No listening

Today, after golf, I was asked point blank, by one of my conservative friends what I thought of the President's State of the Union Speech. I replied I thought it was a good speech, well delivered, well written; etc. No politics at this point, just that it was a good speech.

My friend was incredulous. He could not believe I would say something like that. He said that the majority of people in the room, white, older conservative men, all agreed (with each other) that the speech was terrible.

"He" (the President) was confrontative, he won't compromise, he is terrible, he is causing class warfare....etc was the response describing the speech.

Maybe the speech was divisive and if it is, the country has no chance. We are so locked in political disagreement, in a battle to the death, that nothing can get done. If cons can't listen to a State of the Union speech with at least a tiny bit of an open mind, then we are done as a country!

The President spoke about economic fairness last night. He stressed many times in many ways that the American Dream of equal opportunity and fairness was being destroyed by a huge imbalance in who gets breaks and who doesn't. The facts that billionaires pay less tax percentage by far than their secretaries, and sometimes less tax period are hard to ignore.

And the reply to this unfairness is the "fact" that 40 million Americans do not pay any income tax at all. Of course this is counting children, students, and those who are so poor that they are beneath the entry level progressive tax level.

But to the cons that is unfair. The poor need to pay more taxes, that is unfair.

Unbelievable.

So billionaires not paying any taxes at all (in some cases) is fair, while taxing a working poor person and costing them their apartment, is fair as well. What is their definition of fair? What planet are these guys from?

I have seen the poor kids, coming to school, knowing absolutely that they have NO CHANCE to make it. I have talked to parents, or grandparents, who are beside themselves because their adult children are in jail, or on drugs, and their kids are in trouble and nobody knows what to do.

I have seen teachers fight everyday, paying for supplies out of their own pocket, while seeing most of their kids fail because they are poor with no parenting at home. And at the end of the school year they get a pink slip.

I have seen good young teachers get a pink slip (that I had to deliver) because of lunatic tax cuts that rip public education.

I have seen tasted and lived the unfairness; the fact that 25% of young African American males younger than 30 are in prison; most because they are so screwed up by poverty, drugs and violence that they BELONG in prison.

I have seen Native American children who have been physically and sexually abused since they were three, who are so depressed that many kill themselves before they are 21.

I see the United States incarcerate more of it citizens than ANY other nation on the planet; just as Russia and Germany used to. How in the hell can a country be considered fair when we have to jail so many of our citizens?

I do not live in the same universe as those of my friends who think this all is FAIR?!

This country is dying, it is bleeding out from the inequality of opportunity that we tolerate everyday; the unfairness is killing us!

And conservatives say that anything we do about it, is a giveaway, an entitlement, that robs people of their motivation and makes them weak.

I'll tell you what makes people weak; hunger, ignorance, stupidity, greed, and not giving a damn.

This is what I think is the reality. Conservatives in this country have run out of solutions. Cutting taxes has repeatedly failed to spur economic recovery. They know it doesn't work. So, they attack because they have no other arguments to make. They know deep down that the economy is unfair and wrong, and they don't give a damn. "I have mine and screw you" is their response.

Incredibly the basic unfairness and huge inequities do not bother guys who are NOT rich by a long shot. Most of my friends are middle class white guys, who worked hard all their lives, and are living on a modest retirement. We do not belong to a country club, we are just middle class guys who enjoy each other's company. But the unfairness, and unemployment are right here in Redding, we have one of the largest unemployment percentages of ANY state in California.

And I just cannot believe how they don't get it, or choose not to listen; when a discussion goes to the huge inequities in wealth that are NEW developments in our history. We have never seen such a gap between rich and poor. I repeat, this division is new...it is unique, it is different.

And they keep saying it is ok, that the rich " they earned it", that we cannot give to those who "don't deserve it" and that entitlements are bad.

ALL of these guys are on social security to a certain extent and definitely Medicare.

They repeat that I, as a "liberal" want to give "them" (whoever them are) something for nothing..."they" didn't work for it...the poor are lazy, the unemployed are lazy...etc...etc. All liberals want to do is give people what they have not earned.

That is it, a give away is all liberals stand for? What? I suppose Civil Rights was a giveaway. I suppose WWI and WWII was a liberal give away. I suppose the New Deal, Social Security, et al, were just boneheaded giveaways.

And there is no listening, except to their narrow, and quite frankly selfish, approach to economics. Fox News and Rush echo in EVERY political discussion we have. The propaganda has been VERY effective. Liberals are stupid, elitists, who want to give America's riches away to the lazy and the criminal. Any compassion is wrong..."kill them all" seems to be the approach.

Jesus Christ! A lot of pun intended!

The President talked last night of the great infrastructure projects of the past, the Interstate Highway System, the Hydroelectric Dams, the Bridges; etc., etc., and how everyone contributed their fair share to get those built. And, he reminded us that these projects have benefited the nation many times over what they cost.

The conservative's obsession with cutting taxes would have not allowed these projects to have been built, with disastrous economic consequences.

But they just won't listen. Government is bad, it needs to be destroyed....

And the ending of the speech when the President talked about teamwork, sacrifice for a larger good, and having each other's back.....

They just didn't listen....