(slightly updated by me--originally posted on michaelmoore.com in 2004.)
Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.
All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, so now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contains. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree-hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
It's noon time; Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from the kind of unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.
Joe is home from work; he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dad's; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republicans would still be sitting in the dark.)
He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.
He turns on a radio talk show; the host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.) Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."
2 comments:
Cute.
Still believe that unions have made this country strong?
Ask GM and Ford how they love being strong armed by the unions and are nearly out of business now.
Or, United Airlines and how they almost went under--delcared bankruptcy in fact--to be relieved of all the union baggage they were under.
Perhaps you should finish the story you posted. Let's examine other grand successes liberals have pushed such as welfare programs and how people become dependent and would rather stay on welfare than go back to work.
We've created an "entitlement" generation, largely because of programs like this. We're still doing it today with all the bailouts.
All the items that you mention that are in place because of "liberals" are now faltering. Social Security? I doubt it will be there for my generation. Subsidized loan programs for college? Didn't need them. My republican parents decided to EARN, SAVE and INVEST rather than rely on the government to hand them something. That's right. Self made family.
It is my opinion, and I am sure you will disagree, that unions are not among the many causes of the downfall of the auto industry. Failure to produce energy-efficient vehicles, as well as the crushing expense of health care (because of this country's lack of universal health care) are just two of the many culprits.
I don't know how old you are, but I also was able to get through college without federal loans. Of course, a quarter at UCLA cost $250 back then, and a semester at the top-notch private college where I got my BFA degree ran $2500. Sadly, the cost of college has far-outpaced inflation, and more importantly, since incomes for working people have remained flat for the past eight years, it is very difficult for working families to save enough to finance tuition. All this while productivity has skyrocketed.
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