Tuesday, May 11, 2010

As I Was Saying

About grouchy conservatives and their money. This is from the platform just adopted by the Maine Republican Party:

Espouse and follow the principle: it is immoral to steal the property rightfully earned by one person, and give it to another who has no claim or right to its benefits.

Because, you know, lawyers and stockbrokers have a right to their incomes that school teachers and firemen don't. That's not what they mean? Then what do they mean? "Welfare"? Welfare, as in means-tested government benefits programs, is a small portion of the federal budget, and an even smaller portion of overall government spending. The notion that we could reduce taxes and balance the budget by eliminating "welfare" is a farce. And from the same document:

Defeat Cap and Trade, investigate collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth, and prosecute any illegal collusion.

It's a conspiracy! I do appreciate their honesty on this point:

Clarify that health care is not a right, it is a service.

It would be simple to control health care costs if we just barred our hospital doors to poor people and let them die in the streets. Absent that, some form of national cost-sharing is essential.

UPDATE: Matt Yglesias notes,
They also demand that “Congress participates in Social Security under the same rules as the general public” which is already the case and also that “Congress participates in the same health care plan as the general public” which is a provision of the Affordable Care Act passed into law earlier this year.

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