I did the nicest smackdown of a GREEDY republican today.

[progressivebydesign]

I was in the bank, chitchatting with my usual teller. I mentioned that I was paying my property taxes late, today. Another teller, whom I had never seen before but had that shriveled republican look, piped in to the conversation. I had explained that I try to have a good attitude about paying the property taxes, as I get to enjoy nice streets and parks and schools here with it. She was quite snotty and said.. "yeah, you just keep telling yourself that!". Then she went on to say that "it's NOT fair! I just had my taxes raised to pay for the schools! And I don't have anyone in school anymore!!". (can you believe someone so clueless?). I smiled oh so sweetly.. and said, "oh, but someone who didn't have children paid for your education, and right now people are paying for your relatives children's education with their taxes". She stared at me.. unsure of what to say. I smiled even wider and said in my most saintly voice, "it's just the Christian thing to do, isn't it?". I turned my attention back to my transaction. The pent up teller then tried whining about how she thought the LOTTERY was going to pay for the schools (what a moran). I sweetly explained on my way out that the federal government mandates an education for all children, yet has consistently cut funding for the States tryng to do the job. I said a cheery goodbye and left that woman dazed and confused. That, my friends, is an effective smackdown.

[Freedomfried]

1. I thought lottery was supposed to go to the schools too.

Wasn't thast the excuse they gave years ago?

[JRob]

5. naw... that just helped to softened the blow of casinos in every state

[slaveplanet]

38. exactly

there's a huge push for this right now.

They know there's no better way to get back those SS checks they give out than making easily accessible gambling for the elderly.

[napi21]

6. It depends on what state you're in. Pa lottery pays for senior services.

Ga lottery pays for college funding. That's the only two I'm familiar with. Who knows what the others are set up for.

[FreedomAngel82]

9. Tn's does the same thing

[windlight]

18. CO pays for

Public spaces... parks, nature reserves, ETC... I liked that idea but now I'm Back in PA....

[sexybomber]

25. New York's lottery does go to the schools, I think

After they skim a little off the top to keep the Lotto system running.

It mostly goes to NYC and inner city schools, if memory serves.

[annabanana]

44. Is was SUPPOSED to go to the schools.....

but I believe the funds are dispersed into general accounting

where it goes
"round and round, wo ho ho-o-o-o-o, and it comes out 'here".

(no I'm not old enough to remember that song, but my pop used to sing it to me)

[newyawker99]

12. Hi Freedomfried!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[deutsey]

24. That was the lie I remember them using in Maryland

Now they're using similar "logic" to get slot machines here.

[flamin lib]

26. In Texas when the Lottery was up for a vote someone on a

talking head show said "I wouldn't mind if I knew the proceeds would go to schools . . ."

From there it became an urban legend. Sure the schools needed the help, but the lottery was always intended to bolster the general fund.

[noamnety]

28. The MI lottery covers about 5% of the school budget

Nobody ever claimed it would cover the full cost of public education.

[Coexist]

33. In Florida they changed the wording of the lottery

for schools.

It was supposed to SUPPLEMENT not SUPPLANT the budget. Unfortunately the more they get from the lottery, the less the state gives them. It has indeed SUPPLANTED tax money.

[salin]

46. Lotteries in many places were sold on "extra money" for schools

not primary funding. They simply don't raise that much money.

The problem is that in the tax cutting frenzy of the post Reagan years, state after state starting using the money as part of the primary funding rather than supplemental to the funding (to pay for extras) - thus funding either stayed the same - or actually went down as opposed to the promise upon which it was sold - to provide additional money so that 'extras' (eg music programs, arts programs, etc.) wouldn't be cut. Well - guess what has been cut or is in the process of being cut in many places...

[cry baby]

2. she must still be stinging!

nice job!!

[JRob]

3. very nice

[noahmijo]

4. That was not just a smackdown

You see that is what you a call a smackdown, firm and with the stone of the ring on finger pointed inward as to create an imprint on smackdown receiver's face.

Tis rare to find such wonderful smackdowns but when they occur it is indeed a sight to behold.

PS Loved the bit about someone once paying for that person to be in school once....Me personally I'd far rather pay for someone's child to be in a school than in a prison.

[JRob]

7. yeah well we get 'em both...

[FreedomAngel82]

8. That kicks ass!

Great way to have a smackdown! I loved how you threw in the Christian thing too. :D

[lostnfound]

10. "That shriveled republican look" -- LOL

I know just what you mean.

[NMMNG]

11. What a dipwad

Gee, I never had kids...does that mean I get all my taxes back?:silly:

[Bridget Burke]

13. A polite, cheery smackdown!

With a reference to "the Christian thing to do"!

That's the best kind. Congratulations!

[melissinha]

20. ha ha

Yeah the Christian thing to do was brilliant...

And to the otehr person who said they'd rather pay for education rather than prison... thats a very valid point. It costs about the same amount of money to keep one prisoner in jail for one year than an entire public education of 12 years. Invest in the future..


Then again, they would rather keep people ignorant and poor so they don't have to pay people a decent salary..

The good compassionate conservative is always preoccupied about one thing..... me, me, me. sickening.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. That Was An Intellectual Stomping

Polite, yet firm. Solid and true, yet assertive, not aggressive. And, completely inarguable. Good job.
The Professor

[lateo]

15. hee hee hee

Good job...

[wicket]

16. progressivebydesign, you rock!

:yourock:

Great story, thanks for sharing :) You really shut her up! I HATE it when people complain that they shouldn't have to pay school taxes since they don't have any kids in school. It doesn't work that way!

[stanwyck]

17. You're an inspiration. We all need

to speak up. Every day. I've heard too many conservatives say 'I don't know anyone who doesn't like Bush". Well, speak up. They do know people who detest this administration. But we've been too polite. Speak up. Smack down. It's amazing once people speak up to find out the guy at the drycleaners and the woman at your kid's school is actually One of Us. Who knew?

[raccoon]

19. Way to go, Progressivebydesign! nt

[lonestarnot]

21. Right on! Like this one!

[seabeyond]

22. lottery was simply another source of government waste

feeding of the poor, and the most hopeless in the cruelist of ways. with the excuse to fund school. and with none of that money getting to the schools. and, everyone knows it. no one talks about it.

[Califooyah Operative]

23. awesome. made me smile. nt

[bpilgrim]

27. well done

always be bright-skies & sunshine, they hate that :evilgrin:

:toast:

peace

[MsUSA]

29. That was an awsome response.

:yourock:

[NoSheep]

30. Excellent job! An inspiring story-I hope I get a chance to do

something similar. This is the only way these people will ever change-we have to shame them into questioning themselves and the lies they are programmed with. I think what you did was actually very patriotic.

:applause:

[wryter2000]

31. Good for you!

What is wrong with these people?

[Pacifist Patriot]

32. Excellent.

I love it when someone has the initiative and gumption to not shy away from the facts. Well done!

:applause:

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. *big thumbs up!*

[hnsez]

35. pwnt! (img)

[Catherine Vincent]

36. That was very good. You probably made her think. Poor, greedy woman.

[noiretextatique]

37. doncha just love that stare?

and the silence? :toast: excellent smackdown.

[hvn_nbr_2]

39. Paying for public education

"it's NOT fair! I just had my taxes raised to pay for the schools! And I don't have anyone in school anymore!!"

I never had children, neither my brother nor sister ever had children. I absolutely don't resent paying for "other people's children's education." Because that isn't what I'm paying for. I'm paying for the kind of society that I like living in.

The cost of education does not provide primarily for the benefit of the educated individuals. It provides for the common benefit of an educated and literate society.

That snotty teller's education wasn't just a benefit to her; her literacy enables her to serve all her customers, and her job depends on universal education: Literate people can write, read, and sign checks, which are delivered by a postal carrier who can read the address on the envelope. They can fill out a deposit and withdrawal slip at her bank, and can read the numbers on the PIN pad. They can add and subtract to keep their checkbook register in balance and know if and how much money they have. They can read the bank's monthly statement and balance their checkbook. Without a literate society, she would not have a job because people would pay for everything with cash and keep their money in gold coins under the mattress.

When she goes shopping, she probably goes to a supermarket, which is made possible by universal education. Literate people can read the labels on boxes and cans, they can read the prices on the shelves, they can read the ubiquitous advertisements and promotions. Same with department stores. The prices are lower where she shops because she and everyone else can pick what they want off the shelves rather than ask a store worker who could read the labels to get everything for her.

I once worked for a few months in a major city of a third world country. One thing that I learned there that completely surprised me but then made sense was that many of their more educated people worked as waiters in restaurants. Why? Because educated people could speak multiple languages; therefore, they were in demand in restaurants and hotels that catered to foreign tourists. And an uneducated society doesn't have the skilled workers to sustain industries and businesses that can provide what we here generally consider better jobs.

When that snotty teller goes to vote, she receives a ballot with nothing on it but words and maybe some numbers. In an uneducated society, the ballots have pictures or symbols, you make one vote for a party with no split tickets, because how in the world would you make it possible for an illiterate person to vote for a Democrat for president, a Republican for governor, a Green for Senate, a Libertarian for Congress, and Joe, Mary, or Mahmoud for the non-partisan school board?

When she got her driver's license, she probably took a written test. In an illiterate society a person would have had to ask her all the questions, and that person would not have been producing something else that she enjoys. When she renews her driver's license, she probably gets a notice in the mail, delivered by the aforementioned literate mail carrier, she reads the instructions and knows how much to write a check for, and sends it back to someone who can read and process her check. And of course, that whole process would be more expensive and time-consuming without literate people all through the process, and all the additional people required for it would not be producing something else that she wants.

Almost everywhere that snotty teller goes and almost everything she does benefits from or even is made possible by having a literate society. That's what she's paying for in her school taxes. Whoever's children they are that are learning to read and write are learning that in order to serve her. So she ought to shut the bleep up and enjoy the benefit she's getting from it.

[checks-n-balances]

43. Thanks for the excellent rant/response to this excellent "smackdown"

You've both given me something concrete to say to the right people when the need is there.

I really mean it...thanks fo you both and to others for helping the rest of us get our thoughts and words together and ready!

[Joe Chi Minh]

40. There's an old saying, isn't there,

that lotteries are a tax on the poor.

In a similar vein, necessary, but expensive hospital equipment now often has to be funded in UK hospitals by charity drives; and like some, though possibly not all, third-world countries, many wards are still mixed-sex wards! Years after Blair had promised they would be phased out.

[Kurovski]

41. Well now, sister-woman

that was indeed the Christian way to stand up to a devil livin' in the dark!

[Piperay]

42. ZING!!!!

Nice Going! :thumbsup:

[xchrom]

45. thank you!

from another citizen who doesn't mind paying his taxes!