We went to the movies with Yoram and Bert yesterday and saw Sarah’s Key. A somewhat schizophrenic movie, it vacillated between engrossing and boring. It should have ended thirty minutes earlier.
As is our custom, the forty minute ride to Ventura went quickly as we made the rounds of politics, the economy, the British riots, the astoundingly dopey letters-to-the-editor in the Ojai Valley News, and my recent, somewhat less dopey, Waiting for Superman blog. We especially marvelled at the inability of the Democrats to mount an understandable, mind-grabbing offensive to counter the simple-minded missives delivered by the bad guys.
It appears that lots of folks are waiting for Superman, including Timothy Egan who wrote a similarly named New York Times article on the same day I penned mine. Egan compiles a compelling, and basic English list of points that should be taped to every Democrat’s refrigerator door and repeatedly shouted from their windows much like crazy Peter Finch did so eloquently in Network.
As Egan points out, given the present composition of the House of Loons, the Senate’s sixty vote obstruction provision and the upcoming (isn’t it always upcoming) election, any economic solutions offered by Obama will never see the light of day. You can read Egan’s column, but to save you time and to make the list compact enough to fit on your refrigerator, I’ve taken the liberty of providing a Fredified version of it.
Rich people should pay more taxes. Period. Leave the rest of the folks alone. Let the Republicans be the champions of the rich in a country where 5% of the population owns 60% of the assets. Even more amazingly, 1% of the population owns about 33% of the wealth.
Higher taxes never stopped a business owner from trying to sell more and make more profits. It’s better to make an extra buck even if you gotta pay half of it to the IRS. Let the Republicans do the math.
Higher taxes never stopped any owner from hiring people. As long as they made money for him, he hired them. Let the Republicans prove the opposite. Oh, and point out their intent to reduce corporate income taxes.
And, while we’re talking about the unemployed, ask anyone to name a single jobs creation bill proposed by a Republican since Obama took office.
Instead of falsely claiming that the financial stimulus bill was a failure, you might point out that Obama created more jobs in 2010 than Bush did in eight years. If anything, the stimulus should have been three times larger. Instead, the Republicans focused on debt reduction in spite of its job killing effects.
Nearly 50 million people don’t have healthcare insurance. Obama’s healthcare reform act, though imperfect, chips away at that contemptible situation. Let the Republicans tell us why these folks should go without insurance. Rick Perry might be qualified for that assignment since 1 in 4 Texans have no insurance.
Repeat the mantras of the leading Republican candidates. Especially those dealing with reliance on the bible for solutions, the age of the planet, disputing man’s contribution to climate change, the abolishment of the Federal Reserve (accompanied by the guillotining of Ben Bernanke), a moratorium on environmental regulations (leave it to God), the claim that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, their refusal to allow a woman to determine how to manage her own body, elimination of the minimum wage, getting folks to be more responsible starting with the elimination of federal disaster relief, and their ideological shackle to the National Rifle Association and single-minded Tea Party dim wits.
If all that doesn’t work, try scaring the undecided with the prospect of more Supreme Court justices like Thomas, Scalia and Alito…or worse.
So take that blanket off your face, quit being a woe-is-me wuss, get up off your duff, and be more like Peter Finch…even if he was a loon. Oh, and stop worrying about getting the facts straight. They don’t.
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