That was the issue…in a nutshell.

You guys are stuck with me.

But I have learned a valuable lesson in this.
I think.

Carry on.

How did my post get twisted around to you?

Who would have blamed TB if you left, and how would they have justified that?

Kinda took me by surprise.

This way you can’t blame my decision to leave on TB.

No, I won’t dispute the figures, I won’t give you pie charts or census tables or demographic data to disprove the statistic. Its veracity is irrelevant. It is what people believe, and who they are that matters.

There are people who are actually convinced half the adult population of this country are welfare cheats, swindlers, bums, frauds, those with no sense of responsibility or ambition, and that they expect the government to take care of them. They like being that way, they would rather live off the dole than work. These people are either that way because the welfare state made them that way, or they created the welfare state with their votes so they could live that way. Either way, this is who the Democrats and the people who vote for them are. I guess I’m included in that group as well.

And who says this? Some radical right-wing militia, a skinhead gang, an underground Nazi cell, a KKK chapter in darkest Dixie? No, this is a man running for President of the United States, talking to a group of wealthy and influential business leaders and party supporters. Even if he himself does not believe this, even if he is just cravenly pandering for support, it is clear there is little outrage or objection from his audience for his remarks. Is this what the movers and shakers, the job creators, America’s entrepreneurial elite think about their country? That half the population are worthless looters and criminals, welfare queens, rabble? And of course, they must then feel the converse, that they, and those who support them, the other half, are just the opposite. Half the population is worth saving, the ones with middle class values, ambition, creativity, work ethic, all those virtues the rest of us lack and despise.

While I watched the man speak in that little film clip, I watched with interest those who served them their rich meals, poured their wine and bussed their tables. They moved quietly, like the propmasters in a Kabuki drama, their uniforms making them invisible to the party revelers. I wonder what they thought of what was being said, or even if they understood English at all. I guess they are in the other half of the country, the GOOD half. The ones that will work, even if only for minimum wage and no benefits, and vote Republican, if they can vote.

And as we know, this opinion is not only limited to the wealthy elites, the Thurston Howells and Daddy Warbucks stereotypes. No we’ve seen it in so many middle and working class people as well. We’ve seen it right here on this board, in otherwise decent and cheerful and clever people who have somehow contracted this foul plague and seem determined to infect the rest of us. There is a substantial and powerful group in this country (probably not half, but still well-placed and influential) who really think that half their fellow citizens are worthless, useless, unnecessary people, people not fit to share America with them.

I find that absolutely astonishing. And totally heartbreaking.