Now that you know my feelings on the major political parties, I will explain to you precisely why both parties' avid followers are idiots. If you are a Democrat or Republican, and you do not like being called an idiot, then you should stop being one. Stop supporting your party (financially and electorally) because, in all probability, "your party" does not represent you.
Republicans and Democrats like to bash each other in the media using violent rhetoric to motivate supporters to action while hoping to enrage and injure the other party's members. Today's political arena features nothing more than a glorified and expensive battle between gangs of adults who suffer from childish volatility. Honestly, when was the last time you saw the political parties put aside differences and meet in the middle? Does anyone besides me believe that Washington, D.C. is more like a high school inhabited by immature, uncooperative idiots than a bastion of problem-solvers and wise individuals?
On a daily basis, reports surface of individuals attacking the other party's members like young children attack each other. "Boehner is in bed with Big Oil and the Tea Baggers" or "Obama is not an American, but he is a closeted Muslim who wants to destroy America". How are statements like these any better than the shrill attacks and sheer gossip of high schoolers?
The lack of maturity on both sides is just one attribute Republicans and Democrats share. Let us look at a few others.
Both parties falsely claim to be the party of the working and middle-class American. In reality, both parties do not give two craps about the typical American; the parties just pretend to care to get your votes. Who did Bush's War in Iraq help? It certainly hasn't helped me (or you) although it may have helped oil companies (they have made well over $100 billion in profits since the war began). This war is just going to cost us middle-class members in the long-run in terms of higher taxes and lasting disdain from the Arab world.
Also, who did the Bush tax cuts help? They supposedly were for everyone. Well, my question is how is it good to cut taxes on everyone while government spending is ballooning? That is not good for the middle class because we now have to live life under the specter of imminent and massive tax increases.
Finally, how have those Wall Street bailouts worked for middle-class Americans? Well, almost 10% of us are still unemployed. It is difficult to get credit to buy houses or cars. We can't pay off credit card and student loan debt due to the recession. Where is our bailout? And, more importantly, why aren't you pressuring your leaders for a bailout?
On the Democrats' side, how exactly was GM's and Chrysler's second bailouts good for you? You are probably not one of the 800,000 UAW members who benefited. You probably are not one of the other 2.5 million people who depend on the auto sector. Think about that: 3.3 million people (1% of the population) got about $90 billion to save their jobs. To those of you who say "GM and Chrysler only got loans and they'll pay them back" I will say that you are an idiot and you should look at this website: http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/bailouttracker/.
Also, how does a massive government program like Obamacare help you out when you are going to be taxed to cover the insurance premiums of 25 million people?
To my generation, why do you students so avidly support the Democrats? Have they helped you fund school? No. They helped make student loans so hard to deal with for unemployed graduates. And they haven't stopped the insane increase in tuition (I will explain how they actually created our tuition troubles in another post).
Now that we have quashed both parties' claims that they help middle-class Americans, let us look at both parties' views on the size of our government. Republicans have no problems telling people what to do in terms of morality and safety; they have no problems increasing government spending through population control (Patriot Act), morality wars (War on Drugs), defense spending (Iraq, Afghanistan) and subsidies for constituents (oil companies, pharmaceuticals). Expanding government influence is clearly okay with Republicans.
And the Democrats? Well, they have no qualms about destroying your chances of thriving economically. Think of programs like Medicaid and Social Security, which are nothing less than wealth transfers from workers to non-workers (although, as I have said before, I don't have a huge problem with these programs' goals: the programs are just too big right now). They have no problem with levying unjust taxes (think of the taxes on gasoline which have inflated gas prices) that help crush decent, hard-working Americans like yourselves. Democrats also don't think twice about creating new regulations (think of the EPA's decisions against off-shore oil drilling) that stunt economic freedom. Like the Republicans, Democrats have no problems increasing their influence over your lives.
I hope that you now understand that neither party is on your side. Democrats and Republicans seek the same goals (making their own lives better and increasing their political power) through different means. Democrats and Republicans do not care about YOU, and YOU are an idiot for giving them your money and votes.
We should all be tired of these immature, lying, self-serving individuals who seek to make the world better for themselves and their financial backers; these are not good traits for people in leadership roles. And, yet, we do not hold our leaders accountable. We kind of just accept their corruption. It is a huge joke, America, and the politicians are the ones laughing.
