Why am I so angry?
You know, usually I try to stick to discussion about policy questions. I prefer to argue things with a mathematical slant because they give my opinions more weight and ultimately help find points of consensus. But lets chuck that out the window today. I'm a middle aged, middle class, Ohio born, Texas fed American with a manufacturing job and a solid tax burden, so why do I feel so disenfranchised with so much of what the Democratic party has to say? In many ways, you would think I am the picture the left is painting in their middle class Utopia (except I lack the required Government dependence). So why am I so upset 95% of what they have to say? Lets take a sampling...
1) Voter ID Registration - The left claims to be very sensitive to the rights of the poor who somehow cannot get a government ID but are going to vote, but do not care at all that my vote could be cancelled out by a non-citizen.
2) Health Care - The left wants to expand health insurance to all Americans. They do not care that they need to massively raise my taxes and my insurance premiums to accomplish this task.
3) Private Finances - The left is implying impropriety or Un-American sentiment because Mitt Romney will not release his tax returns and he had a Swiss bank account. I did see one tax return from Romney: He paid $3 MILLION dollars in taxes and gave $3 MILLION dollars to charity and broke zero tax laws. If he is Un-American, I must be from the moon, because it is likely the sum total of my life time tax payments will not reach his tax burden from last year.
4) Government Spending - The left has spent every last second of the last month attacking Romney as too rich, a corporate raider, and a guy who wants to take your money and give it to the rich. The hypocrisy of this message when not one word is dedicated to the $5 TRILLION deficit the last four years, is insulting. The left has no problem stealing from our children to live fatter today, but have a big problem with the way Romney ran HIS business and personal finances?
5) Job Creation - If the left is not attacking Romney for being too successful, they are attacking him because his company outsourced or laid off workers (in select cases) to, egad, make a profit. We have a stagnant high unemployment rate over 8% and the worst recovery since the Great Depression and you are spending ALL of your time talking about how Romney did what EVERY OTHER American businessman has done over the last 5 years (are they all Un-American too?).
6) Fat Cats - The left constantly chirps about how money is corrupting our political system both by big donors giving heavily to candidates and by big businesses lobbying for beneficial treatment in law making. So what is their solution to a government they claim is so corrupted by the rich? Make it bigger. Wait, huh, what??? You want to continue to expand the size and power of a government that you believe is so easily corruptible by the wealthy few. This hypocrisy is of course totally beyond my comprehension.
I am devastated by this complete disregard for my country's future. I will cede to you that Romney is rich and he was a business man that had to make difficult choices. Can you cede to me that our countries' economy is a disaster and our democratic leadership and media should probably say a couple of words about what to do to fix it?
How in the hell can the left spend every waking minute talking about Romney's tax returns, gay marriage, amnesty, student loans and free contraception when we have 25 Million Americans Under-employed, a $15 Trillion National Debt, skyrocketing Health Care costs, and a $500 Billion Tax Cliff.
I will tell you how. In each of these cases Democrats can buy votes with taxpayer money. Our President: Want a low student loan rate on that philosophy degree? vote for me. Want to skirt the law and skip the the head of the line to become a citizen? got you covered. Want to be subsidized to have consequence free fornication? I'm your guy. Did you make a horrible decision and buy a house you could not afford? No Problem, not your fault. Does your company need a bailout because you do not want to take a pay cut? cash or check.
Alas, I'm just a taxpayer, you have used all of my money to buy all those other votes. It is a shame you do not have room for guys like me on your platform. I'm just a checkbook.
3 comments:
Hi Andy,
Well, you actually did a good job of not straying too much here – your main point is still that we need to care about dollars and cents, get everything balanced, and secure a sound financial future. As always, I think this important too. Where we differ is that I think President Obama and the Democrats are better equipped for the job. In fact, my goal is to make you feel less frustrated about the Democrats. I think you belong on this side of the fence. First, let’s talk about everything wrong with the Republicans. The Republican Party was once known as fiscally conservative – that went out the window during the Bush years. Bush and the Republicans cut taxes, created a prescription drug benefit that was not paid for, and started 2 wars (one of which was bogus) that were not paid for. They put us in the ditch bad. I think the Democratic Party is the new party of fiscal conservatism. They agree with government spending, but are willing to make sure they are paid for. I think you can get behind this, no?
Now to your list (ran over the character limit for one post).
1) Voter ID Registration – The effort by the Republicans is just a solution looking for a problem. There is a great quote by George Washington University law professor, Spencer Overton, a former member of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, "the existing evidence suggests that the type of fraud addressed by photo ID requirements is extraordinarily small and that the number of eligible citizens who would be denied their right to vote as a result... is exceedingly large." This is coming from a very credible source, so you can see why this whole registration effort looks like a bad policy.
2) Health Care – First, even if this plan raises your taxes, how about doing it because it is the right thing to do? Second, according to the original non-partisan CBO report the health care law “...would produce a net reduction in federal deficits of $143 billion over the 2010–2019 period.” So even if your taxes do go up, it will help put us on a path toward sustainability. Third, it isn’t clear that your taxes will go up. There is a good article in business week on this: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-03/why-obamacares-tax-increase-isnt-the-biggest-ever. In the end, we’ll just have to wait and see, but it may not be as bad as you think and may actually be a tax reduction for you! Also, I don’t think your insurance premiums are going to go up. The insurance industry is about to be flush with cash with all the healthy people joining the pool. That is the whole point of the mandate and will help keep premiums low.
3) Private Finances - Mitt Romney should release his tax returns. Not according to the conservative icon George Will: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/george-will-matthew-dowd-blast-romney-for-not-releasing-tax-returns/ Also, if the right is going to make Obama show his birth certificate, Mitt Romney can show his tax returns. Btw, Obama has released all of his back to 2000.
4) Government Spending – My only comment here is the spending of the last 4 years has been trying to stimulate the growth of the middle class. Something that we need more of when no consumers are spending money.
5) Job Creation – I think the left’s disdain for Romney is that he does not have a product, i.e. does not provide anything of inherent value. He just buys companies, chops them up, and sells them (while sometimes sending jobs overseas). He has no novel ideas other than how to move numbers around in spreadsheets to make the bottom line for the shareholders better. We need someone with a vision on how to make the U.S.A. stronger. Someone who can inspire and believes in our capacity to innovate. Someone who can get a COMMUNITY ORGANIZED around a common goal, sometimes without immediate results, but keeps people excited and hopeful. Obama 2012 baby!
6) Fat Cats – Speaking for the left here – I don’t think making the government bigger is the goal. I think giving everyone access to have their voices heard is the goal. Whenever that appears to be threatened, there is a reaction. I don’t think it’s a “left” or “right” thing. I think the advent of the SuperPAC is bad, but in my opinion it is too early to tell who it is going to help or hurt more.
So, we all are taxpayer and our money is getting used for things we like and things we do not. That will always be the case. I didn’t like paying to send my brothers into battlefield in a war I did not agree with. But I like that we federal agencies that help keep our food and water clean, shores safe, and health care affordable. I don’t think I’m just a checkbook. I’m a checkbook with a voice and sometimes I use it to argue for a better future for everyone. I think President Obama has a vision for this future.
Hey Brian, Welcome back to the fray. Enjoyable as always. I'll touch on a few things you said:
1) "I think the Democratic Party is the new party of fiscal conservatism. They agree with government spending, but are willing to make sure they are paid for." - I could not disagree with this comment more. Dems have ignored entitlement reform which is NOT paid for in anyone's budget plan and is THE pending disaster in this country. They also have NOT even attempted to pass a budget in 4 years. Just saying you want to raise taxes on rich people is not paying for things. In fact mathematically raising taxes on the rich does virtually nothing to stem deficits. Further, doubling the national debt in 4 short years is not making sure things are paid for.
2) I will grant you Bush was not the fiscal hawk I would have liked. but alas he is not running for anything. You cannot possibly be upset with Bush's level of deficit spending and say Obama is fiscally responsible in the same breath. Like you said, Bush fought TWO wars and Obama still out spent him.
Quick hitters:
1) Voter ID - Only American Citizens should be able to vote and we should insure that, does our law mean nothing?
2) Health Care - Will massively increase cost for taxpayers and insurance premium payers. Basic econ. Supply stays the same, demand explodes, prices rise.
3) Private Finances - Who cares. All I was saying is talk about public policy instead.
4) Government Spending - We have run 4 straight deficits that are bigger than any since WWII, yet we have the worst recovery since the Great Depression. It is not working.
5) Job Creation - All of your comments on this subject are false except that he does make the bottom line for shareholders better. As is the intent of EVERY OTHER COMPANY IN AMERICA.
6) Fat Cats - Want less political corruption, reduce the size of government.
Finally, we are NOT all federal tax payers. The bottom 20% paid MINUS 1% in federal taxes in 2009 while the top 20% paid 20.6%. For those who are taxpayers, what track record does the federal government have of spending our money wisely? And why do I have to give so much for things you think are a good idea?
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