You know what all this economic talk comes down to? One word: fairness.
Republicans like to rip the Obama administration when it comes to all this excessive spending on the stimulus and the bank bailout. The common theme continues to be this: “Why should taxpayers pay for other people’s mistakes” or “Why should I have to pay for the Democrats crazy spending ideas?”
Well, Obama’s answer is really summed up like this: “Everybody has to give up something and do their share”.
Conservatives and many Republicans head to the porcelain altar (if you know what I mean) when they hear that type of attitude but that is the reality. President Obama is basically asking everybody to ‘pitch in’ to the common good. It drives conservatives nuts but that’s what he’s doing.
This is like Joe the Plumber all over again. Remember that? The “spread the wealth” line? That’s what he’s doing. It’s a classic liberal move and you can’t say you’re surprised because he talked about doing this during the campaign. Elections have consequences. He won. He gets to dictate policy. It doesn’t mean he’ll get everything he wants but clearly we are going to see more of this type of mentality in the future. You know what I’m talking about. This is all about “people helping people”. President Obama talks about The Golden Rule” quite a bit. Remember this from his National Prayer Breakfast speech;
We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to "love thy neighbor as thyself." The Torah commands, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." In Islam, there is a hadith that reads "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists. It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.
Folks, that’s it in a nutshell. Loving one another and understanding one another obviously applies to fiscal policy too. In the campaign, President Obama also talked about the belief that, “I am my brother’s keeper”. Well, folks, that applies to the stimulus, the bailout and Obama’s agenda as a whole. Read below from a previous Obama speech:
For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga. A belief that we are connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief — I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper — that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one.
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