Recently I was talking to the 10-year-old daughter of a friend of mine. She walked over to me and tugged on my shirt and said, "Bill, mommy says that you are liberal. And liberals are bad...."
I thought for a moment, and reflected. It has been a long time since I considered myself a liberal. A conservative democrat maybe, but a liberal noo. I am for fiscal responsibility, cuts in spending, and the perpetuation of freedoms and opportunities for all citizens.
I asked Melody why she thought liberals are bad and she responded, "Because they take money from peoples' paychecks and they're the reason mommy's hours were cut at work." I gave Melody a hug and led her over to my fish tank, so she could tap on it and annoy the fish; though hopefully not nearly as much as she had disconcerted me.
In the course of my life I have come to understand that all people have different aptitudes and abilities; and are capable of those aptitudes and abilities at different levels of expertise. To the point, many people are not capable of understanding 13 Bankers, and I try not to communicate on that level. I care very much for Melody and her mother but I was unnerved by their vehement stance on a position that they have no understanding of. Where do they get this stuff?
In retrospect the "conservative" Bush administration stultified the American public with its terror warning system. Government grew by leaps and bounds, but to this day nobody is sure what the new bureaucracy did or what, if anything, was accomplished. The three pronged approach of tax cuts- allowing the wealthy to shirk their responsibilities, deregulation- that allowed the derivative debacle and housing bubble to occur, as well as an all out economic attack on American consumers in general, and plunder- obscene deficit spending and rip-off that perpetuated the illusion of prosperity for almost a year after our country had entered the worst economic crisis since the great depression, was downright un-American.
This "conservative" trident sent our economy into a tail spin. I will explain to Margret that when you cut taxes and destroy the economy, less money is collected by the government because people and businesses earn less money and the deficit goes up and the ramifications are especially hard on simple folks like her and me.
What is even more appalling than the assertive incompetence of many American citizens, is the Un-American disrespect for the American President. Never in my lifetime have I seen so much hate, verbal assault and disrespect for a president. Obama ought to be applauded for his patience and coolness. I afraid that if he gets the economy going, they're really going to hate him. When I was a boy, there was a bumper sticker that stated: America, Love it or Leave It. Perhaps this slogan should be revived and distributed at tea parties and radio stations.
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