I'm not much of a writer but I'm riled up enough I thought I'd take the plunge today with my first diary attempt!
Anyway, what got me all stirred-up is I was just sent the latest in Teabagger groupthink email forwards. I usually just ignore these but... :
Subject: Fw: Psalm 2011
Psalm 2010
Funny...
Obama is the shepherd I did not want. He leadeth me beside the still
factories. He restoreth my faith in the Republican party. He guideth
me in the path of unemployment for his party's sake. Yea, Though I
walk through the valley of the bread line, I shall fear no hunger, for
his bailouts are with me. He has anointed my income with taxes, my
expenses runneth over. Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me
all the days of my life, and I will live in a mortgaged home forever.
I'm glad I am American, I am glad that I am free, But I wish I was a
dog, and Obama was a tree!
Working on a response and this is where I'm at so far. Pretty rough but like I said, not a writer and not done yet:
This seems to imply that Obama has raised taxes? Mine haven't gone
up, have yours? The only potential "increase" was attempting to let the Bush-era
tax breaks expire and they were intended to be temporary, not really an
increase is it? I don't see taxes putting anyone in the poor house, I
can pay mine and I live pretty well and I don't make as much as say a doctor.
Since you seem to rally around "Cutting the deficit!" how do you expect to do this without people pitching-in? Cutting services, infrastructure, etc. to the point we are unable to be competitive as a nation anymore won't do it.
Hmm, funny this was sent the day after it was announced the auto-makers
repaid their bailouts 6-years early. This economic downturn started
before Obama was even elected but I guess in neo-con revisionist-history
land it's easy to falsely pass the blame to the person you do not like
instead of the actual causes.
But hey, let's perpetuate the myth that the ultra-wealthy take their
tax-cuts and use them to create jobs since there are certain folks on
Fox News and in congress who are beholden to their corporate masters. Is
it right that 1% of the population control 33% of the wealth in this
country yet percentage-wise many pay less Federal taxes than I do?
Americans right now have the lowest Federal tax burden since 1958!
I was under the impression that being an American meant helping move the
nation forward and keeping us great by contributing your fair share but
it would seem that many people are now trying to equate patriotism with
this Ayn Randian ideal that as in Atlas Shrugged the ultra-wealthy are
special folks who we all owe a great debt to and should do their
bidding...
Boy I've sure come a long way since giving up the idealistic libertarian ways of my youth. Amazing what a little reality and some traveling will do to one's views on right, wrong and how things should be.