I'm Tired (of Cranky Conservatives)

Full credit for the original post to Robert Hall (not Bill Cosby or any other character), a Vietnam War Marine veteran who wrote the original column in February 2009.  I think he is misguided and doesn't know political philosophy or history based on the way he wrote his blog. In my version, I believe I am more true to the facts.

I'm Tired

I’ll be 57 soon. I didn’t inherit my job or my income. As one of the 99%, I worked to get where I am. I don’t make $16,826/hour like the CEO of Wallyworld and probably never will, even with inflation. Given the Great Republican Recession, there’s no retirement in sight, and I’m tired. Very tired.

I’m tired of being told that I have to “spread the wealth around” to people who don’t earn a living but skim the cream. I’m tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people richer than Croesus.

I’m tired of being told that banks can’t afford to lend money for construction or restructure mortgages. Sure, if they were losing money or undercapitalized, I’m willing to accept that. But if they sold paperless mortgages for McMansions at three times the price of our townhouse, for customers with one-third of my salary, then let the rightwing Republicans in Congress and the clown in the White House explain why they repealed the Glass-Steaggal Act that addressed the corruption of the Market of the 1920s.

I’m tired of being told how evil America is by rightwing opinionators, preachers and politicians who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers to lie, cheat and steal, and punish the weak. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the religious freedom and women’s rights of Saudi Arabia, the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for gay people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Won’t Brazil be beautiful here? Oh, wait! We’re already less tolerant and less equal than our southern neighbors who don’t speak English.

I'm tired of 21st Century Republicans saying that the only way to create jobs is to reduce spending and taxes on the Rich. America boomed in the 1950s when the Rich paid a marginal tax rate of 90%, That was under Eisenhower!

I’m tired of being told that Christianity is a “Religion of Peace,” when every day I can read stories of Christian men raping their wives, sons and daughters because the Bible tells them to “submit.”

I believe “a man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin.” I’m tired of being told that “race doesn’t matter” by Republicans in the post-racial and highly ethno-centric world of Senator Mitch McConnell (R, Kentucky), when it’s all that matters in rightwing hate radio, condescending commentary about the President, unspoken White privilege, government contract set-asides, tolerance for the voter suppressing laws that hurt minorities more than anyone, and in the apotheosis of conservative black politicians who don’t know China has the Bomb (since 1963, and nuclear power, even). I think it’s very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation. I just wish the President said more about freedom and the individual under the pressure of the corporatocracy and an all-knowing but blind Market. The Market is not God.

I’m tired of a news media that ignores secret political campaign funding by the Rich, including hate-filled smear media and fear-mongering. I’m glad the media thought that President Bush’s mountain biking while taking more vacation days than any president in living memory was a waste of taxpayers’ dollars, but that President Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress, I’m tired of a cowed news media that dropped the story of Bush’s military records, and repeated the lies of the self-proclaimed “Swiftboat Veterans” against Kerry, that glammed Palin for vice president despite her obvious inexperience, and takes the current crop of Republican candidates for president seriously.

Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? I haven’t a clue. I didn’t vote for Bush in 2000, but it didn’t matter since he won the vote of the Supremes controlled by partisan Republicans Justices.

I’m tired of being told that due to our “addiction to oil” we must let Saudi Arabian Wahabi Muslims use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate towards the West across the world, while no American Jewish or Christian sect is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach our American love and tolerance.

I’m tired of being told I must lower my living standard to balance the federal budget, which no one is allowed to debate. If everyone had the Ecological Footprint I do, we would need six Earths to sustain us.

I’m tired of the destruction that addiction and alcoholism cause. I’m tired of the criminalization of addiction; the faith that addiction is a moral failing. I don’t think gay people choose to be gay, but I'm damn sure druggies chose to take drugs once, searching for something missing in their lives and then became addicted. And I’m tired of the unwillingness of “the richest country on Earth” to help addicts find recovery. 


I’m tired of illegal aliens being hired by cheap businessmen and politicians, especially the ones who can afford to pay US wages and live on white collar crime. What’s next? Calling small businessmen that hire and abuse undocumented immigrants “job creators” when they are just hypocrites. And, no, I’m not against Hispanics or the Rich. I think most of them are Christians and it’s been a few hundred years since Christians wanted to kill me for my religion. I’m willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic who can speak English, doesn’t have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military. Those are the citizens we need. I just wish the Rich believed they were citizens of the United States and not "the World."

I’m tired of chickenhawk conservatives, politicians and newsreaders, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, praising our rightwing leaders and their wars. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth people better than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. We need better, more honest leaders, military and civilian.

Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure, but we prosecute them for war crimes if we catch them. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years—and still are? Not even close. So here’s the deal. I’ll let Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo when we bring Muslims extremists to trial. America is better than that, and we know better. I trust our military leaders. Torture doesn't work, and it inspires torture of our troops and allies.

I’m tired of conservatives telling me their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. But listen to anyone but Fox News—bums are Republicans. And I’m tired of people telling me we need bi-partisanship. I live in New Mexico where Republicans would steal the vote without a second thought. I notice that the tax cheats in New York and Washington are just non-partisan opportunists who would sell out our country for a handful of silver.

I’m tired of hearing wealthy radio preachers, commentators, talking heads, and politicians of the virtuous Right talk about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I’m tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

Speaking of poor, I’m tired of hearing people who live on less than $5 a day for food called moochers and welfare queens. The majority of Americans weren’t poor in 1970, but today we are, but don’t know we’ve become “poor.” We’re still “middle class” just like the banksters and money handlers who receive over $200,000 per year for manipulating paper. The leaders of the class war have to keep changing the definition of rich to keep the dollars flowing up and keep the 99% ignorant.

I’m real tired of people who don’t take responsibility for their lives and actions, and for their hate-filled speech. I’m tired of hearing them blame the government for their problems.

Yes, I’m damn tired. But I’m tired of getting older. Because, mostly, I can’t make the difference my children will in cleaning up our sorry mess. Like borrowing a truck and trashing it. Our oceans are dying and CO2 lingers in the atmosphere for centuries. I’m sorry that we’re leaving a less livable world for my granddaughters and grandsons.

New Mexico Native is not a veteran and never served in the New Mexico state legislature or anywhere near Santa Fe. He blogs at NewMexicoReview.blogspot.com