129. cedarford:
*Sigh* – more nonsense. Let’s look at your “winner issues” and “loser issues” in turn.
Winner issues:
1) First of all, it is entirely disingenuous to say that “one sixth of Americans are not insured,” and I wish liberals would have the common decency to stop regurgitating that myth. Admit, for once, that ten million of those classed as “uninsured” are not U.S. citizens, many of them illegals. A further 17 million earn more than $50,000 a year and are not “poor” – they can afford their own insurance. Remember, it is not against the law to forgo insurance coverage in order to prioritize other things. It may be irrational, but it’s not illegal. Also, 45% of those classed as “uninsured” are only temporarily uninsured and will have insurance again within 4 months, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
You say Republicans should “work with Dems for a sensible solution” – but how is that possible, when the Democrats reject the only sensible and moral solution – letting the free market make health care affordable in the same way as it’s made virtually every other aspect of technology affordable through innovation and competition. U.S. health care is the best in the world bar none – the only problem is its cost. No wonder, since the number of mandates and regulations imposed on the health care system basically make any meaningful competition impossible. People are forced to buy packages which insure them against many ailments that they just aren’t likely to get, for example. The young are forced into packages which insure conditions only old people suffer from and vice-versa. A crucial element is severely lacking from the health care market – consumer choice. It is not necessary to socialize health care or put it into the incapable, inefficient hands of the government. As soon as Democrats realize this, then we can work toward a sensible solution.
2) Please stop using the phrase “trickle down” as if it referred to am actual theory. Liberals invented the phrase as a straw-man argument to express their resentment toward the inescapable reality that wealth tends to concentrate in the hands of those who are most able to create it. There is no such thing as “trickle down theory,” there is just the fact that jobs and economic growth are the result of capital investment, not enforced “redistribution.” Since business owners and other creators of wealth can’t do their thing without capital, to complain that wealth is “concentrated” in their hands is akin to complaining that the farmer has vast quantities of corn seed at his disposal. Would you rather the farmer simply “redistributed” the corn seed as food, instead of letting him grow it?
Furthermore, the rich already pay far more than their fair share of taxes. The top 20% of earners pay 80% of our tax revenues. Goddammit, how much more do you want them to pay?
3) Reasonable energy policy entails embracing nuclear power and drilling for the vast reserves of fuel that make the rest of the world wonder why in the hell we have an energy problem. Can you see the Democrats admitting this any time soon?
4) I can’t disagree with you there.
Loser issues:
1) I think I agree with you, although your sentence didn’t make much logical sense.
2) I disagree. The time is *never* over to discuss ethical issues.
3) Oh please. Get out of here! Can we just STOP with this left wing myth that the only reason we support Israel is to “please Jews”? Support of Israel does not require that you be Jewish or from the “Republican right.” Israel has every right to exist and it is in our best interests to ensure that this relative beacon of human rights and democracy is not destroyed by the savages of the Middle East.
4) Reagan and Goldwater have nothing to do with today. But that doesn’t mean that a lot of their ideas aren’t relevant today. Protecting our economic freedom, for example, will never be “irrelevant.” Neither will opposing totalitarian ideologies which threaten us.
5) This is another straw-man argument which doesn’t really bear any resemblance to reality. Some Republicans may think like that, others don’t.
6) Again, this is another straw-man argument directed at a mythical person who doesn’t exist. Can you point me toward one Republican who claims that jobs, health care and education aren’t important? Since this is part of a list of “loser issues,” can you give me one example of what you said being promoted as an “issue”?
Other points:
By what historical standard is a five year war considered “seemingly perpetual”?
What is wrong with tax cuts for the wealthy, when they already pay far more than their fair share and are vital to the health of our economy?
What do you mean by “their” corrupt Wall Street crowd? I was not aware that Wall St was controlled by Republicans. Furthermore, where is your admission of the huge role that Democrats played in the financial meltdown?
