Even Socialists Have Their Limits

As many of you know, I am true to my belief that "the good of the many outweighs the good of the few" (thanks, Vulcans).  I really do believe this, and I fight to uphold that principle as much as possible.  But something really struck a nerve tonight. 

It was nothing new.  It wasn't even anything that spectacular.  It was an offhand comment during a Daily Show interview with Tom Brokaw.  Something about people admitting they'd spent beyond their means and so now how were they gonna get themselves out of this big economic hole. 

For whatever reason, this reminded me of the discussion that went around when the economy first began its descent into the porcelain god normally reserved for evenings of drunken bacchanalia.  "We need to help people keep their houses."  Now, of course homelessness is bad.  And a lot of people are legitimately just one step away from living on the streets.

But why exactly should we help out those who are in trouble because they were irresponsible?  Those who had to have the biggest car, the biggest tv, the biggest house in the best neighborhood, the newest gadgets and whatnot.....????  All these things are nothing more than status symbols.  People playing rich.  "Look!  YOU can drive a big luxury SUV that you don't need cuz you never go off a paved road!  You can buy a house way bigger than you need or can afford!"  Gotta keep up with them Joneses, after all.

I guess what's chapping my hide at the moment is that all the focus is on Wall Street.  Yes, their corruption is beyond belief and they are ultimately the root cause of all this.  But not all us people on "Main Street" (can we please retire this term?  Please?) are innocent victims.  Where is the dialogue about living responsibly? 

Sometimes hard times hit us all, no matter what.  That's the price of living in a society.  But I have to say, I was really miffed when all the sympathy was flowing out to people who lived beyond their means.  If you can't afford it, DON'T BUY IT.  How unAmerican of me, huh?  I know, I know -- our motto is that it's our "right" to have the biggest car, the biggest house, the biggest tv......and screw all those poor people in the world.

Those who are legitimately in trouble for reasons beyond their control (let's say, a medical crisis that wiped them out.....health care reform anyone?).  They should be buoyed up and helped.  But I'm sorry -- if you are losing your house because you had economic delusions of grandeur, well, then maybe economic darwinism should apply.

My husband and I both worked our way through college (and grad school).  We spent our early adulthood continuing to live like "poor college students" while we paid off our student loans.  When we bought our first house, we didn't buy some glorious brand new house with modern appliances;  we bought a fixer-upper, because we knew we could safely afford it.  We only buy cars that we can buy outright in one fell swoop -- no ongoing payments or fancy rigs for us.  We try to take one nice vacation a year -- with "nice" meaning we stay in an $80 hotel with a pool.  We started 529 plans for our children's college funds as soon as they were born.  We have no debt but our home. 

And yet, we are upsidedown on our mortgage.  We have lost $100k+ in equity.  Our jobs are the type where, if you want a promotion, you have to move.  But we can't move, because we are stuck on our house. So here we sit, with no options.

Don't get me wrong -- I am not whining.  I understand that hard times hit us all, blah blah and so on.  All I'm saying is, it's a slap in the face to responsible Americans to lavish sympathy on the irresponsible teenagers posing as adults.  I am thankful this piece of the conversation has died down.  But, while Wall Street is to blame, so are the people who were personally irresponsible. 

You know who you are.  I'd say suck it up and take responsibility for your own actions, but you probably aren't reading this.

Left Wing, My Eye!

I am really, really tired of hearing right-wing nutjobs call Obama and other elected Democrats "liberals."  I am tired of hearing tales of the mythical Liberal Media, which allegedly brainwashes us with left-wing bilge.  And today, I heard the coups de gras: some dorkwad (O'Reilly or Hannity, I think) called Obama a "left wing radical."

Please.  Let's just take a moment people.  Left wing radical, seriously?  Now, I know that the people spewing this crap day in and day out know darn well what a REAL lefty radical is like.  But the poor, ignorant masses don't.  They lap up this sh*t like a kitten drinks milk.  And then they vote these idiots into office because they are afraid of the "crazy muslim black man" running our country. 

What's the matter with Kansas?  I'll tell you what: they believe this baloney, and they would soil their drawers to discover what a REAL leftist radical wants. 

Of course, they would soil themselves because they have been brainwashed (by corporate, not liberal media) to be very, very afraid of people like me.  People who believe in the common good, who understand that taxes are the way a society pays for that common good.  People who actually read books instead of watching non-reality tv night after night.  (Do we really care what happens to the Gosselins?  Really?)

Knowing many people who actually live in Kansas (and others who fit the bill), I believe that they just don't know better.  That they are not skeptical enough -- either by nature or upbringing -- to distrust what they see on tv.  After all, CNN seems pretty reputable, right?  Heck, even I used to think O'Reilly wasn't so bad --- until I discovered what a lying liar he is.  But one only learns such things by reading dark, evil, lefty literature.

But I digress.  My beef is not with the masses.  It's with the talking heads who repeat this same boring mantra day in and day out.  I am tired of hearing Obama's centrist ideas being called radical.  I guess you could say I'm feeling a bit left out.  After all, if Obama is a lefty radical, what then am I?

This is why I've decided to take up the mantle for true left wing radicals.  No, I'm not going to accept the current Senate health care bill because "it's better than nothing."  No, I'm not going to sit quietly as we continue to bail out Wall Street.  No, I'm not going to let the O'Lie-lly's (TM Al Franken) of the world defame my good lefty name.  I believe in calling a spade a spade.  Obama and most of the current Democrats are nowhere near being Left.  They are maybe, just maybe, a tad left of center.  That's all.

You wanna see true Left?  Listen to Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich.  Read yourself some Marx.  Watch some Michael Moore movies (Sicko, anyone?).  These are the Real Lefties.  And they are proud to say it.

Don't believe me?  Well of course, why should you.  I'm just another Lefty Radical myself.  But Thom Hartmann is the most reasonable, balanced human being I have ever encountered, and I have heard him repeatedly assert that "there is no Left in America today."  Look up today's broadcast in fact, and you will hear him say just that! 

I can agree to disagree.  I can respect a True Conservative's ideas (hail George Will and Andrew Sullivan).  But I cannot tolerate the bigoted, bullshit scare tactics of the Right Wing Lunatics any longer.  They aren't even the fringe any more;  they are the mainstream of the Republican Party.  Sad, but true.  I dearly hope the True Conservatives splinter off and form their own party.  Because the teabaggers aren't doing anybody any favors.  Oh, except the rich, Wall Street fat cat corporate businessmen.  You think Glenn Beck, who lives in a gated community, gives a shit about you, worker bee of the American blue-collar "middle" class?  Think again.

All I ask is that we get real.  Let's discuss reality, not this fantasy world Fox News has created for us.  Obama is not a left-wing radical.  From where the teabaggers stand, sure, he's pretty left.  But just because they are far out in right field doesn't make the Center left.  In fact, most of Obama's decisions thus far have only supported right-wing corporatist ideals (anyone remember the Wall Street bailout of last year?  Anyone know anyone who's benefited?  No?  Well gee, I do: the mega banks have posted record profits since then).

So please: can we stop listening to crazy teabaggers (btw, the lamest name ever -- don't they know what it means?) and start listening to actual facts?  F-A-C-T-S.  Google it.