The Wonderful Life

 

The Wonderful Life     October 24, 2012             

            Remember the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the tale of two towns it told?  Do you want to Live in Bedford Falls where everyone helps and cares for others, or in Potterville where it’s everyone for him or herself? 

Part of the problem of choosing is the alluring concept of America’s strong, self-reliant, rugged individual who doesn’t need anybody.  We identify with the hero of this idea.  Maybe we believe we’ll never be weak, and only the weak need help, and that government just interferes with people.  As Will Rogers said, “It isn’t what we don’t know that gets us in trouble.  It’s what we know that ain’t so.” Do we forget that government is what we do together that we can’t do separately? 

When you get thrown and you break something necessary, you’ll get fixed where government regulations keep your chances of recovery good.  It may cost more than you can get, and be paid for by a government funded program.  Maybe you guessed wrong about the need to buy health insurance.  So, do you think you’d fare better at a hospital in Bedford Falls, or Potterville?  Do you vote that way? By now you’ve heard of some Pottervilles out there that want to let hospitals turn you away if you don’t have health insurance or the means to pay.  Around here, keeping the Wonderful Life, just like in the movie, means keeping Potterville at bay.  You do that with your vote.

Twenty-seven Lies To Be Wise To

Twenty-seven Lies to be Wise to     October 13, 2012

1. You can trust the news media.
2. This Congress is maximizing employment and improving our well being.
3. This Congress is worth the salary and benefits we pay hard-earned money for.
4. Social Security is going broke.
5. Privatizing Social Security would be best for all.
6. Medicare is going broke.
7. We take good care of our veterans.
8. We’re doing too much for the poor.  We need to cut all entitlements.
9. Redistributing wealth is wrong.
10. A flat income tax is the fairest.
11. We live in a “free-market” economy.
12. We can’t fix the earned income tax problem.
13. The TARP stimulus didn’t work.
14. We need a constitutional mandate to balance the budget.
15. Those “No New Tax” pledges benefit everyone.
16. You can trust everything you hear about the Affordable Health Care Act.
17. A good politician will never mislead you.
18. A good public personality will never mislead you.
19. The two major political parties want only what’s best for our country.
20. Voter ID laws are “Party-neutral” and needed.
21. The Electoral College system is better than one person/one vote.
22. We are the “good guys” in the international community.
23. Economic sanctions unseat despotic regimes and promote compliance.
24. Collateral damage is not inflicted by us on people like us.
25. The War on Terror is not self-perpetuating.
26. It’s not about the oil.
27. The War on Drugs is working.

Aww sing it with me, “Around here, we’re wise to these lies…”