The Good Goes Away

I just gave $50 I can't really afford to the Democratic National Committee.  The reason for this is the people on the other side.  The Republican Party is no longer a party of fiscal tightwads.  Instead we have people who mistake Christianity for Objectivism.  We have Theocrats and racists.  We have out and out lunatics claiming to be an alternative to president who's mired in the mistakes of the previous administration.  Think I'm joking? Tune into what some of them are saying:

• Sharon Angle called for armed insurrection in a TV interview yesterday.  She also talked about 'taking out' Harry Reid
• Angle has also said that the unemployed are spoild
• Rand Paul has said that the government has no business enforcing Civil Rights laws on businesses.
• Angle said that the Constitution does not create separation between church and state(goes against almost 200 years of legal interpretation).
• Representative Joe Barton has warned against adopting wind energy because we may run out of wind.  Not with this guy in office.
• Joe Barton is the same guy who apologize to BP for the government demanding the company clean up its mess.
• State Republican Parties are trying to make homosexual acts illegal.  Why are they for smaller government except in out bedrooms?

As if that isn't enough, Scott Brown wants to shift the burden of winding down failing banks onto the average individual tax payer instead of taxing banks.  Not only that, Republicans will not increase taxes at a time when states are buckling under revenue shortages.  The great tragedy here is that this crisis was one of their making.  Goes like this:  To compensate for lower salaries than comparable skills fetch in private industry, governments tend to give the employees generous pension benefits.  And, don't tell me that state employees make more than the private sector employees.  I've been a state employee most of my working life and we make 3/4 of the prevailing private sector salary if we're lucky.  The only problem with generous retirement benefits is that they have to be budgeted for.  In my case, as a university employee, I've had a kick ass 403b plan.  That's a defined benefit plan.  I've contributed generously since day one and the Us have matched.  I'm going to do okay.  States fell under the spell of Reagan and failed to fund pension plans while pleasing voters with tax cuts.  The employees weren't going to retire for thirty years so who cared?  Turns out it's us kids who were just going into high school back then.  The same kind of mentality spread to federal entitlement programs.  No amount of discretionary spending cuts can reduce the deficit or the debt.  Only cutting benefits and raising revenues will do that.  Should we fail to do that, the good will go away.  Did you get your degree from a state university?  That'll go away and is going away now.  The Good Goes Away.  Do you have kids in public schools?  Do you realize they'll need a level technical skill that you never dreamed of just to survive?  Well, teachers are being laid off and programs canceled.  The Good Goes Away.  Do you use computers at Public Libraries to search for a job?  Public Libraries have cut staff and reduced hours.  Branches will close.  The Good Goes Away.  Voting Republican makes the Good go away.