Nevermind that the millions of "green" new jobs Obama promises won't exist.
When Spain enacted similar measures, "green" jobs were created. However, for every green job created, 2.2 other jobs were eliminated. The cost to create one green job was on the order of $1.4 million, most in the form of taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Everyone who lives in the upper midwest should call his senators on Monday and lay into them about this bill. It's states like WI, MI, PA, and others with heavy manufacturing that are going to get hit hard.
I wish the CEO's of companies such as Harley Davidson, John Deere, Briggs & Stratton and other heavy manufacturers would announce before the Senate vote that they're taking trips to China to discuss the possibilities of moving their manufacturing operations there. Let's see the union bosses try to spin that one.
This bill is national suicide, yet there's a headlong rush to pass it.
As for changing the country, we need to look at what's possible. One thing that would help would be changing the tax laws so that individuals, and not their employers, would have to pay withholding taxes each month from their pay. This wouldn't be possible under the current Democrat trifecta, but when control changes to the Republican side, it could be done.
Getting rid of the current crop of politicians won't do the trick, as our system will just replace them with more party hacks. Trying to rally the people sure doesn't seem to work, as the politicians have now stacked the deck so that nearly half the population pays no taxes and thus has no stake in the cost of legislation, except as it affects the cost of goods and services. Even then, those at the lowest economic levels will be given handouts to insulate them from the effects of legislation.
I think the only thing that will work is for the US to collapse as the Soviet Union did, and dissolve into separate country states. Our states have far more going for them than the former Soviet states, so they could be economically viable on their own. If a confederacy of such states could be formed, we could see a return to the United States as it previously existed. Inclusion into the new United States would have to be done very selectively, though.
That's not a very pleasant prospect, but it's all I can think of. The idea of a new revolution, and bringing back the guillotine, has appeal, though.