In my life it has always amazed me to find out

[cbc5g]

That the people who despise Democrats and government the most are the ones who use welfare, medicaid, food stamps etc the most. I recently met up with a friend from HS and I surprisingly found out she was a big Sarah Palin supporter. She had a shotgun wedding a year ago with some guy after having multiple partners with no protection and having a baby (she has another on the way now). She also had that purity ring or whatever they call it. She has no income, her 'husband' has no income, they live in a small place like a basement of somebodies house, and they sit at home and smoke pot all day which is completely irresponsible. **I smoke everyday for medical reasons but I also have a job, take care of my responsibilities beforehand and am on the Deans list. It was really sad to me that someone could bring a child into the world and just not care about being responsible parents.

So I tried to reason with her that Democratic policies help her the most since she was poor, having kids and had no income.. but she had none of it and said Democrats are the reason the country is messed up right now. I told her she is using programs that Democrats helped to bring about. Nope, she wouldn't hear any of it. Apparently hatred for liberalism was passed along to her early on and she has absolutely no idea the changes for the better that liberalism has brought to not just her, but to millions of Americans.

I have other stories like that too and I'm not exactly in the south either.

Amazing isn't it? Anyone else have similar stories?

[Jennicut]

1. Biting the hand that feeds you, it happens time and again.

If Rethugs had had their way over the years, your friend would have nothing and have to survive on her own. Sometimes I wonder if we cannot take stuff away from people who vote Rethuglican and then see how they like the Dem party and liberalism afterward.

[rurallib]

2. they see idiots in high places and believe that could be them

W being the greatest example.

[tonycinla]

3. The answer!

People,whether poor and uneducated or wealthy and very intelligent do not make decisions just on their economic well being.

[texanshatingbush]

4. Oh yeah, my brother is a prime example.....

.....our father died when my brother was a freshman in college. He wanted to drop out and go into construction work. I (being the oldest of the siblings) refused to let him. He completed his college degree--thanks to "survivors' insurance" from Social Security, got a job as a geologist, now is VP of his own company, makes scads of money, put his two children thru school, has a weekend home in the country, and in our last (and I DO mean LAST) conversation told me--wait for it---that

EVERYTHING THAT'S WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY IS THE FAULT OF YOU AND YOUR HIPPIE GENERATION.

He discounts that little Social Security boost as having had any impact on his "success" in life.

We haven't spoken in almost a year. My heart is broken.

[happyslug]

8. Must have been before 1982 and the Reagan "Reforms" of Social Security

One of the results of those Reagan Reforms was that survivor's benefits end when the child turns 18 (19 if he or she is still in High School), instead of the age 22 it was before Reagan.

Other "Reforms" included the present 7% tax rate for both employees and employers (Total 14% of Income, this huge jump in taxes (going up from 3%) help Reagan by his military expansion as he cut Income Taxes), AND raising the age of retirement for those born after 1938 to 67 (on a gradual scale, see below).

For a copy of the scale on the increase in the age to get full retirement see:
http://www.fairmark.com/retirement/socsec/full-retirement.htm

Remember 1938 plus 65 equal 2003 (When the shift to age 66 started), 1943 plus 66 equal 2009 (When the shift to age 66 ends), 1955 plus 66 equal 2021 (when the increase restarts till it hits 67 for those born on of after 1960), and 1960 plus 67 equals 2027 (When the retirement age to get full benefits finally hits age 67).

Now you can still retire early at age 62 even after 2027, but at increasing amount of discount off the full retirement pay (i.e. retire early, your social security gets cut even more as time goes on).

There were other similar "reforms" under Reagan, most hitting now or within the next 20 years. The reason for the delay? Reagan did not want to take the political heat for them so he delayed them, even through he wanted them.

[fasttense]

5. There is a very successful special education teacher who lives down the road from me.

She has her PHd and is the director of the special ed department of county schools. But she is a rabid bush lover and lifelong Republicon. She is anti-Union (even though she was a member of the teacher's union when she was a teacher). She is anti-choice, anti-evolution, anti-welfare, and a bigot. Most of the students she helps are from very impoverished families with abusive backgrounds. Yet she never seems to put 2 + 2 together and realizes poverty is the leading cause of the emotional and physical abuse of the children she works so hard to help. She ridicules the No child left behind program yet worshiped at the altar of bush.

I do volunteer work with theses children and programs so I know how impoverished most of these children's lives are.

It just continually amazes me how little compassion she has for the adults in these children's lives, yet she has so much compassion and care for their children. She got a decent salary as a teacher, yet when she moved on, she was all anti-Union. She sees how a lot of the No child left behind requirements leaves marginally abused or handicapped children without any educational assistance. Yet she practically worshiped the bush. She is a walking contradiction.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. education or complete lack thereof helps int he hatred against liberal ideals

however it is the rich, who implement this ideology and ultimately they benefit from it

[anonymous171]

10. Exactly. It's not about education, it's about wealth.

It's the Rich vs Poorer classes, not educated snobs vs uneducated rednecks.

[Barack_America]

7. Remind them that Dems support the benefits that they depend on...

And ask them how they can bear to claim those benefits, if they disagree with them so much.

That's the only thing that can be done, I'm afraid.

[lunatica]

9. This may sound flip, but it isn't. Have you seen the movie 'Idiocracy'?

It's funny as hell, but it's a truly good satire and like all good satires it shows truth. The inability of some people to connect their actions to their blatant contradictions in behavior is real even if we don't understand the underlying causes yet. Lack of introversion may be a big clue to brain function.

[treestar]

11. Sounds like a very confused person

With the intellect of a pea.