Over the years, my position on many social issues (that of someone who does know American and world history) has often been sneered at for being “liberal.” Of course, the fact that someone would sneer in that 
fashion simply marks that person as uneducated to the extent that he or she accepts without question the liberal-bashing of various media blowhards. (A thorough education in history is the best antidote for right-wing claptrap.) It doesn’t bother me. Thomas Jefferson was a liberal. Benjamin Franklin was a liberal. Teddy Roosevelt was a liberal. Dick Cheney is a conservative. ’nuff said.
On fiscal matters, however, I line up with the real conservatives, not the neocon poseurs. The conservatives who are against deficit spending and in favor of zero-based budgeting for all government agencies. The conservatives who believe that CEOs who mess up should suffer the consequences, in spades. The conservatives who believe that just because the feeble nobody in the White House got bailed out of every single thing he ever failed at (and that IS everything he ever tried) doesn’t mean he should expect we-the-people to bail him and his cronies out this time.
Jon Stewart played back-to-back clips of Shrub saying “we need to pound Iraq” in 2003 and “we need to bail out these incompetent managers” in 2008. They’re the same speech. Today in Congress, according to CNN, Lloyd Doggett from Texas said “Like the Iraq war and patriot act, this bill is fueled by fear and haste.” He’s right. Act in haste, repent at leisure!
Hooray for Congress for voting down the bailout. The deregulated greedheads got their companies into this mess, let them start fixing it by giving up their salaries and perks. No golden handshake for people who have earned nothing better than a golden shower.
photo credit: Cayusa
