Commentary By Ron Beasley�
No body tells it like John Cole:
The fundamental thing you need to understand when talking to deficit hawks is that when they say something is painful or that cuts will hurt people, you need to recognize that what they really mean is that the cuts will be painful TO SOMEONE ELSE and hurt people THEY DON�T KNOW AND WILL NEVER MEET. That�s why it�s so easy to be a condescending asshole about the budget. That�s why it takes nothing to suggest raising the retirement age for Social Security. That�s why, after taking a month off from writing on the internet to recover from a cold, he [Andrew Sullivan] can tell people who work back-breaking manual labor every day of their god damned lives for much less money than he or McMegan earn that they should �contribute� more to their health care costs.
That's the entire Republican thing - give me mine but take their's. I love my 88 year old Republican mother dearly. She is all for slashing the Social Security of her grandchildren in spite of the fact she has lived almost exclusivly on Social Security for well over 30 years. The thought of giving Medicare coverage to anyone under 65 sends her into a rage in spite of the fact she would have been dead 20 years ago if not for Medicare. The fact that people without insurace die doesn't seem to bother her even though two of her children have been without it for years. This is the Republican mind - not quite a sociopath but little or no empathy.
Ron my mom is 91 this year. One of my younger brothers who helps keep the old home up around her says sometimes people just live too long. I don't agree but understand the meaning, I think. I'm hoping I have some of me moms good genes.
ReplyDeleteMy mom also has some very good genes. I don't think her age is the issue - she has always been a Republican. It's ironic, or maybe it isn't, she was born and grew up in Idaho and Eastern Washington. I suspect she may not have seen a person of color until she moved to Portland in the early 40s but she is a bigot. Mu father was a good old boy from the south and he was more tolerant than my mother. As hard as I try I cannot come up with an explanation. My mothers siblings were no different. Her parents - my grandparents were Swedish immigrants - is that it? I don't have a clue. My grandparents died when I was very young and I don't recall any discussions of race. They were all anti Roosevelt Republicans but of course they all owed their financial security in their old age to Social Security. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteIt is the same in the UK: "small state" simply means protecting the privileges of the wealthy and elites.
ReplyDelete