NY Times Article Exposes GOP Hypocrisy

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   Sooner28posted 12 years ago

   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/opini … odayspaper
   
   How can these Republicans stand up and peddle their dysopian fantasies of the United States when they didn't even get rich by them?

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      HowardBThinameposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Conservatism isn't about "getting rich." It's about maintaining a sense of individual responsibility and the freedom to live one's own life. While some in the GOP get rich, so do many in the Democratic Party.
      
      It's a common misunderstanding, but it deserves an  explanation because of all the things conservatives vote for at the polls, the idea that they will get rich if they elect a Republican is virtually nonexistent.
      
      Conservatives vote GOP because they favor limited government and self-reliance to a nanny-state.
      
      I've often wondered if a person's tendency to be liberal or conservative isn't formed early in life, depending upon whether the person learned to do for him or herself early on or if he or she felt dependent upon others to provide.
      
      At any rate - it's not about money. At least not in the sense you describe.

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         Sooner28posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yes it is.  That's what the majority of the article is about.  Disclaimer, caps are used only for emphasis.  The forums don't allow bold or italics.  I just wanted you to know I'm not attempting to yell at you.
         
         People got RICH in America, partially from their own initiative and hard work (though that doesn't make it moral initiative and hard work, because the mafia and organized drug lords work very hard within their criminal networks and become quite wealthy from it), and partially from living in a society that supplies them with a semi-literate workforce and consumer base, a stable infrastructure (or used to be anyway), and government contracts supplied by OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY, sometimes against the taxpayer's will.
         
         I don't like my tax dollars going to defense contractors.  Some of these people get very rich because of government coffers, and there is no denying the empirical evidence staring us all in the face.
         
         It's just like the Tea Party all being on Medicare.  Medicare doesn't limit the amount of care you receive, BASED ON THE AMOUNT YOU PAID IN.  If so, my dead Uncle would've run out of funding before he turned 60.  I think that's just.  Health care is a human right, but when a person votes for a party that wants to take that away for others, and then engages in it themselves, their selfishness defies comprehension.
         
         P.S., my uncle was extremely poor and was able to get on government insurance earlier than normal folk.

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            Mighty Momposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Hi sooner,
            You can do bold and italic type in the HP forums.
            Very similar process to links and images. use brackets
            For bold you do then the text then (no spaced)
            For ital you do text
            You can find both in the "formatting" drop down menu.
            
            Takes a lot longer than making SOME WORDS upper case, tho!
            MM

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               Sooner28posted 12 years agoin reply to this

               What???  Haha.  I'm stupid...  I've been telling people that a lot lately, cause I didn't know you could do it.
               
               hi

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                  Mighty Momposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Uh oh. I've created a monster!!

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      Credence2posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      yes, Sooner, reading the article, it just reveals the conservative at the height of his or her hypocrisy.
      
      They don't want to pay taxes as government services are too 'burdensome' in cost and in scope. But they sure can use the taxpayer's dime to promote their private businesses, yet they say they made their businesses work  all by themselves.
      
      What is it, free-market profits and socialized losses?That so called infrastructure that they loathe is a vital ingredient to their success.
      
      For their failure to recognize this added to a  myriad of other  reasons, I focus my dislike and distrust toward the rightwingers with extreme prejudice!

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         KK Trainorposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         All but federal roads and bridges are paid for with sales tax dollars; lets add up the sales tax the Romneys paid last year compared to the average person. Who do you think paid for more roads to be repaired or built?
         
         Federal programs for the poor are paid for with income taxes, yes. How often do you think the Romneys have used a social program for the poor? How about their kids or grandkids? So the $3 million he paid in income taxes went to programs for those who pay no income taxes because they don't meet the threshold and probably get a refund from the IRS.
         
         Where is the problem?

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            Credence2posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            That KK, was not the point. Let us see his (Romney's) previous tax returns to determine if he has in fact paid so much into the kitty. So he is hiding something? 
            
            The problem is that you miss the point. I say that successful entrepreneurs are not successful totally on their own efforts but must give some credit to the government: infrastructure improvement, and educated workforce, the rule of law that protects their wealth. I say that no man is an island regardless of the imagined daring do of the mighty-righty.
            
            I bet with all the subsides that Romney has taken from the tax code which he is so careful to conceal, that  he has paid little or nothing, so let him prove otherwise.

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   Mighty Momposted 12 years ago

   No. It's not about the money in this article, either.
   It's about  the delusion that private sector success directly translates into job creation prowess in government. The article says the opposite.
   It says exactly what Obama said (was trying to say when misquoted), even Romney can't take full credit for his billions.
   He owes the IRS a nod as well.
   
   I can see the new banners flying proudly over the IRS now:
   "We built it with Mitt!"

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   Jean Bakulaposted 12 years ago

   I take offense at the idea of being described as a person who is not self reliant, just because I believe each person has a right to live and have the health care to help them to do that. Also, there are way too many homeless and hungry people in the richest country in the world. It has nothing to do with how self reliant a person is. We have a large group of greedy and sick Republicans running the party, who had everything handed to them. They took advantage of every tax loophole or any free thing or opportunity they could get from the government or off the backs of working people, because they have financial advisors who help them do it. Obviously Romeny is afraid if he releases his tax returns, the public will be sickened by how much less he has paid into any system than a person making about $50,000.00 a year. And what is the low level of income a family of four needs to be able to collect welfare? It's something like $32,000 a year. That wouldn't even pay my mortgage, food, utilities and electric bill, and I live in a small ranch.

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      stevesoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      "Conservatives vote GOP because they favor limited government and self-reliance to a nanny-state."  If this is true why do they always favor legislation that puts the government in a position to say who can marry and who can't or who can have certain rights and who can't?  Or who can get college aid and who can't?  For people to become rich they have to have the opportunities for education and business. The Republicans always want to deny these opportunities to those who really need them, and make it easier for those who don't need the opportunity or assistance.

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         Credence2posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         So what is self reliance? Who is truly self reliant? I don't see Grizzly Adams anywhere in the lower 48. The concept is just a fantasy when we are all much more interdependent than the right wants to admit. Just threaten Social Security and Medicare, you just as well be touching the eyeball of God. The rightwinger wants to keep their Government perks, subsidies and such, yet say that those are justified but of course everybody else is 'gaming the system' for what benefits are coming to them.

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   MarkAseposted 12 years ago

   The stuff that drives me crazy (it happens on both sides of the aisle) is the outright lies.  Christie talks about passing 3 balanced budgets in NJ, but the only way he did that was by under funding their pension system by 2.5B last year.  I wish we had some type of rules for politicians to not outright LIE

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      KK Trainorposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      We do have a remedy for that, it's called the voting booth.

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