In about ten more minute, the President will address the nation. The media has been buzzing about it for days, and the Republicans have taken every chance possible to make sure we all understand how weak and incompetent the President is, and how wonderful, brilliant, and insightful they are. What a bunch of garbage! What I hope to hear is that the government is ready to invest money into this economy, not continue to take money out. Now, I know it’s a lot to ask that the Republicans be in any way cognizant of history. They, and the Tea Partiers in general share, for the most part, an antipathy for the tenets of modern science. However, that aside, it is their duty as Americans to know their own history which, put simply, is rife with past examples of fiscal stupidity. Just turn back a few pages to the Great Depression and see how things worked out for F.D.R. when he aggreed to substantially curb spending. Furthermore, if these great-thinking Republicans are so business-minded, how come so many overlook the basic principal that to make money, you have to spend money? This is an economy that is driven by the consumer, not by investors. If you don’t make the consumer safe and secure, then he doesn’t spend his money. And without that consumer spending, the economy won’t grow. And the reason the Republicans can’t get their fat heads around this fact is their fundamental disdain for consumers, because they come from a portion of the country that the Republicans have been trying to dismantle and do away with for some time. It’s called the middle class.