It's Not Right Vs.
Left, It's Right Vs. Wrong
Gary Gerard,
dumbhoosier.com
I’ve been saying for a while now that pitting the right
against the left or the Democrats against the Republicans is
futile.
All that really does is keep us divided along ardent party
lines and make us less likely to agree on anything.
If we really want to save the republic – literally, save the
republic – we need to agree to disagree on a certain things
and focus on the things that threaten our future.
For example, I happen to be against abortion. But that
wouldn’t stop me from forming a coalition on limiting
government with somebody who was pro-abortion.
I see these broad generalizations about political parties
and the people who align themselves one way or another.
These generalizations are nonsense, but again, they keep us
divided.
A good example of that is that age-old and uber-tired notion
that the Republicans are the party of the rich and the
Democrats are the party of the working man.
Seriously?
I mean, without any research or demographic study, that
notion seems to fly in the face of conventional wisdom.
Think about these places: Hollywood, the upper east and
upper west sides of Manhattan, Martha’s Vineyard, the
Hamptons, Hilton Head. I could go on and on, but you get the
picture.
What type of people would you associate with those
playgrounds of the rich and famous, conservatives?
No way. Those are bastions of the left. Just like the
hallowed halls of Ivy League academia. A bunch of
conservatives hanging out there? Not a chance, a bunch of
rich liberals.
Beyond that, just look at a red state, blue state map. All
the red states are in the middle of the country where the
vast majority are middle-income types. The blue states – and
blue regions – within red states – are on the coasts and
around big cities, where higher-income types live.
That old rich Republican, working Democrat thing never made
sense to me.
The other thing that never made sense to me is how the
hunting, fishing, gun-toting, anti-illegal immigration,
pro-life, Pabst-Blue-Ribbon drinking, pickup-truck driving
auto worker votes Democrat just because he’s in a union.
He’s clearly voting against his own self interest.
But I digress.
We need to put away those stereotypes and characterizations
and stick to what I believe is a pretty simple formula.
It’s not right versus left.
It’s right versus wrong.
Here’s what I’m talking about.
Just Friday I read a piece by UPI. It was about a solar
energy company that was filing for bankruptcy. The name of
the company was Solyndra. Now, companies go bankrupt all the
time, so that wasn’t particularly eye-brow raising.
But this particular company received $535 million in backing
from the federal government. That makes things a little more
newsworthy.
On top of that, UPI reported that shareholders and
executives of the company had a “cozy history” with
Democrats and the Obama administration.
According to campaign finance records, a billionaire from
Tulsa, Okla., George Kaiser, is one of the company’s primary
investors. Coincidentally, or not so coincidentally,
Kaiser bundled between $50,000 and $100,000 for
President Obama’s election campaign. Kaiser himself gave
$53,500 to the president’s election campaign, split between
the DSCC and Obama For America.
Kaiser and Solyndra executives and board members donated a
total of $87,050 to Obama’s election campaign.
“Kaiser also made several visits to the White House and
appeared at some White House events next to Obama
officials,” UPI reported.
Two years and a half-billion-dollar federal loan later,
Solyndra is declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
A statement from Solyndra noted “global economic and solar
industry market conditions” forced it to close its Fremont,
Calif., factory and lay off 1,100 employees.
From UPI:
Obama cited the company as a model of success for his
highly touted green-energy industry initiative. In fact,
the Obama administration fast-tracked the solar startup’s
$535 million loan application to the Department of Energy
— a move later criticized by the Government Accountability
Office.
Solyndra and the administration originally projected the
loan would help Solyndra create 4,000 jobs.
During a visit to the Solyndra facility in 2010, Obama
said the factory is “a testament to American ingenuity and
dynamism and the fact that we continue to have the best
universities in the world, the best technology in the
world, and most importantly the best workers in the
world.”
See, this is the kind of stuff we absolutely have to stop
doing in the country.
I want to see politicians on both sides of the aisle say,
“That’s just a big bowl of wrong.” But they won’t.
Republicans will raise Cane about it and Democrats will
obfuscate and make excuses.
The media will spin it one way or another depending on what
channel you’re watching.
Remember Blackwater and the enormous rip-off of defense
contracts? Same kind of deal, just different party
affiliations.
One side was aghast and incensed, the other side was
conciliatory and apologetic.
Far too many people are politically myopic. In my brief
stint on Facebook, I used to see it all the time.
“I’m a (insert party affiliation here). Everything a (insert
party affiliation here) does is great and everything a
(insert opposite party affiliation here) does is stupid.”
People seem to think one party is better or smarter than the
other.
Truth is, both parties do stupid, unethical or downright
illegal stuff all the time. That’s precisely why we’re in
the mess we’re in right now. We need both parties to stop
doing those things. Both parties have to be willing to admit
they do those things.
But the only way that can ever happen is if we somehow get
past all the ridiculous partisan nonsense.
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