Joe gets up at 5:00 and turns on the coffee pot. Joe's coffee is made with clean, pure water from a well on Joe's property, paid for and maintained with Joe's own hard-earned money. He's thankful some stupid liberal can't tell him he has to put floride in the water or take this or that mineral out. He has his water tested yearly and because his well is so deep his water is always ice cold and refreshing even during the hottest days of summer. As he swallows his medication with his clean, pure unregulated water he's thankful he lives in a country where free enterprise and competition make it possible for him to have the highest quality medications.
He thinks about the extensive research and testing that helped develop a medication that was both safe and effective. Since drug companies must compete for customers, it's in their best interest to put out the highest quality product available at an affordable price. In a way, it's kind of like those double-blind studies they do while testing their medications. Companies must satisfy both their shareholders and their customers...the two groups never meet but both are crucial to the company's success. He makes a note to talk to his financial advisor about adding a couple pharmaceutical companies to his portfolio and shakes his head when he thinks about the FDA vetting process that keep good medications out of the hands of the people who need them and add to the cost when they DO finally get on the market. Products, regardless of extensive testing must go through mediocre government union employees who care more about when their next break is than their jobs, all because some liberal thought the government didn't have enough control and wasn't getting a big enough slice of the pie.
As he takes his shower and washes his hair he's glad his wife didn't buy him one of those sweet, perfumy ones. Since he doesn't ingest it, he doesn't give a rip what's in it, he just cares that it gets his hair clean. His wife likes that fancy stuff she gets at the salon, but then she does a lot of things he'll never understand and doesn't think too long about. As he walks outside he breathes in the clean, country air and is thankful he can hear the hum coming from the sawmill down the road. His tiny town was nearly devastated by stupid liberal tree-huggers in government who made logging in his area all but impossible. It wasn't the big companies like Weyerhaeuser and Georgia Pacific that were hurt, it was the small mom and pop operations that were forced to close. The big companies kept humming right along, producing as much as they always did, but the timber companies and mills that kept many small towns alive were forced to close. Joe's thankful a republican had the sense to remove some of the ridiculous regulations and now the mills are buzzing again. He shakes his head at the irony that the "little people" liberals are always saying they care about are the ones who always get hurt by their stupid policies.
Since he lives in the country, he drives to work along the interstate highway. It's one of those "for the common good" things he doesn't mind if his tax dollars support since transporting goods and services keeps his country producing. He drives a good old American truck. Sure, it might cost more to drive but he spent a number of years driving crappy little cars while he was raising his family. He figures he's earned this truck and if he wants to spend HIS hard earned money on gas that's his perogative.
Joe works in an industry that doesn't have union jobs and never has. He earns a good living, has excellent benefits, and works with quality people because his company pays for initiative and incentive. He gets raises and bonuses based on his performance and his company isn't afraid to fire the slobs and incompetent boobs who won't or can't do their jobs. Over the years he's managed to work himself up to an engineering position...not bad for a guy with a community college education that he paid for himself. That year when they had one child and one on the way was pretty tough because he had to work full time and go to school. That bun in the oven is a big, strapping Marine now. Still, those hard times helped make their family strong and close, something no government subsidy could provide.
Joe's check is automatically deposited so he doesn't have to waste time running to the bank. He has a regular mortgage but bought when interest payments were at their lowest so he has a decent house payment. He made a smart purchase with his first home and was careful with his credit. Thanks to the tax cuts that were passed, he was able to afford the home of his dreams. Granted, government regulations that drive the costs of farming and ranching up make it impossible to farm full time, but his wife has done a good job creating a little cottage industry for herself and it will help supplement his retirement fund someday.
Joe gets home and marvels at the beauty around him, especially the creek that surrounds his property. Looking is all he can do, however. He'd like to come home and stick his fishing pole in it a couple times a month but some liberal whose probably never seen the damn creek has decided it's a salmon spawning area and can't be fished. So, instead of fishing on his own property, a couple times a month he hooks his boat up to his truck and goes down the road about 25 miles to fish in a different creek...another offshoot of the same river as the one by his house. In this case it seems salmon trumps clean air. He shakes his head and marvels at liberal's selective outrage. He needs to call his dad anyway.
Joe's dad lives in sunny southern California. Joe's dad and stepmom both saved and invested for their retirement so now they can live in an exclusive, senior adult neighborhood with a house overlooking the golf course. Not like his wife's grandmother, poor thing. Salt of the earth and one of the sharpest people he's ever met. Independent as the day is long but she bought the liberal hype that she would be well taken care of in her old age. All she has is social security and if she didn't live in an apartment owned by one of her son's she'd have to live with relatives, something she doesn't want to do until she absolutely has to. It will probably be Joe, but that's okay, he's come to love and admire that little old lady. Were she to go into a home, the government would make her sell all her possessions to offset the cost of her care...care that she thought her and her husband paid for during a lifetime of work. Granted, some of those possessions are valuable antiques, but to her they're more than that...they represent over 50 years of life shared with the man she married when she was just a young woman. It's all she has of their life since he passed on. Joe marvels at the difference and is grateful for the lesson. Two family members, both part of the "greatest" generation, one conservative the other a "Roosevelt" democrat, as she calls herself. One bought the hype, the other decided it would be best to rely on himself. The difference in their lifestyles is stark...and sad.
He turns on the television to hear some liberal say they need to raise taxes and another promising universal health care. He thinks about his wife's poor grandmother and shakes his head. Eventually they'll probably get their way...they throw tantrums better than most 2 year olds he knows. Most of them will then complain about the quality of care. It's amazing how they believe they'll get Johns Hopkins quality out of people who currently run the DMV.
Cindie
