My father was a Republican until he got wiser in his old age, or until George W. Bush became the leader of the party, whichever you prefer. Last night we got into a discussion of Reagan and the Republican ideal of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.”
What’s interesting is that the Republicans don’t have this same philosophy for corporations – they get tax breaks, they get huge grants with no oversight, they get deregulated and sometimes they even get to be exempted from laws. Really. Look it up.
I’d always fought against the Republican philosophy – arguing for government help for the individual, such as keeping the mentally ill in hospitals and affordable health care and affordable day care and no tax breaks for the rich and parental leave policies at least as good as Hungary’s and a high minimum wage. But as we prepare to bail out mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and our economy goes down the tubes I’m starting to think maybe I was wrong.
All the Republican handouts for corporations have led to this mess, you know. (Oh, and the war. Wasn’t it nice of us to step in and help all those Iraqi citizens? I wonder why American citizens don’t rate the same concern.) The great free market (except for farm subsidies, of course) and the beautiful, even corporate playing field has not worked out, has it? (Though I suppose it’s not completely even, according to Time Magazine 68% of foreign corporations that do work in this country don’t pay any taxes). Lives aren’t improving. Job growth isn’t improving. The only thing we’ve got growing is inflation. So who knows what would happen if we gave more help to the average citizen? Maybe things would get even worse. LIke they are in Canada. Or Sweden. Or New Zealand. Or Australia.
Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is actually one of those ideas that sounds great in theory. Maybe if all kids were born into safe and healthy homes and then went on to effective schools, maybe if they all got enough to eat and good healthcare and none of them had any mental illnesses, then I would believe that it was possible for everyone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
2 responses so far ↓
Dory // August 25, 2008 at 8:31 pm |
Ok, I’ll be brave.
I was raised Republican. “Pull yourself up by the bootstraps” seemed like a sound idea at the time.
Until I realized that some folks don’t have bootstraps to pull up. What with me on unemployment and Tom in school full time and working part-time, I’m feeling more and more like those bootstrap-less folks. *sigh*
Justin // March 4, 2009 at 10:31 pm |
What your not mentioning is what it takes to bring about special interest changes like affordable health care and day care. Taking form one person and promising to take care of them by giving to another is no way to represent individuals. Where are these people that have an endless amount of bootstraps to hand out? It doesn’t come from government. Government only has what it confiscates from the private sector.
There is nothing fair about one person being born with mental illness and another without. There is nothing fair about one person being born with an inheritance of financial nature and other grow up in poverty. There is nothing fair about the fact that Michael Jordan can make endless amounts of money because of a god-given gift that others cannot attain even with the hardest work. You seem to only focus on helping those in financial despair, not by your own philanthropic efforts, but by the good you think a tyrannical government can do with other individual’s resources.
I feel for the people that have not, because I am and always have been one of these individuals. I’m afraid, though, that the softness of your heart has spread to your brain. Just what kind of motivated individual does it take to use bootstraps, in a society that rewards failure and taxes success? Surely, someone is paying for the livelihood of every individual in this country. What kind of nation are we when we do not allow people to succeed by regulating and taxing people right into the so called “safety net” that was paid for through further taxation and regulation.
The huge corporations that surround us and take our tax dollars are a direct result of heavy regulation and burdening taxes that choke the competitive spirit of those that wish to challenge the monopolistic powers that be. If you ever want people to be able to pull themselves up by their boot straps, you need to have the freedom to succeed. The more the government tries to prevent failure, the harder it will be to succeed. I know of no better way to increase equality and economic opportunity for every individual, than to allow each person the power of choice in the market place. How many people who are unemployed and unable to find a job at minimum wage would gladly choose to work for less than the government requires? How can you tell someone who is hungry to simply not have the choice as to what wage he/she will accept?
By instilling freedom, true economic freedom (not this corporatist/crony capitalist system) to flourish, you will enable a higher level of wealth and opportunity to those which you claim to represent.