Thursday, March 24, 2011

What Is Your Philosophy?

Conservatives are busy cutting taxes for the wealthy while slashing programs which help the less fortunate or which run contrary to their ideology.

The majority of Americans who work have income which is taxed at 25% or above. The wealthy send their money to work, and receive income in the form of capital gains and dividends; that income is taxed at 15%. Which should be considered more valuable, income from people doing actual work, or income from money which is doing the work? Conservatives think that if you have to work for a living, your income should be taxed at a much higher rate.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

FactCheck.org's Lies About Social Security


In Democrats Deny Social Security’s Red Ink on FactCheck.org, the author claims that Social Security is contributing to the deficit. The only reason it is apparently doing that is because the debt/deficit figures do not count the U.S. Treasury Bonds held by the Social Security Trust Fund as a liability, unlike the U.S. Treasury Bonds held by China.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Budget Cuts Equal Jobs Cuts

Comment posted to Robert Greenwald Blog:

Try increasing revenue. Why give billionaires and millionaires, corporations and capital gains recipients tax breaks while gutting programs which help the poor, the disabled, the sick and the elderly? Individual responsibility without social responsibility is irresponsible. The poor are not lazy, not without discipline, and are not spiritually weak. They are poor, usually from circumstances beyond their control. Take your paternalistic attitude and your misguided morality elsewhere.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Minnesota Budget Cuts vs. the American Dream

There is a petition at MoveOn.org to the Minnesota legislature. The text of the petition is:

"Minnesota is already dealing with tough budget cuts. Corporations and the wealthy must pay their fair share for quality schools, police, health care, and other vital public services."

I have added comments to this petition, and I will be sending these comments directly to my state representatives:

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Letter To Rep. Collin Peterson

Originally published as a Letter To The Editor on December 8, 2010, in the Grant County Herald, Elbow Lake, Minnesota.

I recently sent a letter to Collin Peterson.  This is a copy of that letter.

November 24, 2010

Rep. Collin Peterson
2211 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515

I see that you voted against extending unemployment benefits (just in time for winter and the Christmas season), apparently believing that it is the poor who should bear the burden of easing budget deficits and reducing the National Debt. Yet you voted for massive tax cuts for the rich in 2001, which increased the national debt.

Republican Hypocrasy

Originally published as a Letter To The Editor on November 24, 2010, in the Grant County Herald, Elbow Lake, Minnesota.

Please, please do not let the Republicans plunge us ever deeper into debt. Their idea is to "extend the tax cuts for the rich; let's pretend that supply-side economics will work even though it didn't for Reagan and both Bushes." The Republicans are calling the return to fiscal sanity a "massive tax hike." They are refusing to extend unemployment benefits (just in time for the holidays) because it is unfunded, yet they are not proposing that the continuation of the massive tax cuts for the rich be somehow paid for.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Debating "This Is War"

This is a response to a comment made on an article titled "Michael Moore on Wisconsin: 'This Is War'". The original comment:

After years, if not decades of media and the public decrying our leadership (in any of its forms) as not accomplishing anything, the Wisconsin governor comes out and accomplishes something in a way that he believes is good for the state.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Conservative Moral Error

The conservative moral system relies on the model of the strict father family, with the father as the ultimate moral authority in the family (with God as the ultimate strict father). The father will protect the family, support the family, and will be strict with his children so that they will develop internal discipline.

To protect the family, fathers will control reproduction and will oppose non-traditional families. To support the family, competition in the marketplace will provide resources; anything which detracts from the marketplace must be opposed. With discipline, children will prosper and become moral beings.