Have A Cigar-- A Guest Post From Nicholas Ruiz (D-FL)

After that sexy call from ‘David Koch’-- Scott Walker must have had a fat cigar. Feeling high on the perceived power of his makeshift Wisconsin fiefdom, he might have taken a big flaming stick match to the tip of his conceivably illegal hand-rolled Cuban stogie. Next, he may have thought about his next Reagan PATCO moment-- when Reagan, many claim, unjustifiably and unethically, fired thousands of striking air traffic controllers, in a vehement attack upon workers’ rights.

But he was wrong. Wrong about Koch, who was not Koch at all but a journalist, pretending to be Koch. Just like he’s wrong about ‘his’ Reagan PATCO moment that he describes in the phone conversation gone viral on the web. Walker and his brethren were born at the wrong time of history because there will not be another PATCO moment-– if there are representatives we can still call ‘Democrats.’

Rather, because of the thirty years’ war Republicans have wrought upon unions as the last major proxy for workers’ rights-– the Democratic reaction will be a remarkable, 21st century extension of labor laws, so that workers have the same protections as unions, regardless of whether they belong to a union or not. My candidacy for U.S. Representative in Congress for Florida District 24 includes this objective as part of my platform.

People like Rick Scott, whom Walker suggests is an ally while speaking with ‘Koch,’ with regard to his tyrannical plan to batter workers’ rights nationwide, is also wrong. Rejecting $2.4 billion in federal funds for high speed rail in central Florida, which Florida desperately needs to construct to allay the nauseatingly crowded I-4 corridor amid central Florida’s tourism hub, not to mention the work it would provide for one of the most unemployed states in America-- Scott flubbed off what he called the ‘ObamaRail’ in his Twitter stream, reported by Central Florida News 13 on Feb. 17, 2011.

Scott probably lit a fat cigar after that tweet, no?

In another sign of the wrongness of the times, first generation son of Cuban immigrants, and freshman Senator from Florida, Republican Marco Rubio, reported the Miami Herald on Feb. 23, 2011-– declares America is in danger of drowning in her debt. And of course, his probable tea leaf answer is to cut all the tiny social programs that don’t really contribute to the debt, and were already severely under-funded from the start, but yet a lot of people rely upon for everything from kidney dialysis to food in this current wasteland of an economy. Essentially, Rubio-- like Scott, like Walker, like NJ’s Christie who actually suggests we raise the retirement eligibility age and apparently exhibited boyish pride in espousing it on Feb. 16, 2011 at the American Enterprise Institute-– looks for deep nasty cuts, in all of the wrong places.

Truly, America is in danger of drowning, but in Republican fecal rhetoric, misinformation and sandbox mentality-- not debt, which we are servicing just fine.

We could stand a correction to our American revenue stream, however, by taxing more fairly, our citizens and corporations. And where cuts should be made, is where there is truly unfair excess, not where there is already unfair scarcity. And where American populations are growing and expanding, so too, should our government jobs and services. Progress is for everyone, no? America is only as strong as its weakest link. We must help the poor and less fortunate, where we can.

Yes, the government can and should create jobs, alongside the private corporations, hand in hand-- not as master and servant. Hire more teachers, postal workers, social workers and so on-- everybody knows we need more of them; build more schools, universities and medical clinics; invest in cultural infrastructure for the arts and humanities; build more libraries, community educational and environmental centers; expand the educational facilities of NASA, NOAA and the EPA, as well as the NEH and NEA-- teach people that both science and art matter. There’s plenty we can do to ensure that the 21st century is one of Democratic enlightenment, rather than Republican darkness.

So maybe you like cigars. Gordon Gekko likes cigars. We hear Clinton had a thing for cigars, no? FDR smoked. And we hear Obama is struggling to quit the habit-- cigarettes, cigars-- who knows? And lastly, maybe Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) should have a smoke, considering his latest stressor in Nevada.

Me? I don’t smoke-- but I sure like this song:



In 2012-- put a progressive Democrat in Congress.

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Blue America PAC has endorsed Nicholas Ruiz for Congress. In fact, he's our first candidate of the 2012 cycle. You can donate to his campaign on our Act Blue page. His is an all grassroots race to replace a reactionary teabagger and hypocrite. He can use whatever help you can give. Take a look at this video from Wisconsin. This is what Nicholas' campaign is all about and why Blue America is supporting him and other candidates like him: