Dumb Questions "Libruls" Like Me Have for Conservatives

[Berry Cool]

--Why is it that whenever conservatives think of where their tax dollars go, the first thing they think of is supporting the luxurious lives of welfare queens and illegal aliens? (One question: Have they never heard of TANF? Do they not understand that families can't live for generations and generations on TANF?) How come they never think of things like public highways, or food inspections, or the military, or public schools, or police and fire, or libraries, or anything like that?

--How come they think they, and their parents and grandparents and so on before them, were and are so self-sufficient...when they reaped many benefits in their lives just by being in America? Do they honestly think they, and their ancestors, made it all on their own, without a helping hand from anyone?

--Do they think their parents' and grandparents' success stories could still happen today? You know, poor person with little to no education gets a crappy job, earns some money, gets a better job, earns more money, marries and has kids, buys a house, makes more money, buys some nice things, maybe sends kids to college, retires at a comfortable age, lives happily ever after? And if not, why do they think this is? Is it those horrible welfare queens and illegal aliens killing this dream?

--Do they really believe there is a "secret long-form birth certificate" somewhere that Barack Obama is hiding that will prove he's not an American? Do they really believe he'd have been able to fool people for this long? Or will they admit that that's nonsense, and that the reason they don't trust him is because they don't trust a black man as president?

--Do they really think that the majority of people who don't have health care don't have it because they have plenty of discretionary income to pay for it, but they chose to buy costly luxury items instead? And that they deserve to be punished for this bad choice by having to do without health care? Too bad, so sad, you die?

--Do they honestly think that the reason the middle class's taxes are too high is because of tax-and-spend Democrats who want to waste their money on unnecessary government programs? Don't they ever connect what they regard as their unfair share of taxes directly to tax cuts for the wealthy at their expense?

--Do they honestly think the country has a huge deficit because of welfare queens and illegal aliens? And that two wars--one utterly unnecessary--had nothing to do with it? In addition to those tax cuts?

--Do they really think that anyone other than them who gets something with the help of the government is picking their pockets?

--Do they really think that any and all kinds of government programs are the political equivalent of taking away all businesses from their owners and putting them under the control of the government?

--Do they think the government has done NOTHING well and NOTHING that ever helped people? From Social Security to Medicare to the GI Bill?

--Do they think that every time they gather in a nice place full of nice, decent people like themselves, and start jabbering about welfare queens and the incompetency of the government and all its unfair free handouts to the undeserving, they'll never run across a single other person like me...who is well aware of the many ways I have benefited from the government, and refuses to join them in their laughter and ridicule? Or that they can express grave concern about the Kenyan and his faked birth certificate, and I'll not look at them like they've lost their minds?

Just wondering. Just wondering what has become of my country, that ignorance, dated ideas and flat-out racism have taken over the hearts and minds of people I might otherwise like and get along with just fine.

[BooBluePotion]

1. Who has ever heard a child say

I want to grow up and be dependent on welfare? Or I want to leave my home country for a land hostile towards my native language.

The right constantly insults Americas diverse population.

[Berry Cool]

16. They would tell you "Of course no child wants to be on welfare...

...but children are lazy and enjoy not working and doing as they please. And that is why people go on welfare."

They have no idea what welfare requires of people nowadays. They have no idea that multigenerational welfare is a thing of the past. And they think there is only one reason people ever go on welfare, and that is LAZINESS and NOT WANTING TO WORK. And that pisses them off SO DAMN MUCH.

Never do they want to consider the person who makes so little from a job that they still qualify for welfare, and says "Why the hell am I working?" Never do they consider the woman whose husband dumped her and the kids. It's always some lazy-ass living off their largesse.

edit: typo fix

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

2. No, they don't think. That's the problem with the teabaggers.

They just spout whatever Rush and Beck have told them.

[BolivarianHero]

3. Hmmm...

-Do they still think the policy of funding and arming Islamist wackos to kill leftists in Afghanistan was a wise idea or would they in retrospect have preferred working with the Soviet Union to wipe out the threat of political Islam once and for all?

[mimitabby]

4. i have a question too

If the movers and shakers in the GOP party could have proved that Barack Obama wasn't born in the USA, don't you think they would have; a LONG TIME AGO?

[TrogL]

18. Then they would have had to properly vett McCain and run into the same issue

[guitar man]

5. Why is it that whenever conservatives think....

The problem there is with the last two words "conservatives think". They don't, at least not independently. the fundamentalist religious variety of conservatives have been conditioned not to think for themselves almost since birth, just "take it on faith and never question". Makes for an easy bunch of sheep to lead ;)

[unblock]

6. do they honestly believe a difference of 6% or so in the top tax rate is the difference

between capitalism and socialism?

[HughBeaumont]

10. They believe the top tax rate NOW is "socialism."

Their logic is that the whiskey-throttle, devil-may-care Bewsh administration didn't create enough jobs because the "corporate tax rate is too high" and "teh markets weren't allowed to be free enough!"

That's how pathetically INSANE these people are.

[Overseas]

7. No they don't believe those things. And I wish Rachel Maddow wasn't the only TV reporter

covering the sophisticated professional right wing bullying campaigns to funnel money to "genuine grass roots groups" that have "been around for a long time" (just oddly dormant during the rampant war profiteering of the Cheeeneey Years). Those professional bullies are so clever that they can inspire Medicare recipients to storm town halls condemning government interference in healthcare. And generalize the discontent to include racist dog whistling and a broader anti-good-government sentiment that serves the goal of Right Wing Demi-god Grover Norquist to crush any American belief that government can do good things.

The concerted, long-term, right wing campaigns to push our national dialog to the right have been well detailed in Eric Alterman's "What Liberal Media?" www.whatliberalmedia.com

The Right has also taken over most of our broadcast media. We used to have a lot more independent media companies but they've been consolidated into mega-corporations dominated by conservatives. Thus allowing lots of air time to Republican lies, with a few liberals sprinkled into the mix to pretend they are still balanced.

If we can repeal Corporate Personhood, that would be a good start.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thom-hartmann/fascism-coming-to-a-court_b_226256.html

[JHB]

15. If the media is so liberal...

(oops, meant to reply to the OP)


...name 10 current union think tank "Fellows", 5 of whom are on TV in any given week.

...how come you didn't hear about ACORN before last year. And why weren't you aghast at the mere accuasation? Why wasn't your reaction the same as if it'd been the Salvation Army that had been accused? After all, haven't you been hearing laudatory propaganda about them for 20-30 years?

[quiet.american]

8. Excellent list, and I share your sentiments. nt

[sui generis]

9. let's face it, most conservatives are stupid, in the cognitive sense.

They're conservative because they don't like change, and by definition planning for the future is the other side of the coin of being aware of consequence, and that's one coin they don't have and therefore can't spend.

They live in the present. They're only moved to speak when angry enough to overcome their reluctance to speak; only moved to take action when stirred enough by outrage to overcome their natural reluctance to accept change.

They're selfish, willing to be utterly immoral to others in their personal pursuit of morality, and have a sense of ownership about everything except responsibility and collaboration.

They really are flawed human beings. Some of them were not only dropped on their heads, I think their parents must have used them like a basketball. I am a bigot. I hate conservatives. I'm out and proud about it. If being conservative didn't destroy as many lives as it does, I'd be very accepting of it, but I don't have to accept stupid people not questioning spending 70 billion dollars a month on a useless war at the same time bitching about paying for basic healthcare for all Americans. I don't have to like people who are for Freedom Fries, and any cause that carries patriotic fervor and sentimentality without any other scrap of real human emotion in their lives besides rage.

The more things change the more these people want it to stay the same.

[Leftist Agitator]

11. Answers:

--Why is it that whenever conservatives think of where their tax dollars go, the first thing they think of is supporting the luxurious lives of welfare queens and illegal aliens? (One question: Have they never heard of TANF? Do they not understand that families can't live for generations and generations on TANF?) How come they never think of things like public highways, or food inspections, or the military, or public schools, or police and fire, or libraries, or anything like that?

Because that's what Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, et al have told them, and they're too fucking stupid to find out otherwise of their own volition.

--How come they think they, and their parents and grandparents and so on before them, were and are so self-sufficient...when they reaped many benefits in their lives just by being in America? Do they honestly think they, and their ancestors, made it all on their own, without a helping hand from anyone?

See above.

--Do they think their parents' and grandparents' success stories could still happen today? You know, poor person with little to no education gets a crappy job, earns some money, gets a better job, earns more money, marries and has kids, buys a house, makes more money, buys some nice things, maybe sends kids to college, retires at a comfortable age, lives happily ever after? And if not, why do they think this is? Is it those horrible welfare queens and illegal aliens killing this dream?

They do think that this will happen, more specifically, they think that they too will one day be rich, and they don't want those damn libruls raising taxes on the rich, because when they have money, they want to keep it all.

--Do they really believe there is a "secret long-form birth certificate" somewhere that Barack Obama is hiding that will prove he's not an American? Do they really believe he'd have been able to fool people for this long?

Yes.

Or will they admit that that's nonsense, and that the reason they don't trust him is because they don't trust a black man as president?

No.

--Do they really think that the majority of people who don't have health care don't have it because they have plenty of discretionary income to pay for it, but they chose to buy costly luxury items instead? And that they deserve to be punished for this bad choice by having to do without health care? Too bad, so sad, you die?

Yes, and yes.

--Do they honestly think that the reason the middle class's taxes are too high is because of tax-and-spend Democrats who want to waste their money on unnecessary government programs?

Yes.

Don't they ever connect what they regard as their unfair share of taxes directly to tax cuts for the wealthy at their expense?

No, again, see above.

--Do they honestly think the country has a huge deficit because of welfare queens and illegal aliens?

Yes.

And that two wars--one utterly unnecessary--had nothing to do with it? In addition to those tax cuts?

Had nothing to do with it.

--Do they really think that anyone other than them who gets something with the help of the government is picking their pockets?

Yes.

--Do they really think that any and all kinds of government programs are the political equivalent of taking away all businesses from their owners and putting them under the control of the government?

Yes, because that's what rightist demagogues have told them, and again, they're too fucking stupid to learn otherwise.

--Do they think the government has done NOTHING well and NOTHING that ever helped people? From Social Security to Medicare to the GI Bill?

Nothing. Except fight wars. And spy on us. And protect us from terrists.

--Do they think that every time they gather in a nice place full of nice, decent people like themselves, and start jabbering about welfare queens and the incompetency of the government and all its unfair free handouts to the undeserving, they'll never run across a single other person like me...who is well aware of the many ways I have benefited from the government, and refuses to join them in their laughter and ridicule? Or that they can express grave concern about the Kenyan and his faked birth certificate, and I'll not look at them like they've lost their minds?

Who fucking knows? They are idiots, so who has any clue what is going through their empty little heads?



For the record, I support taking action to mitigate their influence before they irreparably destroy this country.

[Berry Cool]

17. I think I already knew all those answers.

They just depress me too much to want to think about it for long.

[margotb822]

12. Over the weekend, I learned that

people like me (military) deserve to be treated better than regular Americans...at least according to conservatives. No money spent on the military, regardless of what it's for, is ever wasted. NONE. So, while average people struggle to make ends meet, I deserve the luxury of free education, full health care, and a 3.4% pay raise during a recession. Because I am braver and stuff.

Also, no one can ever question what the military really needs to spend money on and wars should be funded, even at the risk of (wait for it) deficit spending.

(Seriously, I had essentially this conversation with a conservative this weekend)

[Zoeisright]

13. They really do believe this one:

Do they really think that the majority of people who don't have health care don't have it because they have plenty of discretionary income to pay for it, but they chose to buy costly luxury items instead?

Of course, that ties into their stupidity believing that people on welfare living in luxury, and non-residents enjoying the American dream by slaving away on fruit farms.

[JHB]

14. If higher top marginal taxes is "socialism", and universal government-run/regulated healthcare is...

..."socialism", then how can you claim Capitalism won the Cold War?