Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Reagan's Words Ring Hollow, Yet Scary

As I reflect on modern day Republicanism and it's mass failure to "help" America, I think back to their halcyon days of yesteryear. According to Conservatives and Republicans, Ronald Reagan, circa 1980, said the scariest words were: "I’m from the government, and I’m here to help." Seems that sentence is the slogan de jour for the GOP in these financially tough times. How do they explain George W. Bush's administration bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, injecting massive capital into Wall St failures and buying insurance giant AIG? Seems all that small government, "let the markets adjust" economic rhetoric is complete bullshit for these guys. The US is a socialized country when it comes to large failures, spread the pain. But when it comes to profits, it's all about privatizing it for the well off. Fair play. But don't call it capitalism. It's not. True capitalism would tear this country to pieces.

But I guess Reagan's words were right in the sense the government will "help" you lose your rights, they can now wiretap you, spy on you, detain you forever, torture you, suspend habeas corpus, have Michael "Heckuva Job" Brown show up after a hurricane, have mental midget Alberto Gonzales protect your rights, have John Bolton represent you in the UN, and the list of Republican "help" goes on. Government is inefficient, I get that. But the Republicans have made it incompetent. Big difference.

So take that big incompetent government you're supposed to hate, even though it bails you out at every crisis, and think if the Republicans got there way, Reagan's words would mean, "I’m from the government, and I’m here to make you have a baby because I've taken your choice away. You have to have this baby." Imagine a more personal decision that the government wants to make for you? You don't decide, the government already did for you.

Stay free, vote Obama.

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