It was Republicans who freed the slaves, built the panama canal, and established the national park system. Over the decades, it was Republicans and Democrats who stood up against tyranny in WW1 and WW2, and Republicans who pushed through the Interstate Hwy system. Democrats were for years, over conservative, and through their Dixiecrat contingents, the biggest obstacle to civil right until the death of Kennedy.^It is easy for me to be angry with the GOP. It has turned its back on many of the things it helped create. However, the many other things of which I’d like to accuse it can be equally levied upon the Dem’s. If either party becomes too powerful, what democracy we have will be endangered. A commentator on this board recently replied to one of my posts that Europeans do not consider what we have in the USA to be a true democracy because we only have two parties. Add to that limited number of options the fact that both parties are deeply aligned with monied interests who are now, through Citizens United, able to create superpacs and gain even more influence in gov’t, we are moving more and more rapidly from democracy to oligarchy. It was Mussolini who once said Fascism would be more properly defined as Corporatism. In the name of Liberty, we restrict freedoms and trespass on privacy. In the name of the Constitution, we create laws based on religious opinions. In the name of that religion’s leader, Jesus, we kill, steal, and treat the poor and infirm as burdens on society; a total reversal on what we are supposed to be as a nation- to serve the COMMON GOOD. ^We need both parties to prevent either from becoming abusive, but we need more parties to prevent them from becoming two sides of the same tarnished coin.^We also have to stop insulting each other, and start talking about how to get honorable intelligent people into office. Start by writing to your politicians monthly. Get on their email lists and talk to them. Consider going to the meetings of the local parties, both sides, and with an open mind, talk to people. It’s how this nation was formed. People talked to each other and came up with a plan.Respectfully,C.
About 5 or 6 hours ago the Senate passed a budget.It reportedly did not cut into Social Security or Medicaid.But the Republican run House is expected to kill it.
At the time I started to work in 53, social security and federal retirement were in trust funds and not part of the budget.CONGRESS spent them and now they are part of the deficit’. The only retirement not paid for is that for congerss, the only place to cut.
Entitlements are the biggest portion; BUT they have already been paid for until 2016 and 2030something (Medicare and Social Security respectively) with dedicated payroll taxes. That money was spent on other stuff in past years without accounting for it as deficit spending. So now when it is needed it looks like these programs are the problem, when the problem was tax cuts and wars that came out of the trust fund money. Clever really.
ConserveGov about 11 years ago
It’s not easy to be the one to tell people that those freebies they ask for aren’t really free. In the long run Republicans will be proven correct.
Gizmo01 about 11 years ago
Wait, the other shoe is dropping.
rockngolfer about 11 years ago
Best comic on this site today.
Kylop about 11 years ago
uh-oh seems to have it. As much as posters on this site don’t like it the actual R’s are doing this.
chazandru about 11 years ago
It was Republicans who freed the slaves, built the panama canal, and established the national park system. Over the decades, it was Republicans and Democrats who stood up against tyranny in WW1 and WW2, and Republicans who pushed through the Interstate Hwy system. Democrats were for years, over conservative, and through their Dixiecrat contingents, the biggest obstacle to civil right until the death of Kennedy.^It is easy for me to be angry with the GOP. It has turned its back on many of the things it helped create. However, the many other things of which I’d like to accuse it can be equally levied upon the Dem’s. If either party becomes too powerful, what democracy we have will be endangered. A commentator on this board recently replied to one of my posts that Europeans do not consider what we have in the USA to be a true democracy because we only have two parties. Add to that limited number of options the fact that both parties are deeply aligned with monied interests who are now, through Citizens United, able to create superpacs and gain even more influence in gov’t, we are moving more and more rapidly from democracy to oligarchy. It was Mussolini who once said Fascism would be more properly defined as Corporatism. In the name of Liberty, we restrict freedoms and trespass on privacy. In the name of the Constitution, we create laws based on religious opinions. In the name of that religion’s leader, Jesus, we kill, steal, and treat the poor and infirm as burdens on society; a total reversal on what we are supposed to be as a nation- to serve the COMMON GOOD. ^We need both parties to prevent either from becoming abusive, but we need more parties to prevent them from becoming two sides of the same tarnished coin.^We also have to stop insulting each other, and start talking about how to get honorable intelligent people into office. Start by writing to your politicians monthly. Get on their email lists and talk to them. Consider going to the meetings of the local parties, both sides, and with an open mind, talk to people. It’s how this nation was formed. People talked to each other and came up with a plan.Respectfully,C.
rockngolfer about 11 years ago
About 5 or 6 hours ago the Senate passed a budget.It reportedly did not cut into Social Security or Medicaid.But the Republican run House is expected to kill it.
retpost about 11 years ago
At the time I started to work in 53, social security and federal retirement were in trust funds and not part of the budget.CONGRESS spent them and now they are part of the deficit’. The only retirement not paid for is that for congerss, the only place to cut.
joe vignone about 11 years ago
No fix for “stupid”.
sparky81884 about 11 years ago
Entitlements are the biggest portion; BUT they have already been paid for until 2016 and 2030something (Medicare and Social Security respectively) with dedicated payroll taxes. That money was spent on other stuff in past years without accounting for it as deficit spending. So now when it is needed it looks like these programs are the problem, when the problem was tax cuts and wars that came out of the trust fund money. Clever really.