September editorial

The following will appear as an editorial in the Roxboro local paper. I put out flyers this week at the high school where I work promoting a Teen Democrat meeting next week. 2012 is here.

Conservatives by definition look backwards. Unfortunately, time does not flow backwards; our children and grandchildren will live in the future, not the past.

The above is a large part of the reason why just about every law, policy and program designed to help average Americans has been created by progressives, democrats and liberals. Social Security, G.I. Bill, Family Medical Leave Act, minimum wage, 40 hour work week, Medicare, AmeriCorps, FDIC, Clean Air and Water Acts, More at Four, Head Start and the Research Triangle Park all were created by Democrats.

Democrats have championed voting rights by eliminating the property requirement, passing the Voting Rights Act, and establishing “motor voter” registration at DMV’s statewide. Conservative Supreme Court Justices have allowed elections and elected officials to be bought by corporations via the Citizens United decision. One conservative rich man, Art Pope, bought the N.C. General Assembly in 2010.

The only president to balance the budget in the last 40 years was a Democrat. Republican presidents have added trillions to the deficit. Bush II turned a 200 billion dollar surplus into a 1.3 trillion dollar deficit. Republican policies have done little if anything to help middle class Americans. Trickle down economics didn’t work in the 80’s and 2 rounds of Bush tax cuts for the wealthy resulted in the worst recession since the Great Depression. If tax cuts for the wealthy really helped the economy and really created jobs, then the last 5 years should have had a booming economy with low unemployment.

In N.C. recent Republican initiatives have resulted in 6300+ school jobs lost, an attempt to restrict voting access for senior citizens and the poor and absolutely foolishly drawn congressional districts. The 13th congressional district stretches from Wake Co. to Surry Co., spanning 13 counties now! N.C. is now 49th in the nation in education spending.

The conservative, Republican harping on social issues does nothing to feed the poor, shelter the homeless, heal the sick, teach our children, or strengthen our democracy. Money and power are all they are interested in. Give me a bleeding heart liberal, progressive, Democrat any day. As over 100 years of history show, they care about regular people and helping those in need.