I went to a small private university in the early 80's. The Young Republicans were building up quite a bit of steam with Ronald Reagan as President. They were a very active group, easy to find everywhere. I did not see the same level of activity by young Americans until Obama came around.
But I looked at the younger folks following Obama and what they wanted from Obama, vs. the Young Republicans in my college days. It was a night and day comparison. The folks following Obama wanted thing for society - justice, no war, health care, etc. The Young Republicans of my day? They looked at what Reagan was going to do and smiled, because by following Reagan and his ilk THEY WERE GOING TO MAKE S***LOADS OF MONEY!!! That is what they wanted - lots of money. Justice? If you make enough money, you can hire a good lawyer. Health care? Get a good job, and get good insurance. (Students had what had to be perfect health care, seeings how the university had one of the best hospitals and medical schools in the Northeast...)
Again - it was night and day. I look at the kids following Obama and truly do think that there is hope. I look at the bozos at my college and wonder if they still have their souls.
@LetaMaddox: I don't know specifically about the kids with whom you attended school, but I didn't become a Reagan Republican because I could make a lot of cash. Reagan promised and delivered an environment where you could make
enough money to support yourself. I don't mean buying my own food and paying my rent on time. Enough money to own a house, eat, drive, pay for my own healthcare, children's education etc. Now I see Obama as a person who is going to try to give people the things for which I've worked hard by taking from me. How? By taxing my income; by taxing the things that I buy and use; by driving prices up through the taxation of corporate America; and by devaluing the currency that I earn and save via a series of reckless spending packages thinly disguised as "stimulus." I don't hold young Obama supporters in contempt for wanting to give everyone healthcare, but I do hold them responsible for ignoring the economic realities of the situation. Do you hear that people? Chillbear is holding you responsible!
You mean Obama is making your rich ass pay, while Reagan, Bush and Bush Jr. stole money from middle and lower class in outrageous taxes to let anyone making over 80grand live the high life.
@LetaMaddox: hearted for that, and same same. grad school circa 1980: rabid reagan fanboys wanted to make people on welfare get jobs, just as the economy was heading deep into a republican recession and shedding millions of jobs. circa 2008, young activist obama fans believe that their country owes the world peace and not war, and that citizens owe each other decency and support, not a kick in the teeth or a bootheel on the neck. it is a joy to behold and long overdue. amen.
@ChillbearLatrigue: these things of which you speak, enough money to own a house, eat, drive, pay for my own healthcare, children's education etc., used to come with having a job, until all those things got shipped away, far overseas, and the unions that protected them were broken, so that the owners could have almost every dime instead of giving workers the dignity that comes with a living wage.
@Jim Topoleski: I don't know if your comment was @ me, but keeping more of what you earn is not theft. I'm not rich and it took me a while to get to the point where I earned over $80k. I'm not significantly over that point, by the way.
@if_i_only_had_a_heart: To begin with, remember that Carter was the President for all of 1980. Reagan began his presidency in January of 1991. The recession may not have actually officially began until July, 1981, but the foundation for that recession was laid out in the Carter with double digit inflation, over-regulation and high taxes. So how does this become a Republican recession other than you really want it to be one? Reagan was President for six months. Are we now in a Democratic recession because Obama has been in office for six months? Another question for you: if the decency and support that you want to show all people in this country bankrupts us in a decade and we are all reduced to essential services, will it have been worth it to extend a safety net to everyone for a few years? You can rewrite that question to something less loaded, but that is my concern with all of this spending of money we don't have.
@ChillbearLatrigue: Reagan raised Americans' tax burdens. He reduced income taxes and greatly increased payroll taxes -- taking back (and then some) the savings made in income tax reductions. What Reagan basically did was reduce corporate taxation and made up for the loss in payroll deductions. Corporate tax rates went down considerably while payroll deductions were used to take back any savings for individual Americans. By 1988 the average American's burden was HIGHER not lower than in 1980. He basically shifted the burden onto paychecks while basically inventing the concept of corproate welfare. Trickle down, my ass. PS: Clinton's top bracket tax increase peaked at about 39%. This is LOWER than the upper bracket tax from 1982-1986 (50%), more than half of Reagan's term. It was after 1987 that Republicans managed to whittle that rate down to a low of 28% by the time Bush Sr. was in office, and then he RAISED this to about 31%. Junior only managed to get it down to 35%, not even as low as it got by Clinton's first year. So even by GOP standards, they're not even very good at lowering taxes, because, you know, most Americans actually LIKE ENTITLEMENTS. . .
@ChillbearLatrigue: "Now I see Obama as a person who is going to try to give people the things for which I've worked hard by taking from me. How? By taxing my income; by taxing the things that I buy and use..."
If you make less than $90K, then you've got this backwards. You are in the income group that Obama is HELPING by increasing taxes on the rich (not you) and reducing taxes on the poor and the middle class (you) - if you were a quarter-millionaire, then your complaint would make sense.
Or was this a Joe the Plumber style "*I* don't want a tax cut! I want the rich to get a tax cut for the benefits to *trickle down* to me!"?
@gawkimo: I want to give you an intelligent reply on this, but I couldn't find a source to on your numbers. If you could send me a link or a site, I'm sure it will come up again. I'm not doubting you, but I just don't want to talk out of my ass without being able to look at all of the info. On a side note, I wish that we had Bill Clinton back in office right now. At least he realized that Universal Healthcare was the road to bankruptcy.
@Tzepish: So, because I personally can have some additional benefits, I should support a plan that I think is going to be bad for the country in the long run?
@Z und Vielpunkt's chick: It's kind of nice that their (lone) young counterpart is cute, sane, and has a good heart, but is halfway retarded. That's better overall.
@ChillbearLatrigue: Hey, I wholeheartedly wish it were different--for the sake of intelligent liberals and conservatives alike. It's a dirty shame that politics has come to this.
Hey liberal shitheads -- when are you going to realize that being a barely literate racist dimwit is NOT a liability to aspiring Republicans? The single biggest leap Liberals have made over the past 40-years is guilting these people into changing the wording of their rhetoric. The message remains on point.
The only thing that's more unbelievable than the fact that she was elected a leader of the Young Republicans is the fact that there is such a thing as a young Republican.
@badasscat: Or calls herself a "Young Republican" at that tender age. 38 is not old (I hope). It's just too old to go flitting about calling yourself a Young Republican.
Her tweets remind me of the recovered missives of a young Eva Braun: "Taped picture of yellow star on Schatzie's bottom this morning! He didn't zee it for fumpt und swanzig minutes! LOL!" and "Oopzie! Someone zeems to have bumped his baton in zat vindow! LOL! Must mince around ze broken glass! LOL!" and "Hey, Juden! Gud name for a song, no? Ja! LOL!"
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07/12/09
But I looked at the younger folks following Obama and what they wanted from Obama, vs. the Young Republicans in my college days. It was a night and day comparison. The folks following Obama wanted thing for society - justice, no war, health care, etc. The Young Republicans of my day? They looked at what Reagan was going to do and smiled, because by following Reagan and his ilk THEY WERE GOING TO MAKE S***LOADS OF MONEY!!! That is what they wanted - lots of money. Justice? If you make enough money, you can hire a good lawyer. Health care? Get a good job, and get good insurance. (Students had what had to be perfect health care, seeings how the university had one of the best hospitals and medical schools in the Northeast...)
Again - it was night and day. I look at the kids following Obama and truly do think that there is hope. I look at the bozos at my college and wonder if they still have their souls.
07/12/09
enough money to support yourself. I don't mean buying my own food and paying my rent on time. Enough money to own a house, eat, drive, pay for my own healthcare, children's education etc. Now I see Obama as a person who is going to try to give people the things for which I've worked hard by taking from me. How? By taxing my income; by taxing the things that I buy and use; by driving prices up through the taxation of corporate America; and by devaluing the currency that I earn and save via a series of reckless spending packages thinly disguised as "stimulus." I don't hold young Obama supporters in contempt for wanting to give everyone healthcare, but I do hold them responsible for ignoring the economic realities of the situation. Do you hear that people? Chillbear is holding you responsible!
07/12/09
Yep I feel so sorry for you.
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@if_i_only_had_a_heart: To begin with, remember that Carter was the President for all of 1980. Reagan began his presidency in January of 1991. The recession may not have actually officially began until July, 1981, but the foundation for that recession was laid out in the Carter with double digit inflation, over-regulation and high taxes. So how does this become a Republican recession other than you really want it to be one? Reagan was President for six months. Are we now in a Democratic recession because Obama has been in office for six months? Another question for you: if the decency and support that you want to show all people in this country bankrupts us in a decade and we are all reduced to essential services, will it have been worth it to extend a safety net to everyone for a few years? You can rewrite that question to something less loaded, but that is my concern with all of this spending of money we don't have.
07/13/09
07/13/09
If you make less than $90K, then you've got this backwards. You are in the income group that Obama is HELPING by increasing taxes on the rich (not you) and reducing taxes on the poor and the middle class (you) - if you were a quarter-millionaire, then your complaint would make sense.
Or was this a Joe the Plumber style "*I* don't want a tax cut! I want the rich to get a tax cut for the benefits to *trickle down* to me!"?
07/13/09
@Tzepish: So, because I personally can have some additional benefits, I should support a plan that I think is going to be bad for the country in the long run?
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At 38 shes getting close to typical Republican voter age and is hardly "young."
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She's 38. That's young in their book.
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