Driving in Santa Monica earlier today I heard George Bush on the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 He
said to send cash.\u00c2\u00a0 To the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.<\/p>\n
I want to send cash.\u00c2\u00a0 But I want to send it to the government.<\/p>\n
The head of FEMA took the right wing position yesterday.\u00c2\u00a0 He blamed the
predicament of those in New Orleans on themselves.\u00c2\u00a0 They just didn’t follow
instructions.\u00c2\u00a0 They needed to LEAVE when warned.<\/p>\n
But it’s not easy to leave if you’re dirt poor and have no transportation.\u00c2\u00a0 I
was just about ready for some Republican to tell those in New Orleans to HELP
themselves.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that their position?\u00c2\u00a0 Your life situation is of your own
doing?\u00c2\u00a0 And you should prepare for the inevitable disaster?\u00c2\u00a0 By saving?<\/p>\n
That’s not very Christian.<\/p>\n
My understanding is Christianity is about being compassionate, helping your
brother.<\/p>\n
Although I share those values, I don’t happen to be a Christian.\u00c2\u00a0 So, I’m not
exactly happy with placing all charity in the hands of a religious
organization.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d rather place my faith in the government.<\/p>\n
We need a government.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what the tragedy and lawlessness in New Orleans
evidences.\u00c2\u00a0 We need a police force.\u00c2\u00a0 And services.<\/p>\n
Services.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t come free.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to pay for them.\u00c2\u00a0 And you do
this through TAXES!<\/p>\n
The Republicans have succeeded in making "tax" a dirty word.\u00c2\u00a0 To the point
where nobody can run for office on a platform of increasing individual financial
liability to the government.\u00c2\u00a0 What do they say?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s YOUR MONEY?\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t
want to take it from you?<\/p>\n
Well, why don’t they then say you now won’t get services.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what taxes
give you, a government that renders services.<\/p>\n
I’m gonna let you in on a secret.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t spend money without wasting it.\u00c2\u00a0
It can be simple.\u00c2\u00a0 You can buy the wrong paper for your printer, one that
doesn’t render the proper finished product.\u00c2\u00a0 But does that mean you should shut
your business down, stop printing, because you blew $3.50?<\/p>\n
If the government begins a program, money will be wasted.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s INHERENT in
the process.\u00c2\u00a0 But that doesn’t mean we should eliminate all programs.\u00c2\u00a0 We
should do the best we can to eliminate waste, but we shouldn’t throw the baby out
with the bathwater.<\/p>\n
The individualist philosophy that has invaded out country has lowered our
quality of life.\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s not pay for education in the inner city, we don’t live
there.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, who ends up doing the work in your neighborhood, the stuff
you don’t want to do?<\/p>\n
I’ve been paying insurance on my domicile for THIRTY YEARS!\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve never
collected once.\u00c2\u00a0 But I keep paying, fearful a disaster COULD take place.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s
how reasonable people run their lives.\u00c2\u00a0 We think about consequences.\u00c2\u00a0 But we
can’t protect against ALL disasters.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t have a stockpile of groceries in my
house, of medicines, if an earthquake occurs, I’m counting on the government
to take care of me, at least get me through.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s why I’m paying income
taxes and taxes on a whole host of other things.<\/p>\n
I’m happy to pay a percentage of my earnings for services, for protection
against disaster.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s an insurance policy just like the one I have on my house.<\/p>\n
I want to drive the streets knowing that potholes will be filled in a
reasonable time.<\/p>\n
I want bridges inspected so they don’t collapse when I’m on them.<\/p>\n
I want education funded so people can get reasonable jobs and not become drug
addicts and a scourge on society.\u00c2\u00a0 Making me fearful every time I leave my
house.<\/p>\n
I want to pay for not only law and order, but a better place for ALL of us to
live.\u00c2\u00a0 I want to know there’s a safety net for those hit by misfortune that
is unforeseeable, whether it be a hurricane, earthquake or medical problem.<\/p>\n
Contrary to what the rich believe, flying in private aircraft, vacationing in
private enclaves, living in spacious apartments with doormen, we’re all in
this together.\u00c2\u00a0 And if the poor people weren’t buying your product, you wouldn’t
HAVE these creature comforts.<\/p>\n
Screw collecting for charity.\u00c2\u00a0 Raise taxes tomorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 On ALL of us.\u00c2\u00a0 Because
we’re all going to be affected by this tragedy.\u00c2\u00a0 Just watch the price of
gasoline.<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Driving in Santa Monica earlier today I heard George Bush on the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 He said to send cash.\u00c2\u00a0 To the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. I want to send cash.\u00c2\u00a0 But I want to send it to the government. The head of FEMA took the right wing position yesterday.\u00c2\u00a0 He blamed the predicament of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-2c","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}