A day in the life of Joe Republican

[Carinthia]

Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican

by John Gray

Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.

Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark)

He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.

He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day) Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have”.

http://tvnewslies.org/html/day_in_the_life...oe_middle-.html

Edited March 28, 2008 by Carinthia

[August1991]

Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.

...

Ah yes, where would be without the government? Well, that's an interesting question. Most of these examples occur in spite of the government - not because of it. Most government regulations add extra costs and don'r provide much benefit for consumers. They do make it difficult for competitors to enter the business and hence protect existing businesses.

The Soviet Union and Communist China are evidence that countries with big governments don't work. Socialism doesn't work. The world has too much government.

If you don't believe, take a look at this list.

[MontyBurns]

“We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have”.

I agree completely.

[jbg]

He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day) Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have”.

http://tvnewslies.org/html/day_in_the_life...oe_middle-.html

This article overstates the case. I am an extremely liberal Democrat and agree that many of these reforms were needed. I don't buy the idea that is A" is good 3 x "A" is three times as good. There comes a point where these government mandates take more than they give.

This article doesn't allow for the proper balance between mandates that improve life, and those that suck the life out of the private sector and thus the country.

[segnosaur]

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

The last 2 jobs I've had had health care plans, and neither one of them is/was unionized. Those benefits were given to me because my employers thought it was a good incentive to get me to work there. Law of supply and demand when it comes to labor.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

First of all, keep in mind that much of our 'clean' technology is affordable because our stronger economy allows us to invest in anti-pollution technology. (For an extreme case, consider former soviet-bloc countries, where they had significant government control; yet many of these countries had very bad environmental records.)

He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Of course, the 'subsidized' transit system does cost him money in taxes.

Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union.

Pay, benefits, holidays, etc. are also given by non-unionized companies when they want to provide incentive for valuable employees to work there, not because they don't want the unions.

Of course, I could ALSO point out that while union people may get higher pay, it also causes prices to increase, so people aren't necessarily any better off. A union may get a 5% raise, but it doesn't help if prices go up by 5% to compensate for those wages. In fact, they could be worse off, as many jobs end up leaving the country. The people who really suffer are those working in small shops/restaurants (e.g. mom&pop corner stores, that may only have 1 or 2 workers), for which organizing a union is impractical. So, those workers end up having to pay the higher price for products/services from unionized companies, even though they won't get the associated wages/benefits.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.

Of course, those student loans DO end up adding to the amount of taxes we pay. Perhaps if we reduced people's tax bill, they could better afford to pay for their own education.

He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards.

Many companies routinely exceed government safety regulations. They do so because safety features often make good selling points.

He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security...

A social security system which, in the case of the U.S., may eventually collapse. Weeee..

Of course, if people didn't have to spend so much on taxes (part of which go into Social Security), they could afford to fund their own retirement. The long-term average rate of return on stock-market investments exceeds what you'd get from Social Security.

...and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to.

Ironically, many of those pension plans invest in stocks who's value is actually harmed by the existence of unions.