A Liberal’s Advice to the Republican Party

As a liberal, I believe that our country is better served when we have two parties who are willing to compromise on things that will make things better for the country. We aren’t best serve when only one voice or ideal prevails.

So here is my advice:

The Economy

Let go of your trickle down economic theory. It hasn’t worked. No matter how much you want to deny that republicans have had a lot to do with the shape of our economy, starting with Reaganonics, you will eventually have to open your eyes. Democratic economic policy has not been perfect, but President Bush had 8 years to change anything about the Clinton years that he felt didn’t work. Instead he lowered taxes during wartime. That has never happened in the history of the United States. That is not fiscal responsibility. If you want people to take conservatives seriously when it comes to being a fiscal conservative, this means you have to BE a fiscally responsible conservative. This means that, while you are talking about cutting programs to the poor and working class, you HAVE to talk about cutting programs to the rich. You can’t have this kind of hypocrisy hanging over your head or people won’t believe you when you say that you are fiscally conservative and won’t see any point in voting for you. If you say you are for small government, be a small government party. Big business subsidies/corporate welfare has to be cut as well.

Social Issues

You need to let go of the social issues. Independents won’t vote for you if you continue to scare them with people like Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock. There are just not enough Christian fundamentalists left to make up for the people who you lose when you start talking about “legitimate rape,” abortion and denying gay rights. I am not saying vote for programs that you disagree with. I am saying drop the issue. No more talking about repealing Roe vs Wade and no more obstructing gay marriage. You and your leaders can just not show up for the votes if that’s what needs to happen. Not regulating who one marries, and what women do with their body is very much in line with the ideals of “small government.”

Diversity

You party has to figure out a way to be more inclusive. Being inclusive does not mean getting a handful of minorities and pushing them out in front anytime someone asks you where all of the black/Asian/Latino people are. Being inclusive means recognizing the challenges that these demographics face and addressing them. Make them feel welcome in your party. Talk to them. Stop ignoring them.

Note: If the first thing you thought about when you read the above is, “You mean tell them they will get free stuff,” you still don’t get it and your party is doomed.

Be Nice

Finally, stop demonizing the electorate. If someone has to apply for food stamps because they lost their job and/or cannot find work, or receive welfare because they are so far below the poverty line they have no other options, it doesn’t necessarily make them a bad person. People who are actually compassionate, and know how to empathize, don’t like to hear people who are down on their luck being lambasted. They can put themselves into their shoes and imagine what it would be like if they lost their job and had no way to feed their children. This is called empathy.  The fact of the matter is that only 4% of the country receives welfare and 15% receive food stamps. 50% of the country voted for President Obama. People weren’t voting for “free stuff,” because 50% of the country doesn’t receive “free stuff.” Romney himself pointed to these programs as being in place for poor people when he was saying that he doesn’t worry about them. (Bad move, by the way.)

I know the odds of republicans actually taking this advice is slim to none, but I just wanted to put that out there because I don’t think that all TRUE conservative ideals are bad. They are just buried beneath all of the bullshit that the conservative media distracts the public with. And today, the new fear is that the democrats want to get rid of term limits in order for President Obama to have a 3rd term. This is something that will N E V E R happen because liberals wouldn’t go for it, neither would democrats. Sadly,the right is already scaring its base with this. I beg you conservatives, don’t let them do this to you. Reject it and demand better. The future of your party depends on it.

 

Mitt Romney Hugged by a…. Commoner??

Mitt Romney often looks as if he is uncomfortable around regular, everyday people. His grins tend to resemble that of a grimace. What would happen if a voter gave him a big bear hug, and swept him from his feet???

In Defense of Bill Maher and Alexandra Pelosi… sort of

This week Alexandra Pelosi debuted a new video on Real Time with Bill Maher. This video was meant to give contrast to last week’s video which showed Pelosi in Mississippi speaking with lower income conservatives. Many conservatives expressed outrage that Pelosi and Maher would “cherry pick” conservatives in order to show the party in the most negative light possible. Personally, I think that the party does that on its own, with or without the video… but, that’s another story altogether.

Before showing last week’s video, Maher promised that he would send Pelosi into the inner city to get the “other side’s” view. Last night, he kept his promise of a new video and showed the audience Pelosi’s latest installment. Instead of going to the inner city, however, she just went right across the street, from her residence, to the Welfare office where she interviewed several black men and one white woman. All were seeking government assistance in one form or another. One guy said he didn’t know what he was applying for, he just wanted whatever he could get. Another guy was asked why he was voting for President Obama and he said because he’s black, which contrasts the white conservative who said that he didn’t like President Obama because he is a “half-breed.”

All in all, this week’s video showed people who voted democrat because of their belief that they will get handouts if they do, again contrasting the conservatives who say that they would rather go without than have help. I am sure that the video outraged many liberals, but we all know that these people exists on both sides. The problem tends to come in when we try to paint an ENTIRE party with the same brush based upon the most negative, ignorant elements that exists within each party. This puts everyone on the defensive and we spend more time fighting stereotypes than being productive. (Which, I imagine, is by design.) I frequently post on the Huffington Post with my avatar showing me as a black woman, and while I have never once signed up for any government assistance programs and have never been on food stamps, people have implied that I am only a democrat because I want handouts. I don’t want handouts because I haven’t needed them, but I DO like the idea of a safety net considering the state of the economy.

In the end, the questions we have to ask are: Are all lower income conservatives racists who will not support a black president? No, but many are. Are all lower income democrats looking for a handout? No, but many are. That is what the videos showed, that these elements do exist and these people are voters. (Of course, many conservatives also accept handouts, but don’t acknowledge it as a handout… but, again, that’s another story.)

While I support the IDEA of what Maher and Pelosi have been trying to accomplish, I feel as if they didn’t go far enough to create context. In the case of this week’s video, I also do not believe that they did an adequate job of giving an exact contrast to the Mississippi voters that they interviewed. In MS, you clearly saw them speak with working class people, who we honestly do not know whether or not they accept any form of government assistance, or not. Considering that at least 40 percent of the people who receive food stamps live in households with at least one wage earner, that is a question that needed to be asked given this week’s trip to the welfare office in NY.  Since Pelosi didn’t interview all food stamp recipients last week,  this week’s video didn’t make sense in context.

Another place the video missed is when showing the doorman lament about those at the welfare office not having a job. In context, you would need to consider the jobless rate and whether or not jobs are available for those able bodied individuals. And you would have to also consider whether or not ALL of those going to the office aren’t working, as pointed out above. In the end, however, the men didn’t act as if they had any interest whatsoever in actually working. One man said he didn’t want a job, but a career… As if those are any easier to get.

Pelosi made a good point when referencing that we spend 700 billion on defense, in comparison to the 70 billion spent on government assistance programs. I also think she made a good point when she referenced the billions given out in corporate welfare. These are things that she should have discussed with the anti-handout crowd in MS. Republicans, that they vote for, support corporate welfare while stating that poor people don’t deserve any help. It would have been interesting to hear their take on that.

After it was all said and done, I was left feeling as if Ms. Pelosi really could have done a better job. The first video seemed as if she took the time out to travel through MS to find different people to speak with. (Although conservatives will argue that they were all the same TYPE of people.) The second one seemed as if it was hastily thrown together, and frankly, lazy. She only made one stop and it was to speak only with people looking for a handout.

Maher and Pelosi have managed to piss people off, showing those of whom both sides would rather keep buried, out of sight and out of mind. My issue with the video is completely different, however. I don’t mind that these people were unearthed, only that the videos lacked depth and context.  As I’ve already said, I support the idea of what they did, so I am not offended… I imagine many black people will be because they may feel as if Maher and Pelosi are purposely playing into the stereotype that black people want handouts. Which is the argument that the right is making, only it’s for their side. So, there you have it. Something people on the left and right can come together on.  And they said it couldn’t be done!

In closing, am I the only one amused by the fact that the welfare office had a DOORMAN? Really?

To Be Republican

As posted by Outlandish, a user on the Huffington Post:

Republican base belief system.
You have to believe you know what women want but deprive them of the right to choice.
You have to believe that a man who has no core belief system is one of you because he described himself as a severe conservative.
You have to believe that those privileged from birth achieve success all
On their own!
You have to believe that wars are good so long as the rich make money out of them.
You have to believe that tax cuts for the wealthiest creates jobs and subsidies to job exporters are vital for America’s future.

You have to be against government programs, but expect your Social
Security checks on time.

You have to believe that government should stay out of people’s lives, yet
You want government to regulate only same-gender marriages, what a woman
Does with her uterus, and what your official language should be.

You have to believe that pollution is OK so long as it makes a profit.

You have to believe in prayer in schools, as long as you don’t pray to
Allah or Buddha!

You have to believe that only your own teenagers are virgins and het ro.

You have to believe that a woman cannot be trusted with decisions about
Her own body, but that large multi-national corporation should have no
Regulation or interference whatsoever!

You love Jesus and Jesus loves you and, by the way, Jesus shares your
disdain of LGBT’s and Obama!

You have to believe that society is color-blind and growing up black in
America doesn’t diminish your opportunities, but you wouldn’t vote for a
Black president!
You have to believe it is wise to keep contraceptives out of schools, because we
All know if teenagers don’t have access they won’t get pregnant.
You have to believe that a man can dictate what women’s’ rights should be.

You have to believe that the ACLU is bad because they defend the
Constitution, while the NRA is good because they defend 1 section of the Constitution.

You have to believe that socialism hasn’t worked anywhere, and that
The Nordic block and Australia don’t exist.

You have to believe that the federal government doesn’t have the right to mandate healthcare.

But states have the right to disenfranchise voters.

If I wanted to talk to myself, I would blog!

It’s been awhile, blogosphere, since I’ve made a post. I’ve been busying myself with various endeavors ranging from attempting to get my jewelry line off of the ground and venturing into creating textile fabric patterns for scarves, dresses, skirts, coverups and blouses. Don’t ask me why I have decided to start a fashion line. Not something that I thought I would do, but sometimes life just directs you in the… uh, direction that you need to go!

I figure now is a good time to start blogging again, with the 2012 presidential season well underway. While I focused mostly on politics in the past, I will now blog about my various other interests as well, which may include everything from my latest artistic endeavor to the latest episodes of “The Voice” and “Revenge.”  I once felt that these things should all be separate, but the fact is that I have a lot of interests and if I tried to have a blog for all of them, I would go crazy.. or crazier.

I’ve spent the last year and a half or so using various online websites to voice my opinions, but really, who can deal with all of the rampant censorship? The Huffington Post is the absolute worst offender, in those regards. Half of the time I don’t know if my post will even make it past the moderator, even if it isn’t ladled with obscenities or general insults. Besides, I like to converse “real-time” and not have to wait an hour for a post to make it onto the page. If I wanted to talk to myself, I would blog! So, here I am… doing just that.

So, here I am blogging again. What do I discuss first? The recent story about those teenage girls in Gainesville, Fl who are terrified for their lives after their racist rant via video blogging? (I can’t imagine why anyone would be offended!) Or, maybe the story about the school district in Georgia that believes that using the history of slavery in America as math problem is an effective teaching tool?

“If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in 1 week?”

Like… really?

OK, I have plenty to say about both of those stories, but what I really want to talk about in my first blog back is….

Whitney Houston.

I know. This story has been done IN over the last couple of weeks. I don’t want to spend a lot of time on the topic as there is a lot that can be, and has been, said about this. It’s unlikely that I can add anything of value to it. I just wanted to share my memories of the singer for my own personal, selfish reasons.

Growing up, my cousins and I loved to sing and dance and Whitney is one of those singers we looked up to. I was 6 years old when her first album debuted, and I went on to enjoy it and several other albums after that. I remember watching “The Bodyguard” over and over again and just always being so excited to hear her sing, to watch her videos, and to see her on award shows.

It  saddened me to hear about all of her drug abuse and to see her life deteriorate to the point where people started calling her “Old Whitney” and “New Whitney,” most wishing that the Old Whitney would return. Deep down, I knew that her voice would never recover, but I did have hopes that one day she would find her way out of the darkness and recover from her addictions. Unfortunately, that day didn’t come soon enough.

In all of this, my heart is with Bobbi Kristina. As a woman who was only 2 years older than BK when my mother died, I know how devastating it is and how much it changes ones life. I wish I could say that I was strong in dealing with that death, but I wasn’t, and honestly, am still not. It probably has changed the course of my life forever. Fortunately, I could suffer this without being under the microscope of millions of people. I cannot imagine the weight of that.

There are so many negative things being said about this family that I just want to be one of the positive ones saying that I wish Bobbi Kristina the best and that she finds her own way to deal with this tragedy, and that it is HEALTHY. The disease of drug and alcoholism is a tough one to battle and I hope that she finds a way to deal with it that doesn’t end in the same way that it did with her mother.

I recognize the destructive path that Whitney went down, but I will not remember her for that. I will remember her for the memories she helped create growing up with my cousins. I will remember her for her mind blowing rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.” I will remember her for “The Bodyguard” and “I Will Always Love You.” I will remember Whitney Houston for her influence on countless other young starlets who have taken the positivity that “I” grew up with and turned it into promising and successful careers. Personally, I would be shocked if I ever heard another female vocalist with quite the same quality, strength and beauty of Whitney Houston’s voice. That is bittersweet.

I WILL always love you Whitney. Rest in Peace.