“I go from exasperation to a state of collapse, then I recover and go from prostration to Fury, so that my average state is one of being annoyed”

-  Gustave Flaubert

I’m fed up.

FED UP with two years of listening to the loudmouths on the extreme right telling us everything that is wrong with America but offering no solutions and no compromise.

FED UP with the noisy and vocal fringe who have hijacked the definition of “patriot” and continued the onerous chanting of the Bush administration – “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.”

FED UP with politicians who preach “honesty,” “fiscal responsibility” and “family values” while lying about their educational accomplishments, hiding their infidelities and defaulting on student loans.

FED UP with right-wing extremists who seek to turn back America’s clock to a past of Jim Crowe laws, robber barons and the shredding of social conscience through fear and intimidation.

FED UP with self proclaimed “real Americans” who usurp the will and desire of the real mainstream, the American majority.

FED UP with the cynical politics of distraction and division that seek power instead of solutions.

FED UP with Wall Street’s reckless gambling that cost Main Street eight million jobs while lining the pockets of the gamblers.

FED UP with those who, instead of contributing to solutions or offering ideas on how to improve the economy, seek to further the divide and widen the political abyss.

FED UP with the xenophobic immigration opponents, “birthers” and enemies of reform who have banded together to wage war on the public dialogue, camouflaging their misguided views in the cloak of patriotism while attacking any and all who are not true to their misguided “faith.”

FED UP with those who decry investment in rebuilding America in order to close the jobs gap, which will then help close the budget gap.

FED UP with the extreme right-wing media machine desperately trying to discredit the idea that America’s government can and should move aggressively to create more jobs, even as we careen toward a possible double-dip recession and a second round of devastating home foreclosures.

FED UP with the army of “experts” on TV all day warning of economic doom and screaming “the sky is falling” while trying to persuade our leaders to throw America’s working families under the bus.

FED UP with those who seek to make things worse by heaping suffering on top of suffering.

FED UP with the abandonment of our schools, shutting down of our clinics and ignoring the Nation’s crumbling infrastructure.

FED UP with those members of Congress who think they should focus on closing the federal budget gap, even if it means letting millions more American families tumble down the slope to increasing levels of poverty while placing larger and larger shares of the country’s wealth in the hands of the top one percent.

FED UP with giving billions of dollars to companies like Halliburton abroad, while closing hospitals at home.

FED UP with the solid chorus of No! offered up by the obstructionists in the Senate in response to all attempts to help working families.

FED UP with the fundamentalists who oppose a diverse, enlightened, quality educational system that teaches critical thinking.

FED UP with a government that continues to practice inhumane treatment of foreign nationals and cannot fix the broken criminal justice system that incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world.

FED UP with those who would rather encourage hate crimes than pass health care reform.

FED UP with an American public that can’t seem to be able to make an intelligent choice between two movements - one that wants to demagogue problems and divide us, and one that wants to promote solutions and unite America.

I think I’ll go kick the cat.