Nothing divides us, one from another, like religion and politics. Strong opinions and firmly held beliefs tend to get in the way of good relations, even within a family. When one of these topics comes up, and you find yourself in the middle of it, step back and listen to the language you use and the other person uses. Listen to yourself. Call attention to their language. Are you calling the other person names or insulting them because they believe what they believe? Is that useful?
I recently was treated to an admonishment by an elderly relative of mine because I do not support Obama for President. I was told emphatically to THINK, THINK, and surely I would reach the conclusion that Mr. O cared more for the people than that mean, old Republican. Why, this person had watched a special on PBS which informed her all she needed to know about these two men. The message, about as subtle as a a train wreck, was that only un-thinking people would vote for McCain. Oh, and that Palin woman! What a dolt! Out of respect and decency, I kept my mouth shut. It didn’t matter. I was not in the least bit interested in winning an argument. In fact, you don’t win those types of arguments, you just have them. The conversation ended by her telling me she was extremely disappointed in me. Wow, did I learn a lot.
I am a conservative politically. In fact, I am very, very conservative. Most all of the people around me in my personal life are not. The idea that this alone makes me wrong, and stupid, and un-thinking is very insulting. Do we all have to think alike? I do not engage in political arguments. I don’t particularly care what others believe. They are going to think what they do- as am I. Why does someone feel the need to change another’s strongly held belief? And to do so with an insult is hardly persuasive.
There are two opposing views of our politics, closely tied to our economy. Obama is a socialist. That’s not name-calling, it’s what I see. He views government with a big G- a force for good, a means to do good things and help struggling people. That’s all very good-hearted and noble. How can anyone be against helping the little guy? You know what? I HAVE thought about it, a great deal. Obama wants to transform us into a country more like Canada or France. In his own words to Joe the plumber, he wants to “spread the wealth around”. That’s very telling. Except there is a problem. It isn’t his wealth to spread. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates spread their wealth around. Millions of good people in the U.S. spread their wealth around all the time. Which leads you to a conclusion, a socialist does believe that the government owns and has a right to the wealth created by it’s people and that the role of the government is to manage that wealth, for the common good. Socialists think wealth is created by government levying taxes, and your patriotic duty (Biden’s words) is to pay your taxes to the government, “join the game” Biden said. Government is the game. Uh Huh.
I come from a totally different perspective. For our capitalist economy to work properly, we need a constant, steady rate of growth, expansion. Therefore, wealth has to be created anew. Just recycling the same wealth does not suffice. Too much inflation- the government just printing money, like it’s doing now, will cause prices of everything to rise too rapidly and cause economic pain for most. (Inflation IS coming) Deflation is the worst for capitalism, like The Great Depression. Housing is suffering from deflation right now. Where does wealth creation come from? It comes from the labor we all do inside businesses. We create wealth when we build things and perform a service. It comes from capital being invested where it’s needed to create a profit. That is where wealth comes from.
Obama wants to confiscate the wealth created by anyone making gross receipts greater than $250,000. He SAID revenue, he did not say net income. So, any small business which grosses 250K or more is gonna pay dearly for getting there. I think there are going to be a lot of businesses being split up into smaller pieces, spun off to separate entities. Wealth creators will do what they have to. You see, it is THEY who are really helping people, directly. No middleman involved. Win Win. When government feeds off your little wealth-creating entity, it has to keep most of it’s money for itself, the act of administering the beauracracy takes lots of cash, and then they dole out the rest in return for votes.
And so there is this tension between the creators of wealth and the spenders of other people’s wealth that we call politics. Obviously, we need to pay taxes so the government can defend us from people who want to kill us, and there needs to be assistance for people who are unable to help themselves. Beyond that, let the fight begin!
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree with you, for the most part. I do not want to be penalized for being successful in life. However, I do not think that we do a good job in caring for those that cannot care for themselves. Surely we could divert a little money from the nation’s coffers for those folks, and kill some of the pork projects that are always cropping up!
First off I’m a democrat but I’ve voted
republican when I thought he was a better candidate. I don’t like Bush but not because he’s a republican. It
because he’s cocky and didn’t think before involving us in a war. He admits now that he made a mistake about Osama’s
threat to us.
Very nice articles, all
I need a little wealth spread this way!
I am also a conservative, and It is true, Obama is a socialist. Nobody wants to admit it in the “main stream” media, but its true.
We shall see what happens when Obama becomes president, I hope for us all, that he doesn’t make too many severe to the left changes.
As said, nothing divides us more then religion and politics. Sometimes, each person has such a different view, it is better not to argue at all. Thanks for sharing the story.