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A little background. My SB's wife is of Cuban descent and her family lives in Miami. He has been on their email list for years. I think he may have gotten tired of all the bullshit.
This took guts. He will at their Thanksgiving table in a few months:
His email:
I must ask, what rights of yours have been infringed upon by the government thus far? What rights of yours have been stripped away? So far, I’ve watched Republicans talk about “Less government in our lives” while simultaneously sticking their noses into the private lives of the homosexual population making sure they do everything in their power to deny their right to get married. (And quickly on that note, it is irrelevant what the Bible says in regards to homosexuals since this country is based on the Constitution, not the Bible.) I also see the GOP talk about “Less government” while simultaneously doing everything they can do strengthen and expand Medicare.
The alarmist, irresponsible and frankly dangerous rhetoric by commentators like Glenn Beck do nothing but confuse and polarize this nation when more than ever we need to work together. Assertions are just that: Assertions. An honest argument with integrity would actually have facts to validate the claims made. Predicting what you think will happen in the future and then building on that assertion is dishonest, and that’s what people like Beck do. It might also help his argument if his message was consistent. Is Obama a Socialist? Or is he a Communist? Is he a Kenyan Nationalist Muslim? Or is he an angry black fundamentalist Christian who hates white people? Which one is it? It seems to change with the wind, and this only waters down each subsequent “argument.”
The claims of “Socialism” in my opinion are embarrassing and hypocritical. Our country has been a fusion of capitalism with aspects of socialism sprinkled in for years. Again, I would accept the arguments if they were consistent, but they are not. Where were the cries of “Socialism” when Bush oversaw the largest expansion of Medicare/Medicaid in the history of this country? Where were the guys stapling tea bags to their heads when Bush first used tax payer money, 100 Billion, to stop our financial markets (and likewise the global financial system) from collapse? Where was the outrage when a Halliburton subsidiary was awarded yet another no bid contract in Iraq after being found guilty of fleecing the tax payers of millions upon millions of dollars? I suppose corporate war profiteering while ripping off the American tax payer is “spreading freedom” while preventing an economic catastrophe is “Socialism”? I’d also guess Bush insulating Wall Street with tax payer money was what we had to do to “preserve the American way”, but when Obama borrows from his playbook it’s “Socialism”? Surely Bush’s stimulus checks weren’t for free loaders and socialist do-nothings looking for a handout, they were to “Jolt the economy”, right?
Either the GOP has an extremely short memory or this argument is disingenuous. From time to time I hear the retroactive claim that they (those on the right side of the aisle) were also vehemently against Bush’s stimulus acts. Of course NOW they were against it, but what about then? Again, these claims might carry weight if I could recall just one tea party when he was president.. There were none, just as there were no cries of “Socialism” when Bush sent them all checks to buy new flat screen TVs.
Socialism is a major system, all encompassing. By using a few instances, all drawn from dire emergency economic conditions and insisting that this equals a path to socialism is absurd. Both Bush and Obama have been clear in their intention(s) here: To restore the financial markets, slowly unwind the failing companies to avoid further calamity, and keep us from going into the second Great Depression (That’s the very short version by the way.) Obama has no interest in seeing the government “run” the automobile industry anymore than Bush wanted to “run” Wall Street. Using Beck’s logic one would see the four square ft of candy for sale at the check out register of a Best Buy and assume it was their mission to convert Best Buy to a “Big Box Candy Emporium”.
"These measures will require us to put a significant amount of tax payer money on the line. This action does entail risk, but we expect that this money will eventually be paid back."-Bush speaking on the bailout of the financial markets.
What is different today? Is this any different than Obama? Bush was the president at the beginning of one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression and now it’s Obama with the full plate. Placing blame aside (that’s another argument entirely and irrelevant at this point in the game) what would you like him to do? Should we allow everything to “just fail”? I’m sure if he took the hard line capitalist approach preached by the right wing media outlets and let the house of cards come down the GOP would applaud that right? Just as in the Bush era we essentially have two choices: One sucks and the other is disastrous. We can deficit spend now and look forward to inflation which we’ll inevitably bitch about, or we can go down in flames (ie, “let it fail”) look forward to deflation and the implosion of our way of life for about a decade if we are lucky. Which do you prefer?
Listening to teabag participants yell about “spending” during a time of economic crisis makes me wonder again where they were when Bush was cutting taxes while waging two wars simultaneously. Where were the cries about fiscal responsibility then? They also act as if running to the China ATM machine is exclusive to this administration (or printing money for that matter.) I don’t recall nary a peep from the Beck’s of the world when Bush financed his wars with communist moola. In fact, they cheered the wars and questioned the anti-war crowd’s patriotism. That was all fine and good, but deficit spend as a stop gap to avoid economic disaster? Well that’s “Socialism” of course.
Beck makes assertions, but gives us no hard facts to back his claims. What policy has Obama defined to “take over” industry or state ownership of capital? GM loans are paybacks, just as TARP (Goldman Sachs already paid back it’s money giving us an 23% annualized ROI) is. Obama has been more than forthright and concise about this. The only thing I can assume is that Beck is calling him a liar or leaving that little fact out. What percentage of US industry had loans or bailouts liened against them by government action? (Think back to the square footage devoted to the candy display at Best Buy.) Finally, Beck claims that the new health care plan is a play towards socialism. What is this based on? Currently there is no solid bill or proposal. Furthermore, even if there was, all he is doing is projecting into the future and using that prediction as an argument. As for looking into the future I guess we should trust the same group who predicted WMD would be found in Iraq and we’d be treated like liberators? Talk about empty rhetoric and fear mongering.
Let us not forget the fire department, the police, the national parks, the libraries, the public schools, the highways, social security, subsidies to corporations (ie, corporate welfare), Medicare/Medicaid, the sidewalks the teabag crowd protest on and all the other “Socialist” aspects of our country Beck seems to have no problem with. The silence reeks of partisan hackery to me, validating aspects he likes while vilifying others he does not. He seems to want it both ways and I find the double talk to be unconvincing. Conveniently forgetting the facts to exploit the fear and uncertainty many Americans have today is shameful and morally bankrupt.
His rants about “Czars” (with his heavy emphasis on the word, a cheap McCarthy ploy-really he’s like McCarthy and Clarabell’s love child) are even more ridiculous, complete with wild accusations of power grabs and “communist ties.” All administrations since Nixon have had Czars, anything they do in regards to creating laws requires Congress, including Obama’s. This means that checks and balances are alive and well in our Democratic republic. They have not been bestowed absolute power to pass laws on their own nor granted any special powers. But don’t let that stop Beck from telling everybody how out of control they are and how “America is slipping away” from us whilst shedding crocodile tears and grabbing a hanky.
Also somebody should explain to Mr. Beck that Communism and Socialism are not synonymous, nor is one a slippery slope to another (logical fallacy 101). I’m not particularly concerned however, since we are going through nothing more than a shitty economic downturn and witnessing government intervention to save most of our collective ungrateful asses from our own greed, hypocrisy and stupidity (Micro and Macro.) That being said, if I return to Best Buy and see that it indeed has morphed into a Big Box Candy Emporium with a few TVs in the back, then perhaps I’ll put more faith in his words. But I’ll bet you all my socialist literature that will never happen.
Signed,
Your ACLU card carrying liberal
(Name withheld)
PS We’re coming down to Miami to take all your guns from you next week
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