COMMENTARY | Is anyone else getting tired of hearing the Republicans whine about the same old thing? They just don't get it, but there is a strong woman in Massachusetts who is telling them like it is. That woman is Elizabeth Warren, and she is currently running for Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat.
Warren is a former White House financial reform adviser, and though she has never run for political office before, the woman is brilliant politically. While campaigning, she answered the critics of President Obama's plan to slightly increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
According to the Huffington Post, Warren remarked:
"You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along."
Most of the GOP would like to see the deficit reduction plan cut into social programs, including education, and the Republicans seem to have no clue that most people in the United States use social programs, whether they are Democrat, Republican, or independent.
Do they not realize our children need to be educated so there are competent adults who can take over the jobs that are needed to run our country in each generation? We need teachers, doctors, nurses, policeman, accountants, electrical engineers, and construction workers. From the jobs that are considered menial to the jobs requiring high-level skills, conservatives need them just as much as the rest of us.
Congressman John Fleming , R.-La., complained about the tax hike early this week. Fleming whines that he can't afford to live on $400,000 after he meets all of his expenses and feeds his family. He is the shining example of how many of the Republicans in office think.
Warren is the strong woman we've needed to explain, simply, that this is wrong. Our country was built by people who work together to make things happen, not by people who live in glass houses.
The other day I saw an elderly man get out of his vehicle and slowly walk with a cane into the store. The van he drove had a bumper sticker that read, "GET RID OF OBAMA AND HIS SOCIALISM" in big bold letters. I sat for a minute as I digested the scene. The man is most likely on Medicare. If there was ever a socialist program, that would be it. I wanted to ask him if he would be OK if his Medicare was canceled, but I just shook my head and drove away.
If I lived in Massachusetts, I would be voting for Elizabeth Warren, and I hope she continues to voice her commonsense opinions and challenge the Republican accusations against our current administration.
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