Defending the “Palin Pick”

<<<I don’t think liberals are bad, or evil per se. I think they mean well, at least those who are idealistic about the country and not merely in it for benefits or other “entitlements” that the government can “give” them.<<<

Well, that's good. I don't think that all Republicans or Libertarians are bad, either. I think most of them are just trying to live their lives as best they can. I think they get busy living and can't keep up with what's going on in Washington so they're gullible, and tend to vote on the basis of what they've been fed. Mostly against their own best interests.

<< I say this because I was quite liberal myself when I was younger, full of idealism and expecting others to treat me like I strove to treat them — so we could make the ideal society based on respect and caring for others a reality. <<<

Sigh. Yeah; and then we grow up, huh?

<<<But through the years, gradually as I took on responsibilities that required my own efforts to survive on my own and provide for myself and those I became responsible for, and continuing to treat others by the “golden rule”, I increasingly became more aware of the other side of the coin, the weakness of liberal ‘progressive’ ideas once they were taken out of the theoretical world (where basic selfish human nature is rarely considered), and attempted to be implemented in the real world (through the only way it can be implemented for society as a whole — by government edict) where a great many are not at all interested in liberal ideals but instead merely what they can get for free (and nothing from government is really free, somebody somewhere pays for it. Most likely it is the much-maligned “1%”! Heh. But hey, let’s continue the class “warfare” BS anyway).<<<

Wait a minute. Do you honestly believe that the only "takers" vote Democrat? The only people who are "out for themselves" are liberal? Because that doesn't wash with statistics, which shows that the biggest welfare states tend to vote Republican. Without fail. The states who take in less government money than they pay out tend to vote Democratic.

And, as long as we're discussing "ideals," I think the moderates of both parties have the right idea. I've been threatened (jokingly) with having my Dem card revoked because I happened to speak up one time and mention that it's my belief that unions have played a small part-along with lots of other things-with the erosion of the American work ethic. The people I was debating with didn't care that I never wanted to see unions done away with entirely (that's not a forward direction) I just thought that they needed work. BUT, that's not a view most people expect from a Democrat.

<<<I realised finally that our society is made up of those who are productive and pay into the system, and those who are parasitic and take out of the system [whether legitimately for disability or temporary displacement reasons among many other reasons for baseline subsistence support, or illegitimately in the case of phonies, goldbricks, dishonest cheaters, malingerers, and other deadbeats, (as well as phony deadbeat government "programs" that accomplish nothing) that slide along with no efforts of their own, just taking from others]. Also in this view only private industry and business that creates wealth are producers that support government and its functions, and all government functions and personnel which take that wealth from private producers are parasitic, in the sense they can not exist without the private industry wealth producers. Which by the way is the reason government can not create jobs that produce wealth, it can only create jobs that consume other’s wealth.<<<

Yada yada. Democrats understand that basic principles of economics. They tend to do very well when they're in charge and not obstructed constantly.

<<<I realized that in my small business I am one of the country’s producers, which enable the government to be funded and its functions to be paid for.<<<

If, indeed you do own a business, you understand that your success didn't happen on your own. Without roads and other basic tenets of civilization, you'd have nothing. Without workers, business would have nothing. Those who produce goods anyway.

<<< But I also realized and saw firsthand the corruption and dishonesty of those who use government for their own ends, and do not contribute their fair share at all, instead feeding off of others unfairly and even enriching themselves from the government (see politicians and crony capitalism). I realized I had become conservative,<<

As if Republicans aren't crony capitalists? The majority of new Tea Party congresspeople are corporate owned! If they weren't when they got elected, they are by now.

<<< and knew I was on the right side — the side of individual responsibility that supports government, not government patronage that inevitably finally comes from those supporting the government through their own individual responsibility.<<<

Again, plenty of Democrats believe in personal responsibility. And, we aren't all far left radicals; just as we saw with the last President, that putting an *R* after your name doesn't make you fiscally responsible. It's the middle ground that gets the work done and keeps this nation moving forward and competetive with the rest of the world.