Gee I wonder if conservatives are able to create an argument without resorting to demagoguery either. Government may not produce anything but it is the price you pay for a polite society. And the way you pay for government is with taxes. They are then redistributed for things like roads, courthouses, police, education, fire departments, and everything in our federal, state, and local governments. Seriously, are conservatives looking for Anarchy or something? It’s like you want to pay no taxes, still have government services, and the complain about the government.
I do recall the Republicans arguing OFTEN in the past about how to “pay” for middle class tax cuts and now how to pay for unemployment benefits but there is absolutely now talk of how to “pay” for tax cuts for the rich. I guess they just pay for themselves.
And to be perfectly honest, NO you DON”T want the same opportunity everyone else has when they succeed. You want the privilege that being a white male has brought you since the birth of this country. Yeah, I said it. Everyone wants opportunity, some just have more by virtue of who they are. That’s a FACT and it’s not disputable, though it amazes me how many times white males try to do so.
What did the rich take away, Checked gas prices lately? That came first from the the fed putting money out so banks and institutions could lend and help the economy but did they? NO! These fat cats, instead of trickling it down, used the money to speculate on commodity futures, thus raising gas prices and taking money I could be using for something else out of my pocket while they pocketed the spike in oil prices. Which is now being exacerbate by the weak dollar. There a nice clear easy example but you won’t get it, so I’m not worried.
Paris may be a straw but doesn’t alter the facts that 1)she’s rich and 2) she didn’t earn it. So, sorry, as long as people are going to insist the rich “earn” it, which many do, you have to deal with the ones who don’t. And while many did earn it, even those like Bill Gates and Ted Turner, and the children of Henry Ford benefited from hand-me-down wealth. Hell, I’m working on being there someday so I can have such problems as worrying about a 2% tax change on my millions instead of my thousands.
And yes, bigotry/racism does exist when it comes to this stuff. I know you can’t or won’t see it but that doesn’t excuse the fact that it’s there. I could lay out 1000 examples but you’d never see them. Tim Wise points them out all the time and still people fail to understand his message.
In the end, none of this writing matters, I’ll no more change your mind than you will change mine. Or as someone famously put it “To the true believe no proof is necessary, to the skeptic no proof is enough.” We are all skeptics.
Addressing the true elephant in the room: Conservatives never complained as loudly as they do about government “redistribution” and the poor until the late 1960’s (Civil Rights Act). That’s when “those people” (They’ll always say poor but they mean minorities) got access to the same benefits poor whites had. Now that minorities could get welfare, food stamps, etc. without discrimination, government help became bad. “Those lazy people are taking my hard earned money” became the mantra, “Welfare queens” became the buzz word in the 80’s so on.
So when you hear “we have to reduce government spending” from conservatives notice how it’s always related to welfare, social security, education, but never military spending, “corporate welfare” or tax breaks on the rich.
The people who react negatively to strips like this will always deny that they’re not bigots or racist but trying to uphold “the American way” but the loudest screams always come from white males. ALWAYS. It’s about power and many white males can’t stand that they’ve been slowly losing it over the decades so they yell and scream and try to deflect, blaming the poor and “those people”. Note: The first comment, and a negative one about this strip, a conservative white male.
And for those screaming all wealth is “EARNED” go as Paris Hilton for a second opinion. Please explain to me, in detail, what she did to “earn” her wealth beside being born into it. Or the Kardashians beside inherit it from their father the lawyer, marry it with Bruce Jenner and dating celebrities.
So DJ… basically you’re saying they were treated “fairly” in that they’re skill sets, drive, determination, and performance matched their work ethic. In other words, they’re being paid what their worth, not everyone across the board, whether you towed the line or not. Sounds fair to me since that’s how it should be. If you’re a superior worker you get the promotions, pay raises. You work hard, you get ahead, you catch up quickly. You’re right that does sound fair. and since that is fair, you’re definition of “fairness” is out of line with what you and many other have been writing. Promoting someone who doesn’t deserve it isn’t fair.
If someone uses their talents be it sales or beauty to their advantage, more power to them, that’s fair. If someone is able to show confidence and talent even though they’ve been their less time than others and are able to move ahead; that’s fair.
Picking the less qualified applicant from a list of applicants isn’t being fair, it’s bad business practice. Regardless of legislation, you can always find a qualified candidate.
Funny how we’re using the euphemism of legislation when everyone really means “affirmative action” which was put into place originally so QUALIFIED women and minorities would get a fair shot at jobs they were originally blocked out of due to discrimination, regardless of how qualified they were; even if they were more qualified than the white male applicants they were going up against. Now THAT”S not fair. Funny how that has managed to get switched around over the years. But when you really think about it, no it’s not, it’s just sad, just like most of these posts against this strip.
Yes, those same conservatives who got us into a war we shouldn’t have fought in the first place. Where are the weapons of mass destruction. Oh, that’s right, we change it to regime change when we couldn’t find them. And chose not to focus on Osama Bin Ladan. The same conservatives that gave us the largest increase in government with the PATRIOT Act, and left us with record budgets. The same conservatives that deregulated Wall Street, removing provisions that were put into place after the Stock Market crash of 1929 and what happened. Oh, the financial markets seize up and President Bush goes on national TV begging for bail-outs.
So, yes, it is a good thing we got rid of those stupid conservatives. Unfortunately, it seems our electorate has too short a memory.
Can someone please explain - in detail, leave nothing out - exactly WHEN it has been fruitful for this country to create a constitutional amendment (or revoke one) that REMOVED the rights of a citizen? The 18th amendment clearly showed that removing rights isn’t the answer.
Yeah, Lunch.