Arguing With People Is Fun

I seem to do some of my best writing when I’m responding to other people. They give me inspiration, and I give them rantings. It’s a beautiful symbiosis…or something. I don’t know if I’m using that word right. Anyway, arguing with people on Facebook led to some stuff that I figured would make decent blog material, such as:

Other guy: Democrats created their own mess by not using “supermajority” to their advantage.

You’re right. The Democrats blew it when they had power because they actually dared to work with the Republicans and try to make a compromise instead of going the ruthless bloodthirsty bullying route the Republicans like to use. They played the victim during the election last year, and people bought that stupidly, and now that they are taking control back, they are showing who they really are: bullies hellbent on pushing their agenda and ONLY their agenda no matter what anyone else says. If only the Democrats had that kind of tenacity to just say “Fuck you, Republicans. We’ll do it our way.” Now the Republicans think because they won one house of congress they can run the entire country their way. It’s ridiculous.
How much money could be brought in if the rich were taxed the way they should be? Guess what, if you tax a millionaire 50%, they still have $500,000. If you can’t live lavishly off that, then you’re doing something wrong.

Yeah, that last paragraph seems out of place, but we were all discussing the budget crisis and ways to increase revenue.

Someone else: The government needs to cut spending.

I agree. The government needs to cut waste. But that’s not what the Republicans are proposing. They want to cut programs that people depend on. They want to cut… Pell Grants so people can’t go to college. They want to cut Medicaid and Medicare so that the poor and elderly don’t have health care. They want to cut welfare and WIC so that the poor, including women & children (which is what WIC is for) won’t get food.
But you’re right. None of those people aren’t important. The important people are the rich ones. We have to make sure they have more than they need instead of seeing that our citizens have the bare necessities. If that’s the American way, then the country is officially screwed. That’s NOT an America to be proud of.

3rd person: How do you address $14 trillion in debt?

I didn’t see Reagan or either Bush worrying about the debt while they were in office. Why is Obama suddenly to blame for the entire $14 trillion? As for paying it off, it’ll never be paid off completely. How do we get a balanced budget? Not sure if you can anymore, but your only options really are taxing the rich and cutting defense spending. Cutting social program is reckless and would return this country to a time where people lived in tents instead of crappy apartments. People on welfare aren’t living the high life but at least they have a place to live.

First person again: (sarcasm) Yeah, rich people have too much money! Let’s give it to people who don’t have any. (end sarcasm) There’s a name for that kind of government. (I’m guessing he was implying communism or socialism or something.)

I don’t feel sorry for rich people who get taxed. In a perfect world, they should be WILLING to give their excess to people who have nothing. But this isn’t a perfect world, so we actually need the government to stand up for the little person (which is pretty messed up when you get down to it). If you’re middle class and defending the rich, I ask what on earth is wrong with you? Why do you go against your own interests? If you’re rich, then I say kiss my fat liberal butt.

First person again: What do you mean you don’t feel sorry for rich people? How would you like to be burdened with $15,000 mortgage payments and $7,000 car payments? They pay a lot more taxes than you or me, and they’re in a position to hire me and you’re not. (At this point, I think even most right wingers would be trying to scoot their way away from this guy. This is the stupidest argument in favor of rich people I’ve ever heard.)

Is this a joke? Am I being pranked? Because your last comment doesn’t even sound like it could be real. How would I like to be BURDENED with a $15,000/month mortgage? Well, that one is easy to avoid. Don’t buy an excessively large home! Don’t buy such expensive cars! And it’s irrelevant because the rich can afford it. If they can’t, then they have serious spending problems. I could happily, securely, and comfortably live on $100k per year for my family of five. We don’t make that much now, but I know I could easily live on $100k. Excessive wealth is just that, excessive. If I tax a millionaire 50%, and s/he is suddenly broke, THEY are doing something wrong. I don’t feel sorry for someone who might have to only own one vacation home instead of two.
As for them hiring you, guess what? RICH PEOPLE DON’T USE THEIR OWN MONEY TO DO THAT. Unless you’re being hired to clean their pool or be their butler. Businesses use their own money to hire people, and if they need fresh capital to hire more people, they’re either going to the bank, or selling stock, and that stock could be bought by ANYONE, not just rich people. It’s a complete fallacy to say that rich people are the ones forking out the money to create jobs.

Good time, good times. This is what I do with my time when I’m not taking care of the baby, looking for a job, or playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.

United States?

I think it’s about time we renamed the country.
No, I’m serious.
I think it’s a tad misleading to call it the United States of America. There is absolutely nothing united about us. We’re a nation of hate and anger. Everybody hates everybody these days. Whites hate blacks. Blacks hate whites. Everyone hates the Mexicans apparently. The poor and middle class hate the rich. The rich hate the poor, and don’t even notice the middle class. Christians hate the atheists. Atheists hate Christians. Everyone hates the Muslims apparently. Oh, I can’t forget that the liberals hate the conservatives, and the conservatives hate the liberals. And the moderates think both of them are idiots.

We don’t care about each other. We’re all Americans, but millions of Americans are content to look down on millions of other Americans. How united is that?
I’m not really sure what we should do about it, but I think we have three options.

1. Accept that the country hates itself, and change the name to just States of America. Or maybe just cut the America completely and become Clintonland. I like Bill Clinton.

2. Split the country up into three sections: the liberals, the conservatives, and people who think both are idiots. The conservatives can have the South since a lot of them live there anyway. Liberals get New England…and California. Moderates get the Midwest. I don’t know what we’ll do about the fact that the liberal country is split in two, but we’ll manage.

3. We create 50 little countries that don’t associate with each other and make the federal government completely obsolete. I’ve talked to people online who would like to do that. The red states can stay red, and the blue states can stay blue, and the purple states can do whatever they want. I know what you’re thinking. “Isn’t the country already like 50 little countries by being states?” Yeah, but they’re supposed to be united.

How can we be united when we don’t care about each other? One group of people screams that they don’t want their money going to fund the health care of anyone else. Social programs are being slashed. People’s collective bargaining rights are being taken away because they are being called greedy by people who have way more money than them.

The rich, who have enough money to help everyone, are complaining that everyone wants to steal from them by way of taxes. Taxes are used to pay for social programs that help people! Guess what, you should want to help your fellow Americans. That would make us united! Every man for himself and hoard your money so it can’t help anyone else is not the American way, is it? If it is, then we definitely don’t need to be called the United States.

I Am The Death Of The Middle Class

(This is an early draft of something that’s been bugging me)

I am the death of the middle class. That might sound a little melodramatic, but it’s meant to sound that way. That being said, the plight of my family should sound familiar to so many in the middle class right now, the people that the right wing insist are doing fine while ignoring our slow plummet into the depths of America’s economy.

Why am I the death of the middle class? It’s a long story. It starts with me having my entire future ahead of me. I married young, but unlike so many who marry at my age, it really had little effect on my schooling. In fact, I likely would not have graduated without my wife by my side. I attended Saint Louis University on a full private scholarship. I graduated with my bachelors in communication, specifically public relations. Right about this time the economy tanked, and the amazing economy of Clinton’s administration had just died. Instead of going from college to a sound entry level position in PR, I instead ended up having stay at my clerk job at QuikTrip for another nine months as there were no jobs in my field.

Even after QuikTrip I couldn’t find a job in my field and instead worked in a doctor’s office in a job my mom helped me to get. From there I got the closest thing I’ve had to a break since graduating college: assistant manager at Walgreens. After a few other retail jobs that went poorly, I had a four year stint at Sears where I was promised a management job I never got. Raise your hand if that’s happened to you at some point too. I thought so. We should all have a party sometime. They just let me go for what amounts to salary reasons. I found out they replaced me with a part time associate making far less than I did.

The point is I did everything I was supposed to, and I have nothing to show for it. I graduated college, but never got close to the career I wanted. I worked hard at my jobs, but never got anywhere because they were all terrible dead end jobs.

Now I’m unemployed. 10 years after graduating college, I have no career, no future. Where is the American Dream? I did everything right, and have slowly sunk out of that middle class into the world of government assistance, much like so many of my middle class brethren.

And it’s not getting any easier. Many companies won’t even look at someone who is unemployed no matter what the reason. Do the right wingers have a problem with this? Absolutely not. Hey, companies should be able to hire anyone they want, no matter who gets worked over in the process. If my career dies off, then tough. It’s the freedom of the COMPANIES that’s important. Not you and me. If we can’t find a job, then it’s our fault…uh…even if nobody will even read our resumes. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Ah, but we could try finding a job in another city/state/country/planet. Yeah, we COULD, but this isn’t about what’s possible. It’s about what’s right. I have a baby buried at a local cemetery. I’m not leaving her just to find a job that pays a little more in another state. Not to mention the costs of moving. The right wing doesn’t care about that. As long as there is a remote possibility of me finding a job with Santa’s Elves, they feel content washing their hands of me and the rest of the middle class.

You see, the right wing thinks the middle class that is sinking to the lower class are doing it of their own free will. We WANT to become “welfare queens.” We WANT to live off the government, and “steal their money.” This might be the single most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I want to be successful. I am insanely jealous of my children’s friends’ parents who live in nice houses and drive nice cars. I rent a house that’s barely passable for “okay,” and my wife and I share a Hyundai. This is not the life either of us signed up for. We didn’t intend to put our kids on Medicaid. We didn’t intend for our baby to have WIC formula. I was supposed to be quite secure in my PR career by now. Instead, I’m looking to start over and try a totally different field, which will take another couple years at least. If it weren’t for my wife doing well in a job she hates that underpays her severely, we’d likely be homeless by now.

We’ve had so many things go wrong that were out of our control that I wonder where conservatives get off talking about bootstraps. I didn’t tank the economy last decade, leaving me with a tattered and useless resume that employers won’t even look at. Our credit is awful, not because we’re behind on credit card bills or other accounts but because of medical bills. How is it even right that medical bills go on your credit report? I can’t control if me, my wife, or my children need thousands of dollars in medical care that we can’t afford. Why is that on our credit report? Put stuff we CAN control there like our car payment and credit card bills that are up to date, thank you very much.

I have to wonder, does the right wing really believe what they say? Do they really think that all of us slipping away in the middle class do so because of things we do? We don’t control who lays us off. We don’t control when employers won’t call us because someone else laid us off for no reason. The middle class is dying, and no, it’s not our fault. The right wing needs to stop pretending it’s okay, and realize they are the ones making this happen.

We need changes to hiring laws. Companies are cheating us and themselves by not considering the unemployed. We need to change how credit reports are created, especially since conservatives oppose any real health care reform that might save people like you and me from immense debt from medical bills.

We need to save the middle class because we’re dying out here.  I’m the death of the middle class. Who will bring me back to life?

Better Than Me?

Freedom of Religion?

So Glenn Beck doesn’t like Muslims having their own day at Six Flags on September 12. Why, exactly, does Mr. Beck think Muslims have to hide out around 9/11? 9/11 was caused by Muslim extremists in a terrorist organization. The Muslim religion itself is not a terrorist organization. The vast majority of Muslims are regular folks like you or me, but because of a few evil doers the entire religion has been demonized in this country. It’s so easy to blame an entire group. It’s so easy to hate an entire group. It’s so wrong to hate an entire group.

I really wonder when Muslims are going to be let off the hook on this terrorism thing. How many Muslims do you know that have actually committed any terrorist acts? I’m going out on a limb and saying none. 9/11 was nine years ago, but many people still hold it against them as if every Muslim in this country flew a plane into a skyscraper. I also hate the idea that Muslims are violent and want to violently convert everyone in the world to Islam. I won’t deny there are those on the Muslim fringe who think like that, but there are Christians on the fringe who feel the same way. The fact of the matter is, Muslims aren’t any different than you or me. I know I’ve said that already, but it bears repeating.

Here’s a question: what happened to freedom of religion in this country? So many people hate Muslims now and like Beck want them to hide out. They can’t openly practice their religion like Christians do because of the hate. It’s a joke. For crying out loud, people were accusing Barack Obama of being Muslim as if it would be something to be ashamed of. Who cares what religion he is? Being Muslim would not make him a bad person or a bad president. There is no rhyme or reason to this hatred.

After 9/11, I knew Muslims were going to get a hard time, and I worried somewhat about how people would react. I was concerned that innocent people would be taunted and beaten by angry idiots ready to blame anyone who looked Arabic for what happened. While I never witnessed anything like that, there was plenty of hatred to go around. It’s embarrassing that in a supposedly free country there are idiots who want to get rid of all the Muslims. Sickening. Freedom of religion indeed.

My direct supervisor at work is Muslim, and he’s never performed a jihad. He’s never performed a terrorist act. He’s never tried to force anyone into Islam, or committed any violent acts to people of other religions. He takes off work on the Muslim holidays and doesn’t eat pork. You also wouldn’t suspect him of something so hideous (/sarcasm) as being Muslim as he’s eastern European, not from the Middle East.

This brings me to the ultimate issue with the hatred of Muslims. People in this country expect Muslims to be Middle Eastern. I’m guessing my boss doesn’t get stopped at the airport, but the Pakistani guy behind him sure as hell will. It’s racism, plain and simple. Conservatives, who are most of the people bitching about Muslims and their not-Christian evils, throw a hissy fit these days anytime someone calls them racist saying it’s unjustified and people do it to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. You know, the whole “You can’t criticize Obama unless you wanna be called a racist” thing. However, this is hardcore racism. You can’t deny it. If I told you my Bosnian boss was Muslim, would you think he was dangerous? I doubt it. However, would you be more likely to suspect my Pakistani co-worker of being a terrorist? Probably. If you’re scared of Muslims in America, you’re most likely racist. Deal with it.

I think what I’m getting at here is that if Muslims want to go to Six Flags on 9/12, that’s their right. If they wanted to do it on 9/11, that’s also their right. I wonder exactly how much time around 9/11 Beck expects Muslims to cower in fear from him. I thought this was America, the land of the free. Americans of any religion should not have to hide just to make Glenn Beck happy, and he should be ashamed of his rather blatant racism on this topic. We need to stop the hate and fear towards a perfectly nice group of people who have done nothing. That is what this country is all about, right?

Default: The two sweetest words in the English language

I just wanted to comment that the default image for my WordPress blog looks like David Banner walking off into the distance, searching for the next episode of the Incredible Hulk. That is all.

Love, Rando