Valin Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Commentary: will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open-handed toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land. —Deuteronomy 15:11 Arthur C. Brooks 2/1/14 (Snip) Conservatives and Poverty When wealthy liberals attempt to demonstrate their own charitable bona fides by insisting that taxes should be raised, conservatives seethe. It is easy to be generous with other people’s money, and the idea that support for higher taxes is a mark of good character badly confuses intentions for effective action. This is a moral framework built not around altruism, but sanctimoniousness. But simply frowning at such fatuousness is no substitute for action. The American conservative’s reluctance to articulate a social-justice agenda of his own only feeds the perception that the right simply doesn’t care about the less fortunate. The lack of a positive plan makes it feasible for a president whose own tenure has proven disastrous for the poor to assail his Republican opponents with these extraordinary words: “Their philosophy is simple: You’re on your own. You’re on your own if you’re out of work, can’t find a job. Tough luck, you’re on your own. You don’t have health care: That’s your problem. You’re on your own. If you’re born into poverty, lift yourself up with your own bootstraps, even if you don’t have boots. You’re on your own.” (Snip) Obama’s 2012 opponent hardly made things better. Mitt Romney’s unfortunate claim that “47 percent” of Americans “believe that they are victims [whom] the government has a responsibility to care for” and that they could never be persuaded to support his campaign did little to combat misconceptions. And the caricature of Republican callousness has been repeated so often that conservatives can even fall into a kind of political Stockholm Syndrome. In a 1999 study, researchers at UCLA found that subjects viewed liberals as generous and conservatives as “somewhat heartless,” without regard to their own political views. Conservative leaders owe it to their followers and the vulnerable to articulate a positive social-justice agenda for the right. It must be tangible, practical, and effective. And it must start with the following question: What do the most vulnerable members of society need? This means asking the poor themselves. (Snip) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 On A completely unrelated note from the comments of the above video....Libertarian Realist3 days agoBig Government Bush neocons have always been Social Justice crusaders alongside the cultural Marxist left.Reply · White Man3 days agoRepublicans are on the left you uncultured randroid.ReplyPreyator Lillie3 days ago I think the neocons and cultural Marxists had something in common, they were Jewish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pollyannaish Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 AMEN AMEN AMEN! Transformation, relief, opportunity. In THAT order. And if that makes me a RINO neocon, so be it. Thank you Valin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pollyannaish Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 If you look at the example of the sainted Ronald Reagan, you see over and over again how he framed things in the context of how they benefit YOU and I. With policy/product, Regan was a hard ass. With people, he was transformational. Somewhere, We forgot the essential part of it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 AMEN AMEN AMEN! Transformation, relief, opportunity. In THAT order. And if that makes me a RINO neocon, so be it. Thank you Valin. It'll cost you $20.00 to officially a member. Just send it to me. Worth a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pollyannaish Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 AMEN AMEN AMEN! Transformation, relief, opportunity. In THAT order. And if that makes me a RINO neocon, so be it. Thank you Valin. It'll cost you $20.00 to officially a member. Just send it to me. Worth a shot. LOL. Yeah, well, living in an Obama economy. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 LOL. Yeah, well, living in an Obama economy. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it! You are aware that in certain Rightwing circles being both a RINO and a Neo-Con is cause for excommunication...you must be cast into the outer darkness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pollyannaish Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Yep I sure do. And you know what? I don't care. I am really worried about my country! But I don't have the luxury of an echo chamber because of where I live. We have one of the biggest opportunities for converting a new generation I have ever seen. Bit somehow we've forgotten that we one in 1979 not because Jimmeh was so bad, but because RWR could present the positive vision so well. If we don't get there, we are screwed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Yep I sure do. And you know what? I don't care. I am really worried about my country! But I don't have the luxury of an echo chamber because of where I live. We have one of the biggest opportunities for converting a new generation I have ever seen. Bit somehow we've forgotten that we one in 1979 not because Jimmeh was so bad, but because RWR could present the positive vision so well. If we don't get there, we are screwed. I continue to maintain my optimism. You get to be around a better class of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pollyannaish Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I agree! I really believe we can do this. I am, after all, in the optimism business. The fight gets me down sometimes though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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