|
It's crowded.
I had a honey bee hive attached to my house and called the local beekeeper’s association to have it removed. The guy who showed up didn’t strike me as the sharpest knife in the drawer but what the hey, he says he’ll do everything he can to move the hive.
Somewhere along the line he tossed out a throw-away line about liberals—can’t even remember what it was, but I responded that he’d best know I’m a Yellow Dog Democrat. He says it’s incredibly stupid to base your vote on party affiliation instead of the candidate. I say, “Look, every candidate swears to support the party platform, so if I agree with 80% of the Dem platform and disagree with 80% of the Repub I have no reason to even consider a Republican.” Thus began about two hours of back and forth, all in a friendly though spirited manner.
He says he’s a libertarian (small L variety ‘cause he doesn’t like their platform either) but everything he says comes straight off the RNC talking point memo. I think he’s like a lot of “independents” and “libertarians” who voted for Bush twice and now have serious buyer’s remorse.
Anyway, a few highlights of the conversation:
Him: If you raise minimum wage, businesses won’t hire as many people.
Me: Demonstrably untrue. The Bureau of Labor statistics says that every time the Min Wage goes up unemployment goes down. Look it up for yourself.
Him: Well it doesn’t make any difference because minimum wage increases cause inflation, which immediately eats up the increase.
Me: Again, not true. The GAO reports that no increase in consumer costs can be attributed to an increase in minimum wage. Check it out yourself at GAO.gov, don’t take my word for it.
We move on . . .
Him: Tax cuts pay for themselves, they stimulate the economy so businesses can hire people.
Me: The GAO analyzed Bush’s tax cuts and found that the best case was a 30% return, meaning we lose 70 cents of every dollar in tax cuts. Businesses hire based on need, not some incentive in the form of tax cuts, at least that’s what the Bureau of labor statistics found out.
We move on. . .
Him: Social Security is a bad deal, the Stock market returns 10% and I should be able to invest that money myself.
Me: Great, how’s that stock portfolio doing?
Him: I don’t have any stocks because the Government is taking my SS taxes.
Me: So, because of the 7% SS tax you can’t afford to invest? If you had that 7% how much would you actually put into investments?
Him: I don’t really make enough to invest. (Can’t fault him on honesty)
Me: So without Social Security there is no safety net for you at all?
We move on . . .
Him: Liberals think it’s okay to bash Christians, they hate religion.
Me: Would you agree that the country is pretty evenly split between Liberals and Conservatives? (Yes) Polls show that only about 5% of Americans are not Christians, so it seems that if ALL liberals were in the 5%, 95% of them are Christian, right? (Okay) So does it make sense for Christians to bash Christians?
We move on . . .
Him: I want maximum freedom. Freedom of speech. If I want to shout “nigger” I should be able to and if I’m dumb enough to do it in front of African Americans they should be able to kick my ass.
Me: Well, there are no laws against you calling people names. While you’re at it how about Kike, Spick, Slope and the rest. As for people beating you up, that’s against the law. It’s called Assault and Battery and even idiots deserve equal protection under the law.
We moved on . . .
Him: I’ve been unemployed and never had to use the unemployment benefits. I don’t like handouts from the government, so I borrowed from my parents and sister.
Me: Those benefits are paid for by your employer and are yours just like insurance. If you hurt yourself on the job, isn’t it alright to use your company insurance to get treatment?
Him: But the government takes that money at the point of a gun, my family gives it out of love.
Me: Your sister could no more refuse your needs than fly. What would everybody say about her if she refused? The only difference is who holds that metaphorical gun.
We also talked about the “liberal media”, health care and the whole concept of taxes. He finally admitted that he had no concern for anyone but himself and that he has a very low opinion of humanity as a whole. He sees mankind as greedy, stingy, without dignity and motivated to be lazy and un-productive. From what I learned about his life story I think he has some very serious self-worth issues. He left just as convinced that the world was wrong and only he had any sense of right, justice and personal responsibility.
Oh, the bees proved to be too aggressive to be suitable for a commercial hive so they had to be destroyed.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
