● “Equivalent”: I mentioned this in the comments, but it bears repeating. There were a spate of articles this week that called the European (dis)Union “equivalent” or “on a par” to the United States. So in the liberal and European worlds this is now true: Europe = America.
In our reality, the European Union has 9% more population than we do – 332 million to 308 million – yet its GDP is only $12.1 trillion compared to our $16 trillion. In other words, our economy is 33% more powerful despite our population being almost 10% smaller. That means the average American is about 40% more valuable than the average European. Think about how ridiculous this idea of parity is. Would you say that a boxer who weighs 200 pounds is “on par” with one who weighs 280 pounds? Or that someone whose lifespan is 50 years is on a par with someone who will live 70? Well, you might not, but liberals and Europeans apparently would because euroTinkerliberal doesn’t want to feel bad about herself.
As an aside, wanna bet it’s 50% within a decade?
● “Defensive Weapons”: France is contemplating sending weapons to the Syrian rebels. Obama doesn’t want this because, well, those weapons will go straight to terrorists. But never fear, France has assured the world that it would only send “defensive weapons.” Hmm. Presumably these are weapons that can only discharge when pointed at someone who has demonstrated the requisite hostile intent. Or perhaps they only discharge harsh words? No... words can kill. What is going on here is that Tinkerliberals jerk themselves off by claiming moral superiority and they just don’t want to believe that they’re an accomplice to a whole lot of killing, even when they are.
● “Shrinking Banks”: The world’s biggest banks have announced layoffs in excess of 160,000. Most of those layoffs will be mid-level positions and those people are not expected to find new jobs in the sector because there aren’t any. A great many more layoffs are coming but the precise number isn’t known yet because smaller banks haven’t reported and because some of the bigger banks are nasty and prefer to fire people in mass waves of “cause” rather than admit layoffs.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking job losses are bad. But you are wrong. See, we KNOW that Obama has put a jackboot up Wall Street’s collective rear (snicker snicker, yeah right), so it’s a good thing that these banks are shrinking. It means we’ve hurt these rotten banksters. Besides, most of the first wave of layoffs will occur in Britain, which is about to get Tinkerpunked by the “great recovery” (read: double dip recession) because it put all of its fairy dust in the banking sector right before it crashed. So that means the pain felt in New York won’t really hurt because someone else will get it worse! Isn’t that great! :)
See how easy that was? We took “massive permanent layoffs” at a time of “record profits for banks” (read: obscene profits for Wall Street) and we’ve turned it onto “shrinking banks to solve ‘too big to fail’” and to make the banks “financially healthy.”
So you see, these “layoffs” are a good thing because it protects us from predatory banks. Oh, as an aside, did I mention that in 2002, the top 10 banks in the country controlled 55% of all US banking assets but by 2011 they controlled 77%? Or that the big six banks now possess assets equivalent to approximately 60% of America’s gross national product. Tinkerliberal sure taught those banks a lesson!
● Twinkieside: Good grief! It turns out that Mitt Romney killed Hostess. Yep. Venture capital firms just like Bain Capital poured money into Hostess so it would go bankrupt and somehow (see Underwear Gnome Theory) make Wall Street rich! This “theory” comes directly from Tinkerthug Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO who doesn’t want Tinkerliberals realizing that Hostess was killed and 18,500 jobs lost because the bakers’ union didn’t want to take a pay cut like everybody else. Don’t worry Tinkerliberals, your liberal policies don’t really destroy the things you like. . . Mitt Romney does.
● “Ultra-Rich Non-Flight”: Ok, it’s time for real Tinkertortions. Anecdotal (read: worthless) evidence suggests that the ultra-rich, i.e. billionaires, are not fleeing California yet. Oh thank Godzilla! That’s great. It’s great because it means that people don’t really flee from high taxes. Ergo, Tinkerliberal tax policies will really work this time! Hurray!
Now admittedly, there is some irony in this because Tinkerliberals have been claiming that the rich aren’t important because they only hoard wealth and don’t actually create jobs, but I’m sure we’re all big enough to ignore that contradiction. And while it is true that billionaires don’t get W2s because their money is held in complex trusts that hide their assets in tax avoidance schemes, typically in tax havens, meaning this tax won’t actually raise their taxes at all. . . the fact they didn’t flee a tax that won’t touch them certainly means that no one else will change their behavior either, right? Sure it does. Snort a little fairly poop, you’ll see the light. Trust me, this totally means that Tinkerliberals can continue believing that their policies will work just as planned. :)
● “Contemptible Worldview”: Finally, we need to put an end to a little bit of inconvenient truth. The evil, evil Mitt Romney and the Satanic Bill O’Reilly dared to claim that minority voters could be bought with gifts from the government. How dare they! This is such a “contemptuous and contemptible worldview” (source: The Washington Post) that it needs to be repudiated before anyone realizes that it’s also true! No one should be allowed to impugn Tinkerliberals’ honor with their own actions.
So that is what your liberal friends believe now. I can’t promise that they’ll still believe these “truths” next week because liberalism doesn’t work that way, but for now it’s convenient and it’s the official line which they’ve all “come to independently” at the exact same time and using the same slogans.
67 comments:
So that oh so sophisticated European idea of giving people a month off a year isn't working? Look what wonders Greece did by expanding the idea.
Defensive weapons, what else would a bunch of surrender monkeys call them. Please Germany don't roll over us again.
Every time I see a foundation to help some cause. They are helping alright, to keep more of their money out of the IRS.
How about calling them Tinkertards.
I remember when some of those French "defensive" weapons sank several British ships during the Falkland's war.
With houses in Silicon valley running 800k for what would be a $150k starter house in most other states, I expect there's quite a few California IT stock holders and Obama voters who are more than a little miffed today.
.
Andrew......You forgot to mention another fairy tale that unfortunately happens to be true for now. "Waivers" or "Exemptions" from the libs/dems onerous policies. What makes any of us right-wing fascists think that there won't be favored group (media/entertainment/sports/union) exemptions from ANY of the worst of these policies?
Again....the only way for any of the leftists theories to work is to go after the middle class...the peons...the rubes. That is where the money resides and the leftists know it. Rather have 100 million compliant sheep paying an extra $10,000 per year then have the megaphone wielding "culture warriors" paying much more. Favored groups contribute infinitely more to our society than than the idiot little people.
We know where all this is going to end...the question becomes when?
Underwear gnome theory: LINK
snort a little fairy poop, indeed. You see, liberals "learn" from "really smart journalists like . . . hmmnnn Rachel Maddow. So, damn it, it just has to be true. Who do you think you are Andrew confusing things with inconvenient truths.
If the next four years of incompetence bring enough Tinkerbrats out of NeverLand, the average American should be worth well beyond 50% more than a European.
"Defensive Weapons" just means that the French just sent a bunch of "Capitaine Amérique" shields to Syria.
Here's a new term for the Commentaramanary, Double-Dip Recovery--the type of recovery you get with two dips in the White House.
On California, it's just like Moonbeam said, tax hikes will work this time b/c they come with the blessing of the voters. "Think happy thoughts!"
"Tinkertards" must be spread throughout the blogosphere and go into our commentaramanary (sp).
I also think you should start encouraging states to refuse any immigration coming from California.
Good article, a good read.
Obaminosis - new disease - Leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Fainting and zombie like behavior have been noted. Usually transmitted by listening to Obama. Antidote, short of shooting victim in the brainpan, is a large amount of conservative thought. If the patient has high levels of conservative thought prior to exposure, the patient is immune.
Max, What's interesting is that the Europeans have been hiding behind big numbers for a time. Their economy is $12 trillion ours is $16 trillion... that's pretty close right? We have some good colleges (around 16 of top 25), they have some good colleges (around 6 of top 25)... that's pretty close right? We have some big companies... they have some big companies... we come up with a huge number of inventions... they come up with some too... it's all about the same, right?
I really should do a side-by-side comparison at some point and show how it's sliding over time. Europe is failing on a personal level.
K, Nonsense! Defensive weapons can't kill the wrong people... by definition.
As an aside, the French have always sold to anyone. So have the Germans. When it comes to the issue of weapons, they have no scruples even as they wrap themselves in a BS cloak of moral superiority.
On Silicon Valley, the point to this article (series actually) was that they called one realtor who sells REALLY high end homes who said that they got more calls than normal, but not as many as they thought they would... hence, no Billionaire Flight. Everything about the article is laughable on its face yet I'm seeing it trumped by liberals and MSM types as proof that you can tax people and they won't care.
Patriot, True on both points. On the one hand, the only way to pay for the democrats want is to tax the middle class because no one else has the money. But the middle class doesn't want that, so the democrats feed them this lie about taxing the rich... which doesn't work because the rich don't have enough money unless you start seizing assets.
And you are right about the waivers, that's how cronyism works. You use the government to punish the enemies of your friends.
Thanks Kit. For anyone who doesn't know, the Underwear Gnomes have a three part plan... part one involves some action... part two is undefined... part three is "profit." That's how so many liberal theories work, state an actions name the result you want and leave the "how to" out.
Jed, I'm doing a public service. I'm trying to explain to conservatives what their liberals friends all independently concluded this week. I'm in NO WAY meaning to suggest that all those independent thinkers are retards... no siree.
Exactly. We're all just reaching, on our own, the logical conclusion that these liberal independent thinkers are, in fact, retards.
Incidentally, in truth, the EU is nothing like the USA. In Brussels, the Union officials don't even make a pretense of caring what the average Joe (er, average Gustav) thinks. Our leaders still pretend like our voices matter, sometimes. Big difference.
No, no, no, you've got it all wrong. The difference is this: in the American system, man exploits man. But in the European system, it's the other way around.
tryanmax, The only things might keep us from crossing that 50% threshold is Obama. He seems determined to crash our economy. That means we're currently falling about as fast as the Europe. But the Europe collapse is pretty inevitable at this point because their whole society is geared toward a slow collapse and the things they are trying to save their economies from total collapse are just masking that rather than fixing it.
tryanmax: thank you for clearing up those differences - I was so confused before!
Did "Tinkertortions" make anyone else think of Tinker Toys? Loved the word once I got the toys out of my head...
tryanmax, A "Double-Dip Recovery" definitely fits in the Commentarama-rary. I wouldn't be surprised if CBNC started using it either.
California is interesting to me because they really are going full speed in the wrong direction. I think they are betting that Washington bails them out by claiming their debt, but that's not going to happen. So they will need to solve their own problems and they don't really have any options -- especially with the national Democrats now digging in even on things like "no benefit cuts" and the unions digging in on "kill the companies before taking a pay cut."
Basically, California is about to implode in the perfect liberal storm. Should be fun to watch.
Thansk darksi! Let me tell you, if we could ban immigration from California, I assure you that every single Western state would do it in a heartbeat. They are like roaches... when the going gets tough, they scurry to other states and they spread liberalism everywhere they go like a disease and they soil everything they touch. They've worked over several neighboring states already. Colorado became infected in the 1990s.
When they showed up here to escape the mess they had created, you could actually hear them say, "I'm glad to leave California, it's a mess and Colorado is great... but do you know you don't have a law to ____." That's how it began.
Joel, The only cure for zombieism is to let zombie society fail under its own unproductive, greedy, hateful weight.... let them fail.
T-Rav, Europe is a mess. It's the Brave New World. It's a world run by an unelected elite who do what they want and they keep the people happy by giving them luxuries and patting them on the head and telling them that they are morally superior to everyone else and that everything is fine. The problem is that they pushed all their bills into the future and the future is now and yet they have no will to change.... sounds like our Democrats, doesn't it?
tryanmax, LOL! That's a brilliant way to put it.
What's funny to me is how most Americans know we're in trouble, but so few Europeans realize they are in trouble. They genuinely think everything is fine except in a couple countries like Greece.
rlaWTX, I liked Tinker Toys. I thought tinkertortions was a very nice word. It has that right blend of inability to grasp reality and even then still needing to twist unreality because the unreality they created wasn't built right.
P.S. My point on Europe is not to slam Europe because... well, who cares? My point is that the Democrats are saying these things because they don't want YOU understanding what will happen as they try to implement the same policies that failed in Europe.
But, but, but Euope turned a corner!! The NYT said that right before the election! So it must have been true until it wasn't. Unfortunately they edited out part of that phrase. It originally was written as "turned a corner...into a dark scary alley near a giant cliff that falls into an abyss". We only learned that last part AFTER the election.
Bev, Are you saying the NYT would mislead its audience? I can't imagine that.
Yeah, I saw the "turned a corner" articles as well. It's amazing that all is well in Europe now, isn't it? Oh... except for the layoffs, the falling budgets, the crappy Christmas retail sales, the violent protests against the non-austerity austerity, etc.
Andrew, last I checked, there's nothing in the Civil Rights Act that says you can't discriminate against people based on their state of origin. I mean...just sayin', there's more than one way to take care of those Californians.
T-Rav, It's the Commerce Clause. The Supreme Court has found a "right to travel"... grr. That's why you can't put long-term residency requirements on welfare and why you can't charge an entry fee into the state.
Andrew said:
“Contemptible Worldview”: Finally, we need to put an end to a little bit of inconvenient truth. The evil, evil Mitt Romney and the Satanic Bill O’Reilly dared to claim that minority voters could be bought with gifts from the government. How dare they! This is such a “contemptuous and contemptible worldview” (source: The Washington Post) that it needs to be repudiated before anyone realizes that it’s also true! No one should be allowed to impugn Tinkerliberals’ honor with their own actions.
-----
So Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Thomas Sowell, Susana Martinez, Ted Cruz and Bobby Jindal are all liberals? Who knew?
Of course, Romney saying 'My internal pollsters made incorrect assumptions so I didn't allocate effort and resources where they needed to go because I didn't have a clear view of the battlefield' or 'ORCA was high idiocy' would lay some of the blame for his failure at Romney's doorstep, a reality he might not want to face at the moment (if Republican turnout had merely equalled 2008's turnout, Romney would have won).
Last but not sure, I'm sure liberals are perfectly happy with Romney's claims because they support the Democrats' false narrative that Republicans don't have much use or respect for minorities, young people or women.
Paul Krugman is calling for a 91% top tax rate. I dare the Democrats to push for that!
Anthony, This is a case of Romney speaking a truth that is very bad public relations to repeat, and I think conservatives are disowning him on this because they know it will be hard to win these people over if they speak too much truth. But the fact is, people can be bought and Obama has used the government to buy vast numbers of them... government jobs, government benefits, other goodies.
Anthony, People don't like being told that they are greedy, stupid, slothful, shortsighted or selfish, but they are. And neither response above is right. It's not a good thing in politics to say what Romney said because people respond poorly to being told what they are. But the Republican counter of "that's an outrage... let's pretend it's not true" doesn't work either. We need to learn to harness it and to deprive them of the benefits they get from being that way.
Fairy poop? That's good sh*t, man!
Heck, let's stop playing with the whole tax rate. Since $250,000 is defined as the very rich (despite there being a 1000 fold difference between that and $2.5 Billion), let's pass a law that no one can make more than $249,999 or less than $30,000 per year. I mean, it is only fair. There, I fixed it. No more evil rich people. Granted, I will be hurt a little but I will just work less and see fewer patients. Spend more time with my children and go fishing. Probably make me a better doctor.
I would all for limiting Californians from migrating. They are what the envir'mental'ists like to complain about, they trash the place and move on. To bad a lot Californians are the same envirwackos.
91% tax rate, that brings Wil Smith to mind. The look on his face at the French 70%+ tax rate. Imagine that a celebrity that understands numbers. Wasn't there some Tinkertard that stated something about blacks not being smart.
Andrew
What happens when you accept government handouts is that you lose self determinism.
This is the problem. What we need to do is to canvas the projects with one simple goal in mind. If you want out of the projects and off welfare we will help you do it. We need to coordinate with our social and religous consevatives to direct their charity money designated to the poor for this cause.
A person on welfare is not voting democrat because they are lazy or greedy. A person on welfare is doing so because they know no other way to take care of themselves and their landlord knows when they have not voted and comes knocking on their door to ask why they have not voted for .... well in Jacksonville you can fill in the blank with Corrine Brown. I know as a poll observer in the 94 election is one of those precints I saw it - their watcher wrote down the names of everyone that did not vote and the landlord of the project went to give them "free rides" to the polls. That is what the sign on his van said what he said was "I'll make sure my N-words get out and vote"
We need to understand that for the poor stuck in the welfare trap is intimidation and fear that drive them to the polls and not greed and laziness. How do I know this. Lazy people don't turn out 100% at the ballot box.
That is my 2 cents.
Koshcat, Now you're thinking! We should suggest that to California in particular, they love to run with "new" ideas... like communism.
Seriously, I would genuinely like to see them impose a HUGE honking tax (with no deductions) on real millionaires and billionaires. The damage that would do would be immense and I'd love to see the Democrats desperately backpedal in 2013 and try to explain to their mindless drones why they can't keep putting the boot to those evil rich people.
Max, I would love to see the faces of a lot of rich liberals if the 91% tax bracket got imposed.
I don't recall the blacks not good at math comment?
Or why all their Millionaires and Billionaies now live in Nevada.
Indi, Maybe, buy the white trash West Virginians I met in the criminal justice and welfare system were lazy shits. They knew exactly what was going on and they simply liked the idea that you were paying taxes so they could sit around watching television, taking drugs and have hillbilly sex. It is a mistake to assume that all these people are victims. In my experience, few are.
Koshcat, Nonsense... that one realtor the reporter spoke too hadn't made too many more sales, so clearly they aren't moving. Move along... nothing to see here that might challenge your worldview... drink the KoolAid and don't question your liberalism... ;)
Idiots. You can "move" without selling your home. Most people with that kind of money have multiple homes anyway. The issue is where are they declaring their residency and their business. It used to be many businesses had their "headquarters" in Delaware but that can be moved at anytime. Ask NY and Maryland whether or not they stayed.
Ya know, Koshcat, you're going to cause all kinds of problems if you keep poking holes this 100% guaranteed bit of proof that California's tax laws will work like a charm.
Trust me, one phone call to one random realtor above some vague sense of how many homes are selling is absolutely convincing proof...
no reason to doubt liberalism at all...
stay calm everyone...
the authorities will take care of us, they'll fix the problem they created because authority is never wrong.
I agree that the groups we are discussing backed the wrong horse, I just disagree as to why (I suspect it was fear rather than greed).
If people merely wanted benefits, they would have shown up in 2010 (that loss pretty much destroyed Obama's ability to get liberal legislation passed).
This time around the main goal of the Obama campaign wasn't defending his past policies or selling his future ones, but on painting an ugly picture of Romney and the Republican party.
As I've noted before, in the case of Hispanics, Romney supplied the paint back in the primaries. In the case of blacks, Democrats seized upon the cutting down of early voting days and the requirement of ids as 'voter suppression' (which was actually an argument an idiotic local republican advanced at one point).
http://www.humanevents.com/2012/11/14/voter-id-laws-energized-liberal-base-in-pennsylvania/
In the case of women, every insane comment on rape or bizarre on air fantasy about a minor political activist was played up and cited as evidence of the real thinking of the party.
Even the white males that compose the majority of the Republican base at the moment must have bought into Obama admin's picture of Romney as a guy who cared primarily about other rich people people because fewer of them turned out in 2012 than 2008 (and even fewer in swing states, where anti-Romney advertising was heaviest).
Anthony, I agree with that. And I don't mean to imply that I accept that Obama made a particular bribe offer which won people over. What I'm saying is that the Democrats have gotten very good at hooking people on government so that it's in their interests to keep supporting the Democrats. I think that is a huge factor.
But what truly drives the turn out is exactly what you are saying -- fear.
Throughout my entire lifetime, the Democrats have peddled fear to their base. They warn blacks that whites are racist and the Republicans want to be the white party who will return them to the age of Jim Crow. They tell women that Republicans are sexist and want them barefoot and pregnant in the home. They tell Hispanics that Republicans are Anglos who want to ship them all home so they don't pollute our culture. They tell Jews that Republicans are religious nuts who want to purify the country along theological grounds. They tell poor white males that Republicans are rich capitalists who want to ship their jobs overseas.
These things never really worked until the 1990s when the Republicans began selling fear as well. Until that time the Republicans were about prosperity. But beginning with Pat Buchanan and his culture war speech, the Republicans began telling white Christians that the Democrats wanted to undo everything they believed in and force gays, blacks, uppity women, Mexican culture, etc. onto them. Bush added big business cronyism to the mix and outsourcing. In the 2000s, they added deportation. In effect, they played right into the Democratic propaganda and we are paying for that now.
The EU is a cluster phuck of monumental proportions. The sad part they could drag us down with them redo 1929, and all the fun that followed.
The French are stupid, nuff said.
Now they are really to big too fail, woops that’s right there’ll be no more fake money to save them.
The true vultures of Hostess were indeed the unions. Good object study for thinking Americans.
I think a billionaire/millionaire wealth tax would be a lot of fun, and we could get the jackals of the left to support it. I bet the egalitarian Hollywood star would straighten out, real fast.
Team Parasite (47%) is exactly why Romney lost. Along with the evangelicals, the Paulistas, and hardcore conservatives.
Stan, I'm not really sure that Europe failing is a bad thing for us. Our future lies in Asia -- China, India, Southeast Asia. And as Europe falls apart, it just makes it that much easier for our companies to profit in the growing markets.
I'd love to see a billionaire/millioniare wealth tax (especially targeted at Hollywood and Silicon Valley), but I doubt the Democrats will ever allow it. Their anti-rich stance is just rhetorical after all.
Team Parasite indeed.
Andrew
I understande that the lost are goibng to be what they are. Many are giving up hope and don't see any better way out. The blacks in projects and the white trash in the trailer parks are not all that different. If anything one could state that Baracks domestic policy motto is "Welfare, its not just for Black People anymore, all are welcome".
But I have been down in that hood and I have talked to people that hate being on welfare, hate the system and want out. Coincidently they think that the "Man" who is holding them down a rich white Republican.
If the GOP starts programs in the Hoods designed to get people off welfare and do it in such a way that they people getting the help know the Republicans are offering it and we help a few out, eventually you will get others that are willing to sign up.
No the slackers won't but they are lost anyways and the only reason they vote Andrew is the democrats come knocking on the door making threats. The reason they could do this at the precint I watched was the fact that the Poll Workers were never rotated by the city, were all people that lived there and were big Corrine fans. They knew if you voted and if you didn't, came to let you knoww it and when you showed up there were partisons manning the booths and collecting the ballots. Did these women manipulate them probably not, but that is because their presence was all that was needed to send the message. Plus everyone in the community knew you voted for the Progs because the GOP was never around.
I know they were not around because MArk had an organization with 25 unpaid volunteers, young people like I was and some older that worked for him every day after work and all day Saturday and Sunday. This was because he had a local GOP based talk show right after Rush and was a black man unafraid to stand up to Sister Corrine publicly when every one else in the party laid down and took her crap or ignored her.
Yet despite this the Duval county party gave us nothing in monetary support citing that the minority district was impossible except at the very last week when Mark actually closed the polls to a winnable level but it was toom little too late. They then blamed Mark after he lost.
Well there blindness backcfired another way. At 6 when a buss parked down the street and flooded the precinct and 300 people showed up someeone got on the intercom and the fire station and said "vote for Chiles" three times. to this day I think a bribe was paid by Chiles as he was hurting in the polls vs Bush. He was reelected.
You want that 5% break in minority ciommunities you got to go into the HOOD. You have to be seen in the projects. The way you do that is to go in there and find the few people you can help, the few that do want out of the life and help them help themselves. You start doing that day in day out and you will see real changes because the Progs are only there every two years and the main presence is landlords and ministers on the DNC gravy train.
I will say this we lost that election but the political campaign volunteers of that election went into the damned hood more than any Republican since.
>>If the GOP starts programs in the Hoods designed to get people off welfare and do it in such a way that they people getting the help know the Republicans are offering it and we help a few out, eventually you will get others that are willing to sign up. >>
You mean like the "welfare to work" program Wisconsin's Tommy Thompson successfully implemented in the 1990s (which I'm proud to say my social worker mother was a part of before she returned to Ohio and that state's similar and also successful welfare to work), which provided the model for Congress' eventually getting President Clinton to enact? The same ones recently gutted by President Obama? Welcome to Short-Attention-Span Theatre, what we fans of Marat/Sade usually call the Theatre of Cruelty.
http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/24/cbc-chairman-african-americans-would-march-on-the-white-house-if-obama-wasnt-black/
Eric, That's the problem. The formula is:
1. Always true = Republican policies will hurt you.
2. Always true = Republicans have evil intent.
3. If Republicans want something good, they have bad motives, don't let them hurt you with good things.
4. If Republicans do something good, they did it under protest because Democrats wanted it even if they fought it.
5. All good deeds will eventually be reclassified as having been passed by Democrats.
Indi, I'm sure there are good people like you describe, but let me be very clear... most of the people I have met on welfare are not good people. They are not "trapped" or "helpless." They are not waiting for that one lucky break to give them the dignity they need to move forward and become productive members of society again.... no.
The people I have met have worked hard to get into the system because they don't want to work. They want to spend their days drinking, smoking, watching television, f*cking and playing on the internet. If you offered them the ideal job tomorrow, they would not take it unless they saw a chance to rob the cash drawer on the first night.
These people take drugs (meth), steal, abuse their kids, smoke like crazy, drink more than you think is possible (finding a 0.40 blood alcohol was common). They rent apartments and strip them of copper and appliances. They stage car accidents to sue insurance companies for injury. And for fun, they go out and hurt people because it makes them feel powerful.
This is what you will find throughout West Virginia, Pennsylvania and parts of Eastern Ohio. These people number in the tens of thousands. The welfare roles are full of them. And people need to stop idealizing these human leeches.
Again, I'm sure there are good people, but let's not pretend that welfare is a trap that somehow pulls otherwise good people in and victimizes them. Good people need a hand up, I agree, but the rest need to be dropped.
Andrew,
You forgot one thing, most of the ones on welfare are very good con artists.
Joel, Isn't that the truth. I'm amazed how many people fell for the "we're just an old couple who are down on our luck" story only to wake up and find their homes stripped. And how many people gave money for "food" or "medicine" only to see the same person buying DVDs at WalMart with it an hour later. These people are incredibly good at preying on people's sense of charity.
Joel, And don't forget how many of them are multi-generational criminals. Crime runs in families and let me assure you, they have no guilt or desire to do anything else. They just don't like being punished.
Yup, Andrew, silly me.
Eric, On that point, I have to say that is positively DRIVES ME NUTS! I can't tell you how many liberals I know who just do that -- if it was good, it must have been the Democrats who did it. It makes me want to smack these people.
What's more, they don't want to hear the truth. They simply refuse to believe any evidence to the contrary.
Andrew, it isn't just the ones on welfare, either. My grandfather, staunch Democrat, is of a sort that would rather die than take welfare (but don't touch his SS or Medicare--he paid for those). Yet he applies the same Democrat=Good/Republican=Bad formula to everything. I've always summed it up thus:
If a Democrat pushes you down, he must have had a good reason for it. And if a Republican tries to help you up, he's just trying to get something from you.
tryanmax, I see that all the time among liberals. They really do think like that. They will take anything and spin it so that the Democrat is just trying to help people and the Republicans is trying to hurt you, no matter what it is. The mental contortions are astounding to watch and, quite frankly, rather scary to observe. These people really are using "thought processes" that a reasonable observer would conclude represent genuine insanity -- a break from reality, yet liberals do this all the time and think nothing of it.
That more than anything makes me realize that politics is not about rational argument, it's about telling a more believable story.
On his SS/Medicare, it's the NIMB syndrome -- Not In My Backyard. Everybody thinks the other guy doesn't deserve his benefits, but how dare you suggest that I don't deserve mine!!
Andrew, that is also why it's pointless to talk about results with liberals. I'm of the mind that they honestly don't care whether things in the present are good so long as they can believe in some imagined, glorious future. And, of course, that belief hinges on "their guy" being in control. Results only matter insofar as they can blame anyone other than their guy for them either to keep him in power or to make way for him to gain more power. Actually, in a sick, twisted way, I can sort of understand it, though I am loathe to explain it. Liberalism has become the modern form of animism.
tryanmax, I agree. I've seen time and again where they simply dismiss bad results as being caused by anything except their guy and their ideas. That's why I don't think liberals can be reached.
Actual moderates can however (as compared to liberals who just want to believe they are moderates). Reaching moderates requires (1) that they suffer a horrible result from liberal policies which can't be explained away by some other supposed cause and (2) non-mean Republicans offering them an enticing fantasy result.
Note that I don't think they are smart or grounded in reality -- they are in fact delusional fools, but they can be won over with a better lie if they "feel" that liberalism isn't working... unlike liberals who simply redefine all good things a being from liberals and all bad being from conservatives.
"I think a billionaire/millionaire wealth tax would be a lot of fun, and we could get the jackals of the left to support it. I bet the egalitarian Hollywood star would straighten out, real fast."
I like that.
Glenn Reynolds has a few more suggestions:
LINK
Kit, Nice! It's time that Hollywood did their fair share... it's patriotic to pay taxes after all.
Liberalism as the modern form of animism. Hmmm. I'll have to remember that and give it some thought. Maybe I can make my leftie friends upset and confused at the same time.
Here ya go, Andrew (and Commentarama funsters), my sending a statist (screw it, I'm done calling them modern liberals or progressives -- they're neither and it's past time to call them anything than what they are) over the edge more than once with those pesky things called facts, via the podcast from yesterday's "The Koz Effect" on RadioTitans.com:
http://www.adrive.com/public/J6MGSt/November%2018%20The%20Koz%20Effect%20PENELOPE%20LOMBARD,%20ERIC%20PORVAZNIK%20and%20LAURENCE%20WHYTE.mp3
T-Rav, in all fairness, animism isn't an exact corollary to whatever it is that liberalism has become. Certainly the environmentalist proclivities of the average liberal border on animism and totemism, but there are also elements of imperial cultism, monism, gnostic utopianism, and something that I can only describe as future-worship.
Thanks Eric! I'll check it out in a bit! Here's the link: LINK
Andrew
This is a really sore point for me because the GOP abandoned Mark's campaign. He got no money. We operated on a shoestring and the only reason he won the primary and did as well as he did was the fact that he motivated so many young republicans to go out and help. BTW, ironically enough most of the young guys helping out were ex military enlisted hispanics, no idea why.
Everyone kept giving us the same aqrgument you do about the losers on welfare and yes they are there and they are bought. Problem was in 94 EVERYONE hated Corrine Brown including her own party. She had a serious primary challenge from a Black man reputed to have been related to Ron Brown of the Clinton Whitehouse sent there to take her out and if the election were honest he would have.
The minority aspect of that district was only 45%. Had we gotten to the 5 to 10% that did want out and they are there becasuse they are the ones that did come out to support us. Many were children with parents who were losers who somehow weren't. Had we had the resources to market to them and to fight the election fraud in those 10 precincts I am sure we could have won.
Part of the problem is the local parties are not willing to spend the capital on minority districts to get any votes there whatsoever. So the GOP is silent and the Progs are unchallenged in that community. This is why you see the Miami Dade area going 80% for the PRogs.
Indi, We're talking about two separate things. Of course, the GOP needs to start campaigning in those places and they need to seek out the good people.
BUT as a matter of policy, we need to stop idealizing groups of people. It does not help to assume that all people on welfare are these honest, hard-working people who have somehow been unfairly trapped by an evil system or hard luck. There may be some, but the realize is that the vast majority are quite happy living off the government. And if we don't realize that and put in place policies that force the unwilling to get off the government gravy train, then nothing will change. But you can't do that if you assume that everyone is ready to respond to positive stimulus. If that were the case, we could end welfare tomorrow by asking employers to go through these neighbors and offer jobs to people. But that doesn't work because the majority of these people don't want a job, don't want to work, and aren't interested in joining the rest of the country.
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