The Diane Rehm Show

I am very tired of everything that the President does being viewed only through the filter of politics. Why have we become so impatient that we can't give the administration some time to try to deal with tough challenges on many levels? Because of the political cycle. Why do we scrutinize every nuance of what the President says, even if the content is reasonable? Because of the impact on elections. What happened to doing the right thing as a value?

As a Democrat, I'm not pleased at the prospect of Republicans taking control of Congress in November. But as a political spectator, watching John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and Mitch McConnell try to "deal" with the Ken Bucks, Sharon Angles, Rand Pauls and Joe Millers, will be nothing short of fascinating. A completely dysfunctional, yet fascinating Congress to watch.

Hello from sunny Maine --

First, Diane, thank you for your service to America!

Second, late in the first hour one of your guests said all Congressmen are there to serve America. Frankly, I find my self suspicious of that. I wish someone would ask whether there aren't some possible counter examples? We don't have to name names but we should at least raise the question.

Thanks again,
Richard Fremon

I am mystified that economists and politicians continue to call for supply-side solutions to turning the economic recession around. After decades of tax cuts for the wealthy, all we have to show for it is growing unemployment, mergers and aqusitions which lead to layoffs, the export of jobs overseas, a shrinking middle class, growing numbers of working poor ($7 minmum wage when the average apartment costs 6-$700 dollars a month--come on! )and drastic distribution of wealth upward. There are more than enough statistics to bear this out--so why do politicians continue to assert otherwise? Why is is that the other side of the debate requires little or no evidence to proove the idea that tax cuts create jobs when stats show such assertions are false? One can only conclude that we have a Political system by the wealthy, for the wealthy. We have funded two trillion-dollar wars without increasing tax revenues and weathered a crippling recession with the middle class bearing a greater tax burden than the rich. If the tax cuts are extended, I have real fear this nation's future.

According to the President, this was to be the summer of recovery. It has been anything but, and so it is only right that Americans are upset with this broken promise.

Your caller pointed out the craziness of tax cuts for the wealthy, as they don’t spend to help the economy, while most of us are hurting. The panelist jrepeated the line of conservative politicians—that the rich do spend more than the rest of us, so therefore these tax cuts do help society! I suppose, if they paid their fair share, as in past generations, they’d spend so little that our whole society would hurt even more? What poppycock.

And he added more taxes would ruin small business. But you can still raise tax on the really rich, and guess what—still cut taxes for small business -- by looking at their balance sheets realistically! What an inadequate reply.

Get some authentic liberals for counterpoint to these faux objective middle of the road pitiful pundits. Otherwise you normalize right wing ideas as mainstream, undermining the financial security of your listeners. Who also donate to public media yet!

Have a show with real people from European countries, counterparts to working americans, to give facts of how people use their systems. We need facts so we can compare realistically. We don’t know what’s possible because we don’t hear it on our media. There are more fair and secure societies, still keeping their freedoms. They tax more, and the rich still have plenty of luxury, and average people are more secure. They’ve done it. Let’s hear about it.