There comes a time when every politician starts letting you know that the other politicians are to blame for whatever ails the country and they have the secret formula to solve all of the problems. That time always comes around during election season, and heats up for presidential elections.
Republicans have a standard set of talking points that they like bring up, and regardless of what they said before in public, all of their viewpoints must now appeal to the base. Everything from abortion, to gun rights, and to taxes must be reframed to be pro-life, pro-gun lobby, and against any form of taxes.
Abortion rights have been in place since 1972 with little change since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling. No republican president has proposed legislation to change that ruling, but during campaign they've all talked about it.
The republican narrative is based on simple messages that speak to the uneducated masses, or wealthy individuals that stand to gain from having the masses adopt policies that are against their own best interests.
Things like tax cuts for everyone energizes those that think they know what to do with their money better than the government. Statements like that can be quite polarizing and energize the base.
Rich, poor, black, white, purple, or female; nobody likes paying taxes. There is nothing appealing about that when you look at it through the lens of giving the government your hard earned cash. But to look at it from a different perspective, if there's a fire next door you want the fire department to show up, and when you flush the toilet, normally you'd prefer that the sewer system works. You'd probably also like it if the road on your street or the freeway to your place of work didn't have potholes, or for the airport in your city to be functional.
Even if you don't fly or drive, it's likely that those things are still quite important to maintaining your quality of life since they are part of the infrastructure that is used to carry your mail, bring in food that you eat, and bring gas for the car you drive. All of those things have one thing in common; they are public goods that are funded by tax revenue. No one wants to pay for those things, but they improve the quality of life for everyone.
You may argue that you believe in personal responsibility, but how far can you take that argument? Will you grow your own food, have a personal oil well in your back yard where you convert the output to petroleum, and a septic tank and landfill where you deposit your waste, and self-educate yourself. Even if you did have all of those things you would still require things like a system to enforce the rule of law so someone doesn't show up in your kingdom and steal your water, oil, or food.
Perhaps that scenario is a bit extreme and if you're not going to go that far then you should be aware that you consume public goods that are funded by tax revenues that you didn't entirely pay for yourself. It's impossible to go at it alone. You benefit in some way from the tax revenue paid by the collective population. Period.
Nevertheless, if you're running for president you must state that you will lower everyone's taxes, and if you're republican you should also state that you will lower corporate taxes and cut benefits that help those who are less fortunate in society. You must stand firm with the military and ensure that we increase funding for pentagon in every budget and talk tough to countries that tick everyone off.
If all of that is not working in the polls its time to go rogue and start putting the blame on the liberal media, who is responsible for their unfair portrayal of your crazy political views. It is not policies that are turning off the electorate, it is the media.
You can talk to empty chairs, lie about your triumphant marathons, and even try to restrict voting rights in battle ground states, but if your policies suck, someone will eventually call you out on them. The truth is that Governor Romney was not a bad choice for president, but candidate Romney has flipped on everything he stood for and is alienating half the country. Now that someone is calling him out on what he's been saying on the campaign trail he looks like an out of touch rich guy whose oblivious as to who he's offending. It's easy to claim personal responsibility when you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth and the only real responsibility he ever had to take was figuring out how much money to borrow from his parents to move out of the country club.
Republicans have a standard set of talking points that they like bring up, and regardless of what they said before in public, all of their viewpoints must now appeal to the base. Everything from abortion, to gun rights, and to taxes must be reframed to be pro-life, pro-gun lobby, and against any form of taxes.
Abortion rights have been in place since 1972 with little change since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling. No republican president has proposed legislation to change that ruling, but during campaign they've all talked about it.
The republican narrative is based on simple messages that speak to the uneducated masses, or wealthy individuals that stand to gain from having the masses adopt policies that are against their own best interests.
Things like tax cuts for everyone energizes those that think they know what to do with their money better than the government. Statements like that can be quite polarizing and energize the base.
Rich, poor, black, white, purple, or female; nobody likes paying taxes. There is nothing appealing about that when you look at it through the lens of giving the government your hard earned cash. But to look at it from a different perspective, if there's a fire next door you want the fire department to show up, and when you flush the toilet, normally you'd prefer that the sewer system works. You'd probably also like it if the road on your street or the freeway to your place of work didn't have potholes, or for the airport in your city to be functional.
Even if you don't fly or drive, it's likely that those things are still quite important to maintaining your quality of life since they are part of the infrastructure that is used to carry your mail, bring in food that you eat, and bring gas for the car you drive. All of those things have one thing in common; they are public goods that are funded by tax revenue. No one wants to pay for those things, but they improve the quality of life for everyone.
You may argue that you believe in personal responsibility, but how far can you take that argument? Will you grow your own food, have a personal oil well in your back yard where you convert the output to petroleum, and a septic tank and landfill where you deposit your waste, and self-educate yourself. Even if you did have all of those things you would still require things like a system to enforce the rule of law so someone doesn't show up in your kingdom and steal your water, oil, or food.
Perhaps that scenario is a bit extreme and if you're not going to go that far then you should be aware that you consume public goods that are funded by tax revenues that you didn't entirely pay for yourself. It's impossible to go at it alone. You benefit in some way from the tax revenue paid by the collective population. Period.
Nevertheless, if you're running for president you must state that you will lower everyone's taxes, and if you're republican you should also state that you will lower corporate taxes and cut benefits that help those who are less fortunate in society. You must stand firm with the military and ensure that we increase funding for pentagon in every budget and talk tough to countries that tick everyone off.
If all of that is not working in the polls its time to go rogue and start putting the blame on the liberal media, who is responsible for their unfair portrayal of your crazy political views. It is not policies that are turning off the electorate, it is the media.
You can talk to empty chairs, lie about your triumphant marathons, and even try to restrict voting rights in battle ground states, but if your policies suck, someone will eventually call you out on them. The truth is that Governor Romney was not a bad choice for president, but candidate Romney has flipped on everything he stood for and is alienating half the country. Now that someone is calling him out on what he's been saying on the campaign trail he looks like an out of touch rich guy whose oblivious as to who he's offending. It's easy to claim personal responsibility when you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth and the only real responsibility he ever had to take was figuring out how much money to borrow from his parents to move out of the country club.
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