Wake up America!!

I'm so tired of listening to conservatives spout off republican talking points without thinking about them first. I can't take it anymore. OK, so that sounds melodramatic. Really, though, these are intelligent people who obviously have not actually thought about what is best for the country or themselves but they listen to conservatives tell them what to think and then they repeat it to whomever will listen. I just want to smack them and say, "THINK FOR YOURSELF!" Rush, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich and all the other talking heads don't care about you. You are middle class. When they are talking about what is best for America they are not talking about YOU! Let me be more specific.

My current pet peeve is this "socialist" or "communist" talking point and the no taxes talking point. I must point out that taxes are a necessary part of our society. Our forefathers fought against taxation without representation which is why we have to vote on tax levies and bonds and why we send representatives and senators to congress to vote on our behalf. Taxes pay for most of what your family has done today. They pay for your child's school, books, teachers, buses and probably their sports programs. They pay for the bridges you drive on and the roads you drive on and all the signs and stop lights and the planning that went into creating those. Taxes pay for the police officers and all of their equipment and programs and cars and the firemen and all of their trucks and equipment. Taxes pay for 911. Taxes pay for our judges and elected officials and all of their staff. Taxes pay for the EPA, the FDA, homeland security and FEMA and every other federal agency that makes sure you have clean drinking water, safe toys and cribs and cars. Taxes pay our for our military. They pay for our tanks and planes, they pay for every bullet. They pay the salaries of the men and women who fight for us and they pay for their care when they return wounded. Taxes pay for veteran's benefits when they retire. Taxes pay for your mother's stay in the nursing home and her medication and visits to the doctor. Taxes pay for services for children who are born disabled so they can get a wheelchair or visit the doctor or learn how to take care of themselves when they are grown up. We need taxes to function as a country. So if you think you shouldn't be paying any taxes at all you already have a serious problem in my opinion.

Now, I do agree that we don't want to pay more taxes than we have to pay. This could be the point that we argue about. Too many conservatives, however, don't want to pay any taxes at all and I'm tired of hearing from you people. Now, for the past 8 years republicans have cut taxes for people making more than $250,000 per year. No, that is not you!!! When Rush and Sean and Newt say that "we" are going to pay more taxes under Obama they mean themselves. The people who make over $250,000 per year. Not you!! Everyone who calls the radio or who talks to me on the street thinks they were getting a tax cut from the republicans and that they are going to lose this cut under the democrats. I think it is safe to say that if you are talking to me about taxes or you are calling a radio show you are not the person who was getting the tax cuts! Stop believing these talking heads that are telling you that repealing this tax cut is going to effect you. It is not going to effect you because you aren't making enough money! Nor will you be. Only the top 1% of our population is effected. They are running the company you work for or running the company your company is servicing. It isn't you. And, if by chance it is you, then shame on you for bitching about paying your fair share of taxes for the fist time in 8 years. We have a deficit higher than all the deficits that we have ever had added all together. WE have this deficit because the republicans spent more money than the Clinton administration but collected less taxes. (Clinton left office with a SURPLUS after inheriting a huge deficit from Reagan/Bush). If you have less income as a government you can't spend more or you get a deficit. Simple math!!! If you have less income personally but you spend 100x more than you are spending now then you will have a deficit as well. They call democrats tax and spend liberals but the republicans have become don't tax but keep spending "conservatives." How are you going to run the government with no tax income? 95% of Americans will get a tax cut under Obama's plan (those making under $250,000) and 97% of businesses are getting a tax cut. That must be made up by repealing the tax cut for the rich people. They have money and are doing fine in the recession. They have the money to pay taxes and they are simply going back to paying the taxes they were paying in the 90's. Chances are that under this plan you will be paying less tax or the same tax you are paying now. Wake up and think for yourself!!

Next, I must address this trickle down theory that was put forth in the 80's and has never ever worked. The theory is that you cut taxes for the rich folks and then they save so much money that they hire people to work for them which creates jobs. If you have paid attention at all we have discovered in the past 30 years that it does not work. Cutting taxes for rich people just makes rich people richer. They don't hire more people, they move their business overseas and hire people to work for 25 cents an hour and they keep all that extra cash for themselves. Crazy conservatives call Stephanie Miller every day and complain about the CEO's who are making 60 million dollars a year and flying private jets and collecting bonuses while they fire Americans because their company is going under. Those people are making so much because of laws and tax cuts created by conservatives!! I know Rush blames liberals but he is lying. It is conservatives that have made the wealthy become more wealthy by giving them tax cuts and loopholes to hide their money and by actually giving them money to move their companies overseas. If you think it is the liberals then you are the victim of the biggest snow job of our lifetime. The current conservative party built on the idea that you make the wealthiest people more wealthy in order to help our economy and you are voting for it if you are voting for a republican. Wake up! Look at the "stimulus" that George Bush tried. He gave each of us $500 2X in his presidency. We all paid it toward our huge credit card debt and continued on with our lives. That didn't stimulate anything but it did fool people who aren't paying attention into believing they are getting a tax break. In the meantime your medical bills went up 70% in 2001, you started paying 3X more for gas and the republicans made it possible for you to lose your house if you can't pay your medical bills. So rather than gaining $500 twice you really lost thousands of dollars to the big rich oil, insurance, pharmaceutical companies. These companies all paid huge bonuses to their CEO's (who already make tens of millions per year) and they cut back middle class jobs. They did so well under Bush that they paid for his inauguration the second time (as well as is re-election). What other stimulus did Bush offer? He gave money to help the oil companies in every single budget. They made record profits and got government money because they needed "help." He also handed out cash to big businesses including AIG and the car companies. Somehow the conservatives have turned this around as if it were Obama handing out money to business. It was BUSH. Once Bush started that plan Obama has had to carry it out. He inherited this mess and he has to continue with the plan to bail out banks until he can implement his plan.

What is Obama's plan? The conservative talking heads have done a great job of getting out misinformation and of talking the sheep that listen to them into believing it is a bad idea. In reality, Obama does not want to just pass out money to companies and trust that they will do the right thing. He doesn't want to just pass out money to people and hope they will go buy a new TV (which is what Bush did). These conservatives keep saying that he is just passing out money to poor people and that is socialist. They keep saying he is passing out money to companies and that is communist. In reality it was Bush that passed out money to people, not Obama. Obama's plan doesn't pass out money to anyone (except the addition that the REPUBLICANS added). Obama's plan says that if you are going to get money from the government then you have to work. He is putting money into jobs. The government will hire companies (thus helping all of those businesses that are hurting and forcing them to hire employees) to work on America's infrastructure. These jobs can't be shipped to other countries, they will have to hire Americans. These people will work to repair bridges, start green technology, and build the medical records technology in America (among other things). All of those people who get hired to work will then have money. They will spend that money to buy things that other companies make. They will buy a car from Ford and a sofa from Macy's and food from a local restaurant. This will help Ford and Macy's and the restaurant afford to hire people and those people will have money to buy stuff like cars and clothes and furniture. In the meantime our roads and bridges and levies will be safer and updated, our country will move into the 21st century with green technology and people will be able to afford to buy stuff. All of these conservatives pretend like they don't know how this job creation bill will stimulate the economy and people believe them. I promise that my 11 year old daughter could understand this simple job creation plan and you could too if you would just pay attention!!

I must talk about health care here too. I absolutely do not understand people who do not want health care for everyone. OK, so some people don't care that we are 39th in the world for health care here in America. Some people don't care that newborn babies are more likely to die here than they are in 40 other countries around the world. Some people don't care that people in America die every single day of curable illnesses because they don't have access to health care because we are THE ONLY industrialized nation that has a for profit health care system. Perhaps people don't care about all of THOSE people. As a christian I frankly can't grasp how people don't care but they don't so I won't use compassion and empathy and just plain doing what is right as a reason for health care for everyone. What about money as an argument? Now there is an argument conservatives can sink their teeth into. Why are car companies having trouble competing with Japanese and European car companies? Is it really labor unions as the conservatives claim? No. Japanese and Europeans pay their people just as well. The average union worker makes $12 an hour to start and $25 an hour by the end of their life. Those inflated numbers you hear on Rush are including the benefits and health care of the workers!! It is the millions of dollars of health care costs that make it impossible for car companies to compete. They have to pay health care for all of their people whereas the other companies don't have these costs. Why do companies open factories in Canada rather than the US? Health care costs. Why do companies move factories overseas? Health care costs. Why do small businesses have trouble making ends meet? Health care costs. If you own your own business how much are you paying for health insurance for your family? How much are you paying per year for health care for your employees and their families? If you don't offer health care for your employees then how much are they paying out of their salary to get health insurance or to pay the enormous medical bills for their families? We work for a big company and have great health insurance. I have asthma but other than that we have no major illnesses in our family. We paid $9,000 for health care last year. That is $9,000 out of our pocket after insurance paid their share! We just moved and I called a pediatrician's office to make an appointment. The first question they ask is, "Do you have insurance?" If not my kids wouldn't be seen. We would have to wait until they got really really sick and then we would have to take them to the ER and pay huge sums of money to try to heal them. This is unacceptable in America and it is bringing down America's businesses and America's families. Each time you vote for a conservative you are voting for this. Wake up America!!

I know, Rush starts screaming socialist whenever we talk about health care for everyone and the conservatives get all nervous that socialism is coming to America. What exactly what does that mean? If every person in America can see a doctor when they are sick is that socialism? Does that mean our entire financial system will be socialist? Every other industrialized nation in the world offers health care to whomever needs it. Are they all socialist nations? Is England scary? I can just hear the music sting in the background when Rush says socialism. It wasn't until Nixon that we started thinking that companies should make millions of dollars off the illnesses of the American people. England started national health care while fighting the Nazis yet Rush and other conservatives are now saying that national health care would make us Nazis. This name calling doesn't have any validity yet it scares conservatives into spouting the party line of no health care in America. Stop being scared by this BS. If we are a so called "Christian Nation" and we all are Christians then how can we say that only rich people and upper middle class people should have access to health care? Obama's health care proposal doesn't even make health care free to everyone. His plan only makes it possible for everyone to buy health insurance. How could that possibly be seen as socialist? Everyone would still be paying for health insurance and paying for health care. The insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and doctors will still be making millions a year off our sick population. I wish his plan were more like that of England, France and yes even Canada. Unfortunately Obama's plan is still a for profit health care system that at least provides an opportunity for people to see a doctor but still, ultimately, provides money for big business. Another good thing about the system, however, is that I believe eventually people will buy cheaper health insurance on their own and companies won't go bankrupt trying to provide health insurance for employees. Ultimately small business will benefit the most (yet small business owners everywhere don't realize they would benefit because they listen to the talking points instead of using common sense).

I've already talked at length in other posts about my aversion to the "Bush kept us safe" argument but I must briefly reiterate my opposition to this crazy talk. On April 9th, 2004, Condoleezza Rice, acting as the national security advisor, testified before the 9/11 Commission. She admitted that President Bush had received a memo titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack inside the United States" as early as August 6, 2001. She said that the president did not act on this information although the memo mentioned the possibility of terrorist sleeper cells in the United States. This report also suggested that the terrorists may be interested in flying airplanes into US buildings including the Twin Towers. President Clinton and his staff also stated that they attempted to brief Bush and his staff about the dangers of Osama Bin Laden but Bush would spend those briefing attempting to get information about Saddam Hussein and would ignore information about Bin Laden. Clinton's staff became very frustrated with Bush and his staff and their disregard for what they saw as the largest threat to national security. Clinton had spent years tracking Bin Laden and attempting to kill or capture him and tried to express his concerns to Bush as the transition took place. Bush ignored him as he continued to focus on Saddam Hussien.

Bush oversaw the worst terrorist attack in US history. On September 11th over 3000 American citizens were killed because he refused to pay attention to security memos and briefings. Bush did not keep us safe from terrorists while he was President. Bush oversaw the largest national security failure of our generation. Rather than be embarrassed by this failure the Republicans have chosen to tout this failure as a wonderful thing that Bush did to save our country. Bush then diverted the forces away from capturing those involved in Sept. 11th and send them to Iraq to go after an old, benign dictator who hated Al Queda and who had not had any power since the Iraq war. By doing so, Bush created a terrorist haven in a country that had no terrorists, and he emboldened Iran and Syria. Bush also successfully helped to destabilize Pakistan (who has nuclear weapons), left Afghanistan so early that it destabilized, and pushed for elections in Palestine which resulted in the democratic election of Hamas. Bush did not attempt any peace negotiations until his final year therefore helping to cause the Israeli/Palestinian conflict several years ago. During Bush's term in office terrorism around the world increased. No, there were not any other attacks within our country during those 7 years but that doesn't mean we were safer nor does it mean that we should overlook the tremendous failure that resulted in 9/11. The world is much less safe thanks to Bush's foreign policy decisions. Wake up America!

Finally, I must question the thought process of those people who say that democrats are going to take away our rights. To what rights are you referring? Democrats are all about giving rights to everyone and making sure everyone gets a fair shake in this world. Just think about the ACLU that conservatives love to complain about. They were the ones that got Christians the rights they have in our country and they are trying to help other religious groups get the same rights. Democrats are saying that homosexual people should have the same rights as heterosexual people. Republicans are the ones trying to make government in charge of moral decisions and your personal rights. Republicans are supposed to be against big government yet they want the government to decide who can get married. They want the government to force women to have babies. They want the government to be involved in decisions to turn off life support when our loved ones are kept alive by machines. They want government to make moral decisions and tell us what our kids can learn about birth control and how to protect themselves from diseases. Republicans are for government control of our moral and personal decisions which means more government not less in our lives. I really want to know one right that democrats are trying to take from the American people. Just because the republican talking heads say that democrats are taking away your rights doesn't make it true. People say these things without really thinking through what they mean or whether it is a fact. I need Americans to wake up from their daze and their zombie like following of Fox news talking points and use their brains to make decisions. See these "facts" as what they are. They are lies. No child left behind teaches kids to memorize facts for a test and not think for themselves. This fits in exactly with the Republican ideology. Pay no attention to the truth of what is happening in America. Simply listen to what we say is going on and then go repeat it to the world. If we say it enough it won't have to be true, it will become "fact".

The fact is that we need taxes to function as a country. The fact is that if you make less than $250,000 a year you will pay the same tax or less tax than you did before. The fact is that investing government money to build infrastructure is not a communist or socialist program. It is actually a lot like FDR's new deal. The fact is that you are more likely to die in this country of a curable illness than you are in 39 other countries. The fact is that Obama's health care plan is far from socialist and just makes health insurance premiums affordable and available to all Americans. The fact is that Republicans would like the government to become bigger and more involved in your personal decisions and personal lives while the democrats would like you to be in charge of your own life and let government focus on governing. The fact is that we are not as safe as we were 8 years ago and that is a direct result of the decisions made by George W. Bush and his cronies. The fact is that many Americans don't know these facts because they listen to people who lie to them all day so they will follow an ideology that keeps them poor, dependent on government and hate filled.

Please wake up! Read the stimulus plan for yourself and see what it really does. Read Obama's health care plan for yourself and see that it will benefit big business, small business, and regular Americans equally. Read the national security reports and see that all 21 intelligence agencies have agreed for years that we are less safe because of our decisions. Don't just listen to me. Go and read and think for yourself. The information is out there if people would care to stop listening to the talking heads and getting frightened by words like "socialism" and "Nazis." I have a bumper sticker that says "Nov. 4th, 2008, Hope won over fear." Don't let words and lies scare you into not thinking. Let the truth help you wake up.