Saturday, February 25, 2012

Black and white

The world is not black-and-white, it is made up of shades of grey. If we apply our wits to try to understand the problems we face in the U.S., we know that there are a number of facts, some contradictory, to consider when forming an opinion. Take the economic problems faced by Washington these days - we ARE over-borrowed and the Fed Is printing money and people ARE out of work and we are NOT creating enough jobs to seriously reduce unemployment. We DO want government to stop spending so much money but we DON'T want Medicare cut or Social Security eliminated. These are complex issues and they require something other than simple-mindedness to deal with effectively.

But then you get this...


And you realize that a lot of people on the right in our political system are incapable of understanding an issue of any complexity. They must reduce it down to two sides (black-and-white) because that is all their minds are capable of handling at any one moment. It calls up images of the reports in the news recently that nearly 75% of those who receive government benefits don't even REALIZE that they are benefiting from the very social programs they vote against. Remember the tea party sign from last year that read, "Keep the government's hands off of my Medicare?"

As I said - it takes a simple mind without the ability to see shades of grey to be a right-wing conservative in the U.S. today. What amazes me most is how many of these folks are out there.

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