them; The President didn’t reach out to THEM in his inaugural address to the nation. And on and on and on. Never ending?

Well, maybe there’s hope afterall. Check out this Media Matters article “Are Conservatives Rethinking The Fox News Outrage Model?”

According to blogger, Eric Boehlert, “Being outraged, and especially being outraged about made-up claims, like Obama’s imaginary “name-calling” on Monday [assertions they admit they can’t substantiate], has become a signature of the far right movement over the last four years. It’s also blossomed into Fox News’ entire business model. Fox News makes a pile of profits each year overreacting to imagined Obama slights.”

“The question is, has the Fox model of the phony Outrage Machine damaged the conservative movement? Is it standing in the way of Republican progress and electoral success?”

“Writing at his site RedState this week, conservative CNN commentator Erick Erickson beseeched fellow partisans to drop the outrage shtick and to move into more substantial areas of debate. “Conservatives, frankly, have become purveyors of outrage instead of preachers for a cause,” he wrote. “Who the hell wants to listen to conservatives whining and moaning all the time about the outrage du jour?”

MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, CHANGE IS COMING FOR THE GOP TOO!

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We can’t quite get our heads around the GOP thinking that there’s any possible upside for their willingness to throw the country into default on our nation’s debt, in exchange for slashing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — all very popular social programs.

The leverage that they seem to think they have looks like a losing hand to play. Their miscalculations could be disastrous for the party, because their demands to shred the social safety net are not at ALL what the American people want. And, defaulting on our debt is not all that popular either.

So, we’re left scratching our heads?!? What in the world are they thinking?

They seem to think (indeed ASSERT) that the President is unwilling to cut spending, and that they therefore need to force him to the table. Which is kinda weird on its face, because he cut over $1.7T last year, and continues to talk about even further cuts.

It appears that the GOP is having a major temper tantrum and stamping their feet over made-up issues that don’t even make sense.

Here’s a hint: GOP, sit down with the President and talk about what he might be willing to cut. Then tell him what you’d like to cut. Then, talk about how you might be able to agree on reforming the tax code. You might get lowered corporate tax rates, in exchange for closing tax loopholes. Next you might talk about how to put Social Security and Medicare on firmer ground. That might be tweaking eligibility and maybe raising the cap on payroll taxes.

LOTS OF WAYS TO GET THE JOB DONE! You just have to stop posturing first.

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A mother bought guns, probably because she thought they would keep her safe. But, they did not — those guns were the cause of her death in the hands of her troubled son. Those guns were also the cause of the deaths of 27 others, mostly children aged 5 to 10 years old.

The horror of the massacre of 20 kindergarten children by a disturbed 20 year old is almost more than we can face. I’ve been on the edge of tears all day … not asking “why” but just enduring the pain. One foot in front of the other.

Americans need to be told the truth about guns. They need to be educated about just how dangerous it is to have guns. The facts are that those who have guns are in real jeopardy of injury and loss of life because of those guns. Americans need to be told about how much safer life is in countries where there are some restrictions on guns.

We need to understand just how much profit there is in selling guns and ammunition to folks who mistakenly believe that they are making themselves and their loved one safer by owning guns. We need to know about the political power that is in the hands of the National Rifle Association and how the NRA misleads and fools the American people for their own selfish ends.

A mother bought guns, and her unhealthy son used those guns to kill her, 20 children, 7 adult educators in an elementary school, and finally took his own life. If she had known the facts, would she have bought those guns?

NOW … CAN WE TALK ABOUT GUNS?