Tiger! Tiger! less than bright
Hitting hydrants in the night
He who breaks his marriage pledge
Will lose a window to a wedge
Wielded by an angry spouse
Whose lawyers claim she'll get your house
And alimony steep in price
Because you wouldn't heed advice
That men get taken to the cleaners
When they're thinking with their wieners
There's no clue in all the twaddle
Who cheats on a Swedish model?!
Sponsors may soon step aside
As your betrayal of your bride
Seems less to be a one time slip
Than nothing but the iceberg's tip
On the course you've earned your laurels
But in life you have the morals
Of a pig or a hyena
Lucky Elin's not Lorena
Tiger! Tiger! less than bright
Hitting hydrants in the night
He who breaks his marriage pledge
Will lose a window to a wedge
Monday, December 7, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
You Say Nazi I Say Not So
Can we please, for the love of God, stop equating the Obama administration with Hitler's reign of terror?! As far as I can tell, the reasoning underlying the linkage between Obama and Hitler is this: Nazis called themselves national socialists and in the minds of some Americans, any increased government presence in something other than national defense makes us a socialist nation and Obama its socialist leader. I can only presume that to them any socialist regime is indistinguishable from any other, so the U.S. under Obama would be the same as Germany under Hitler. I'm not sure where to even begin setting the record straight. The entire exercise is reminiscent of debating the fine points of implausibility regarding Gilligan's Island, but I suppose I have to begin somewhere.
First, I've heard voices from the far right asserting that more government involvement in health care would make us the same as Hitler's Germany. Barney Frank famously heard the same thing at a town hall meeting. I have to ask, is that really the lesson you took away from history? Hitler wanted to offer health care to all citizens, Jew and gentile alike? Really?! For one thing, Germany had universal health care going back to Bismarck, before Hitler was even born (in Austria), so I'm having difficulty understanding how it's peculiar to Hitler and Obama. Also, Israel has universal health care. Are you prepared to tell Israelis who still bear the tattoos of Nazi atrocities that their country is identical to the one they fled for their lives after seeing their family members slaughtered? I know of no 20th Century historian whose mind turns immediately to health insurance when reflecting upon Nazi Germany. By the way, Singapore, a purer example of market capitalism than the U.S. also has universal health care.
Now let's compare the feared Nazism of the Obama administration with the halcyon days of Ward and June Cleaver and the Eisenhower presidency. The top marginal tax rate under Eisenhower never dipped below 91%. Also, when we think about domestic policy initiatives in those eight years, we likely think of the interstate highway system, which was inspired by the advantages that the autobahn system gave the Nazis. During the Eisenhower years we had legally enforced segregation, and blacks, who were not part of our country's master race, would be thrown in jail if they tried to escape the ghetto of their second-class citizenship by using a public toilet or occupying a seat on the bus. Now let's be clear, Eisenhower's presidency bears no resemblance to Nazi rule, but that's equally true of Obama's. When the private sector failed and we were facing a collapse that most people can't even imagine, Obama, like Bush before him, stepped into the breach to rescue the country from catastrophe. His decision not to fiddle while Rome, Georgia burned should not be confused with a plan to enslave all Americans under his megalomaniacal whip.
This is not new; the same charges of socialism, destroying America and so forth were leveled against FDR. Notwithstanding the Chicken Little ranting, the sky was not falling. We ultimately thrived as never before and our dime now bears FDR's image. I will concede that on the continuum between pure capitalism and pure socialism, greater government involvement moves us along that line away from pure capitalism, but we need to retain a sense of proportion. The government stepping in to shore up a failed private institution rather than allowing another devastating blow to an already battered economy does not equal or even foreshadow a complete disappearance of private property and freedom. We'll always have a mix of public and private in this country, and that's a good thing. Complete government control of our lives would be an Orwellian nightmare, but a society without any safety net whatsoever would be a Dickensian nightmare. I don't want to live under totalitarian oppression any more that you want to live in a country where people who can't afford medical care are left to die in the streets. There's plenty of room for disagreement on the proper role of government, but let's keep our heads, tone down the rhetoric and work together to solve our common problems.
First, I've heard voices from the far right asserting that more government involvement in health care would make us the same as Hitler's Germany. Barney Frank famously heard the same thing at a town hall meeting. I have to ask, is that really the lesson you took away from history? Hitler wanted to offer health care to all citizens, Jew and gentile alike? Really?! For one thing, Germany had universal health care going back to Bismarck, before Hitler was even born (in Austria), so I'm having difficulty understanding how it's peculiar to Hitler and Obama. Also, Israel has universal health care. Are you prepared to tell Israelis who still bear the tattoos of Nazi atrocities that their country is identical to the one they fled for their lives after seeing their family members slaughtered? I know of no 20th Century historian whose mind turns immediately to health insurance when reflecting upon Nazi Germany. By the way, Singapore, a purer example of market capitalism than the U.S. also has universal health care.
Now let's compare the feared Nazism of the Obama administration with the halcyon days of Ward and June Cleaver and the Eisenhower presidency. The top marginal tax rate under Eisenhower never dipped below 91%. Also, when we think about domestic policy initiatives in those eight years, we likely think of the interstate highway system, which was inspired by the advantages that the autobahn system gave the Nazis. During the Eisenhower years we had legally enforced segregation, and blacks, who were not part of our country's master race, would be thrown in jail if they tried to escape the ghetto of their second-class citizenship by using a public toilet or occupying a seat on the bus. Now let's be clear, Eisenhower's presidency bears no resemblance to Nazi rule, but that's equally true of Obama's. When the private sector failed and we were facing a collapse that most people can't even imagine, Obama, like Bush before him, stepped into the breach to rescue the country from catastrophe. His decision not to fiddle while Rome, Georgia burned should not be confused with a plan to enslave all Americans under his megalomaniacal whip.
This is not new; the same charges of socialism, destroying America and so forth were leveled against FDR. Notwithstanding the Chicken Little ranting, the sky was not falling. We ultimately thrived as never before and our dime now bears FDR's image. I will concede that on the continuum between pure capitalism and pure socialism, greater government involvement moves us along that line away from pure capitalism, but we need to retain a sense of proportion. The government stepping in to shore up a failed private institution rather than allowing another devastating blow to an already battered economy does not equal or even foreshadow a complete disappearance of private property and freedom. We'll always have a mix of public and private in this country, and that's a good thing. Complete government control of our lives would be an Orwellian nightmare, but a society without any safety net whatsoever would be a Dickensian nightmare. I don't want to live under totalitarian oppression any more that you want to live in a country where people who can't afford medical care are left to die in the streets. There's plenty of room for disagreement on the proper role of government, but let's keep our heads, tone down the rhetoric and work together to solve our common problems.
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