From previous posts, my thousands of daily readers from Boston to Bangkok may remember my friend "Kyle" (not his real name--gotta protect both him and me, for different reasons). Kyle and I knew each other in high school and we were both on the debate team, but from there our lives went in very different directions. Over the years, Kyle's political views have evolved into something that might even make Rush Limbaugh wince occasionally; he's about as far to the right as anyone I can imagine.
So, it should come as no surprise that Kyle is a little peeved about this week's election results. And I can't blame him--from his perspective, it had to be a very deflating experience. Therefore, to "make nice" just a bit, I wrote to him and complimented both Romney and Obama for running reasonably civil campaigns. And I forwarded to him a Star Tribune commentary that made the same point--taking each of them to task at times, but also saying that it was anything but a gutter campaign for the two standard-bearers.
But--surprise, surprise--Kyle would have none of that:
"Of course you want to claim Obama was 'within bounds' with his campaign. However, most observers agree that Obama started early trashing Romney personally and professionally, while the same cannot be said of Romney. Sorry, I do not agree that Obama is basically a decent guy. He is a product of the Chicago hood mentality of politics and it shows in his campaign and his campaign staff. It also shows in his administration.
"As for the next 4 years, I see
Obama doing all the socialist things he has done in his first 4 years,
only more so. I see folks like myself, entrepreneurs, investors, and
business folks hunkering down to survive the onslaught of big
government. We are already seeing it in the first 3 days after the
election, with massive numbers of layoff announcements, hour
reductions, and companies going out of business. I don't think Obama
will do anything about the deficit or debt, and unemployment will get
worse rather than better. Regulations will continue to skyrocket,
welfare and food stamps, and other such programs will continue to
increase, family net worth will continue to drop, and the workforce
will continue to shrink. Taxing the 'rich' will not come close to
fixing the deficit, nor will slashing the military. Medicare will
continue to go bankrupt, and social security will continue toward
bankruptcy. Obamacare will dramatically increase in cost over the
original estimates, and much of the private healthcare industry will
begin to fade away. Obama will propose another stimulus so he can pay
off his cronies again, and it will fail like the last one. He will also
attack our 2nd amendment rights, and continue to favor our enemies over
our allies on the world stage. He will do nothing about Iran and their
nuclear development. He will continue to appease the Islamic world
while they laugh at him, and he will set the stage for terror attacks
abroad and at home. He will continue to push abortion rights and
mandates on the church and others opposed to abortions, and will
continue to undermine traditional marriage. He will push the global
warming hoax as a route to government revenues, and further restrict
the development of fossil fuels in the USA, leaving it to the private
sector to actually develop private resources. Lastly, he will continue
to hide his birth certificate, his school records, his passport
records, his Selective Service records, and all the other records he
has kept from public scrutiny.
"So you have
your prediction, and I have mine. Check with me in 4 years. As for me,
I will be protecting my family and my livelihood. I will do as little
as possible to feed the federal government/liberal establishment beast,
and will not tolerate nor do business with those who are undermining
this country."
Whoa. What to say? I didn't want to spend an hour grappling with this hostility, but I did send Kyle this response:
One
of these days, maybe, I'll figure out how someone who is so warm,
gracious, and friendly in person turns into such an ogre when it comes
to politics! And maybe I will also figure out how someone can have
such a black-and-white, heaven-and-hell view of the world, neatly
divided into friends and enemies, good buys and bad. And finally,
maybe I'll figure out how basically every sentence in what you wrote
includes some over-the-top, hyperbolic, and melodramatic language
("skyrocketing" regulations, "slashing" the military, Medicare going
"bankrupt," paying off his "cronies," "favor our enemies," global
warming "hoax," etc.). And when you suggest that Obama is out to
"undermine traditional marriage," you say something that is patently
incorrect and quite out of touch. In fact, I really do not know a
single political figure in the U.S.--not a single one, Democrat or
Republican--who is trying to "undermine traditional marriage."
As
for the campaign itself, your charges are broad and unsubstantiated.
The debates, for example, were certainly spirited, but both Romney and
Obama stayed out of the gutter. And your comments about Obama seem to
ignore what he said in the debates about these issues.
You're
right, of course, that taxing the rich will not come close to fixing
the deficit; it's merely part of an overall program. But it can make a
difference. And there is evidence to suggest that tax rates are not
closely aligned with the overall health of the economy; the idea that a
slight increase (from historic lows) in tax rates for the wealthy would
wreck the economy is not borne out by any economic analysis that I've
seen.
Take a cleansing breath. And have a little faith in America.
A little voice in me says that when it comes to Kyle, we're not done with this. But as my friends have counseled--and I have taken it to heart from time to time--this may be such a losing battle that it's not a battle worth waging.
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