"What are you? Some Kind Of [insert pejorative here]?"

    One of my conservamentators on Facebook posted something using bad (but typical among my right leaning friends) understandings of a couple of economic terms, and I considered adding my two cents to the conversation, but decided against it, just for reasons of time.  But in the imaginary conversation in my head, one of the commentators in my head described me, using a term for left leaning which I imagine he meant as a pejorative, but in fact was not.  Since political terms are more descriptive of policy positions than of people, I got to thinking, how would I answer the question, "What are you? Some kinda [insert left-descriptive pejorative here]?"
    By coincidence, another friend is having a birthday today, and in
order to make sure that I didn't send her the same birthday card as last year, etc., I checked our "See Friendship" file.  Scrolling through, I discovered that I had sent her a link to an old blog post from 2015 that fit my morning's preoccupation perfectly.
   So I think I am ready to answer the question above.

• I believe that you should be able to start up a business that will provide an income that will enable you to provide for your and your family's needs, and the needs of your employees.  So I am a Capitalist.
• I believe that, by law, the wages that you pay his employees should be enough for them to live off of.  I also believe that your business should not put them in danger of death or injury. I also believe that your business should not do things that would poison the air or water, or otherwise harm the environment in your community or state, or crash the economy.  So I am a Progressive.
• I believe that the local, state and Federal Governments should provide the infrastructure and economic structure that would enable your business to operate, such as streets, water, power,  communications, fire and police services, etc.  So I am a Social Democrat.
• I believe that all people should be afforded basic civil and human rights, including the right to vote, and that the Government should see to it that those rights are enforced in the public arena. Therefore, I believe that your business should be prevented by law from discriminating against people in your hiring and service practices based on broad identifiers such as race, religion, national origin, sexual identification, etc.  I also believe that there are certain inevitabilities in life, such as injury, illnesses, recession, unemployment, natural disasters, etc., and that the Government should provide certain kinds of relief, such as a strong and adequately funded social safety net.  So I am a Liberal.
• I believe that the health care system in this country has become untenable, that it is shameful that in the richest country in the world that people are dying from treatable illnesses and fixable injuries just because they can't afford health care, and that it's absurd that we are the only country in the world that thinks that this is okay.  I believe Medicare should be expanded to include everyone  because in other countries this is the system that seems to work the best, and we're already familiar with its operation.  So I am a Democratic Socialist.

 I don't actually believe that my right leaning friends are that different from me in regards to much of the above.  But a misunderstanding of labels persists. I'm no expert on this stuff, but I read a lot, and I hope I am curious enough to look up stuff when someone points out an error. Paul Krugman once wrote that the only real divide between right and left was how big the social safety net should be, and how should we pay for it.  He said that these are essentially values issues, and that there was no right or wrong answer.  But I think we should at least be able to understand the terms if we're going to be able to discuss differences intelligently.

I once knew the parents of a teenager who liked to wear extra-wide legged jeans.  I joked to his Dad one time that if this was communist country, he'd have to share those jeans with four other families.  I recently realized that I could expand on that: If this was a Socialist country, the jeans would have been manufactured by a government owned factory from cotton grown on a government run farm and sold in a government run "company store."  No one is advocating for that, of course, but "socialist" is one of the terms that the right likes to throw at anyone on the left.  But attempts at being insulting would probably be more effective if they could demonstrate that they knew what the word actually means.

First Reaction: Love of God

Uh...
I've seen your Facebook page and... no you don't.  You use your faith to justify your personal prejudices and to advocate for Fascist policies and the politicians who champion them.  That's hardly what I would call the Love of God.

Excerpts: "Giving Putin A Pass"

Donald Trump, after meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam:
He just -- every time he sees me, he says, "I didn't do that." And I believe -- I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it. But he says, "I didn't do that." I think he's very insulted by it, if you want to know the truth.
Don't forget, all he said is he never did that, he didn't do that. I think he's very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country. Because again, if we had a relationship with Russia, North Korea -- which is our single biggest problem right now -- North Korea, it would be helped a lot. I think I'm doing very well with respect to China. They've cut off financing; they've cut off bank lines; they've cut off lots of oil and lots of other things, lots of trade. And it's having a big impact. But Russia, on the other hand, may be making up the difference. And if they are, that's not a good thing.
So having a relationship with Russia would be a great thing -- not a good thing -- it would be a great thing, especially as it relates to North Korea.
And I'll say this, Hillary had her stupid reset button that she spelled the word wrong, but she doesn't have what it takes to have that kind of a relationship where you could call or you could do something and they would pull back from North Korea, or they'd pull back from Syria, or maybe pull back from Ukraine. I mean, if we could solve the Ukraine problem --
But this is really an artificial barrier that's put in front of us for solving problems with Russia, and he says that very strongly. He really seems to be insulted by it, and he says he didn't do it. So --
 I think that he is very, very strong in the fact that he didn't do it. And then you look, and you look at what's going on with Podesta, and you look at what's going on with the server from the DNC and why didn't the FBI take it, why did they leave it; why did a third party look at the server and not the FBI -- if you look at all of this stuff, and you say, what's going on here?
And then you hear it's 17 agencies. Well, it's three. And one is Brennan and one is whatever. I mean, give me a break. They're political hacks.
So you look at it -- I mean, you have Brennan, you have Clapper, and you have Comey. Comey is proven now to be a liar and he's proven to be a leaker.
So you look at that, and you have President Putin very strongly, vehemently says he had nothing to do with that. Now, you're not going to get into an argument. You're going to start talking about Syria and the Ukraine.


From Daniel Politi at Slate:

Experts say the discrepancy between the president and the intelligence community is troubling. "I am disturbed that our president believes a KGB agent and continues to refuse to believe the CIA. I can never remember a time in our history when this was so. I hope Trump's national security team will be more forceful in convincing the president of the basic facts of Russia's violation of our sovereignty last year,” said Michael McFaul, a professor of political science at Stanford University who was U.S.  (November 11, 2017)

Former CIA director John Brennan... said Trump is demonstrating to world leaders that he can be “played” with a little ego stroking. “By not confronting the issue directly and not acknowledging to Putin that we know you’re responsible for this, I think he’s giving Putin a pass,” Brennan said. “I think it demonstrates to Mr. Putin that Donald Trump can be played by foreign leaders who are going to appeal to his ego and try to play upon his insecurities, which is very, very worrisome from a national security standpoint.” (November 12, 2017)

Ryan Goodman and John Sipher at The Atlantic

For those most worried about Trump’s casual use of lies for his own tactical benefit, it is the reality of Russia that is most frightening. It did not take long for Putin to weaken the elements of civil society and centralize power, creating an Alice in Wonderland political atmosphere where up can be down, and down can be up depending on his whim. Certainly, America’s institutions are stronger than Russia’s, and it is unlikely that Trump possesses Putin’s savvy. Nonetheless, the defiling of the truth and attacks on this country’s vital institutions are taking a toll and weakening America’s defenses.

Andrew Restuccia and Nancy Cook at Politico

Sen. John McCain, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, was unsparing in his criticism of Trump's remarks, dismissing them as naïve and dangerous.
“There's nothing ‘America First’ about taking the word of a KGB colonel over that of the American intelligence community. There's no ‘principled realism’ in cooperating with Russia to prop up the murderous Assad regime, which remains the greatest obstacle to a political solution that would bring an end to the bloodshed in Syria," the Arizona Republican said in a statement. "Vladimir Putin does not have America's interests at heart. To believe otherwise is not only naive but also places our national security at risk.” (November 11, 2017)

Julie Hirschfeld Davis at The New York Times

Mr. Trump’s earlier comments inspired immediate ridicule from Democratic lawmakers, including Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the election.

“You know who else is insulted by it, Mr. President? The American people,” Mr. Schiff said on Twitter. “You believe a foreign adversary over your own intelligence agencies.”

Representative Ted Lieu, another California Democrat, called Mr. Trump “dumb as a rock.” Mr. Lieu wrote on Twitter that both he and Mr. Trump had seen classified information on Russia’s interference in the election, and that Mr. Trump’s comments were lies.

“Trump knows the Kremlin hacked America last year,” Mr. Lieu said. (November 11, 2017)

Substitution

On October 26th, two men  in Pompano Beach, Florida, who had grown up together, got into an argument at a barbecue, which was being held for a another friend who recently had lost a loved one.  One of the men left and came back with a fertilizer bomb, which he used to kill the other.

The same day, A 20 year old Tampa, Florida man was arrested after he killed a 17 year old with a fertilizer bomb.  They had been arguing about a woman.

Meanwhile, in Lake Wales Florida, a man blew up his neighbor with a fertilizer bomb after an argument about Palmetto berries.

A few states over in Altheimer, Arkansas, twelve and thirteen year old brothers were wrestling over the family's fertilizer bomb.  The twelve year old was killed when the bomb went off.

A married couple were killed in a murder-suicide fertilizer bombing in Columbia, South Carolina, and another married couple suffered the same fate in Holyoke, Massachusetts on the previous day. In Harrison Township, Pennsylvania, a man was found dead in his car.  Police say it was a self-inflicted fertilizer bombing that killed the man.

So... does it still work if you change the vocabulary?

The Tulsa World on Oklahoma's History of Tax Cuts

History of tax cuts catches up to Oklahoma as state struggles to fund schools, troopers and more amid shortfall

Projected $900M gap has hit schools, troopers and more Four years ago, Oklahoma’s oil patch was booming, unemployment was falling and state lawmakers were debating what to do with $200 million in surplus revenue.

Republicans who control state government successfully pushed to reduce the state’s top income tax rate, slash the oil and gas production tax rate from 7 percent to 2 percent and give more tax incentives to industry.

But the boom ended and the money dried up. Now the once-unwavering confidence in the wisdom of lower taxes has given way to a growing panic over how to pay for basic services such as schools, health care and public safety. Revenue has fallen about 20 percent short of budgeted needs for the third year in a row.

The situation has deteriorated to the point where highway patrol troopers have been warned not to fill their fuel tanks, and drunken drivers have been able to keep their licenses because there are not enough administrative workers to revoke their driving privileges. Nearly 100 of the state’s 513 school districts have moved to four-day weeks.

Oklahoma’s woes are intensifying just as President Donald Trump’s administration proposes its own ambitious plan to slash corporate and personal taxes. The White House insists the overhaul will spur economic growth and bring prosperity to the middle class, but the idea alarms lawmakers worried about the risk of ballooning federal deficits.

State legislators have already tried cutting the budget. Overall, last year’s inflation-adjusted budget of $6.9 billion was 11 percent less than 2009, according to a recent analysis.

But the spending cuts so far have not been enough to close a projected $900 million gap. Lawmakers are weighing drastic steps such as reducing Medicaid payments, which officials say could cause hundreds of nursing homes to close.

“We’re not running the state based on a plan and a strategy. We’re trying to operate it on a philosophy,” said State Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones, a former Oklahoma Republican Party chairman who’s among a growing number of Republicans and Democrats calling for an about-face. “It seems like we’re afraid to admit we’ve made mistakes and correct them.”

It’s not clear that some in Oklahoma’s GOP are ready to see taxes as a two-way street. The party holds more than three-quarters of the Legislature’s seats.

“I think we need to ... make sure we’ve squeezed every nickel, dime and penny out of every corner that we can before we just start raising taxes,” said Republican Mike Schulz, the Senate leader.

Oklahoma isn’t the only red state in tax-cut distress. Lawmakers in GOP-led Kansas, Indiana, Missouri and Mississippi are debating ways of raising more revenue to ease budget problems. In neighboring Arkansas, where Republicans recently won control of the statehouse, GOP leaders approved a more modest tax cut proposal than many conservatives wanted.

It’s difficult to pinpoint whether a specific tax cut leads to economic growth, but lowering the tax burden can sometimes spur the economy, said Nicole Kaeding, an economist for the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based research group.

She cited North Carolina as a state that cut individual and corporate tax rates while expanding the sales tax base.

However, she said, tax revenue “is just one side of the equation. If you just cut tax revenue but don’t cut spending, the state of course is going to have a budget issue.”

The situation in Oklahoma is particularly dire because the state relies so heavily on the volatile oil and gas industry, which accounts for 13 percent of overall state earnings. Also, term limits regularly send a fresh crop of newly elected GOP officeholders to the Capitol eager to redeem their campaign promises on lower taxes.

Schools, which receive half of state-appropriated funds, are feeling the brunt of the shortfall. The Tulsa district is proposing to close four schools and scrap some sports programs. The state and regional science fairs were listed for elimination until a private donor came forward with a $50,000 check. Teachers have not received a raise since 2008.

Many state agencies have had their budgets cut by 40 percent over the past three years.

When many red states cut taxes in recent years after Republicans made sweeping gains in the 2010 election, their leaders anticipated that any revenue loss would be temporary.

“There’s been this persistent argument that if we cut taxes, the economy will grow enough to make up for the lost revenue, and it just simply doesn’t happen,” said economist Mickey Hepner, the dean of the University of Central Oklahoma’s College of Business.

Republican Gov. Mary Fallin stands by Oklahoma’s 2014 individual income tax cut, which eliminated $135 million in annual revenue. She is now calling for tax hikes on cigarettes, fuel and a wide assortment of services to compensate.

“I’ve given a lot of different solutions for our Legislature to consider,” she said. But no revenue proposals have advanced yet.

So far, Fallin and other Republicans have avoided paying a political price for the problems. Many lawmakers count on support from conservative voters who believe that government can always be smaller.

“I think if we looked at any government agency, there’s fat that can be trimmed, and that includes the schools,” said Zane Grider, manager of a car dealership in Newcastle whose two kids now attend school just four days a week. “If we ran our business the way the government tries to run things, we’d all be broke.”

Democrats say they believe many are growing weary of the annual budget crisis.

Residents “are waiting for leaders in this building to step up and lead,” said House Democratic Leader Rep. Scott Inman, a Democratic candidate for governor in 2018. “The Republican majority, the governor and lieutenant governor, have failed to do so.”
(Emphases all mine.)

A Night At The Garden, 1939

The Try Guys Try Immigration