I ran across this interesting opinion piece the other day, and thought it worthwhile to post here. I was once a Rush-Limbaugh-Listening blue-collar worker who thought the only people that disagreed with right-wing political opinions were commie liberals. Considering my position change over the last decade, it’s an interesting read for me; hope it is for you, too.
(For those interested: Yes, I’m a Republican, and plan to continue to be so, working to reform injustices from the inside rather than hop to a party that’s only marginally different.)
My opinion? I’m glad we have strong differences of opinion in this country, because with such vehement disagreement, we can come to compromises that best benefit the population as a whole. It’s one reason I’m concerned about the Republican shift in the Senate, because now we have one party dominating two out of the three branches of government. And with conservative appointees certain to be rubber-stamped to the judiciary over the next four years, pretty soon one party will cover the third branch, too.
*A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE REPUBLICAN*
(Author unknown)
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.
All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance – now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs.
Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry. In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.
Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government- subsidized ride to work.
It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards.
Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.
Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive.
His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home.
His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification.
He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to.
Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.
Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”
That’s A Little Overboard
I mean, come on, the whole thing is about a Republican that “works”?
Definitions
In the words of Inigo Montoya: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
I don’t think of a liberal as one who reforms the banking industry after the Great Depression. I don’t think of a liberal as a union worker who fought for their rights. Some of the situations above do fit my definition of a liberal, but not all of them.
Most of the changes above would probably have been enacted due to capitalism for than liberalism…people buy safer cars & drugs, work for companies with better benefits, drink cleaner water, etc, etc.
If anything, it’s the media who might get credit for a lot of these…someone finds that Firestone tires tend to blow out and tries to get Ford and Firestone to pay up. They fight with their laywers and stonewall the poor schmucks. Then the press finds out, people stop buying Fords with Firestones, Ford sales go down and their stock plummits. Ford drops Firestone like a bad habit, and THEN laws get made protecting people.
Matter of fact, it’s nothing to do with liberals or the press or anything moral. It’s driven by the same thing that drives all in the world today:
$$$$$
My $.02 Weed
P.S. Please forgive the stream-of-consciousness post as I worked to arrive at my eventual point. Knowing where you’re going from the beginning is boring sometimes! 🙂