Tag Archives: politics

Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican

The battle over healthcare reform in the United States has been heating up over the past few weeks. Progressives are pledged to have a comprehensive reform by the end of the year. A majority of the right remains ideologically opposed. We, as Americans, are fortunate to live in a democracy where the clash of ideas are a fundamental right.

Sometimes the democracy chatterbox gets to be overbearing. Perhaps one of the most logical arguments I have heard on the matter has nothing to do with healthcare at all. I thoroughly enjoyed this ouevre by John Gray focused on a denizen of the political right.

Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.

Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republicans would still be sitting in the dark)

He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.

He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.) Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have”.

If someone would provide me with an equally tempered tome aimed at the left, please send it to me.

If I were to expand Gray’s piece it would include measures of how Joe’s wife had the right to vote, equal wages and reproductive rights. Joe may even talk with his African-American boss afforded basic civil rights. All because of some liberal.

Now it should be said that these “liberal ideas” are not the exclusive property of political left. There are those on the right who contributed to their passage. To discount their contribution to the nation weakens our democratic Union. It is my hope that there are those on the right willing to work with left in getting comprehensive healthcare reform passed. There is no better than the time like the present for a healthier America.

White House – Reality Check

Equilibrium of Dissent

Editor’s Note: The following text was a persuasive essay that I entered into a writing contest. The open-ended theme of the contest was “How does writing sustain democracy?” Although I very loosely incorporated writing in the beginning and end of this essay, I felt it was to powerful to keep to myself. I entered the contest, but decided not to share it until the day that winners would be notified. The Presidential Election is too important for you to not participate. My position on the election has been made very clear. Despite this, I implore both republicans and democrats to take the time to exercise your rights as a citizen. November 4, 2008 is a day to make history. Without further ado, my entry…

In the late summer months of 1776 British monarch King George III sat in his regal chair with his afternoon tea and correspondence. Among the parcels was a letter from the thirteen British colonies in America. As he perused the letter the king clenched firm his fists, pursed his lips, and shook with vitriol.

To Whom It May Concern:

We are of the opinion that King George III has not been governing British America very well. Therefore, we are going to give it a go on our own.

Enough is enough George!

Sincerely,
The United States of America

As a red, white, and blue-blooded American I like to think King George III then fell over backwards in his chair. With ratification on July 4, 1776 our patriots established a democracy by a unified act of dissent against a monolithic corrupt authority. The written letter King George III lost his stoic British composure over was the United States Declaration of Independence.

To insure that citizens of the newly formed United States were guaranteed their unalienable rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” the Founding Fathers included the right to dissent. The Declaration preamble authorizes citizens of a corrupt government “to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” The Declaration is more explicit in its dissent affirming language proclaiming, “it is [the citizens’] right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

Our democracy functions on the principle that citizens will work together to come to agreement towards securing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Fortunately, the day-to-day majority of these written agreements legitimately benefit our society. Be that as it may, there have been times when our nation’s laws have tarnished our democracy. In our nation’s infancy people with black skin were nothing more than property. The indigenous people were cattle to be driven out west. Women were expected to make decisions at home, but not in public policy.

How did patriots secure the rights of blacks, native populations, and women? Those who asserted their right to dissent with the status quo brought change. Their brave dissent provided a fundamental and corrective balance to our democracy. The collective efforts of those who struggled for their rights in turn made our democracy stronger. Today, however, we can only read about their endeavors in history books. Their tomes are ghosts of American democracy, as it existed in bygone eras. To whom can we look for models of modern dissent in America?

We look to the unpatriotic Americans who refused to follow the status quo after 9/11 for modern, living, breathing examples of democracy.

Recall the unpatriotic Americans who questioned whether Saddam Hussein was legitimately linked to 9/11. Saddam Hussein still has no credible link to the events of 9/11 as of 2008. This unfortunate truth has cost the lives of more than 4150 of America’s finest soldiers.

Think back to the unpatriotic Americans who questioned if Saddam Hussein actually had weapons of mass destruction. We now know that he had never procured yellow cake, stockpiled nuclear weapons, or hoarded other WMDs. Tens of thousands of America’s finest are coming home with life-altering injuries and untreated psychological disorders from this fruitless endeavor.

Conjure up the unpatriotic Americans who questioned whether the War on Terror really would pay for itself with oil revenues. Emergency appropriations bill after appropriations bill has funneled money into Iraq without appropriate oversight. We have currently spent over $700 billion of your tax dollars rebuilding that country.

…and we still have not caught Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan!

Ponder the unpatriotic Americans who questioned whether suspending habeas corpus and torturing people for information was legal. Our nude Abu Ghraib prisoner stacking and Guantanamo Bay water-boarding exercises have destroyed our credibility as an advocate for basic human rights on the world stage.

Reflect on the unpatriotic Americans who questioned whether The Patriot Act encroached upon civil liberties. The telephone companies and intelligence agencies have been caught red-handed spying on Americans without a warrant. The secret No-Fly List has the TSA blindly accusing American citizens of being potential terrorist threats. The world’s top intellectual minds are avoiding our country due to harassment from the Department of Homeland Security.

Mull over the unpatriotic Americans who marched out of sync with the beat of the war drum. They have been relegated to pre-designated out-of-sight out-of-mind zones where First Amendment rights have been quarantined like an infectious disease.

The nerve of these unpatriotic Americans defending our rights via dissent!

In the past eight years we ordained fear as a guiding light and have somehow been led into darkness. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would be rolling in his grave if he knew our worst fear is fear itself. We will not survive if fear continues to be status quo. Now is the time for the status quo to change. Everyday Americans have the power to change.
If you were to scrutinize the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives in Washington D.C. you may be surprised at its physical condition. It is pathetically brittle, a jaundice shade of yellow, and has print barely detectable to the naked eye. The ink may be dried and fading on the Declaration, but the ink is still wet in the wells of each American’s democratic vote. Within the American vote lies the power to write the text of our democracy and, as a means of preservation through dissent, to make right our democracy when it is wrong.

A vote of dissent is an unalienable right granted to you. Dissent provides balance to our democracy. Dissent is an explicit act of patriotism. Dissent is an act of love for our democracy.

Enough is enough George!