The S Word Revisited

Back in early 2010 I wrote a post about the ludicrous way some on the political right use the word socialism as if it were a four letter word, a curse. What I said then was that these people either lack the slightest clue about what socialism really is, what the word means, and how much socialism we have in the American economy today or else they really do know but assume their audience is ignorant. Instead they equate small s socialism with communism or the Soviet Union. Now, as then, I ended up making essentially the same points to a Republican stalwart on social media. He finished his rant with, "If you support Socialism you don't belong in America." What follows, with minor editing, are my responses to him.

Oh for crying out loud. I support socialism, you know, like Social Security, public schools, public libraries, law enforcement by government rather than private security firms, Medicare, Medicaid, my local fire department... all good, common sense socialism. I am a former Republican. Liberals or moderates like me are not "anti-America".

Every successful Western economy is a mixture of socialism and capitalism, including the United States. All the items I mentioned as common sense socialism are just that even if you don't see it. If you're against public schools, law enforcement, fire protection, roads, etc... then you are off in the far right fringe. I'll add that Israel is a much more socialist country than we are. They have universal healthcare. The fact that we are the only developed country that does not is shameful.

Medicare and Social Security as not entitlements. We pay for them out of each and every paycheck we earn. If you are self-employed you pay it quarterly. Either way, cutting those is stealing money that people paid in all their lives for their retirement. Social Security is running at a surplus. The only reason it runs short on money is that Congress (both parties) keep raiding the trust fund to pay for other things. Al Gore was laughed at when he called for putting social security in a lock box. He was right.

Finally, the older I get the more liberal I become. I have learned that what the Trump GOP calls conservatism is all about making the rich richer and the poor poorer and to hell with the middle class. I cannot support a political party that will steal my retirement money to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy. Thanks but no thanks.

On Phil Robertson, Hate and Hypocrisy

On the whole Duck Dynasty thing... I'm perhaps a bit sensitive about this issue but I live in North Carolina. We have one pastor here who wanted to round up all the "queers" and lesbians, fence them in (a concentration camp) and kill them off. We have another who urged parents to beat the gay out of their sons. Here in the South lots of people cheer those attitudes and really do want the LGBT community dead or gone. To quote one of the leaders of the Amendment One campaign, "We don't want them here." (Amendment One took the law against same sex marriage here and added it to the state constitution. It is currently being challenged in court.)

Phil Robertson has influence due to his celebrity. His words are likely to be used to justify more violence against the LGBT community here in the South and we have too much of that already. Words have power. Sure, he has the right to hold whatever beliefs he has, no matter how despicable I find them. However, he has been given a public platform and has used it in a way that can do real harm. For that reason I really cannot accept any of the defending of him I see online, and I really, really am outraged by those who turn him into some kind of hero.

Also, as an excellent article by Dean Obeidallah in The Daily Beast points out, those who are up in arms that Robertson was suspended by A&E are raging hypocrites. Those same people were ready to pillory Martin Bashir for making nasty statements about one person: Sarah Palin. These people didn't champion Alec Baldwin's homophobic statements or his firing from MSNBC because he isn't a conservative.

Surely, equating gay people with terrorists and with bestiality can and should be considered hateful. Saying that black people were happier in the Jim Crow South before integration is certainly racist. It should never be defended and A&E has every right to hold the man accountable for his statements.

Remember To Thank the Republicans

The U.S. economy continues to struggle and unemployment remains right around 10%. The job market really hasn't begun to improve yet. Despite this more than a million Americans are about to lose their unemployment insurance benefits. The House passed the bill to extend unemployment but a combination of all the Republicans and a handful of moderate or conservative Democrats have stalled things in the Senate.

So, come Wednesday, if you've been unemployed for a while you may have real problems paying the rent or buying groceries. Others may not be able to make mortgage payments and run the risk of losing their homes. If you are one of those people please remember who is responsible for this and give those Republicans and conservative Democrats the thanks they deserve come November.

Oh, remember that stimulus bill to boost the economy? You know, the one that the Republicans claim did nothing at all. Well... it may have paid for teachers in your local school system. It turns out states would have had to layoff huge numbers of teachers last year but didn't have to thanks to the stimulus bill. Of course, Republicans tell us this was terrible for the budget deficit and no matter how bad the economy still is, well.... no more stimulus for you. The net result is that close to 100,000 teachers are expected to or already have received pink slips as stimulus funds run out. Of course, this is fine with right-wing Republicans who have been trying to undermine the public school system for decades. If you can't afford private schools for your kids that's your problem.

So, if come the fall some excellent teachers are no longer at your child's school, class sizes are simply huge and the quality of instruction declines please be sure to thank the Republicans the way they deserve to be thanked in November. If you or your spouse or a member of your family is now going to join the ranks of the unemployed be sure to thank the Republicans for it as well.

I listened to both news stories on NPR this afternoon with absolute disgust. Right now there is an insane "throw the rascals out" mentality in this country, with the far right and the Tea Party crazies leading the call to defeat all incumbents. By all means, throw out those incumbents who ignore the needs of ordinary citizens. Those would be the conservatives. Let's keep the ones who have actually looked out for the American people, particularly those who are hurting in this economy.