and, if so, how exactly did that happen? I just finished having lunch with three cousins and my uncle and it turned into an Obama/Stimulus bashing session (I said nothing to (1) bash either Obama or the stimulus or (2) give away my politics). Both my parents are Republicans (my mother more than my father) and just about everyone else in my family are as well. Even my in-laws are Republicans.
So, how did I end up this way? The answer may lie in my tendancy to rebel, in an oblique way, against authority and stand up for the underdog. I detest arrogance and love to see the pompous put in their places. Even as an Army officer I wanted to do what I believed to be right versus follow the rules; I viewed my soldiers as underdogs and went to bat for them when I thought the system wasn't treating them fairly. If asked to put a face on the Republican party I'd default to Dick Cheney whom I think is an arrogant, sneering, sour-faced, secretive jerk. I feel the same way about Donald Rumsfeld, by the way. Don't get me wrong, there are arrogant, pompous jerks (e.g. Nancy Pelosi) in the Democratic party and I'm not happy with them but I believe they are the exception.
The bottom line is that I believe the Democratic party ultimately wants what is best for the little guy while the GOP, while claiming folks like Joe the Plumber, is all about doing what's best for big business and ignoring the impact on the average citizen. It also grates when the GOP holds themselves out as examples of what a God-fearing patriot should look like; I, instead, see them as the T.V. evangelist whose public face is one thing but is privately something entirely different.
The morning read for Friday, May 3
4 hours ago
1 comment:
When W Bush took the reins in 2002, we were in a recession. The GOP controlled the White House and Congress. "We need an economic stimulus" they bellowed. Their answer: a huge reduction in federal income tax rates. Since roughly half of all Americans pay little or no INCOME TAX (they pay a s-load of payroll taxes), the "stimulus" went mostly to the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans. The "recovery" was weak, at best. Furthermore, the Republican stimulus was hardly "temporary"--it's still in effect today.
So, for Republicans, who voted for a $3 trillion "stimulus" geared to the wealthiest Americans to now say there's no need for a stimulus, or to say Obama's stimulus is too big, or flawed, is patently ridiculous.
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