Why can't cons deal with reality?

Question

Here's the thing.

I say Jefferson believed in progressive taxation, taxing only the rich if possible, and using that money to educate citizens and build public works like canals. I then provide Jefferson statements to prove that is so.

Cons say social spending increasing poverty. I provide poverty rates from the Census proving the biggest drop in poverty rate came during the liberals 60s and during the Clinton years. Poverty stayed the same under Reagan and has increased under Bush.

Cons say supply side (trickle down law of the jungle) economics is superior to keynesian (invest in the American people) economics. I provide percent increase in real GDP, inflation adjusted median income, etc (from the Census, Bureau of Economic Analyse, etc) proving FDR, JFK, LBJ, and Clinton leave Reagan and Bush Jr in the dust.

CONS LOOK AT ALL THESE AND GIVE ME A THUMBS DOWN. ISN'T THIS PROOF THAT CONS CAN'T DEAL WITH REALITY? HOW CAN YOU GIVE A THUMBS DOWN TO FACTS?

Answer 1

Cons will NEVER see the truth, because they have been indoctrinated to believe a certain way. They don't reason, they react, and that prevents them from choosing the side that's best for the country as a WHOLE.

Remember, facts mean nothing to Cons because they REFUSE to see them.

Answer 2

You claim a change in poverty rates, but the statistics I've seen show otherwise. There has been no change in poverty rates for the last forty years of the so-called "war on poverty".

What HAS changed is the "standard of living". People who are below the poverty line today quite simply have a better average standard of living than forty years ago. Cars are made better and last longer, so the castoffs of the rich are better than they were. Even old and run-down homes have better insulation and more economically efficient heating, because building codes require better than they used to. The more dangerous materials for consumers have long been outlawed, such as lead paint, lead pipes, coal furnaces, so their homes aren't killing them as much as they were.

NONE of these are because of the War on Poverty. They are because the wealthier consumers demanded better, and in some cases forced the legislatures to require that businesses give it to them. The improvement in the leftovers that the poor got was a side effect.

Keynesian Economics is garbage, and a massive confidence game. It amounts to the government borrowing money, and pursuing inflationary policies before it is to be repaid, and then using the money to buy the votes needed to continue the game. Even when Keynes was confronted with the fact that this scheme would result in runaway inflation in the long run, once the interest on the debt became unmanageable, his only response was "In the long run, we're all dead."

I do disagree with one point you ascribe to Conservatives, and that is that social spending increases poverty. Conservatives don't actually believe that, and it isn't true anyway. Social spending does reward poverty, and thereby provides a disincentive for the individual to correct the real cause, which means it is not a cure for poverty, but it is not a cause, either.

It just simply doesn't work.

Oh, and similarly, on your Jeffersonian education ideals... Conservatives are all for education, as am I as a Libertarian. We just don't see that the federal government is getting the results that Jefferson had in mind. You obviously spell well enough that a few minutes on this board should be enough for you to provide your own proof of my assertion.

Answer 3

Correlation does not equal causation. Because a statistic indicates a positive or negative trend with respect to two variables, does not mean that one causes the other. By your reasoning, you can conclude any absolute silliness and claim that statistics support it. None of your statistics prove at all that the party in power in the white house has anything at all to do with a poverty level in the US. For example, you ignore the Constitutional mandate that all spending bills must begin in the House of Representatives (Article 1, section 2). Does the House have anything to do with it? What about other nations and trade? What about natural business cycles? Shall we continue? Does your analysis consider just the party of the President? I suggest your analysis is specious on its face, if you consider no other factors. So, I would not offer a thumbs down to facts you might offer, but I would give a big thumbs down to your attempt at conclusion based on only two variables.

Answer 4

Our reality isn't drug induced or caused by brain damage from liberalism.
http://www.bls.gov/cps/
Social spending on welfare? Give a man a fish, he can eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he can eat for a life time. Handouts never do any good. Just look at the guy with the "will work for food" sign. He will never work for food.
Poverty? I'm sorry that someone can't take care of themselves and their kids. What type of poverty are you talking about? The kind we have here or the kind you see in Africa?
I was once homeless and the only way I got out was getting off my @ss and getting a job and working my way up the ladder. The only handouts I took were from my family and it was food and the occasional shelter.

Maybe if you didn't pose such loaded questions, rant or give sorry links that are supposed to support your question/answer you would get thumbs up. We know how you are and we know your thoughts will never change....and that makes me feel sorry for you.

Answer 5

Demoncrats cannot handle REALITY.

They do not realize that we are in the fight of our lives against terrorism, and that if they succeed in pulling us from war, that we will inevitably be known as Cowards, but, fortunately, we have a man in the White House who understand this, and who has had the Courage to face reality, and not back down as the Cowards that are terrorists and Democrats.

Answer 6

I know. That reminds me, yesterday Earnest T asked a scathing hateful question where he attacked John Edwards sexuality(he is a married man of 30 years thank you very much) and I told him how hypocritical that was of him IF in fact Earnest is a christian who follows the golden rule.

So he "punished" me by blocking me. Im sorry, but what a sick joke all this hypocrisy is.

Answer 7

Opinions are like anal orifices, everybody has one. You can supply all the facts you want to your side's point of view but the opposing side will always disagree. It's human nature and the powers that be will always use them against the masses to divide and conquer.

Answer 8

Jefferson was not our founding father. He was merely one of many. Democrats have raised the standard of "poverty" so that it will appear as if more Americans are impoverished. Conservatives are for a "hand up" not a "Hand out".

Answer 9

If you want to live in a progressive socialist world migrate to Cuba.

Answer 10

Thumbs down means they don't like what you're saying and/or don't want to listen to you.

It's not that they cannot deal with reality -- it's that many choose not to respect anything that they disagree with.