I want a new left.
So I after my prior rant I promised Luvdovz and a few others detailing that I would do a proper post detailing the hypocrisy of american Liberals/Progressives as I see it. A couple of recent comment threads have convinced me to stop procrastinating and get on with it.
I am going to try and collect numerous stories and arguments from multiple threads and forums. I may get a but rambling but please bear with me.
Like many in the north east, I grew up pretty liberal. Those who only know me by my internet persona may be surprised, but I do think that my liberal upbringing makes a difference. While I am actually registered as a Republican I still tend to think of the GOP as the "Stupid Party". That said when I look at what the Democratic Party is today and the only thing I feel is contempt.
I live in southern California now, so aside from the occasional Libertarian or Constitutional militia member running for county office 3rd party and independent candidates are of the Socialist and Green variety if not straight-up Communists or Scientologists. Given the choice between being evil and being stupid I chose to be stupid.
When I was a kid, Woodie Guthrie was a hero of the Left, a man who stuck up for the little guy oppressed by the man. Nowadays, Ronnie Dunn is describe by posters on Dailykos and Slate as a purveyor of right wing hate music...
...and quite frankly, to me this is more than enough to demonstrate the depths to which the american left has sunk and why I hold them in such contempt but why stop there?
Remember when liberal pundits were all about the "absolute moral authority" of the parents of dead service members? I do.
Clearly that authority applies to those deaths deemed politically advantageous to the Party. All others can piss up a rope. Posters on this forum who wouldn't shut up about Cindy Sheehan wont give Charles Woods the time of day. Hypocrites, the lot of them.
There is a black member of the Tea-Party sitting in the US Senate. Clearly the R after his name stands for "racist" or something.
Democrats like to claim that they are trying to help the poor. and I suppose that if you are in the bottom quintile (<20%) that qualifies for Welfare, foodstamps etc... they might be right, but what about those of us who actually want or have jobs? The fact that is always glossed over is that this help always comes at the expense of those in the next two groups (20% - 60%). IE those with money but not enough to be big money contributors to the Party.
"But wait!" I can hear people wanting to object "The Democrats are the party of the little guy. big money is the GOP's thing." My response is "If only this were true, there might be some hope of saving the democratic party from itself". But sadly it isn't and there is not.
Never mind that Democrats raise more campaign contributions from the wealthy than Republicans do or that they poll better in the most affluent zip codes than Republicans do. Look at the incentives that they have created.
For the Jargon averse...
in·cen·tive
noun
1. a thing that motivates or encourages one to do something.
Taxes in the US serve a dual purpose. The first is raising revenue. The second is providing incentives or dis-incentives for behavior that the government approves or disapproves of. We lower taxes on solar power to make people want to buy it. We increase taxes on things like Gasoline, Tobacco, and Sugar to make people to use less of it. Obamacare gutted the 40 hour work week because by raising payroll taxes you are telling employers that their payrolls are too big, and that they should either hire fewer people or pay them less. By requiring people to pay additional taxes and fees if they work more than 37 hours a week you are saying that they should work less than 37 hours a week. Either Democrats are unaware of the incentives that they have constructed. Or they are aware, they just don't care. Neither is of much comfort to the workers who now find themselves unemployed.
Sure if you subscribe to the idea that the "little guy" is that he is not quite bright, and definitely not competent to run their own lives without a Ivy League graduate to supervising things.
Otherwise the Democratic Party is simply the party of the arrogant and the out of touch.
We need to ban AR-15s because of the Navy yard shooter. Never mind the fact that he didn't use an assault rifle, he followed Joe Biden's advice and bought a shotgun.
Secrets being leaked are to be prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law unless it's a white house operative doing the leaking.
The president can suspend a law passed by congress simply by saying so. I'm sure such power will never be abused in future.
I could go on but this post is already to long and to scatter-brained.
Throughout all of this, I hear an endless litany of "the Democratic Party is the party of the little guy, and you must be a Racist, a Hater, Anti-science, Anti-intellectual, Misogynist, or just plain stupid, to disagree"
I suppose that I must be all of these these things and more because I can see them for hypocrites they are. Afterall, I am just another piece of ignorant 3rd-gen white trash, what do I know about anything?
I am bitter racist wing-nut hate-monger because I vote accordingly.
I am going to try and collect numerous stories and arguments from multiple threads and forums. I may get a but rambling but please bear with me.
Like many in the north east, I grew up pretty liberal. Those who only know me by my internet persona may be surprised, but I do think that my liberal upbringing makes a difference. While I am actually registered as a Republican I still tend to think of the GOP as the "Stupid Party". That said when I look at what the Democratic Party is today and the only thing I feel is contempt.
I live in southern California now, so aside from the occasional Libertarian or Constitutional militia member running for county office 3rd party and independent candidates are of the Socialist and Green variety if not straight-up Communists or Scientologists. Given the choice between being evil and being stupid I chose to be stupid.
When I was a kid, Woodie Guthrie was a hero of the Left, a man who stuck up for the little guy oppressed by the man. Nowadays, Ronnie Dunn is describe by posters on Dailykos and Slate as a purveyor of right wing hate music...
Click to view...and quite frankly, to me this is more than enough to demonstrate the depths to which the american left has sunk and why I hold them in such contempt but why stop there?
Remember when liberal pundits were all about the "absolute moral authority" of the parents of dead service members? I do.
Clearly that authority applies to those deaths deemed politically advantageous to the Party. All others can piss up a rope. Posters on this forum who wouldn't shut up about Cindy Sheehan wont give Charles Woods the time of day. Hypocrites, the lot of them.
There is a black member of the Tea-Party sitting in the US Senate. Clearly the R after his name stands for "racist" or something.
Democrats like to claim that they are trying to help the poor. and I suppose that if you are in the bottom quintile (<20%) that qualifies for Welfare, foodstamps etc... they might be right, but what about those of us who actually want or have jobs? The fact that is always glossed over is that this help always comes at the expense of those in the next two groups (20% - 60%). IE those with money but not enough to be big money contributors to the Party.
"But wait!" I can hear people wanting to object "The Democrats are the party of the little guy. big money is the GOP's thing." My response is "If only this were true, there might be some hope of saving the democratic party from itself". But sadly it isn't and there is not.
Never mind that Democrats raise more campaign contributions from the wealthy than Republicans do or that they poll better in the most affluent zip codes than Republicans do. Look at the incentives that they have created.
For the Jargon averse...
in·cen·tive
noun
1. a thing that motivates or encourages one to do something.
Taxes in the US serve a dual purpose. The first is raising revenue. The second is providing incentives or dis-incentives for behavior that the government approves or disapproves of. We lower taxes on solar power to make people want to buy it. We increase taxes on things like Gasoline, Tobacco, and Sugar to make people to use less of it. Obamacare gutted the 40 hour work week because by raising payroll taxes you are telling employers that their payrolls are too big, and that they should either hire fewer people or pay them less. By requiring people to pay additional taxes and fees if they work more than 37 hours a week you are saying that they should work less than 37 hours a week. Either Democrats are unaware of the incentives that they have constructed. Or they are aware, they just don't care. Neither is of much comfort to the workers who now find themselves unemployed.
Sure if you subscribe to the idea that the "little guy" is that he is not quite bright, and definitely not competent to run their own lives without a Ivy League graduate to supervising things.
Otherwise the Democratic Party is simply the party of the arrogant and the out of touch.
We need to ban AR-15s because of the Navy yard shooter. Never mind the fact that he didn't use an assault rifle, he followed Joe Biden's advice and bought a shotgun.
Secrets being leaked are to be prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law unless it's a white house operative doing the leaking.
The president can suspend a law passed by congress simply by saying so. I'm sure such power will never be abused in future.
I could go on but this post is already to long and to scatter-brained.
Throughout all of this, I hear an endless litany of "the Democratic Party is the party of the little guy, and you must be a Racist, a Hater, Anti-science, Anti-intellectual, Misogynist, or just plain stupid, to disagree"
I suppose that I must be all of these these things and more because I can see them for hypocrites they are. Afterall, I am just another piece of ignorant 3rd-gen white trash, what do I know about anything?
I am bitter racist wing-nut hate-monger because I vote accordingly.