Liberals The News From Sam's Branch Political commentary has shifted unchallenged so far to the right
that liberals are made fun of as hare brained radicals of the far left. Liberals used to be considered moderate until Newt Gingrich redefined himself as a reasonable man and liberals as radicals.
I am at least a liberal. Being a liberal always meant to me
that I was for free education for everyone for as far as they could go I have seen brilliant minds wasted because they could not afford the price of college while the idiot sons and daughters of the rich could play around in college for as long as daddy was willing to send the dollars.
As a liberal I am for free medical care for everyone from birth to
the grave. Liberal means we are our brother's keeper. Liberal, to me, means we care about poor children and think they should get the same opportunities as everyone else.
Liberal means that I accept everyone no matter what their color
or their nationality or their income or their physical or mental disability and yes accept them if their sexual preference differs from mine.
Being a liberal does not mean I am for abortion. There is no
doubt in my mind that life begins at conception--I don't kid myself. I do wish the people who are the loudest against abortion would be equally loud in support of programs that care for children born into poverty.
Liberal means my daughters should get the same respect and the
same opportunity as my sons and they should get the same pay if the work is the same.
And the cry goes up "but how do we pay for this" and the answer
is easy. Tax the rich. The coal companies are getting a tax write-off of one hundred million dollars a year which they are using to buy machines that put miners out of work. On the national level rich people quit paying social security tax after their income reaches about $60,000. If this loophole for the rich were eliminated it would pay for half of the national deficit.
Newt Gingrich and his fellow travelers want to balance the budget
on the backs of the poor. They are more worried about the capital gains tax
and giving the rich a tax cut than the health of old people & lunches for school children. They want to turn their big business friends loose to foul the air, water and land and disguise it as getting the government off our backs. They want to get rid of all the good things for people and unleash the most selfish influences in our society. Beware of the Republicrats
The News from Sam’s Branch
The Lincoln Independent, November 4, 1995
I used to think that to be a Democrat meant that you were a liberal. But now we have two millionaire governors who are Democrats because that is what it takes to win.
Republicrats are rich people using the Democratic Party label to help their kind and hurt the working people.
Rather than blaming the companies that owe millions of dollars in Workers’ Compensation payments our Republicrat legislature decided to make it tougher on working people to get help when they get injured on the job.
And what about NAFTA? This idea was put together by rich Democrats and rich Republicans to provide cheap, non-union labor south of the border. Try buying something made in America.
The wealthy are traitors to their own country. For cheaper wages they don’t hesitate to move their factories to countries that have no child labor laws and no environmental laws—but they use the American flag in their advertisements.
A friend of mine told of visiting Korea and seeing ten-year olds making basketball shoes sold in America for over one hundred dollars a pair.
And get this! West Virginia style quilts are made in China with slave labor and sold in the Charleston Town Center Mall.
Think about the elected officials who claim to be Democrats and I think you will find that not very many are working people. The few that are not rich are usually controlled by the wealthy.
Take a look at who is giving large amounts of money to Senator Manchin. He is the candidate of big money. Senator Manchin is a Republicrat. A right-wing Republican dressed up as a Democrat.
Maybe we should quit kidding ourselves and form a third part that represents the people. And I don’t mean a party led by another rich man like Ross Perot.
Abraham Lincoln said God must love the common man because he made so many. We outnumber the rich, let’s take our government back from them.
The Magnificent Golden Hills*
The News from Sam’s Branch
The Lincoln Independent, November 11, 1995
I was standing under a walnut tree. The sun had gone down below the mountain and darkened the holler. A slight wind blew up the creek and the last leaves were persuaded to fall from the walnut tree.
The leaves were magical as they spun down in a perfect spiral. The mountain ridge behind the spinning leaves was golden as the sun said goodbye to the holler and crowned the mountain tops.
I love this time of year, when the air gets brisk and exciting color warms my heart. Later, I wondered how anyone could take a bulldozer and destroy that beautiful ridge. I guess it was the money.
A woman from Missouri, whose husband worked on a strip-mine in Boone County, said that she didn’t like these mountains and thought they ought to be flattened out like most of Missouri. A teacher at Harts told me, “It breaks my heart to see what they’ve done—I see the destruction when I go hunting.”
People have to earn a living and the coal operators know this. The coal companies choose to strip-mine because it is a lot cheaper, requires fewer employees, and if they are clever they can avoid the so-called reclamation. Coal companies have closed deep mines and opened strip-mines, often non-union, with far fewer employees to pay. This is the same industry that gets nearly $100 million per year in super tax credits.
Strip mining is a “quick-buck” operation. There is enough underground coal that we could wait a hundred or more years before resorting to the destruction of strip-mining.
Somehow, that golden ridge in the Autumn** sunlight is worth more than money. I hope my grandchildren will enjoy that magic sight.
*I did not decide what the titles of my articles were. I would not have chosen this one.
**I understand that capitalizing Autumn is considered incorrect. But I think it represents too much beauty for a lower case beginning.
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