As IF Times

link Soros: I Cant Stop a Republican “Avalanche” – NYTimes.com.

The interesting nugget from this article is not so much that Soros is allegedly resigned to a Republican sweep in the upcoming November mid-term elections in the U.S., henceforth to be referred as the ‘great flushing’.  No, the amusement is found in one of the enlightened comments from a poster named Paul from Montreal Canada.  In one fell swoop, this goof throws out the usual tired and misleading talking points that liberals offer to perpetuate myths about the conservative GOP.  While I am not an apologist for the GOP, I am amused by the disingenuous moaning of the left when attributing cause and effect to the Republicans.  Let’s have at some of the delusional talking points:

“- Kids receiving even worse education”  I’m not even sure how that conclusion is reached.  But doing some very cursory research indicates that some of the very worst schools in the U.S. as far as grades underperformance occurs in states run by Democrats as well as Republicans.  According to the website, Walletpop.com which purports to list the worst 25 schools in America, http://www.walletpop.com/mortgages/worst-performing-public-schools/ there appears to be a concentration of low performing schools in Illinois, Wisconsin and South Carolina.  Are these the fault of Republicans? Let’s not forget that problems such as high drop out rates, gang activities and high ESL students occur in predominantly Democratic enclaves, Washington DC, Detroit and Los Angeles.  He should really be concerned about adults receiving a miseducation from watching mainstream network news or reading the Huffington Post.

 
“- Health care only for those who can afford it”  This is patently true anywhere in the world even in Canada, Paul is just ignorant of it. The fact is, SOMEONE pays the bills for healthcare costs, either the state from collecting high taxes or the individual through high fees.  The root cause of high healthcare costs? Punishing legal claims and commensurately sky-high insurance costs.  Lack of significant tort reform is the single biggest impediment to affordable medical costs.  Guess which political party lawyers overwhelmingly support  in the U.S.?  Yup, Democrats.  

“- Outsourced military”  I’m not even sure what he refers to here.  As far as I know, the U.S. military is still using homegrown talent….and volunteers at that.  Is he upset that we are outsourcing people to get into harm’s way rather than having domestic soldiers at risk?

 
“- More outsourced law enforcement”  Again, not sure what he refers to.  Is he talking Latino mall cops?

 
“- More jobs to low wage countries and receive tax refunds for it”  I’m not sure how he thinks that this issue is something to be hung around the neck of Republicans.  Take automobiles.  GM, Ford and Chrysler got into trouble precisely because wage and benefit packages factored into the price of cars made them uncompetitive in the domestic and world markets.  Most of this can be laid at the feet of the powerful union movement still trying to impose industrial revolution mentality upon a post modern industrial society. 

 
“- You being able to buy more goods for low prices at WM, but not having the money to buy it”  Again, not sure how he lays the blame for this on Republicans.  Would he prefer economically disadvantaged people not have access to inexpensive clothing and hard goods?  Should high tariffs be placed on all manner of consumer items to protect high wages domestically?  Wasn’t one of the NAFTA signatories Bill Clinton? How else does Paul think that he can afford to buy a Playstation (where he probably spends most of his time) unless it was manufactured overseas?

 
“- More debt”  On this item, Paul is clearly delusional, uninformed or likely both.  Since coming into office, President Obama has increased the debt obligation of the United States more than the sum of all presidents ever in the history of America….COMBINED!
http://neveryetmelted.com/2010/03/26/obama-has-increased-the-national-debt-more-than-43-previous-presidents-combined/

“- More religious bigotry in every day politics, not freedom of religion but freedom to convert others.” This ridiculous claim can be the subject of an entire AsIF piece by itself.  Suffice to say, NOT! Nary a year goes by without some nutbar group trying to dismantle any vestiges of Christmas from public display while at the same time encouraging tolerance of Muslim observances.  Frank Costanza of Seinfeld fame was way ahead of his time in introducing Festivus. 

 
“- More isolation of the outside world”  Says who? If the U.S. is such a pariah to the world at large, why are there so many people trying to get into the U.S. both legally and illegally?  I don’t recall who first observed that if you were to impose a gate upon the borders to the country, would there be more people trying to get in, or scrambling to get out? As far as I can tell, the U.S. still is a draw to most in the world.

“- More people living in poverty”  This statistic may be hard to argue with.  Again, it’s difficult to see any logic as to how this was solely the doing of the evil Republicans.  Perhaps the lesson here is to get into the professions of law, union boss or hollywood entertainment, or just be Warren Buffet, all of them being key constituencies for Democrats.  That makes sense.  Meanwhile, since the present Democratic administration has come to office, the unemployment rate is stuck near 10%. Liberals are blind to the link that ties a benign corporate environment to full employment.  This was in full evidence when Nancy Pelosi recently declared that nothing would spur stimulus spending more than unemployment cheques in the hands of the unemployed! 

He did however leave out Republicans causing global warming.  Yeah, that’s entirely reasonable.

link Hispanics not motivated for 2010 election – Washington Times.

The racism accusation is a favorite device used by liberals when trying to gather support from immigrants from opposing conservatives during elections.  Anyone paying attention to the rhetoric knows the opposite is true, that the people supposedly championing racial equality are the same ones treating ethnics as homogeneous blocs. 

While that may be true for a specific segment of the voting population in the US, namely blacks, according to this link,  http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/10/obama-approval-gallup-blacks.html, it’s unlikely that most people necessarily vote along racial lines.  In the case of Latinos, many of whom are escaping their homelands of Mexico or Cuba in order to improve their economic circumstances, personal finance and well being are more important to them than solidarity with  their ethnic brethren.  If they just wanted to hang out with their peeps, presumably, they wouldn’t have taken the trouble to break into the U.S. 

It’s actually insulting to all minorities that just because someone in office is of their race that they should automatically receive the group vote.  It’s always been amusing to me that “Person A” deigns to represent the Asian community, or the Latino community or the Polish community.  Imagine if someone were put forth to represent the White community.  Chris Matthews would be foaming like mentos in a coke bottle. 

Getting back to Latinos, or all ethnics for that matter; they all have one thing in common in their arriving to the U.S., the ambition to make something of themselves in one of the few, if not the only nation left in the world, where you can succeed based only on your hard work.  Most people are driven by the desire for a better life for their family than observance of any group cause.  In that respect, this parallels the desires of most of the larger community.  When you think about it, that was the essence of the founding of the country in the first place 300 years ago. So if politicians are going to pander and lie to the people, at least lie about the things that affect everyone.  Everyone basically wants the same things, jobs, freedom and of course the classic and elusive pursuit of happiness.  Well, most people.

So when the headlines read that Hispanics are not motivated for the 2010 election, maybe, just maybe that’s because the present administration’s policies aren’t viewed favourably by them… as individuals.  People aren’t monolithically stupid because of race.  Bad policies for one are probably bad policies for all.