To my conservative friends

[substitute]

I listen to the local grandees slapping their knees and chortling as they talk about shooting a few liberals so we get the point. I look at the paper and I see an editorial saying that people with my opinions aren’t American and should leave the country. I look at the TV and I’m being called a traitor, a liar, a sympathizer with our enemies. I see nice clean smart educated middle-class people in sweaters agreeing with each other that homosexuals and liberals and non-christians should be excluded from our schools and government jobs because “they just don’t share our values”.

I see this more and more, and a hundredfold again more since this election.

And then I look at my conservative friends, who vote and donate and support these people. I think about people who are very nice to my face and share food with me and appear to enjoy my company, and call themselves my friends. And then I look at their friends. And I think: “What do they say when I’m not around?”

Do they stand up for me and mine at all? Does anyone ever say “No, those people are Americans, too; their viewpoint is legitimate”. Or “Don’t be silly, this country has room for more opinions than one.” Or even just “live and let live”?

I was raised to build bridges to others; to find points of agreement; to share values when I couldn’t share politics; and to agree to disagree. I can’t do that any more, because they’re making total war on me. When I do it with you now, I feel like an idiot, because no one on your side plays that game now.

My father and his father and his father before him back to the founding of this country have fought in all our wars. I am an American or I am nothing. The liberal values we have are Kennedy’s, and FDR’s, and Jefferson’s. But your friends say that’s all a lie, or at least it’s all over with, and it’s time for me to leave and let them have their way.

Is that how you see me, too? Is that what you want, too? Because if that’s the case, please tell me. Then I’ll know who isn’t my friend, and never was. I’d never thought I’d say this, but I don’t feel safe around you any more.

Comments

Re: Your answer...I hope: Part Two of Two

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not sure I follow this. S-corps and sole proprietorships don't pay dividends (where a substantial portion--but not all--of Bush's tax savings for those over $200,000 came from), and that somehow relates to whether or not a small employer would be able to offer a job or not. And offering health benefits to more Americans would suddenly cause him/her to choose an option that already exists (cheaper insurance) just because a new option is federally-serviced--clearly an option against Republican views on the function of government (and remember, in a group plan, the owner of the business has to go along with it for their insurance too). And because there's no scientific facts to prove that a child raised in a stable home with same-sex partners rather than a home broken by rampant divorce rates and de-sanctified by Britney Spears-like stunts is any worse off, the latter is somehow better than the former. I just don't see it.

I also don't see how those choices do anything to defend the rights this administration has already declared they want to take away from you, me and others.

It's possible I read the screen wrong, but thank you for sharing how you saw the election--it was a fresh perspective on conservative views on these issues.

-W :)

Re: Your answer...I hope: Part Two of Two

[pbd.livejournal.com]

Ah, but Kerry was not talking about dividends. He was talking about raising individual income taxes on the top 1% of Americans who make over $200,000 a year. How this affects small companies is that most are S-Corps or sole proprietorships whose taxes are on the bottom line profit of the company. See if you are the CEO of a small company and you pull a salary of $100,000. Your company say makes a profit of $150,000. Your taxes are based upon $250,000, not $100,000. This has nothing to do with dividends. Dividends are profit-sharing distributions for investors that hold stock in a company. Most small companys are not publically shared, so the issue of dividends is a minor issue for the private shareholders in the company, if any. Usually, the CEO holds all the shares of a S-Corp.

The issue of health insurance is a no-win situation. If I own a restuarant, my largest expense are labor expenses even though the majority of people I hire are at minimum wage. If I have to worry about paying for health insurance for employees that work more than 30 hours a week, I am doomed. Basically, I will have to hire more people at a PT level in order to get around this.

I remember when I worked as a server in college. Those extra 8 hours a week is what let me eat as well as pay the rent. I did not worry about health insurance. I worried about paying for rent and food. I did have the option of getting health insurance through my community college, but opted out of it becuase the $60-80 a month was too much to pay.

So, when I look at health insurance, I fear that if the government takes it over, my personal really good insurance will go away and be replaced by the cookie cutter government health insurance. I fear that Kerry's government program will be too far reaching and affect those that do not want our employers thinking of the watered-down government option. Now, if Kerry was offering a low cost health plan to anyone that basically was, "If you do not like your employer's plan, you can opt out and the money your employer contributes to your health plan will go to a medical savings account and you can opt in to the government program with before tax dollars." If this was the case, I would go for Kerry's plan.

stoppit stoppit stoppit

[substitute.livejournal.com]

both of you! this isn't what my LJ is for! i was talking about something else! now shoo!