A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE REPUBLICAN

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal
fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune. Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.

Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

That was an intersting and funny read!

It is funny how much people sometimes take for granted from those crazy libs!

Can I get a link for this?

I want to put it in my AIM info.

I got it off another message board, supposedly it is going around people's emails

*edit - wait, nevermind, its apparently on Michael Moore's website somewhere

but you forgot to mention the farm was saved because Bush eliminated the death tax! oh wait, that never hurt one american farm ever....

They said conservatives were great. They control the rate of progress. In other words the conservatives hold the liberals back just enough to keep progress at a reasonable pace where as the liberals create all the progress.
I can see this is a pretty solid philisophical argument. Who knows what horrible (or great) things could happen if progress were left unchecked? You could argue horrible or great.

But it must suck to realize that you are part of the group doing the holding. Like to be societies door stop...

I know alot of smart conservatives, well a few. The problem is (especially in the US cause of the 2 party system) that when a smart conservative realizes he is wrong they are often too stuborn to admit it. I guess there are liberals in this group also but they arent really liberals then are they?

America is a Liberal country. Bush administration and the south has turned liberal into a dirty word.

Liberal as in Liberty, the freedom of choice. America is full of 200 million liberals half of which have been convinced otherwise.

clap clap clap*

Lots of wonderfully insightful things being said tonight. Too bad some people won't listen.

I have wondered as well what it's like to be at the forefront of oppression on every issue. What was it like to be for slavery? Pro-segregation? How about anti-suffrage? "Hey you, you're liberal! You're a communist!" over and over and over throughout this country's history.

On practically every issue they've been on the side of oppression.

20 years from now what will we say about gay marriage issues. isn't it obvious it'll be in the same pile of crap as racism?

what do you think every morning? "Well today I'll be against someone else having the same protection and freedoms I have"

And someday a million other things, its only a matter of time. The environment, treatment of incarcerated individuals, etc, etc. Understandably, things don't change overnight, but you'd expect people to be a little more empathetic/sympathetic. There's nothing wrong trying peace, love, and understanding.

I love this thread. Very wise things have been said.

It is rare that ANYTHING wise is ever said in this forum, and this thread is no exception.

I am seriously convinced that you Lefties live in your own little worlds.

Actually, the Republican party represented progress during the Civil War and Teddy Roosevelt's time as president. Lincoln was a repbulican, as were the northern abolitionists, and TR was one of the first presidents to set aside land for national parks and show concern for the environment. If you'll look at history, the pro-slavery southerners were all democrats, and southern democrats stoof against almost all of the civil rights reforms during Reconstruction and the 60's. The famous segregationanist Alabama governor George Wallace was a Democrat, as were most politicians elected in the South before the late 1900's.

It's sad to think how the parties have almost completely changed places. The original Rpublicans were for powerful central government, and Democrats were for state's rights. It's interesting to think how the changeover happened.

For a group of people against profiling and stereotyping, you're all fucking masters at it.

Notice I tried to defend the Republican party as best I could, and I'm not even a Republican. It really is sad how both "Republican" and "Democrat" become dirty words if you support either side. George W. Bush is not the devil, I just don't like him as president. That doesn't mean that I like Kerry either. In fact, there's a good chance I'll vote for the Republican in 2008 if I like his policies, just as there's a good chance I'll vote for the Democrat or the Green candidate or the Libertarian candidate if I like theirs.

And I agree, the "you're only close-minded if you're not a liberal" rhetoric is complete and utter bullshit, as well as being terribly ironic.

Well to be fair, here are two emails I've received from my right-winged friends.

Tax Cuts - A Simple Lesson In Economics.
>
>Please read carefully.
>
>Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that
>every day,
>ten people go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100.
>
>If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something
>like
>this:
>
>The first four people (the poorest) would pay nothing.
>The fifth would pay $1.
>The sixth would pay $3.
>The seventh $7.
>The eighth $12.
>The ninth $18.
>The tenth person (the richest) would pay $59.
>
>So, that's what they decided to do. The ten people ate dinner in the
>restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement,
>until one day, the
>owner threw them a curve ."Since you are all such good customers,"
>he said,
>"I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20."
>
>So, now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to
>pay their
>bill the way we pay our taxes. The first four people were unaffected.
>They
>would still eat for free.
>
>But what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they
>divvy up
>the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share'?
>
>The six people realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they
>subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth person and the
>sixth person
>would each end up being 'PAID' to eat their meal.
>
>So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce
>each
>person's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work
>out the amounts
>each should pay. And so:
>
>The fifth person, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings.
>The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
>The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
>The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
>The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
>The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
>
>Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued
>to
>eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the people began to
>compare
>their savings.
>
>"I got only a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth person. He
>pointed
>to the tenth person "but he got $10!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed
>the
>fifth person. "I only saved only a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten
>times
>more than I got!"
>
>"That's true!!" shouted the seventh person. "Why should he get $10
>back when
>I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute,"
>yelled the
>first four people in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system
>exploits the poor!"
>
>The nine people surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
>
>The next night the tenth person didn't show up for dinner, so the nine
>sat
>down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they
>discovered
>something important. They didn't have enough money between all of
>them for
>even half of the bill!


And then...


Difference Between Republicans & Democrats
>
>
>
>A Republican and a Democrat were walking down the street when they came
>across a homeless person. The Republican gave the homeless person his
>business card and told him to come to his business for a job. He then took
>twenty dollars out of his pocket and gave it to the homeless person. The
>Democrat was very impressed, and when they came to another homeless person,
>he decided to help.
>
>
>
>He walked over to the homeless person and gave him directions to the
>welfare
>office. He then reached into the Republican's pocket and gave him fifty
>dollars.
>
>homeless person and gave him directions to the welfare office. He then
>reached into the Republican's pocket and gave him fifty dollars.
>

I don't care what you call yourself, republican democrat whatever, it doesn't matter. It's the frame of mind that I'm against. It's insidious and has had sway in this country for the last few years. People who follow this mentality don't lead by example, they lead by fear. They take the best of what is inside each of us and turn it against our fellow man be he black white or Muslim. They take our faith and use it against us. They denegrate instead of elevate. It just so happens that one side of the spectrum own this fever right now and as far as I'm concerned you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound.

It's a herd mentality and it's dangerous. Ahh they're evil, look the french are bad! Who's next on our list of hatred? where does that come from? Well the shit flows down hill and the guy at the top is shoveling faster than you or I can imagine. So I don't think it's out of line to put people on the line and ask "Where do you stand?"

I stand corrected - this guy almost always hits the nail right on the head.

In my opinion, you can't support a conservative candidate (the majority of them anyway) and be for any positive social change in this country. You look at the records of Republicans and they constantly stand in the way of social progress, over, and over, and over again. Sometimes for legitimate reasons, mostly not.

I don't hate republicans, republican is an arbitrary meaningless group that currently associates itself with the right. I am a liberal not a democrat. By definition conservatives want things to stay the way they are. Things are fucked up.

I once had a person tell me on the PJ msg boards "you idiot thats not what being a conservative is about its about conserving the constitution"

To think that anyone actually believes that . I tried to explain to him that have been been conservatives since forever and that included long before the constitution but he wouldnt have any of it.

Republicans have not always been on the side of evil or opressive beliefs like someone pointed out, but conservatives have. It is the nature of conservativism, there is no point in arguing against that fact but there is some ways to defend it philisophically, like I said earlier although they all admit to slowing down progress intentionally or not. And I mean seriously solid philisophical arguments. But I choose to believe it is time now, that is we are advanced enough now, for nobody to be dying of starvation on this planet.

*edit* i didn't mean conservatives are evil in the line up there. Sorry if thats how it reads. I have conservative friends who I do not believe to be on the side of evil

I wouldn't necessarily say that. The true meaning of being a conservative is "guarding a known good". Traditionally, true conservatives are against war and foreign invasion, which I think we can agree is a good thing. And the capitalist system of economics is conservative. You wouldn't want us to be communist, now would you?