I realize you love your gun, but why are you shooting your own foot?

by Vincent Yanez

We have seen the enemy, and he is us.

Before the Senate went home for their Independence Day Holiday Weekend, they refused to pass the extension of benefits for jobless Americans. Normally, unemployment benefits last 26 weeks, a little over six months is seen as a good amount of time to find a new job…in normal times.

However, these are not normal times. This country has been in a recession since the last President went back home to clear brush and learns how to eat pretzels. We have the highest unemployment since the Great Depression, with the average unemployment lasting from 9 months to a year. A recession, I remind you, that came to play with a Republican President and a Republican Senate. So technically, they bring us to the brink of collapse, we are narrowly avoiding a Depression and yet they cannot find it in their hearts/brains to help those Americans who are nothing more than victims to their idiocy.

Oh, one more fact. The unemployed are pretty equal as far as party lines, half of them are Democrat, half are Republicans. So the interesting question I have, are those Republicans who are now on the verge of losing their benefits, losing their homes and losing their livelihood still going to vote for their Republican candidates when the time comes? The Republican Senators don’t seem too worried.

Well, keep in mind that the Republican Party also fought against healthcare reform, every last one of them. Providing healthcare to all Americans was called ‘socialism’ and socialism is bad. Of course, these same Americans who shouted ‘Down with Socialism’ are the same ones that say Support our Troops, call our Firefighters and Police Officers heroes and like to pick up their mail each and every day. They also enjoy things like Social Security and Medicare, ALL which are socialist programs. So, they either really don’t like the military, fire department and hate their mail, or, they just didn’t understand what they were mad about.

And when the elections came, those Republican candidates who wanted to win talked about how they FOUGHT AGAINST the Obama Socialism of Healthcare. Funny thing is, of the 36 to 50 million Americans who are in need of healthcare, it is pretty evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. So once again, a group of people were shouting against something that they themselves needed as well.

Republicans also love to shout that they want lower taxes, they want less government involvement and that Americans need to stop expecting handouts and ‘pull themselves up’ by their own bootstraps.

We laughed at you when you said government intervention wouldn’t work and then pointed to the government run Medicare to make your point.  We chuckled when you said socialized healthcare wouldn’t work then refused to acknowledge that our military, which has one of the greatest healthcare systems in America, is actually a socialized healthcare system. We shake our heads when you fight for your gun rights so vehemently, that you give criminals access to things that not only endanger our law enforcement, but your family as well.

What we don’t laugh at is this.

‘…of the 32 states receiving more in federal spending than they pay in federal taxes — 76% are Red States that voted for George Bush in 2000. Indeed, 17 of the 20 (85%) states receiving the most federal spending per dollar of federal taxes paid are Red States.’ ~ Taxprof.com

Yup, that’s right, those people who love to shout that people who want healthcare reform are ‘lazy Americans looking for a handout’, who vote for a party who refuses to help its own citizens who are trying to survive a recession that THAT PARTY is actually responsible for…are the ones who are sucking on the government teat more than anyone.

So here are my questions for Republicans. Why are you shouting against things you obviously need in order to live a better life? Why are you calling the rest of America lazy and socialists when you are taking more than anyone else? Why are you allowing your leaders to make decisions that are hurting you and your kids and in the case of guns, actually endangering your family? What’s the win?

Is it merely to keep President Obama from succeeding during his time in office? Are you so willing to give up the American dream because you don’t agree with a leader who was democratically elected? Are you so afraid of SOCIALISM that you aren’t willing to educate yourself on what it really is and how we are already using it in many ways? Is the constitution really that important to you when it comes to guns and taxes, but not so much when it comes to racial profiling and ‘anchor babies’?

You vote in people who represent your ‘views’, and by allowing them to stay, you become responsible for their actions. So I ask you, when did your political party become more important than your health, your job, your home, your family and your way of life? When did allowing your fellow Americans to lose their jobs, lose their unemployment and possibly lose their lives due to lack of healthcare, become patriotic?

Oops, that’s a lot of questions. Let’s just boil it down to one.

Why are you so willing to vote for someone that is willing to screw you so readily? We’re all curious.