Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Left of Center Mostly

It should be no surprise to anyone that I am left of center.  But not so far left that I fall into extremes.  For example, I am disgusted with the amount of people in this country claiming Social Security disability, and I am tired of the government giving them benefits for the rest of their lives.  That is killing the real safety net for senior citizens.  This has to stop.

Although I hate assault rifles and concealed weapons, I don't object to guns for sport and home protection.  The far left would gather up every gun in the nation and melt them down, but of course you would never get them all and the whole process would be a joke.  You could pass effective laws on military style weapons and the repeal of concealed weapons would be possible if lawmakers were reasonable.

And,  12 months of unemployment benefits should be a top limit.  Sadly, many people will not find the kind of job they used to have or will they be able to stay in their field.  Sometimes, you just have to start over and a year is probably enough time to do that.

The one place where I might be called an extremist is in the area of people's religious dogma messing around in government and my life.  A New York Times piece today suggests that the republican party is falling deeper into the abyss of religious fundamentalism.  The good news is that in 20 or so years those fundamentalists will mostly be in 'heaven'.  So will the GOP if they don't cast a wider net.  It is truly amazing to watch a one time respected party melted down by extremist dogma.

Happy New Year!


1 comment:

Jack Harrington said...

Great points Jim. Sure would be great if Ds, Rs and Is would rally around those and other issues.

Happy New Year.

Jack Harrington