The Common Good

Hillary Clinton, at a fund-raiser in California, said this:

"Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you," Sen. Clinton said. "We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

That about sums up why I am forced to support Republicans so frequently: "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

I despair over many of the Republicans' agenda items - particularly the religiously-motivated ones - and find President Bush to be a less-than-stellar standard-bearer for Reagan's legacy, particularly since he has allowed government to grow larger and more intrusive with bare lip service to stopping it. At least Bush's character is good: he's not a thief and he's not an egregious liar and he's determined to defend the US against its enemies.

But as long as this is the attitude of the Democrats, I cannot support them at all. Hillary Clinton wants to take things from me to give to others. She wants to decide whom to take from, and what to take. She wants to decide whom to give to, and how much to give. And our existence, in her universe, is to sit back and be quiet, so that she can get on with it. She wants my money, because she feels entitled to it. Even disregarding the kind of corruption that breeds, what makes her think that she knows the common good so well that she can magnanimously spread only good? Has she learned nothing from history? Does she know nothing of economics or psychology? Has she even read the Constitution?

Stupid questions, of course, she knows nothing, and thinks she knows everything, and the mere fact of my disagreement with her agenda is proof that I'm a terrible horrible person who is stupid and smirks like a chimp and kills babies and - bah! Enough! No voting for Democrats until the Republicans start posting guards inside my bedroom or outlawing non-Christian religions!

Cheney's outburst was mild in comparison to what I'm not typing right now.

UPDATE: Steven Bainbridge has thoughts on this, along with a couple of good quotes.

Posted by Jeff at June 29, 2004 03:01 PM | Link Cosmos