The Devil You Know

People will still be knuckleheads whether I am a libertarian or a socialist.  Some otherwise intelligent person will make a stupid decision whether I believe in more government or less.  FEMA will still be crucial whether we have a Democratic president or Republican.  And wealthy people will still always want to make even more money whether or not they must pay higher taxes.  Just ask a Rockefeller or a DuPont, or JP Morgan.  Those Robber Barons didn't stop making money or growing their businesses just because the Federal income tax was instituted in 1913 did they?  You had no idea when the Federal income tax was first instituted, did you?  I didn't think so.

That is why I am, have always been, and always will be, a Democrat.  Our country has gone too far to ever again be a nation of yeoman farmers as the first Republican, Thomas Jefferson, envisioned over two hundred years ago.  If a knucklehead in Long Beach Island, New Jersey decides to ride out the worst storm in 100 years, even though she could have easily evacuated to her brother's house 100 miles inland, then later says it was the worst decision of her life, the people in Culver City, California are going to have to help pay for her recovery whether they like it or not.  Because what is the alternative?  Let evolution take its course and weed out the unfit?  If I understand the Republican platform correctly, then most of the people who don't believe in big government don't believe in this basic evolutionary principle anyway, so now what?  All the faith based charities in the country are not big enough or organized enough to save us from ourselves, or Nature's fury.  Hurricane Sandy, and Governor Christie have only reinforced this idea for me.

I have heard otherwise charitable people say that if an adult makes an enlightened decision to wait out a natural disaster in spite of official warnings to evacuate, then we, as a society, no longer have an obligation to help them if they get into trouble.  The first responders, after all, will now be put in harm's way.  True, but firefighters, wilderness rescuers, National Guardsmen, policemen, and our Special Forces carry out risky maneuvers everyday to save stupid people from stupid mistakes.  So where do we draw the line on whom to rescue?  And who should decide, Sarah Palin?  Should a firefighter not try to save someone from a fire caused by that person's smoking in bed?

It's true that we, as citizens, must not be sedated into a zombie state where we wander around brain dead expecting the government to bail us out every time we step over the cliff.  But surely there is a happy medium where reasonable people can agree that sometimes the Feds need to take charge.  When I reflect back on the arc our Country, and civil society, has taken, I believe it has been what most Tea Partyers and conservatives would consider a socialist agenda that has moved us forward toward becoming a more compassionate and humane society: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the National Park Service, civil rights laws, female suffrage, labor laws, The Wilderness and Clean Air Acts, The EPA, FEMA, The Affordable Care Act (yes I said it), and Roe v. Wade to name a few.  All measures that the "conservatives" of the time were vehemently against.  There surely is abuse and corruption of these social engineering measures. But in what universe is corruption non existent where human beings are concerned?  Certainly not in Adam Smith's unfettered capitalistic world.  Nor in Karl Marx's definitely imaginary world either.

Look, I hate it just as much as the next guy when I work hard, pay too many taxes, and buy plenty of insurance, to see some reprobate drive to the Walmart in a Cadillac only to pay with food stamps.  But I hate it even more when some Wall Street asshole sells that same ignoramus a subprime mortgage he knows will default.  If we can't trust an expert, who can we trust, right?  So, in conclusion, I'm votin' for Obama.  As my Grandma Rose use to say, "the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know".