I figured writing for a little bit might not be a terrible idea. And I just had to respond to a post somehow. 

Cheers, 

Dustin

 LOCAL

1)  Governor Scott Walker will lose the recall election.  

2)  Voter I.D. legislation will be upheld by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. However, the United States Supreme Court will overturn the appeal. 

3)  The economic landscape in Wisconsin will continue to falter under Governor Walker's lack of leadership.

4)  The Wisconsin media will continue its biased reporting on the issues of Governor Scott Walker and all things liberal.  

5)  Democrat Representative Tammy Baldwin will win the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Herb Kohl.  However, Former Secretary Thompson will win his party's nomination. 

NATIONAL 

1)  President Barack Obama will win the presidential race over Former Republican Gover Mitt Romney.

2)  Democrats in the upcoming elections will win big, similar to the Democratic Wave of 2008. 

3)  The United States Supreme Court will rule Obamacare constitutional.

4)  North Korea, Iran, and other enemies of the United States,  will continue to thumb their noses at the United States (and the  United Nations) as long as anyone is in office.

5)  The national media will continue its biased reporting against all things liberal.  They will step up their efforts to get Obama defeated, to no avail.

While the upcoming year(s) look good for liberals and Democrats, the damage that Conservatives have done to the country in the last twelve years is shocking.   Won't it be a relief when Mitt Romney becomes the next Republican to be defeated and Barack Hussein Obama can get back to work on the issues with a new Democratic Congress? 

 The blogosphere is something I came to a while ago. The blogs here at LLC used to be more balanced and seemingly had some kind of decency to them. 

I was younger when I started, in fact, much younger. At heart and mind, I didn't really understand as much as I do now about how people operate. I still believe that there is good in people and that we all have something to work for that we believe in. But my work has taken a new direction and that direction is not here on LLC anymore. 

After these past weeks with emails back and forth with members of this blogging community and the email or two from LLC themselves about comment moderation, I grow weary of having to worry about this blog every day because of what people are saying or calling each other. 

Politics is a business of trying to solve problems, not create them. There are those on this site that don't believe that, and it's become painfully obvious that they will never change. Almost two years ago there was a group of left-leaning bloggers that contacted me and wanted to create an alternative blogging site. I said that I had the will to stay because it's important I keep fighting for what I believe in, and I would leave when I was ready. That day has come. 

I'm not leaving because I feel defeat, but merely that my efforts are better focused elsewhere. I wasn't forced out or asked to leave this site. Let no one tell you otherwise. 

I want to thank you all for the support and the criticism. It has helped me become the person I am today and I will cherish the comments that I have receive from each person. But for now, it's time to leave. 

I promise, though, that this won't be the last you hear from me. :-)

Feel free to look me up on facebook/twitter. Or if you so choose, follow my personal blog that I'll update from time to time at: http://www.youngcommunityactivist.blogspot.com/ or just click here.

Recently I was asked to delete comments from my blog that involved personal attacks that had nothing to do with the conversation of my blog's content. I did so after being told my blog would be removed if I did not have the comments removed. 

I was asked about this on my previous blog by Tom Bal. This was my response to his comment on that blog. But I thought it might be better to post it as a blog by itself to make my opinion of the matter known.

Regardless of what others on here may think, or what they say about me on their own blogs, I do care about the content of what is said on here. I do care about the wellbeing of the people that everyone attacks, and I wish that we could all put that behind us and realize that they do, in fact, offer nothing to the conversation of the issues at hand. Thus, I state the following:

 I agree, Tom. Many times my wish to remain on the side of non-censorship has led to degradation of the content of my blog. I kept a strict policy to allow all commenters to post something on my blog as long as it lacked profanity or obscenity. 

 I wanted to share this piece that I wrote the the UWSP Pointer this past week. 

What we had last week was a unique opportunity that we might never find again. The Joint Finance Committee came to Stevens Point to hear the voices of the people on the issues of the budget.

While this is mostly a political stunt or used for publicity, it was certainly interesting to see the people that came out to speak to something that they care deeply about.

I must admit, it wasn’t something I was keen on doing, but I spoke. I spoke about BadgerCare and Medicaid; two programs that I hold near and dear to my heart.

You see, I have a disease called Hemophilia. Basically it is a clotting disorder that makes it really hard to heal from major injuries.

There’s a common misconception out there that you can die from a paper cut, let me tell you, it’s not true.

The main problem with clotting disorders, like mine, is that when you get injured in joints, or on your head, the blood stays there for days, sometimes weeks, at a time. This does serious damage to the joints or brain and most people have to get surgery by the time they’re 40 years old to replace or correct the joints.

It’s expensive. One dose of medication can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000. And there are kids who have to prophylactic doses of this twice a day, making their medical costs soar to upward amounts of $2,000,000 a year. Most insurance companies won’t cover this, and if they do you cap out in one year.

That’s why we rely heavily on these two programs. That’s why they’re so important, because we can’t afford to have the kind of coverage that an every day American needs.

But at the same time, Governor Walker aims to target these programs for cuts. And that’s not only hurting me, but hurting the thousands upon thousands of people who rely on those programs every day for basic medical treatment just in order to live a life that is, at best, par with every other person in this country.

I’m not whining, I don’t want entitlement, because truth be told, I have yet to use these programs. But I care just that much about the people I meet in my community that the issue is something I can get up in front of a podium for and let my emotions slide out for just a second and tell it like it is.

People aren’t pawns for political gain. We have real needs and real issues that we need help on. And Scott Walker wants only to shy away from that.

I think that’s wrong. And I hope all of my brothers and sisters across this state dealing with issues like mine will join me in fighting this awful assault on those less fortunate that people like Scott K. Walker. 

 This bill has no more reason to be passed. The fiscal matters in this bill have passed their date to refinance anything with the current budget. This means that even if the bill passed, the only point to pass it would be with a social agenda. 

Unions, putting wetlands in tif districts, giving the governor power over BadgerCare and Medicaid, are the things that the Republicans want. 

It's not about saving money, it's about union busting and about the conservative social agenda. 

The economic affect of the bill if it doesn't pass, according to Walker, before the deadline, was going to be 6,000 jobs lost. But if it passes, it takes the amount of 24,000 jobs with all of the money that would be taken out of the economy. 

It's interesting that Republicans continue to claim all of these things that aren't true. The State Fiscal Bureau even told the Republicans that this years budget would end up with a surplus of 60,000,000 dollars. The year following on the same course would end up with at 55,000,000 budget. This is what they told the committee that was charged with passing the bill on to the Assembly and the Senate. 

Want to know how I know? I was there, in that room when the hearing was going on, with my press pass. I was in the Senate when the Democrats didn't show up to vote, telling people in the Republican party that this isn't the best deal for constituents. 

I was in the press conference with walker when he walked out after taking three questions without so much as giving a clue he was going to leave. 

This is the kind of state we live in now? A state where we can shut the doors of our own Capitol to the public? A state where people can't let their voices be heard? A state that shuts down the basic right of man to assemble and collectively work together for a better wage and living situation? 

That's not my Wisconsin. 

I'm studying to be a teacher. I want to teach high school social studies. I like to think that I'd be very good at it, despite what some conservatives would say. But in this state when my pension; my retirement; my health care; my already low salary; my very livelihood comes under attack and it has no way of getting better for 20 years, what reason do I have to stay in my state?

They say that teaching retirement rates are going to go up 4-5 times in this state this year. I've already had professors resign to take better jobs in Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa or Illinois. 

It seems that Wisconsin is open for business as long as you're wealthy, as long as you gave to Scott Walker's campaign fund, or as long as you hate unions. 

That's not my Wisconsin. And that is why I stand in solidarity with all of my union brothers and sisters across this state, across this country and throughout the world. 

 In the very likely event that this becomes somewhat of an emotional rant, accept my early apologies.

Tonight, I, along with the rest of the fans of Countdown, tuned into the weeknight show to find that this would be the last time I would watch my favorite anchor passionately discuss and pursue the truth in a world that, often times, is elusive.

Countdown was the rock that you could come home to each night after going out and trying to do the same in your own life. In the world that I grew up in, there existed only a republican and conservative media; a media that didn’t ever go into the depth and uncover the secrets and the lies of the government that we trusted all too much.

When I discovered the show at the age of 14, I discovered it as an impressionable student that thought the man on screen attacked an administration too much. However, over the next year, as my political ideology began to move more in line with where I stand now, I could only begin to embrace his style of elegance and odd sense of Socrates’ method of questioning. Yet in the end, he would always reveal the opinion that he held, and would tell us why in the emotional way that we could relate too.

Yet today, the long run of the show that I came home to every weekday has ended. We weren’t given notice, we weren’t given the replacement, we weren’t told where our anchor would go or what his plans were. We are only left with assumptions.

After the debate has cooled and the end result exists, I’m sure we will find our answer. Yet at the same time, I doubt we will be content with the answers we find.

Olbermann, a staunch opponent of the Comcast merger and vocal opposition to organizations like Fox News, was fired. The option was on the table to extend his contract and they newly founded company chose not to extend, but rather to shift around the schedule and add a webcaster in the 6 pm slot.

What does this say about America’s need for an unbiased media? While we all know that MSNBC often times, if not all times, swung to the left, the organization that has obtained MSNBC has destroyed that ability to do so.

In an order to make it’s own interests heard and profits larger, they have let go a person who fought for the right to know the truth and the right for citizens to live the American Dream; a dream that soon, we will find, is becoming less and less existent in the society we have built.

What becomes of this newfound lack of freedom that we have strived for? How can we not look at the termination of Keith Olbermann as a catalyst for other organizations to do the same. Soon the truth will be so drowned out that we will have no media to turn to and we all will be lost in the sea of misinformation that the conservatives hold dear to their hearts.

Americans lost today.

 I was raised to be a conservative. Yes, believe it or not, as a ten year old I called Al Gore a sore loser.

Some things shifted for me when I found out that a member of my close family was gay.

I still remember to this day when I figured out that maybe the Republican Party wasn’t for me.

I had asked one of my teachers in high school in October 2004 who she was supporting for president. She responded, “Well, I’m an education voter, it’s my issue, and I’m going to vote for the guy who supports education more.”

I didn’t know who she supported because she told me she couldn’t answer, but I went out and looked at the education plans of George Bush and John Kerry and found out, Bush had a record of showing no support for k-12 education and especially a bad background with colleges and universities. Kerry, however, wanted more aid for students, more federal help for k-12 schools and supported measures like a national curriculum for schools across the country to give everyone a fair shake.

It’s crazy to me how empowered I felt after I had gone out and educated myself on an issue that I cared a lot about.

I didn’t necessarily find the party that was right for me yet, but I did find one that I could actually agree with a lot more than the Republicans.

For me, I found a party that would fight for people with my economic background; a party that would fight for the rights of minorities; a party that would fight against corporate crime; a party that would fight against discrimination of LGBT related issues; a party that would support students and their ambitions; and a party that would support bringing troops back home to their families.

I was raised in a single mother home. She worked long hours each day to make money for rent, food paying the bills and supporting my sister and I in whatever we needed or sometimes wanted but didn’t need.

It wasn’t always easy. I remember the time when the electricity was off for three days and my dad had to pull out the propane stove to boil hot dogs for dinner, but we persevered.

Now, my dad and my mom are split and since then I’ve grown up, gone to college, led student organizations, helped out on state campaigns, and I’m here, in front of you, a liberal, and a proud one.

I always believe that there is a human condition that allows us to show compassion to each and every person that is on this planet, it is whether we choose to acknowledge that condition or not.

Some people believe that that condition shows us that we need people to make their own decisions 100% of the time and that this means, primarily, less government, if any at all.

I have good friends, like John, that feel this way. But the problem with this argument is that there are people that need the help.

Food stamps, Medicare, social security, mandated health care coverage, BadgerCare, public transportation, public education, fire departments, police, libraries, agriculture, the military, head start, highways and YOUR university are all examples of government. Start cutting these programs and you start to shut out the poor, the elderly, the young, working men and women, people with pre-existing conditions, people who travel to work, people striving to be educated, farmers and national security.

Pretty soon, after all of these programs are cut, you have nothing left holding society together.

You see, society is like a clock. There are a series of cogs that have to be there and in working order for the next cog to spin and eventually make the clock’s hands turn. Once one of these cogs is removed the whole mechanical system shuts down.

That is why liberals have fought so hard over the years of government to create these programs. Every person in society has his or her place that is essential in making the clock work.

But on top of programs, liberals have worked for protection of their people, often times, these people are minorities.

Civil Rights legislation, the 14^th amendment, the bill of rights, ending tax cuts for the super rich, title IX and Pell grants all protect people in the minority.

My mentor has become the very person I called a sore loser after that election in 2000. Al Gore is the example that I believe we should all look towards, especially in this environmentally conscious university to what change and leadership looks like.

Gore grew up as the son of a rich tobacco farmer. He ended up a private subsidizer of green energy for people’s homes, the leader of a cause everyone else refused to take up, he stopped growing tobacco after his sister was diagnosed with cancer, and he stepped up to show us that losing and winning isn’t everything.

One day, I aspire to be a leader; I aspire to teach students, to help shape policy, to govern, elect good people, and to have the backbone that people like Al Gore and Russ Feingold have.

Though I may have found my home in the Democratic Party, I believe that there is still more work to do. That is why I keep telling stories, talking to people, raising a ruckus about issues that people are tired of hearing, organizing people to vote and to talk about causes. That is why I fight so hard to find people that are like me and want to make a difference, which is at times hard to do. It is important that we protect citizens, minorities, our national security, our students, our sick, our elderly, our poor and our well being.

I am a Democrat. I am a progressive, a liberal. I am an organizer. I am a student, a minority. I am the middle class. I am a pre-existing condition. I am a citizen. I am a voter. I am everything that this country is supposed to be about: moving forward.    

 Okay, you've had a month and a half!

Where are the jobs?!

Huh?! 

Jim, Amy, T42?

Where are the jobs?!

You've had a month and half, I want to know where the jobs are!

 It’s interesting to me as I sit in class each day and we’re discussing the topic of war. Especially about the two wars that are still going on today.

All I can really wonder is what happened to the anti-war sentiment that was there just a matter of 3 years ago. I remember being in a crowd marching on the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in 2008 with 30,000 other people.

But just a matter of 4 years before that there were over 200,000 people marching in New York City during the 2004 Republican National Convention showing that there was a serious problem with the two wars that President Bush wasn’t addressing.

As I sit here and write this now, 1398 American servicemen and women have died in Afghanistan and 4427 in Iraq according to www.icasualties.org.

Those are just the tip of the iceberg though. Estimates in Iraq have gone over 1.3 million civilian casualties, over 2 million displaced and Afghanistan counts never even occurred at the official capacity they needed to.

A few days ago there was a discussion in a class that I have and we were talking about defense spending and whether or not we spend too much on our military/security.

It’s hard for me to sit there and not say something with something that I feel so passionately about, so, eventually I raise my hand after some people make the most ignorant and unfounded arguments I’ve ever heard.

“War is terror. And until we realize that we will have more terror inflicted upon us,” I said.

That’s just it. People wonder why we need to have the highest military budget in the entire world but don’t take a step back and think about what we actually do with that money.

We invade foreign nation’s to plunder their resources. We step into foreign government’s negotiations, elections and every day situations that we’re not needed or welcomed into. We occupy nations that don’t want us there.

But while we’re doing that what are we really doing? We’re terrorizing the public of the countries that we occupy, intervene in or deal with.

Think about it. Imagine that North Korea would have attacked us for some unknown reason and in the process our family members would have been killed, or our friends. Wouldn’t you rise up and stand up for them? The violence inflicted on you made you resort to the very thing that you deplored in the first place.

This is exactly the problem with the way we handle ourselves in the global arena. This is what we do. We incite terror with things like Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and Bay of Pigs.

In Iran we supported the Shah. In Iraq we supported Hussein. In Israel we support the ruling party that murders thousands of Palestinians every year.

If we didn’t support these people because it had been good for us maybe, just maybe, there might be a few more people living today than there were yesterday.

Maybe instead of protecting resources like oil, trade routes and other interests, we should focus more on things like genocide. It’s something we ignored in 1994 in Rwanda and it’s something we ignored in 2007 in Darfur. We ignored it in Yugoslavia. We ignored it in 1943 when reports were handed to President Roosevelt about the Holocaust. We ignored it in 1917 when Armenians were slaughtered. We even gave Saddam Hussein the weapons he used to kill thousands of Kurds with during the 1980s.

Instead of acts of war, we should try acts of protection and humanitarianism. That would be good military spending to me: a doctrine of intervention when humanitarian and protection is needed to a people who have no way of defending themselves.

For now, we have to get back to focus. We cannot and will not be a world leader if we cannot get our game together again. We cannot and will not take back our own politics if we do not press our leaders on issues like this. For 4 years I have watched the progressive base give up its ideals because we want to simply compromise and make things happen inch by inch.

Some things can’t wait. That’s why we’re here. 

 A person walks into the restaurant you went to eat dinner at tonight. He sits down and lights a cigarette up. The smoke starts to fill the room and that nauseating and cancerous feeling starts to consume you.

This is what it feels like to be the non-smoker in the room. That is why an organized majority have said no more to the smoking in public places in Wisconsin.

Smoking is one of those things that has always been known to be a cause of bad health, and a cause of annoyance for those who smoke and those who don’t.

Cancer, Emphysema, Asthma, heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension and peripheral vascular disease are the effects of smoking or secondhand smoke. None of them end in a good way, and none of them are something anyone would want to live with or die from.

That is why governments must enforce and impose smoking bans in public places. Restaurants, state, county or city parks, bars, places of work, stores or anything enclosed that is not open to the public all fit into that category.

It’s a tough issue for most people though. Many conservatives decry the idea of imposing a regulation on what people do with their bodies; they claim that it is a government intervention in a personal and private decision.

Well that’s all fine and dandy, but I get to ask this question then: what happens when I say that I want to be safe and healthy in my own body? Why shouldn’t I be granted the same courtesy to make the decision not to smoke and not have to deal with others doing it around me?

You see, secondhand smoke affects people just as much as the actual smoking does to the smoker. That means that all those diseases listed above can be inflicted on me just as much as they can be on the person lighting one up. It’s kind of like homicide or manslaughter.

But yet we can still look at the smoker and say that it’s a personal decision and they have every right to do so, it doesn’t harm anyone but themselves, and no matter what we can’t or shouldn’t be able to control people by imposing stupid bans on them.

But what about me? What about the people that get these awful diseases from secondhand smoke every year? Don’t we deserve to have our personal decisions respected as well?

I, for one, will not stand to see people be forced to endure people smoking in their favorite restaurant, their favorite bar, their favorite park bench at Iverson Park, or the accidental run-in with smoking in the work place that they have no control over.

That’s why smoking bans are not only important, but correct and needed.

We should all commend the state of Wisconsin for ensuring the health of its citizens by enacting the ban of smoking in all public places.

Don’t hate it, appreciate it for all of the people that will be saved from disease and death via secondhand smoke. 

 The thing that I have heard most about running for office is that I am too young; I should finish college, learn about the world and come back in ten years. 

Those, I suppose, are valid viewpoints. 

However, I just wanted everyone to take a step back for a moment. Check out these interesting things that I've discovered. 

Dave Obey was elected to the State Assembly at the age of 24. 

Julie Lassa was elected to the State Assembly at 28 and the State Senate at 31.

Louis Molepske was elected to the State Assembly at 28. 

Charlie Sykes, who ran as a Democrat against Jim Sensenbrenner in the 10th Assembly, ran as a 19 year old. 

Jim Sensenbrenner was elected to the State Assembly at the age of 25. 

Dan Knodl, my opponent was elected at the age of 50, without a college degree, and without any intent of finishing it up. 

Barely any of them had any political experience. 

All they knew is that they cared about their constituents and they felt their opinions represented the people in the district. 

An elected official is concerned with opinions in the district, but also has to make tough calls sometimes. Sometimes an official has to go above and beyond to do what they think is right; what they think will best serve their people. 

It is interesting that some people don't want to hear the opinions of the people running, but would rather hear them say, "I will do what the district wants me to do, not what is right or what I feel would best serve them."

That's not why I'm running. I'm running because I have a set of goals for the district and I believe that those goals will help us bring businesses in; help our schools become better at educating children; help us be a leader in local green energy; and help us become the model for transportation in the state. 

If you're not in line with my ideas, that's fine, don't vote for me. But if you're not, it would be nice to receive some courtesy and talk about the issues instead of age or experience. 

I believe that what you need to do well as an elected official is the willpower, the passion and the willingness to stand up and fight for what you think is right and what you know will serve the people you represent the best. 

That's the difference between Dan and I. That's why I think he needs to answer our call to a debate. If some of you don't believe that it is a good idea to have a healthy discussion about the issues, then so be it. 

But for now, I still stand firm on the idea; as I will in the future and as I have in the past. 

 When it comes to the topic of health care, many of us are tired of even hearing about it. But I’ve got news for you: it is not over yet.

 In a time where America's political, economic and general future has been called into question by different factions in the country, it has become increasingly important to become part of the process. 

Tomorrow, Wisconsin will have a chance to shape the way our general election will look by voting in our partisan primaries. 

Whatever way you vote, I ask that you please head to the polls and do a good deed as a citizen of this country and help democracy!

It is the foundation upon which this country was built. We are the people who will decide how our nation organized and who represents us in the process. 

We choose between creating hope, integrity, or despair. 

It is with great humility that we must remember that action is the antidote to despair, despite political beliefs that we may hold. 

So, Wisconsin, tomorrow we rise up! Tomorrow we vote! Tomorrow we decide what our elections will look like come November! 

Who's with me?

 In this moment of glee and victory for truth and justice I would like to say a few things!

This country was founded on the principle of equal rights for all. That is what he have fought for. That is what our countrymen have died for. And when we have anti-marriage laws on the books for people who love each other, we are not granting equal rights. 

I only wish Wisconsin had this ability to see that light. I have family who fits into the LGBTQ community. And they can't get married no matter how much they love their partner. 

It's a shame. 

I can only hope that this goes to the United State Supreme Court and they uphold the ruling that was handed down today. The ruling that shows that gay marriage bans are unconstitutional. 

 I think that t42 shows exactly the point of this blog. 

 I, like many others, have been following the news a lot lately. In fact, I most likely watch the news too much; as most of what we call news is the same news on a cycle and you can generally get it all in about in hour. 

But nonetheless the thing that's caught my eye the most in the news, besides the BP oil spill and the escalating troop deaths in Afghanistan, is this idea of a "conservative grassroots movement" called the Tea Party. 

While I have my beliefs on what actually caused the Tea Party and it's astroturf movement, we'll stay away from that for a while; because now the idea is completely irrelevant and seems to still be going despite it's somewhat breakaway from the Republican Party. 

I had not, and did not want to come into contact with the Tea Party because I knew that they were some scary folks. Yelling and screaming at legislators, and even threatening them with violence. For example, after Health Care had passed, with Republican ideas, in fact, legislators had bricks thrown through their windows, letters put in their mailboxes threatening them with death or wishing ill upon them, and phone calls that were just vile and vulgar. 

Albeit I did not want to come into contact with this ideology, I did so on July 11th while getting signatures to be nominated to be on the ballot for State Assembly in Fall. 

I was close to the district line near Menomonee Falls and the Milwaukee County Border where we had stopped our car to get out and go up some long driveways to some nicer houses that were probably upper middle class small business owner's homes. Generally not the friendliest place, but we are going on the message of choice on the ballot in fall. 

I walked up to a house and rang the doorbell. I saw that the lights were on and somebody was home, but nobody came to the door. I heard the garage door open, which was odd to me since the front door was probably closer, but nonetheless I went over to him and told him I was running for State Assembly and would like to be on the ballot in Fall to offer a choice to voters and to get involved in the political process. 

He asked me what I'm running on. I told him kindly about my THEE campaign. (Transportation, Healthcare, Energy and Transportation). He, by the end of it didn't looked phased by what I had said in any way and then took a step closer to me and said, "It seems to me like you have a liberal leaning." And he said "liberal" with the most vile tone possible. 

I told him that I was a Democrat and a progressive. He then took a closer step in so that he was about 6 inches away from me. Me being me didn't move away. 

He then started yelling at me, and at times spit hitting my face. The words he was saying? 

"I'm a conservative, and ultra conservative, tea party activist! I'm tired of all you damn people taking my tax money that I work hard for. I pay 60,000 dollars in property taxes after they reassessed my house, I pay income tax, sales tax, what the hell are you going to tax next?"

I being clever, or so I thought, then said, "Well it doesn't look like the incumbent is doing anything for you then. So would you help me to get on the ballot so I can take your case to Madison?"

At that point he  looked even more furious and started going on even longer about things. At one point blaming me for his tax rate. 

After his spouting rage and he told me to get the **** off of his driveway, which I did in short order, I realized, as I got into the car of our campaign person for the party, that the Tea Party movement is nothing but a mass of people who did not educate themselves on the issues enough to know about what is really going on in America. 

For starters, nobody's property taxes in the state of Wisconsin are going to be anywhere near 60,000 dollars. 

That alone should tell you where they are coming from. 
 

 What's with the state of politics right now? What makes you mad, happy, or just kind of feel weird about the way our political system is working? 

How can we fix it?

What's broken to begin with?

 What's next? 

Again, why should we allow these people to keep drilling? I'm open for ideas.