They Never Learn
The Republican National Committee has sent me another one of those wonderful “super-important” surveys and they’re really serious about it. The implied threats are all over it, the entire back of the survey is covered with a large warning: DO NOT DESTROY! COMPLETE AND RETURN IN ENVELOPE PROVIDED!
Why? It’s not like you listen anyhow. This time, they want to know my position on the 2010 Congressional Districts. I looked over some of the questions and, as usual, they don’t really want what people think, they just want regurgitated party-line pap. All the questions are phrased in such a way that you can either answer the way they want you to or you can be made to look like an idiot. Of course, that’s why they do it, they want a specific set of answers so they can keep doing what they’re doing without actually having to care what their membership actually thinks.
Let’s see where these 16 questions lead?
1. Do you support the Obama Administration’s efforts to eliminate further testing and deployment of an intercontinental missle defense system?
I’d much rather not have to have one at all. Unfortunately, we spent the entire previous administration running around pissing the whole world off, waving our collective dick and playing the “we’re #1″ card when obviously we’re not. There was a time when American industry was indisputably the best on the planet. That’s not the case today. There was a time when the American economy was the strongest on the planet. That’s not the case today. Now we have Republican moral crusaders running around telling everyone that they’re no good. Not only is the United States currently not #1, George Bush made us smell like #2.
2. Should Republicans continue fighting congressional Democrats’ efforts to grant full unconditional amnesty to illegal aliens?
This question always makes me laugh, do they seriously think anyone has forgotten Bush’s attempts to grant full, unconditional amnesty to illegal aliens so his big business buddies would have lots of slave labor? I’d like to see them *START* fighting against it, but they simply don’t. They talk a good game but when it comes down to it, the Republicans don’t want to protect our borders any more than the Democrats do.
It’s interesting to note how many of these questions they’ll accuse the opposition of doing bad things and then pretend that they, themselves, are not just as guilty. Hypocrisy anyone?
3. Do you agree with Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi’s efforts to impose massive tax hikes on the American people?
No more than I agree with the Republican efforts to borrow us into a debt we can’t hope to get out of, which is exactly what every single Republican President since Reagan has done. Bush tried to hide it in “Supplemental Spending Bills” but it’s all the same, putting America into debt to support his personal political agenda.
4. Do you believe that the federal government should maintain a permanent ownership stake in large American banks?
No, but neither does Barack Obama. The whole point of the bailout was to purchase the toxic assets and get the banks back on their feet again. That’s not how it worked out, that’s something that I lay entirely at the feet of both Bush and Obama since one started it and the other continued it, but nobody believes that the public is going to permanently own stock in these banks.
One thing that does need to happen however is re-regulation of the banking industry to guarantee these things can never happen again. Again, that’s something that I lay at both the feet of Clinton and Bush, Clinton for deregulating in the first place and Bush for not re-regulating again when it became painfully obvious that there was a problem.
5. Are you in favor of the federal government using tens of billions more of your tax dollars in an effort to further bailout the U.S. auto industry?
No and I’ve gone on record saying so. We shouldn’t be bailing anyone out, not the banks, not the auto manufacturers, nobody. That’s not how the free market works. Then again, Bush was the one to get the ball rolling, something that the Republicans don’t bother to bring up, so I can’t blame Obama for more than his part in the disaster.
6. Do you support expanded exploration and drilling for fossil fuels off of U.S. coasts and on federal land?
Without a doubt. Drill anywhere that there is oil, I don’t care where it is. But don’t stop trying to develop new fuel sources regardless of what you’re doing. We need better energy policies even if we do find more oil.
7. Do you support the Democrats’ efforts to create a massive new federal government bureaucracy that would be run by unionized government employees and would have complete control of your healthcare costs and choices?
About as much as I supported the Republicans’ efforts to create a massive new federal government bureaucracy that would be run by political hacks and would have complete control over nationwide security. You know… Homeland Security? I’m not going to go into the massive problems that need to be overcome and the fundamental restructuring of the entire medical industry that needs to happen before we have any hope of making socialized medicine work except to say that Obama has clearly not thought this thing through and he’s not going to want to shake the political trees that will be necessary to actually make it function half-way decently.
8. Should Republicans in Congress make expansion of veterans’ benefits a priority?
I’d rather you stop making so many veterans by not having so many pointless military conflicts worldwide. The simple fact, however, is that we aren’t even giving veterans what we’ve already promised them, why should we trust you when you want to expand them? How about you pony up what you’ve already got on the table and when you can do that reliably, then come back and we’ll talk about more. But in any case, stop making so many damn veterans that we need to give benefits to.
9. Do you support maintaining anti-terrorism laws that give law enforcement and intelligence agencies the far-reaching powers to track, detain and prosecute terrorists and their accomplices?
Not just no, but “HELL NO!” The Patriot Act should never have been put in place, Bush and his cronies used it and similar laws to run roughshod over American liberties and treat people like they were guilty until proven innocent. If that’s the kind of country you want to live in, move to China.
10. Should the U.S. government normalize relations with Cuba?
Of course we should, we should have decades ago. The whole idea of “oh no, Castro is an evil commie” is childish. Our inane hatred of Castro has caused untold suffering for the innocent Cuban people over the years, something we ought to be ashamed of.
11. Do you believe Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress have the best interests of you, your family and your community in mind?
About as much as I believe the Republican Party has my best interests in mind. I don’t trust any of you, you’ve all proven time and time again that you’re unreliable, that you’re power-hungry, money-sucking cretins that can’t be trusted farther than I can throw you.
12. Do you believe that American business and industry will be able to compete in the world economy if the Obama Administration bends to pressure from radical environmentalists and implements draconian regulations on emissions, energy consumption and transportation beyond what is required in other industrialized countries?
No, probably not, but we’re not competing in the world economy now so that’s not much of a loss. There was a time when America made the best of virtually everything. We were a nation of producers, not just consumers. Today, we don’t really make much of anything, certainly we don’t lead the world in any industry and our products are not synonymous with “quality” as they once were. While I think we can go too far in environmental restrictions, we certainly don’t go nearly far enough to be a world leader in anything anymore.
13. Do you support raising the age of eligibility for Social Security benefits?
Actually, I support people who put in for Social Security ought to get back exactly what they put in. However, both sides, Democrat and Republican have been raiding the Social Security coffers for years, taking all the “extra” money and using it for porkbarrel projects. As such, the Social Security system is about to fail catastrophically, not because the system failed, but because of gross mismanagement. Republicans bear half the blame for that, perhaps more since they’ve been in charge the majority of years. That’s nothing to be proud of.
14. In your opinion, should Democrats like Representative Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd, who were in charge of congressional oversight committees that refused to pass tighter regulations on banks and industrial institutions such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, share responsibility for the housing crisis caused by high-risk mortgages?
I’m not really sure what “share responsibility” means. There’s plenty of blame to spread around to everyone who has held federal political office in the past 2 decades. Besides, isn’t it the Republicans who typically oppose regulations? Shouldn’t they bear their fair share of the blame for the disaster that came from a lack of regulation? What good is all the finger-pointing going to do now? We need to re-regulate the industry to keep it from happening again and that ought to be a bi-partisan effort. Bet it won’t be though.
15. Do you believe that this nation’s Founding Fathers intended for the federal government to micro-manage state and local functions such as setting educational standards, healthcare, child care and unemployment assistance?
The Founding Fathers had no concept of modern-day life so that’s an irrelevant question. Further, what the Founding Fathers may or may not have intended doesn’t really make a difference, they lived and died 200 years ago, their intentions and desires have absolutely no bearing on what happens today.
That said though, I’d like to see federal oversight of things like educational standards, we need national standards that hold true whether you’re in New York or Bumfuck, Alaska. Even within the same state there are often wildly varying standards and nobody can agree what ought to be taught. I’d like to see a national committee, made up of top-level educators and scientists, deciding what students ought to be held responsible for nationwide and then holding everyone in every school, public, private and home, 100% responsible for it. Put these anti-education asshats out of business, take out the creationist nitwits that infest our school boards and actually raise the educational standards of America.
16. Do you feel that total Democrat control of both chambers of Congress and the Presidency will make our nation more propserous, safe and free?
No more or less than I’d feel it if the Republicans were in charge. I don’t trust either side, but at least the Democrats aren’t a pile of theotards trying to force their morality on everyone.
Of course, the end of these things always has a ridiculous question which they hope will get you to send them money. This is no different.
17. Are you ready to actively support Republican candidates in your area and across the country who are fighting to stop the liberal Obama agenda and reinstitute conservative Republican policies and principles such as personal responsibility, lower taxes, cutting government waste and keeping our defense strong?
Wait a minute, when’s the last time a Republican actually did any of that? I’d support it if that’s what “conservative Republicans” did, but we all know otherwise. Most “conservative Republicans” are hypocritical holy-rollers who only care about personal responsibility as long as you’re doing what they think is responsible, all the while they’re dicking their intern under their wife’s nose. They don’t care about lowering taxes, they still spend money like it’s going out of style, they just tack it on to the national debt. We’ve just spent 8 years of the worst governmental waste in history under a Republican President, with more money being wasted on stupid, pointless wars and they want us to think they’re fiscally responsible? And keeping our defense strong? Maybe we wouldn’t have to if we didn’t run around pissing everyone else on the planet off!
No, the only “conservative Republican” policies and principles I want them to reinstate are the real ones. Real personal responsibility, keep the government out of people’s bedrooms and out of their personal lives. Actual fiscal responsibility, don’t spend more money than you have, period. Keeping government small and reducing it’s impact on the lives of American citizens. Those are the tenets of conservatism I care about and the ones that the Republican party has entirely abandoned. So no, you’re not getting my money, you’re getting nothing but my derision over your abject stupidity.
Come on back when you actually become conservative in more than name only.
One Comment to “They Never Learn”
Missile defense systems are a waste when they can just send over more missiles…
Yes, let’s drill all over the place. Let’s screw over the areas the US can be proud of and further ruin the healthcare system with sick people.
Bitchscriptions
Revolt Basic theme by NenadK. | Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).