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Progressives

OBAMA IS TOAST

“No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power … “ —Jacob Bronowski

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Solyndra is a California-based “green energy” company that sought more than $500 Million is loan guarantees from the Department of Energy and has now filed for bankruptcy protection.

Solyndra first sought consideration for the loan guarantee program (a that began under the Bush administration) during the last days of the GWB administration. They were denied. The Obama administration subsequently expanded the loan guarantee program via the stimulus and approved a half billion loan.

So now that Solyndra has sought bankruptcy protection, some private investors are lining up to get repaid even before the U.S. Taxpayers. the FBI’s criminal investigation is now seeking to know whether Solyndra execs knowingly and purposely misled DOE to obtain loan guarantees.

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Would You Suck Twice as Hard for Half as Much?

I appreciate it when democrats give you the rope with which to hang their half baked ideas.  Take Mark Fernald for example.  Mr. Fernald is a sometime New Hampshire Democrat candidate for this or that, and prominent member of the left wing Granite State Fair Tax Coalition (GSFTC).  He recently (sorry, frequently) forwards  partisan, left wing economic spin, to justify his pet obsession with rising taxes and class warfare. 

This most recent email to the arm chair central planners in his fan base is just another in a string of left wing editorials that attempts to contrast democrat spending against that of our previous president. It is typical Fernald; an oranges to rotten apples comparison that uses incomplete data, wild assumptions (about Obama’s future affect in every case), misleading graphs, cherry picked data, and resulting percentages that stretch the fabric of reality so thin that you could easily pass into the alternate dimension in which Democrats and faeries dance widderershins around the deficit mound, as money appears out of nowhere to pay for whatever theirr tiny, narrow, Marxist minds can imagine.

donkey with hed up assThis particualr faerie story centers around three graphs from the Government Printing Office (GPO).  Not the fed, the treasury, or even some fruit-loop left wing think tank, but the GPO.  The GPO prints stuff, and answers to the Executive branch.  So right out of the toy-box we have to question these partisan stills, presented as they are in a partisan manner, bearing guestimated facts and assumptions, with no basis in reality any greater than anything that has ever escaped Mr. Obama’s teleprompter; you do recall all the Obama the non-partisan, deficit cutting, cost reducing, globe saving, health care giving, unifying, auto company saving, mortgage rescuing, goodness?  How about the transparent lobbyist-less,  open to ideas, new tone, we need to work together Obama?  No?  You probably remember the we won, closed door, partisan, hate those bankers, Tea Partiers are terrorists,  intimidation tactics, don’t interrupt my vacation, Arrest Ron Paul supporters, dozens of lobbyists, shadow cabinet, Attack Arizona, hunt down my enemies, anti-free speech, black panthers can scare away voters, give guns to Mexican drug lords, nohting is my fault Obama with the double action golf-club grip?  Well his printing office is the source.  Are we surprised it tries to make him look good?

So what can we glean that goes beyond the objective of showing your Republican friends that they are wrong about Obama?  How about using facts to show that those Republicans are actually right?

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Bernanke’s Bender

Bernanke sober- or so it seems(Note:This arrived in my mail box unattributed, but I have discovered that it is from The Onion.  I have edited any questionable language by replacing letters with asterisks.  This image is not associated with the article at The Onion.)
 
SEWARD, NE—Claiming he wasn’t afraid to let everyone in attendance know about "the real mess we’re in," Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke reportedly got drunk Tuesday and told everyone at Elwood’s Corner Tavern about how absolutely f****d the U.S. economy actually is.
 
Bernanke, who sources confirmed was "totally sloshed," arrived at the drinking establishment at approximately 5:30 p.m., ensconced himself upon a bar stool, and consumed several bottles of Miller High Life and a half-dozen shots of whiskey while loudly proclaiming to any patron who would listen that the economic outlook was "pretty goddamned awful if you want the God’s honest truth."
 
"Look, they don’t want anyone except for the Washington, D.C. bigwigs to know how bad shit really is," said Bernanke, slurring his words as he spoke. "Mounting debt exacerbated—and not relieved—by unchecked consumption, spiraling interest rates, and the grim realities of an inevitable worldwide energy crisis are projected to leave our entire economy in the sh****r for, like, a generation, man, I’m telling you."

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RINO OF THE WEEK REPORT

“Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have.” ~Barry Goldwater THE RINO OF THE WEEK is four term House Representative William J. Remick.  Representative Remick’s voting record reveals a demonstrated pursuit of the moderate label by voting with his liberal pals … Read more

Guest Post by Mark Nadzan (candidate for Manchester Aldermen)

Mark was on GrokTALK! this past Saturday and mentioned that he had written an Op-Ed concerning a Union Leader Op-Ed by Gray Fitzgerald.  I said that I would have no problem in posting it as long as we could get a copy so that readers could see what he was opposing.  Well, this morning Mark sent it, so we’re posting it!

To the Editor:

Gray Fitzgerald’s opinion added to the sad state of class warfare that is escalating in our country.

Gray seems to be a Christian man.  He even acted as a pastor for a Unite Church of Christ.  We can all agree that Christ would want those with wealth to give to those less fortunate.  however, wouldn’t you agree that Jesus would not ask the rich to do so at the point of a Roman spear?

Yet Gray believes that government should force the rich to pay higher taxes in order to redistribute it to those they deem in need.  Furthermore, Gray states, "The logic of advocating a tax policy that transfers wealth to the multibillionaires … is incomprehensible.

Where is the transferring of money? Regardless of whether you agree with how they do it, the rich earn their money.  How do you "transfer to" someone their own money?  Is it not enough that the richest one percent that you want to vilify already pays 40 percent of the total federal income tax in the country?  I will not even broach the fact that almost 50 percent of citizens pay no income tax.

I close with a question regarding Gray’s referral to the "greed of the wealthiest". Which person is more greedy: one who would like to keep as much of his or her own money as possible, or one who want more of another person’s money?

Image of Fitzgerald’s letter after the jump.  Previously, Steve had penned a post as well – it is located here.

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THE SHRILL KATHY And Her Bill O’Brien Rant

“Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.” ~Ronald Reagan

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When one reads the Shrill Kathy’s latest diatribe in the Union Leader, there is one theme that plays like a broken record: Tax, Tax, Tax…Spend, Spend, Spend.  The Shrill Kathy complains, “a 10-cent cut in the cigarette tax, did not change prices for smokers because the tobacco companies raised their prices…” I think I missed something because the former argument of the day was that the tobacco tax reduction would increase youth smoking. So, now here’s Kathy Sullivan arguing the ill merits of a tax typically inflicted upon Granite Staters who earn the least….a tax on the poor…which of many, smoke.

Next, the Shrill Kathy complains that, “House budget writers ignored every signal that the federal government was about to impose a $35 million penalty for Medicaid errors dating back to the Benson administration…” adding that, “Their irresponsibility has caused a gaping hole in their ballyhooed ‘balanced budget’.”  How conveniently she ignores the fact that her beloved Democratic party, led by Teri “Billion-dollar deficit” Norelli had two full terms to reconcile and fix this issue, but did not do so. Instead, they created more layers of government, increased over one-hundred fees and taxes and put into motion record unsustainable budgets, creating the fiscal mess this state now faces.

The Shrill Kathy whines, “New Hampshire hospitals are laying off hundreds of employees because O’Brien and his Republican colleagues took away federal money that had paid hospital costs for the poor…” Yet it hard to ignore the countless millions of construction dollars hospitals are using to competitively outspend one-another in an unquenchable drive to be better than the next facility.  Now that the Democrats have created yet another constituency cash cow that becomes as angry as any other when bloated coffers are not being filled, The dependable Shrill Kathy is all too willing to step into the limelight and pimp their cash loss off onto the poor. Isn’t it about time we stop the demagoguing and manipulation of the less fortunate? Let’s be honest here; You don’t really care about poor people, Kathy.

Mayor Gatsas is no different than any other cash cow constituent, be it Republican or Democrat. Every entity that gets some form of funding for something from the state or federal government cries, cut theirs…but NOT MINE!  Cuts made to the at-risk juvenile program, shows no indication of any highly-paid hacks taking any pay cuts or losing their jobs. Nope! self-preservation trumps program delivery.

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Multiculturalism

“What ‘multiculturalism’ boils down to is that you can praise any culture in the world except Western culture – and you cannot blame any culture in the world except Western culture.” ~Thomas Sowell Far too many people define themselves in a hyphenated Status. This was virtually unheard of up until the 1970’s. Americans were, well…just … Read more

SUPPORT LITERACY

“I know a lot of people think I’m dumb. Well, at least I ain’t no educated fool.”  ~Leon Spinks  Literacy is the vital to individual success in our modern world. The ability to read, write, and speak English enables people to get jobs, participate in children’s education, maintain family health, and participate in our society.  … Read more

Another Anti-Second Amendment Publication Heard from: Seacoast On-line Editorial decries Open Carry

“Remember the first rule of gunfighting… ‘have a gun’.”  ~Jeff Cooper founder, the American Pistol Institute The opening paragraph of the Portsmouth Herald Editorial reads, “A Portsmouth police detective was recently lauded for defusing a July 4 incident in which Stawbery Banke Museum officials asked a couple openly carrying pistols to leave a ceremony attended … Read more

VICE-PRESIDENT BIDEN’S ‘CRACKED-HEAD CLUB’

Biden to Representative Giffords. “Now we’re both members of the Cracked Head Club.. You know, I had two craniotomies. For real…”~Vice President Joseph Biden   While many are expressing shock about Vice-President Biden’s recent comment to Rep Gabrielle Giffords now being a member of the “Cracked Head Club” I am one who is not shocked. … Read more

Florida Adopts Drug Testing For Recipients Of Public Assistance

“One of the consequences of such notions as “entitlements” is that people who have contributed nothing to society feel that society owes them something, apparently just for being nice enough to grace us with their presence.”~Thomas Sowell

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Florida is the first state to pass a law requiring those receiving state benefits to submit to drug testing. Florida Governor Rick Scott told CNN that the law was passed to provide personal accountability of those who would receive public assistance. Governor Scott believes that taxpayers should not be subsidizing the illegal drug use of those who are on the public dole. Under this law, those seeking to receive aid would be responsible to bear the up-front cost for drug testing, but the law provides for reimbursement.

And as predictably as could be anticipated, the rank-and-file liberal establishment lined right up to fight and advocate for status quo unaccountability. The perjuring impeached former Federal Judge and current State Representative Alcee Hastings made a whole bunch of noise about this bill being, “downright unconstitutional.” There is somebody we should listen to.  

The ACLU does what it usually does and filed a suit to block the law. Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida told CNN, “What (the Governor) is doing is giving ugly legitimacy to an unfortunate stereotype that has been in this country for a couple of decades – that all welfare recipients are a bunch of drug abusers,” pure demagoguery…But okay…let us look at what Howie confabulates.

It is a fair statement to say that not all people on welfare use illegal drugs. Fact is, we don’t really know how many people on welfare use drugs. Nobody wants to talk about it for obvious political reasons. However, lets take a look at what the National Poverty Center says about drug use:

“Citing (April 2004) estimates of the extent of substance abuse among welfare recipients, the authors suggest that policymakers and analysts have likely overstated the contribution of substance dependence to welfare receipt. The authors note that while substance use, abuse, and dependence are barriers to self-sufficiency, so are poor education, lack of transportation, physical and mental health problems, and other difficulties that are more common than substance dependence among welfare recipients. The authors stress the need for comprehensive services to address the multiple barriers faced by the most disadvantaged welfare recipients.”

NPC steers clear of making any concrete determination by simply directing attention away from drug use, to the whole host of other problems endemic in the welfare community. Their underlying thesis is to modestly acknowledge drug use but redirect the focus away from it and advocate for a more broader expansion on services. In other words, “Taxpayers, don’t ask us for details, you simply must pay more…”

The NPC has a graphic on their website that would suggest only 21% of welfare recipients use illegal drugs. Lets accept that at face value for the sake of discussion. In the Granite state roughly 53,000 households or 112,000  people use food stamps. That is roughly 1% of the total state population. According to the Henry Kaiser Family foundation, New Hampshire’s per capita food stamp benefit is $121.21. That is $13,575,520. So according to the National poverty center, the Granite State pays a public benefit in the amount of $2,850,859 to people who use illegal drugs. And with our liberal friends that is just aye-okay.

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Your Tax Dollars Hard At Work!

“It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.” ~Edmund Burke And when older people are yelling, “Don’t cut my Social Security!” Do you think they know about this community in Tacoma Washington? SO here you have it….Obama pimping the old people to keep … Read more

Nancy Pelosi: We’ll take care of your parent so that you don’t have to

Right from the mouth of one of the biggest Progressives around: former Speaker Nancy Pelosi who decided to use that argument over raising the debt ceiling (thus allowing Democrats to spend even more).  Face it, who wants to shoulder the responsibilities of taking care of family members.  After all, they’re only your parents!  After all, there are things that only Government can do – you cannot!

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that she views her role in politics as an extension of her role as a mother.

At a Capitol Hill press conference on Thursday, Pelosi was asked whether there was still time enough for Congress to work out a deal to raise the debt ceiling by next Tuesday, Aug. 2.

Pelosi said, “Look, I am a mom and a grandmother.  I view my work in politics as an extension of my role as a mom.  There are things we want to do for our children that are simply beyond us.”

“The safety of the food they eat, the water they drink, the air they breathe, the society in which they live, safety and the environment, and the neighborhoods in which they live,” she said.   “You need to have a public role, even though raising your family is a very personal thing.”

Right.  A personal thing.  Read the following – what part of "very personal" doesn’t seem to have some part of Government attached to it?  Government has to do all that?  Are you getting the same visualization I am – Government is the security blanket that we all can’t do without – or let go?  Or is it Nancy’s version the kind that comes with extra long sleeves with leather trim, with those fancy buckles?

Pelosi went on to say that it was important to maintain Social Security and Medicare and other government programs so that people will not have to care for their parents as they care for their children.

I’m confused.  First, does Nancy believe that…

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SB 88 VETO: More Of The Same Lies, Pandering and Demagoguery

“The sure foundations of the state are laid in knowledge, not in ignorance; and every sneer at education, at culture, at book learning, which is the recorded wisdom of the experience of mankind, is the demagogue’s sneer at intelligent liberty, inviting national degeneracy and ruin.”~George William Curtis, Author, Social Reformer (1824-1896)
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Governor John Lynch vetoed Senate Bill 88 yesterday, once again affirming allegiance to yet another unelected, unaccountable constituency: The New Hampshire Police Chiefs Association.  Despite thirty-one states adopting “stand your ground” laws and eliminating such duties to retreat, Lynch takes his counsel from those who think of themselves as smarter, wiser and more intuitive than the very people they were hired to serve.

As I pointed out in earlier blogs, back in 2006, I went on  TV-50 in Derry and debated then N.H. Association of Police Chiefs‘ President, Nathaniel “Chip” Sawyer on this issue. I also pointed out that it wasn’t much of a debate and Chief Sawyer didn’t put up much of a spirited counter-argument because he didn’t have to. He already had Lynch’s fidelity and the veto was already a done deal.

When she was Attorney General, Senator Kelly Ayotte urged Lynch to veto the Castle Doctrine Bill in 2006 (SB318) Yet, when she became a candidate for U.S. Senate, she quickly flip-flopped on the issue.  In 2006, SB 318 passed with arguable bi-partisan support in the house and it was Ayotte and her cronies that decried the bills’ passage with red-herring-esque”, arguments that somehow, “the use of deadly force on street corners, in shopping malls, public parks, and in retail stores. Drug dealers and other felons who brandish weapons will be further emboldened to use their weapons, while prosecution of those criminals will be made more difficult because of this bill’s expansion of the right to use deadly force.” That has not happened in the other thirty-one states who have passed the measure. As I recall, one assistant AG characterized the, “streets running red with blood,” if the bill became law.

Standing ones ground and owing no duty to retreat is not a new doctrine. There is a considerable body of case law addressing this very question. In Beard v. U.S. (1895) that a man who was, “[W]here he had the right to be” when he came under attack and “…did not provoke the assault, and had at the time reasonable grounds to believe, and in good faith believed, that the deceased intended to take his life, or do him great bodily harm…was not obliged to retreat, nor to consider whether he could safely retreat, but was entitled to stand his ground.”

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Zandra Rice-Hawkins – a bitter clinger, not to a Bible or guns, but to an ideal that the voters rejected.

James O’Toole over at the Eagle Tribune decided to spin an article on "It’s time to look at NH Legislative winners and losers". Now, it was rather even-handed (three pro, three con) as far as the numbers went.  Tone?  Certainly those on the Left were more, er, strident, including our ‘Grok B.F.F Zandra ("you’re still a racist homophobe") Rice-Hawkins from that bastion of Colorado Progressivism thrown east (yes, a transplant from a philosophy far, far way from New Hamsphire’s):

Zandra Rice-Hawkins of Granite State Progress, a progressive advocacy group, said lawmakers went on the attack against families and workers, while aggressively working to lower business taxes.

"This Legislature was beholden to special interests," Rice-Hawkins said. "Everybody else is being left behind."

Like "her" legislature wasn’t bought (lock, stock and wedding rings) by outside money? Unions, enviro-wackos, and the gay money – just chockablock FULL of special interests. Oh, that’s right – she’s part of the Regressives that believes that diversity only starts with being skin deep and in only one thought deep to boot. 

I have news for her; this year saw the LARGEST contingent of unaligned and unsupported (and thus, ‘unbought’) of Conservatives and Libertarians who had one thing in mind – Individual Liberty and Freedom.  This was the year of devolving power back out of Concord. Now, how could Zandra be against people making their own decisions (oh yeah, her legislature of the four years previously took power from the people and centralized it into Concord).

Yes, people will pay less for cigarettes now, Rice-Hawkins said. "But they are going to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more in tuition."

The Legislature also promoted a "Wild West mentality," Rice-Hawkins said, by easing gun laws and expanding deadly force.

Only time will tell if the lowering of the cig tax will be a plus or a minus from a revenue standpoint (although VT raising theirs will help our retailers). 

As to the Wild, Wild West – pure shrillness.  Have heard it over and over again from those, like Zandra, who just cannot trust her fellow citizens.  They also have rather quaint (and not in a good way) notion that adults are mere children and cannot (except for themselves, natch) be given reponsibilities that would be the same as sitting at the "adult table". More guns have been sold since Obama became President than any other time.  And violent crime has gone down.  If Zandra had been right, we’d all be be sitting on ammo cases and have mined our front yards with claymores.  Zandra, you are lacking evidence for your screed.

Here, my dear, is your high chair…

 

Rice-Hawkins gives this Legislature a grade of "F." Lawmakers will tell you they did what the voters asked them to do, but being a legislator is more than answering to your supporters, she said.

 

"When you’re a legislator, your responsibility is to represent everyone in your district," Rice-Hawkins

Really?  When most people in NH were against higher budgets, against the expansion of regulations, of changing "the social contract", the voters of New Hampshire showed their ire – and gave Republicans super-majorities in the House and Senate.  It shows, Zandra, that your legislature didn’t listen BIG time.

As bad as she deems the Legislature’s performance, she thinks it could have been worse. Legislation was turned away that could have rolled back the rights of women or limited abortion, Rice-Hawkins said.

Vs the Rights of innocent babies, Zandra?  The self interest of "me" vs a human that will never see the light of day?  A baby’s smile that will only end up in screams of pain?

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The Class Warfare Of Blue Hampshire

Caitlin fails to do an effective case study on wealth and liberalism while she waves a finger at Bill O’Brien because if she looked hard enough around the Granite State she would see the utter rank hypocrisy of leftists and their verbal articulation of progressive policies, while pursuing within their own personal lives a hard-core capitalist modus operandi that would make even Milton Friedman blush.

Bar Stool Economics

Left wing tax policy and the class warfare rhetoric they use to advance it crumbles in the face of even the most simplistic analysis.  Take the left wing war on the wealthy.  They argue that the rich do not pay their fair share even though the rich pay most of the taxes.  Here in New Hampshire the Mark Fernald wing of the democrat party apes this ridiculous technique on the matter of New Hampshire property taxes, a notion upon which the social justice mavens and the Granite State "Fair Tax" Coalition are meant to agitate.  But neither claim holds water and this cross post from CNHT explains why.
 
Bar Stool Economics

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100 and If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

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Is The Granite State Fair Tax Coalition Just Another Left Wing Front Group?

 

The Granite State Fair Tax Coalition claims to be a non-partisan, non-profit group whose mission is to convince the people of New Hampshire that we need a broad based income tax.

What that works out to is using percentages and formulas with a focus on deception, misdirection, and Alinsky-like class warfare rhetoric, to corral (see also ‘Guilt’) enough support to dismantle a system that for years has made the state of New Hampshire one of the best places to live and work in the nation; for quality of life, low overall tax burden, health, safety, low crime rates, job opportunity and freedom.

You might ask yourself why someone would start a non-profit to mess with that kind of success?  What kind of crank sees a state ranking on top in almost every category and decides, let’s mess that up?  The answer? Democrats and social justice junkies who can’t advance a a massive and nearly irreversible spending agenda without a broad based tax.

So to get to Moscow on the Merrimack the partisan, left leaning, New Hampshire Council of Churches formed what is now known as the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition (GSFTC). It is run to this day by social justice-activist clergy and radical leftists and progressives ‘attracted to the idea’ of pretending an income tax would not ruin the New Hampshire Advantage.

Of course the only people it “attracted” were tax and spenders.

There is not one person on their staff, their advisory board, or leading their list of affiliated groups that is not either a democrat, working for the democrat social-justice agenda, or who is not a large dollar donor to democrat candidates or causes.  How you can possibly claim to be ‘non-partisan’ under these circumstances defies belief, yet they continue to make that claim and it is time to call them out on it.

My mission here, and in posts to follow, is to show you who runs this scam so that you can grasp what their real motivations are.  To grow the size and reach of government by defining ‘fair’ to mean more taxes and more spending on the radical left wing agenda.

Part I  The GSFTC advisory Board: “More Progressives than you can shake a stick at.”

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How Much Is Enough? (And Other Problems With Left Wing Policy)

How much Is EnoughWhy can’t democrats trust their own constituents to do the right thing?  Their first response to every problem is to institutionalize it with more government, typically as far up the legislative food chain as possible.  That means as far away from you as they can manage, even to the point of giving control to unelected bureaucrats you can’t punish, just to keep you from messing with it.  They entrench it in a bureaucracy, make it impossibly inefficient and expensive and then refuse to let anyone touch it ever again, while charging you more and more to maintain it.

The only reason I can think of for that kind of knee jerk behavior is that Democrats use themselves as the template for the rest of us. The left by their very nature must be selfish, insecure, inconsiderate and un-trusting. Only people so un-giving of themselves or simply incapable of volunteering their time and energy would have to mandate volunteerism and "giving" by legalizing the taking of other peoples time or property through mandates.

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