Hi, all.  This is The Sister, stealing the keyboard for an evening, as the United States faces another State of the Union Address.

You may watch the Address, you may not, but I think, without having seen anything about the content, I can sum the entire thing up thusly:

“Hey, Republicans!  We’re moving the country forward.  Either help me, or get out of the way.”

Because, here’s the thing, all the right-wingers, conservatives, Republicans, Tea Partiers — everyone who has been working against the President for the last six years:

Nobody is asking you to agree with the man.

Nobody is expecting you to cow-tow to him.

Nobody expects you to give up your principles, your ethics, your beliefs.

But…

NO is not a viable governmental policy.

Nobody is asking you to agree with the man.  Everyone is asking you to work with him.

Nobody is expecting you to cow-tow to him.  Everyone expects you to have the common decency to respect him as a person, and to respect the office to which he was elected.  Twice.

Nobody expects you to give up your principles, your ethics, your beliefs.  Everyone expects you to be willing to compromise.

You don’t like the policies proposed?  Fine.  Propose something else.  Don’t just keep saying NO, with no alternatives given.

You don’t like the Executive Orders?  Fine.  Take some action as the elected body you are – POSITIVE action, not just repeating the tired phrase “NO, Obama, No,” like he’s a puppy on the furniture.

Like it or not, this IS your President.  You are his Congress.

WORK TOGETHER, or expect us to vote you the out at the first opportunity.

Hello, everyone.  This is Barbara.  I took the keyboard back, and there’s something I would like to add to my Sister’s Rant.

I agree with what my Sister said, however I feel that she didn’t go quite far enough.

We are in the 21st Century.  The American people have elected Barak Obama, twice, to be our President, because he is a progressive liberal.  This said, I do not think that everything he has said or done is correct.  I think he missed the target a few times.  I know that has upset some liberal progressives.  But, being a part of Congress, whichever house you may be in, gives you a responsibility; a responsibility to your constituents, and a responsibility to be part of what makes America work better.

You cannot just say, “well, we’re Republicans, or Conservatives, or Tea Partiers, and we just won’t cooperate.  We will not do what Obama wants.”  That behavior is juvenile, and reminds me of children playing in a backyard, when one child gets angry and picks up his toys and goes home, vowing never to play again.

I challenge — nay, I dare — Congress to put politics aside and to think about their constituents who are middle class or poor, not just the rich.  Poverty is the largest problem we have.  1% of the population has all the money.  Yes, they’ve earned it.  But have they earned it ethically and morally? Is giving them shortcuts and loopholes to pay less taxes fair?  I think not.

I think that if a woman has to decide whether to pay taxes or feed her children, this is not what the founding fathers had in mind when they designed our form of democracy.

I think that we need to remember, or we need to find out, what the founding fathers had in mind.  If you don’t know, I challenge you to look it up, to read it, to get into their minds.

Thursday, January 25th, on the History Channel, a three-night mini series begins, called the Sons of Liberty.  It is about the founding fathers, and the passion and the politics of an English colony trying to decide if they wanted freedom or not.

At that time, in America, freedom was very controversial, and there were many people who did not want freedom from Mother England.  The controversies and arguments were plentiful, back in those days.  The desire for a better life, a life of equality and freedom was a strong inspiration to the progressive Colonists at that time.

Equality – that’s another problem. That was the one thing they could not come to an agreement about.  They felt that, after the country had stood on its own, as a nation, following generations would be able to figure out a plan which would satisfy everyone.  This was the only place they were mistaken, and because politics was allowed to dominate this discussion of the ownership of human beings, Four Score and Seven years later, we had a Civil War which nearly tore our country permanently asunder.

To be truthful, we still don’t have it right.  We still have racism in America.  We still have people who are treated differently because of their color, and because of other factors, but color is still the largest divider.  The irony, to me, is that there is less racism in Mother England than there is here.

A nation looking out for the lives of all its citizens, rich or poor, is a responsibility.  Many nations in the world today are walking away from their responsibilities to their citizens.

America, the Brave and Beautiful, must not walk away from her citizens.