My Tuesday take: does it have to be US vs. THEM?
We’ve all heard complaints about the increasing political polarization of our country: Republicans vs. Democrats with Independents holding the deciding votes. Glenn Beck vs. Keith Olbermann. The Drudge Report vs. The Huffington Post. Fox News vs. everybody else. The common denominator? Versus. It’s us against them. It’s a contest. Who’s winning? That all depends on whom you ask.
But is that how it has to be? On an individual basis, is that how it really is? When I’m with my Republican friends (yes, I have a few), do we immediately launch into our differences? Of course not. We generally avoid talking politics because it’s not why we come together. We share a meal or a vacation (seriously) because we like each other, our kids are friends and no one is pro-abortion or wants the government to take over our lives. In almost every way, we want the same things.
Does that shock you? It shouldn’t, but the media and the yahoos want to paint everyone as an extremist. You know what? I’m sick of it. I’m having my Howard Beale moment. I’m mad as hell at how I’m being portrayed as a Democrat and I’m not going to take it anymore. I won’t pretend to know how my Republican friends view me and my opinions, but I do know how House Republican John Boehner and ex-governor Sarah Palin want to portray me and my fellow liberals. It’s not pretty. I’d like to set a few things straight.
I don’t want big government. I don’t want government creeping into areas of my life in which they have no business being. I didn’t want the stimulus because I like big government. I thought TARP was a necessary evil to help individuals and small businesses get back on their feet, or at least back on one foot. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Private enterprise wasn’t stepping up, but Washington was. So okay. The deficit is icky, sure, and I know little of serious money matters, but the theory behind Keynesian economics makes sense to me and to many other VERY SMART individuals who do know about such things. I’m going with it because I believe it will eventually work. Does it make me uncomfortable? Sure, but not nearly as uncomfortable as doing nothing.
Boehner speaks pejoratively about the administration’s efforts to stimulate the economy and lower the unemployment rate by making Democrats sound like we love debt and adore higher taxes. We don’t. Not at all. Rich Democrats don’t want Bush’s tax cuts to be phased out but understand why it should happen. Middle class Democrats understand that our tax rate will stay the same should Bush’s cuts be allowed to expire, so stop trying to scare us. We want to keep as much of our money as the next guy because it helps us pay bills which we have just like everyone else, and it helps us buy things occasionally which we need. Every now and then, we even like to buy things we don’t need because it makes us feel good. And we wish we didn’t have to pay tax on all of it – goods, services, paychecks – but we understand that the roads we drive on and the police we count on and the street lamps that light our way at night only work if we pay for them. So no, we don’t want to pay any more taxes than we have to but we also don’t want to pave our own streets. Also, we know that too much of our money is wasted in the name of bureaucracy and incompetence and it makes us just as mad as Republicans. We hate waste.
Boehner, let’s talk about joblessness. If you and your cronies have a magic wand that can *poof* get individuals employed, we would totally be with you. My Democratic friends and I, many of whom have lost jobs, wring our hands over the unemployment rate. If Minnie Mouse stepped up with the solution to this problem, she’d get our vote. We are so completely uncomplicated that way. We know jobs are the numero uno issue facing this country right now (and many of us speak Spanish) so when the administration offers up an idea that seems to have kept us from falling into the abyss, we support it. Got something better? The problem is, John, you offer nothing.
Oh dear. I can’t write a paper tonight. I’m just disgusted that, because of November, politicians are trying to create differences where they don’t exist, particularly in the areas of jobs and taxes. The ideology isn’t big government versus small government. My Democratic friends and I would be perfectly happy having less government if that could solve our problems right now. The disagreement stems from the belief that we think government’s deep pockets give us an oddly better chance than that of the private sector alone in getting people back to work. We understand that the enormity of the situation requires an enormous solution. It took years for us to get into the mess. It just may take a few more years to get out of it. But just like Republicans, we want out, and we so wish it wouldn’t cost us a dime.
It’s late. There will be a part two.


