Unnatural Selection

Now that the election is finally over, and I can breathe a sigh of relief that President Obama will have another term to finish the work he started, I have a few things I need to get out of my system.

Republicans, conservatives, tea partiers, right wingers, whatever you choose to call yourselves... The American people have spoken and rejected your agenda. An agenda of greed, of callousness, of exclusion and intolerance. You like to equate capitalism with American-ness, with Freedom, with self-sufficiency. You equate government programs with socialism, overreach, entitlement, dependence and subsidized laziness. 

But guess what? You have benefitted from the government and its programs.

If you went to public school or university.

If you ever use the public roads and highways.

If you've ever visited any of the National Parks.

If you use the internet (It was developed on DARPA's dime).

If you use any of the various technologies that were developed by NASA  or have stemmed from NASA inventions (Some of these include LEDs, artificial limbs, scratch-resistant lenses,  memory foam, freeze-drying, water purification, aircraft anti-icing, solar energy, improved mine-, food-, and highway-safety [including highway safety grooves and improved radial tires], invisible braces, ear thermometers, smoke detectors, athletic shoe insoles, and ventricular assistance devices, just to name a few). 

If you have ever required the protection of the police or the service of the fire department.

If you collect social security or use Medicare.

If you enjoy clean air and water it's largely because of regulation by the EPA. 

If you use prescription medications tested for safety by the FDA.

If you lived through a natural disaster like a hurricane, tornado, wildfire, flood, earthquake, etc. FEMA and the National Guard were there before any private business ever thought to help.

You like to equate government employees with useless bureaucrats who receive the benefits of tax dollars without providing any benefit to society. 

Tell that to our teachers, our police and firefighters, our government researchers in medicine, science and technology and anyone who supports them. Tell that to the brave agents of the FBI and CIA and those who support them. Tell that to our troops. All government employees.

But guess what? Even if you don't work directly for any of the many government agencies, you may still work for the government...

If you work for a company that fulfills a government contract. Contractors earn their money, including profits, from the money the government allots to do that work. I work for NSTec, a contractor to the Department of Energy. My ID badge says DOE, Property of the U.S. Government right on it. If the DOE was eliminated, like many republicans propose, I'm pretty sure that NSTec would not continue to run the Test Site out of the goodness of their hearts without that government contract money coming in. After all, it is called the Nevada National Security Site. Most of our clients include other government agencies like the Department of Homeland Security as well as first responders at the city, state and federal level. 

As I said, if you are in the military, you don't just serve your country, you work for the federal government. I know because I served, way back in the early 90s. I'm a veteran. And today is Veteran's Day. Talk about freedom. I can't count the number of posts on Facebook today saying, "Thank you so much Veterans for protecting our freedom." Freedom isn't free. No, it costs us blood and treasure, and it is also paid for by the tax payers.

You hate taxes so much. Everyone hates taxes. Especially when you can't see what the money is being used for. How does that money you pay from your income and investments benefit you? Well look around. Health care, education, public works, transit, public safety, law enforcement, welfare, the legal system, some utilities, etc. 

Back up, you say, welfare? Yes, we have an obligation to provide help to those who need it. Those who are disabled, or otherwise unable to provide for themselves through no fault of their own. How about all those wounded warriors who are coming back from the wars unable to work? Republicans would like to believe these people have the same fair shake the rest of us do if they just work hard. But that's not how it really is. The capitalist system has many benefits. But fairness is not one of them. 

Mitt Romney is a characteristic example of this unfairness. He is a successful businessman, sure. But he was born into the wealthy family of a former Governor. He went to Harvard. He didn't have to scramble for scholarships or other rapidly hard to find student aid. He didn't have to take out loans and start his life out in debt. He famously quipped that students should "shop around" for the best deal and if they could not afford school, to ask their parents to pay. Because we all have parents who can afford to send us to school right? So based on this logic, only rich kids can go to Harvard. Wait a minute, that's how it was before. Before the G.I. Bill and government student aid. He wants to go back to that system where you only have a fair shot if the chips are already stacked in your favor. In this world, President Obama would probably never have gone to college at all, much less Columbia and Harvard. He'd be stuck home taking care of his single mother who couldn't get enough health insurance coverage to take care of her when she got cancer. But I digress.

I could go on about the ways in which Mitt Romney infuriated me throughout this election cycle. His supposed policies, when he wasn't constantly contradicting himself. His hypocrisy. His lack of caring for others, even his dog! His opinions that the 47% of the population who aren't currently paying taxes are lazy and entitled and can't take responsibility for their own lives. Tell that to the retired folks who paid into social security all their working lives and now only have that pittance to live on. Tell that to the troops serving overseas risking their lives in war. None of this is very Christlike behavior.  I can't imagine any LDS person looking to him as an example. And as it happens most of the Mormons I know saw him for the big phony he is.

As for the whole pro-business, small government philosophy... Hey Republicans in congress, if you want to keep government so small, why don't you serve for free, and pay for your own damn health care. You spend so much to get yourselves elected, you can certainly afford it.

Also, if you want to keep government so small, why is it perfectly fine for government to poke its nose into people's bedrooms, to legislate who can love who and what women can do with our own bodies? God knows you throw a big temper tantrum if you think anyone is coming for your guns.

I'm gonna have to cut this short somehow. So I'm just going to go hang out with my parents since I have tomorrow off. Okay, I feel better now.