My worldview is changing. Why is it changing? It's changing because I am realizing certain things that I hadn't given much thought to in the past.
I have been a conservative republican for most of my life. Born in a decent, middle-class home, my life was what the majority calls "normal." I will not go into the details of my life, but presently, I find it difficult to find a job. It's becoming far more difficult with each passing year. The current and past events of my life have left me and my mother living in a modest home in a safe, little town. The most I'm willing to say is that I live in Rochester, Wisconsin. My mother does not work; she has been a good mother and wife most of her life, and is now trying to piece together her life. We have no car, though after a certain event passes I will receive my car I've paid for, and my mother will receive a car as well. In our town, we have very little to no jobs available. With no transportation, we have to wait until we receive the cars. Life is tense and frustrating at this point, because another event left me, a 4.0 RN student, in another state without the means to transfer until I can get my wheels.
What is my point? Well, in this economy, life is really sucking. Were it not for certain programs and benefits to people in our position, or are poor to begin with, we would have starved a while ago. You see, we use the FoodShare program in Wisconsin [also known as SNAP], and it helps people with limited income to buy food. From this bit of info, what comes next? Well, without this program life would be miserable. IF I am correct, this program is possible because of democratic spending, rather than republican cutting.
As I write this, and I assume that bit of info is true, I see many arguments that I could make. I wonder, for one, why many conservatives/republicans which are poor, as in actually knew what it was like to be poor, would vote for the wealthy republicans and businessmen who send jobs overseas. Is this thread merely a driveby against the wealthy republicans and businessmen? Only if you're biased, I suppose. I mean, have any of you every stopped and wondered what it would be like if you were on the other end of that stick? Of course, you hear of those trashy and dirty OWS members who are just complaining against corporations and business because they can, right? Well, have you ever stopped to think what they really feel?
I am frustrated because it feels as though the wealthy republicans, "the wealthy," are feeding upon the poor and lower-middle-class republicans. And I always wonder... if you're poor and republican... why vote for the right when they cut spending to help the poor and have no problem moving jobs overseas to India or Mexico or China? My dad was an ardent republican. A brilliant computer engineer. Delphi corporation, in which he worked, layed him off and sent his job overseas. I suspect the right may have played a role in this. Then again, I am not privy to every, single detail.
Furthermore, I am not blind to the left, either, yet at least they seem to care about the poor. [Then again, my intuition tells me the left needs the left to be poor in order to exist] I disagree with the left for social reasons, yet I disagree with the right for financial/economical reasons, because I feel they don't care much at all for the poor.
We had insurance, a few months ago, and we lost it. Iirc, it was the badgercare plan. It started out at $120 per month, for both of us. Just before we lost it, it was $350, I think, per person [I may be wrong by $50]. Basically, they never sent us the monthly letter which we use to pay for it, and then they blamed it on us and cut our insurance. Later we discovered on our local news that that was a scheme in order for the business to cut off people to save money, I guess. Who knows, right? I see this, insurance companies, as another part of the problem involving the right and its many cuts.
What am I to do? Am I to continue struggling to find a job, and expect for more and more cuts to happen? Why do the wealthy deserve tax cuts, while the poor suffer? Why should we vote for the right when they send jobs overseas, yet the republicans with influence live their lives well-to-do? Why should I continue to think that the poor and the protesters are trashy, stupid, and disgusting... when this economy finds me in a situation similar to them? Why do the poor get poorer and the rich get richer? Since our constituion is a living document why shouldn't we reign in corporations and businesses in order to bring jobs to America, instead of having those assholes go overseas? Corporations aren't people, right, so they shouldn't be given rights as a living, breathing human. Why, as a republican, do I vote for the right and the wealthy when they cut/harm us and they don't give a damn about us? Perhaps the left is onto something, as in how they subtly arc the future into a revolution. Maybe they have something going for them, truly.
The poor get poorer and the rich get richer. Our economy sucks. The republicans seem to care not about the poor one bit. People are suffering and dying in the streets. People are getting rightfully pissed. This **** from the right is affecting my life, it's been affecting my life for quite some time, and now I'm starting to react to that. Do I care for communism and socialism? No, not much, because I don't understand them and I remember history. However, I see how hard it is for the poor under capitalism.
Without insurance, if I tear a ligament in my leg and can't walk, my life essentially ends because I have absolutely no means to pay for surgery. Do I wake in cold sweats knowing this possibility present itself every, single day, whether it be water on tile, or something on the ground to trip me? Yes, and that nightmare is terrifying. I also brood over what other cuts will come my way. If this FoodShare program is cut, we will starve. If this event in our life doesn't resolve in time, we will be unable to pay for rent or energy costs.
Do I blame the right for screwing up our economy and hoarding the wealth? Do I want to learn everything I can about the right's twisting of our economy?
You damn right I do.
