Conservatives Can Really Be Heartless Bastards

[babylonsister]

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/conservatives_can_really_be_heartless_bastards/#144242

Conservatives Can Really Be Heartless Bastards
Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet on November 29, 2009 at 1:10 PM.


The U.S. economy has shed 7.3 million jobs in the past 23 months, the biggest hit to the labor market since the Second World War. (Just to keep up with the growth in the working population would have required the addition of around 3.5 million jobs during that time.)

Unemployment has more than doubled in the past two years, and is now over 10 percent. The dispiriting number rises to more than 1 in 6 -- 17.2 percent of working Americans -- when you include those underemployed against their will (working part-time, free-lancing, etc.).

And American households have lost $14 trillion in wealth in the real estate and stock markets since the crash.

Against that backdrop of very real pain, I want you to consider what kind of person would sit down, as John J. Miller did for the National Review, and write something like this about food-stamps, which are currently helping feed 1 out of every 4 American children {ht Tintin}:

Seems like there ought to be a stigma attached to the use of welfare. A little bit of shame can go a long way toward encouraging people to find jobs. The federal government may think it's doing people a favor by providing them with access to food, but it's doing them a disservice if it also robs them of the motivation necessary to break free from dependency.

Yes, an empty belly is just the incentive people need to get up off their lazy asses and go out to find one of those nonexistent jobs.

snip//

If Miller's name rings a bell -- he's a C-list right-winger --it's most likely the result of a much-mocked book arguing that we should regard France as our mortal enemy which he co-authored after the invasion of Iraq. It prompted a review in Foreign Affairs that began: "That a book as shoddy and biased as this one should be published by a reputable press is eminently regrettable."

You can buy a copy on Amazon right now for a penny, if you don't need it for food.

[CBHagman]

1. National Review is the bastion of the puerile and...

...of the mean-spirited. Truly they appear to draw people who haven't matured a single day since high school.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

2. Shame will make the jobs appear? Good grief.

There should be a stigma attached to writing for the National Review.

[LeftishBrit]

3. +1000

'There should be a stigma attached to writing for the National Review.'

Or any right-wing rag!

[JHB]

4. NR is still coasting on the reputation of a dead man...

...even though they shifted direction well before he died. And it wasn't a good direction to start with.

Never thought I'd say anything good about William F Buckley, but....

Nope. Still nothing good. Just a lot of "not as bad as".

[Hubert Flottz]

5. Full circle...

After Reagan wrecked the country back in the 80s the republicans started saying that there were jobs out there but that the American people were just too "LAZY" to work. The people bought it and elected Poppy. History is repeating one more again. And when America elects more republicans it will happen again. Like it's happened over and over again, since US Grant sat in the White House. It's easy to shift the blame to the taxpayer who has no voice in Washington or on Wall Street anymore.

"Even though your job is in India or Mexico it's all your fault that you are unemployed.""(lazy Bastids)" Even when gas is $4.25 a gallon you should probably drive to Bummmfuk Egypt and waste your time filling out papers for nada. "It's ALL your fault and don't YOU forget it!"

[RKP5637]

6. The republicans of today are callous dysfunctional fools, the bullies of society and dumb even

when well educated. Nothing they do surprises me. And if a republican hits hard times, they bully themselves to the front of the line for assistance created by democrats over the years. I've seen it at work many times in layoffs, etc. The label republican to me describes the core personality and essence of a rather despicable and selfish personality type not to be trusted and to be avoided.

[OHdem10]

7. The sad truth is it appears many Conservative Democrats share

this philosophy.

Keep in mind to appease the DLC and B.Dogs--our Democratic
Platform shares and is written to say 'opportunity" .
In other words it is your own fault if you do not take
the opportunity. The old standard. For example: Bill O'Reilly
is fond of pointing out himself as an example of someone
who did not grow up rich but has become a multi-millionnair.
In other words, he did it, others must be lazy, slothful
drug addicted or alcoholic.

Conservatives for the most part believe in Individual Responsibility.
The very idea of a common good is almost anathema. In other
words, they do not have a problem with a tiered society. No one
is owed anything. This is why the programs from The New Deal
and LBJ frustrate them. This why they fight HCIR with a
passion.

Who gave FDR almost as much trouble as the Republicans? Southern
Democrats. Most of those Democrats became Republicans in the
re-alignment under Nixon. Vestiges still remain however.
This is why when the Southern Govenors (GOP) have to make
budget cuts--first on the chopping block,are Medicaid and any
type of welfare. This is why they fought the stimulus
and are fighting HCIR.

It is philosophical with them.

[LeftishBrit]

8. Tom Paxton said it all

Did you vote for Ronnie Reagan?
Howdy-do!
We've got a wonderful surprise in store for you!
You get more than lowered taxes
And a larger, lovelier home
You get a truly needy family of your own

Yes, you can get an actual family in the mail
Once a month you'll get a letter without fail
With a picture of how they're doing
And a plea for help each time
But the best part is you never send a dime!

Oh you got your boy in the White House
Like you always knew you would
And now it's time to take the poor
And stick it to them good
You get the same heart-warming feeling of
Denying a dog his bone
With a truly needy family of your own

You got more than a new cold war when
You cast that vote
You got a chance to grab some poor folks
By the throat
Don't it feel like a million dollars to
Take some ghetto kid and say
"Yes, you had a chance but
I'm taking that chance away."

You get lists of all the help they used to get
You can hear the old folks cough on the tape cassette
You can hear the rats all squealing as they
Scurry across the floor
And the sounds of a street gang
Battering down the door

It all comes in a plain brown wrapper to your address
Please regard it as a tribute to your success
For success alone is not enough
To make a life complete
It's seeing the other guy fail that
Makes it all so sweet!

[safeinOhio]

9. Hunger and shame are more likely to motivate

rebellion. History is a fun read.

[Caretha]

10. A "Let them eat cake" answer

from the morally supreme right wing idiot. I guess he forgot how well that worked out for his "mortal enemmy" France. 14 July 1789 - Bastille Day and the beginning of the end for the elite of the ruling class in France. How soon they forget.

[NC_Nurse]

11. They use shame to keep the $$$ rolling in. If people don't pay their credit cards

and their underwater mortgages, these assholes lose money. If people use govt. services to ehlp them, these assholes might have to pay more
of their share in taxes on the pile of wealth they've accumulated by gouging the dwindling middle class. They LOVE shame. CHA-CHING.