It really irks me to hear Governor Jindal on my TV talking as if he is a change the deceptive practices of the Republican party. He rejected 100 million dollars of stimulus money that would have helped 21000 of Lousiana's unemployed and poor. His reasoning was he didn't want it to increase taxes on small businesses in the future.
Of course we find out that in this future he's talking about (presumably when the stimulus money is gone about 3 years down the road) he could of easily discontinued the unemployed benefits, and not had to tax his businesses.
Now here's the interesting part: Louisiana has the greatest wealth disparity out of all the states in the U.S.
Why the hell are we listening to a man who obviously is putting the concerns of the citizens of his state below his presidential ambitions?
Let me point to the number one reason the common (educated) person does not trust Republicans. When I say educated I mean educated enough to realize that their tax cuts only mean tax cuts for the rich, when their increase of wealth and prosperity means at the increase workload and lower wages for the many, and that their talking points of less government and serving the American really translates to subordinating the individual to the corporation and the individuals that run them.
Notice Louisiana up there in the top right.
Yes let's get disparity and distrust Jindal to revitalize the Republican party into something . . . just as awful and destructive to our country.
Don't you wish they people in places of greater income disparity didn't have a reason to think what the Y axis measures - "most people would try to take advantage of you if they got the chance."
Don't you wish it was solely a result of economic differences and class differences they just make it SEEM that way, because its harder to relate to someone who seems so alien to you?
But I guess in a place like that, we wouldn't even have these disparity problems to begin with, for people like Governor Jindal wouldn't take advantage of their ability to refuse unemployment benefits simply because it doesn't put money in the pockets of the rich (and give him a chance to sequester more political power). People like him justify the distrust the poor have of the rich, and divide our people, weakening our country.
The only reason Republicans ever succeed at the misguided economic (environmental, and regulatory) policies they've been implementing is not because people agree with what they do, and that is what they do not get. It is only because people are ignorant and believe what they say. If we heard a lot of "well our plan is to give rich people and big corporations whatever they want, and let them do whatever they want to you and the environment, and see how that makes America a wonderful place," then things would be a little different.
Fiscal conservatism is great, but not when its solely performed when money seems to be going in the direction of making America a place of equal opportunity and participation. We are not the nation of AIG or Merrill Lynch, the nation of Halliburton and Dick Cheney, we are the land of the free, and the more educated their constituents get the more Republican supporters will realize their politicians don't get it.
And hopefully then we'll get some fiscal conservatism they isn't based on the idea that money should be conserved for the rich, and none should ever be given to the poor (a class which is greatly expanding under these same policies, indicating a "give to the rich take from the poor" philosophy). And maybe we will get some fiscal conservatives who spend more time taking care of the people they represent, not just pretending they do in order to get more power, and get more money in their pockets.
There is a reason we don't allow monopolies, why corporations have health standards, and why there is a minimum wage - its because if you give everything to the corporations they rape the country to fill their coffers. Well I for one do not want a destroyed country, I want an amazing one.
The Republicans need to hop out of the pockets of big business and start to read a little about what effect their own actions are having on the American people. They need to realize the way corporations and businesses help the American people is by making sure corporations and businesses serve the American people, and not the other way around.
Until these realizations are made, they will not be on the side of an America that leads the world in the only way it truly can: with all Americans included.