Stupid White Men In and Out of the GOP

Tags

ACA, GOP, teabaggers, the poor, work

As game day approached I maintained an ambivalent attitude. I was neither for nor against either team. I had a bit of a soft spot for the Broncos since I had been a fan of the Elway Superbowl Denver team of some years past.

But reality dawns even unto the self-centered.

I am prone to consider me first, which is why I struggle to avoid Hobby Lobby when I can find NO decent craft store in Las Cruces. (So far I’ve yet to succumb to the store whose owners policies I abhor for their disingenuous hate mongering.) I am not so good when it comes to Wal-Mart since  I undeniably save a boatload of money there, but do keep it on the D/L getting mostly only “staples” there. Still I am not totally true to my convictions and this I recognize as my all-too-human failure.

So, I was quite piqued at Peyton Manning with his association with Papa John’s. Now Peyton shills for John mostly because he himself owns a number of franchises. Papa John as you remember started quickly with the woes of Obamacare, threatening to cut employees or raise pizza prices because Obamacare would drive him to bankruptcy. All crap of course. Papa John made a fatal mistake.

His pizza tastes like threadbare tires doused with ketchup and served with a slather of slimy cold cheese. It’s awful. The public replied to his announcement by staying away from his establishments in droves which caused him to backtrack faster than a male spider faced with a dripping fanged widow spider calling his name. Which goes to show that principle falls to bottom lines when it comes to business.

So there I sat, thinking Manning was a bit of a douche but not a full-blown toilet swishin’ douche, just the average stupid douche, if you get that comparison.

But then along came Elway. My hero? Oh Fumin’ Up Crap Know, no. Elway is now a “businessman” and being such he naturally finds himself a Republican, and naturally he thinks safety nets are not good things, so he’s basically against them. It’s all so simple he opines. “We are given the opportunity to succeed or not succeed.” See? simple. People who don’t, well they just didn’t really try.

So it made it really really easy to root for the Sea Hawks last Sunday. Really really easy. Great game.

Or, if you are a crazy person who reads the WorldNetDaily blather, fine retribution. Ya see, Denver went wrong when it fired God’s golden child, Tim Tebow. God made the Sea Hawks win to show Denver what a bad decision that had been. Oh and don’t miss the DVD you can order of Tim’s holy life so far, and get your bumper sticker! Seriously, a bumper sticker too!

Which all leads me to the GOP, as you knew it would.

The CBO released a report yesterday or so that suggested that jobs would be lost due to Obamacare. The GOP smells red meat. It went crazy. Except of course that it didn’t mean what they would have you think. In fact it means something that Republicans have publicly long been FOR.

When the CBO chief testified before Congress the other day, he explained that Obamacare will allow some individuals to afford to buy their own insurance and thus not have to stay in horrid jobs ONLY to maintain health care coverage. They can then search for better jobs, start their own businesses or work shorter hours and spend more time at other pursuits. This means they will open jobs for others, thus reducing the unemployment numbers, and this can lead to more demand for goods and businesses adding workers to their force. It has nothing to do with employers getting rid of workers.

Moreover, the GOP has long claimed that it was FOR dissociating health care from employment. Paul Ryan, Heritage Foundation, and Mitt Romney all have argued against the “job-lock” caused by workers staying in jobs only for coverage.

But of course, today, they are singing a different tune.

As they always do.

Because they count on their followers to be too stupid to remember.

Now, such a dissociation is a disincentive” to work.  I mean folks will say, hey, if I don’t work, I can get some insurance and live off the government. That this is absurd is obvious. Once again the GOP does what rich people always do. They determine to make us do what is “best for us” even though we of course know better. Worse, they demonstrate that they don’t understand all us little ants under their feet (i.e., “black folks working on farms were always happy and singing songs, McDonald’s workers are always smiling and happy, and don’t seem unhappy about getting those wages, and, everyone has the ability to succeed or not as they choose).

The wealthy patently do not have a clue. And they are inordinately worried that somebody will take advantage of the system. All we hear about is how this person or that person, who is otherwise perfectly capable, will sit back and go on the guv’mint dole rather than work. Some will undoubtedly do that. It matters not the program.

Do they argue that doctors and hospitals who have raped Medicare and Medicaid, reaping profits by the boatload by over testing and over charging, should be barred from payment? No they argue about somebody using somebody’s Medicaid card to get treatment at an ER. Do they argue that companies caught scamming the government by cheating on government contracts should be forever barred from future contracts? No. They argue that some poor soul didn’t really qualify for food stamps.  Do they argue that senators and representatives caught voting in favor of those who financially support them should mean that all Congress should be banned from corporate or industry campaign donations? No. They argue that if McDonald’s or Wal-Mart pays a living wage, the entire work force will never have the gumption to move up the ladder.

Yet, they argue that food stamps should be cut because  it disincentivizes looking for work. The same for unemployment benefits. The same for minimum wage. The same for the ACA. You see, they know best for us. They understand us so very well. We are like children, and they are just making sure we take the icky medicine.

Well, I’ll be happy to give them some medicine too. How about a year’s worth of Papa John’s crap pizza as their only food?  It would do them good. Papa John says its good for ya. Healthy, and so tasty. Let them eat that cake.

If only we stupid ants could learn the value of work!