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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMore Myths That Are Killing Us
A month ago, I wrote a note called "The Myths That Are Killing Us" the hard myths that no Republicans, and very few Democrats, ever challenge. Here was my list:
- The Government can't create jobs. (Tell that to FDR, who created four million jobs in three months.)
- Tax cuts reduce the deficit. (Doesn't it bother them that a man named "Laffer" came up with this one?)
- A fetus is a baby.
- The poor have too much money.
- Cutting the federal deficit will end the recession.
- The rich are incentivized by tax cuts, while the poor are incentivized by lower wages, no benefits, an end to the minimum wage, and unemployment.
- An unwanted child is God's will.
- Everyone who wants health insurance has it.
- The problem with education is the teachers.
- The "free market" satisfies every human need.
- There is no discrimination in America anymore.
- The distribution of wealth and income are irrelevant.
- One gender is better than the other, one race is superior to all others, and there is only one true religion.
- You can get any medical treatment that you need, for free, in any hospital emergency room.
- Ronald Reagan won the Cold War.
- The environment can protect itself.
- It is better for America to be feared than loved.
- Only the wealthy create jobs.
- America is a Christian nation.
- Human beings are not the cause of climate change.
- Minority women have children in order to qualify for welfare.
- President Obama wants to take away our guns.
- The more we spend on the military, the safer we are.
- Corporations use tax cuts to hire people.
- The unemployed are lazy and stupid.
- Rich people are smarter than everyone else.
- We will never run out of oil.
- Invading foreign countries wins hearts and minds.
- Science is a matter of opinion.
- Instigating unnecessary wars shows your support for the troops.
- Corporations are people.
- Money is speech.
Courage,
Alan Grayson
P.S. I recognize that this is a hopeless cliché, but our campaign fundraising goal for the quarter was $500,000, and as I write this, we are only $11,510 short of that goal. Really. If you would like to help us reach our goal, or if you're simply fond of round numbers, then click here.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)nt.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)I'm not trying to be rude. I really want to know.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)And thanks for the links too.
stlsaxman
(9,236 posts)"Times on Jury served- 0 "
It pleases me that either Alan is too busy to be on DU when his number comes up for Jury Duty, or, Skinner has made the good Congressman exempt. I suspect the former but would totally understand and support the latter.
Rex
(65,616 posts)It is him.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)BiggJawn
(23,051 posts)Exhibit "A" for the prosecution: Willard "Mitt" Romney.
And I run up against #10 on a daily basis, along with the rest of both lists...
Good luck with your campaign!
fascisthunter
(29,381 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)Add "we are exceptional"
Oh ans sorry Monday I do my duty to pay my taxes...'thing about infrastructure.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Told my next congressman, Cecil Bothwell, that I had the pleasure of walking and talking with Alan one time, just as I was doing last night with Cecil.
Cecil and I agree that Alan is a great example of a great democrat, and the OP here shows how involved and determined he is to put in its proper place the ideas that republicans dream about. Purely mythical.
libtodeath
(2,888 posts)we need you and 434 more just like you in the House to fight for us!
Solomon
(12,310 posts)Love Grayson. He's always on point.
meow2u3
(24,764 posts)A myth implies an honest mistake. The repunks are lying in their teeth and they know it.
tex-wyo-dem
(3,190 posts)As bold faced lies from higher ups in think tanks, conservative blogs, industry propaganda campaigns and other places. But as the lies get repeated over and over, those who are uncurious, biased and mentally lazy begin to believe these lies as fact. At that time the original lies turn into myths since the people believing this crap don't know any better.
In any case, thank you Mr. Grayson! Keep fighting the good fight...we have your back.
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)Please check your inbox when next you log on, please.
bluesbassman
(19,374 posts)IDemo
(16,926 posts)but to add: War conducted anywhere on the planet by the US "protects our freedom".
And an example of this thinking - any discussion of a potential F35 squadron at our local airfield is always accompanied by the mandatory "those loud jet engines are the sound of FREEDOM!"
mother earth
(6,002 posts)hfojvt
(37,573 posts)I am fond of incentives myself. I did just donate $25 to Rob Zerban, whose own fundraising goal is a much more modest $28,000, but by donating to him I supposedly got a chance to win a guitar autographed by Joan Jett.
https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/robzerban
thelordofhell
(4,569 posts)At most, The Bible is a philosophical text, not a historical document
jmowreader
(50,559 posts)And it tells the story of a time, many thousands of years ago, when the whole earth was the size of Rhode Island.
wakemewhenitsover
(1,595 posts)...to teach The Bible as historical document in public schools. Infuriating. Fortunately, it was shot down, somehow. Divine intervention, perhaps?
EmeraldCityGrl
(4,310 posts)the newsletter you recently sent," Traynon Martin: What RFK Said."
A quote from that newsletter:
My favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.
Off topic, but relevant to the day.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)can be attributed to a failed ideology and religious extremism, but this:
"The poor have too much money."
...simply shows Republicans as morally bankrupt.
Oh, and good luck Congressman Grayson!
Rex
(65,616 posts)Morally bankrupt. One more reason (if you are part of the 99%) to always vote D and not R. Voting R is the same as cutting the brake lines in you car then going for a Sunday drive in the mountains.
great white snark
(2,646 posts)Thanks Mr. Grayson.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)Donated again.
Looking forward to hearing your voice in Congress again,
sakabatou
(42,152 posts)Baby Bear
(124 posts)I believe it was Machiavelli who said "It is better to be feared than loved," because he explained, that "Fear is stronger than love." However, he went on to add that "It is better to be loved than hated, for hate is stronger than fear."
fasttense
(17,301 posts)And frequently hate comes after fear.
Control-Z
(15,682 posts)Can't wait to see you back in Congress shaking things up! Those 2010 teabaggers won't know what hit them.
leftylauren
(51 posts)OffWithTheirHeads
(10,337 posts)It may require the elimination of the human race but in geological terms, the Earth will be just fine.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)The environment can be equated to the human body. You get a virus, it fights it with built-in defenses. You bang your knee and get a bruise, your body can heal it. But there are things that are too much for the body (or the environment) to fix. Cancer can destroy the body. And if there was enough damage to the earth to allow it to re-stabilize, we have no idea whether it would survive, at least with life on it.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,010 posts)lpbk2713
(42,759 posts)They always qualify that by making sure they point out that union members are not necessarily bad so as to not alienate any beguiled union memebers who may want to see things their way. It's always the union officials or the labor movement that is the root of all evil according to them. The fact is we would still be living in the mid 1800's if it were not for the advances initiated by the labor movement and they know it.
Thanks for dropping by Alan. I look forward to you getting back in the game.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Preach it bruddah!
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)We appreciate your insight!
rurallib
(62,420 posts)Response to Alan Grayson (Original post)
Post removed
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)Poor people are consumers, too; they create jobs through demand for goods and services.
Pay them more, a living wage, and they'll buy more.
Indirectly, yes, you do work for poor people.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)--Posted by msanthrope, MIR Team
eyewall
(674 posts)It's a shame the post you answered is gone, your response is so perfect.
It's the truth to the lie of trickle down. A strong middle class makes a strong country, or, a strong consumer class makes a strong economy.
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)-The Democratic Party and Republican Party are the same because they are both "bought out".
-All politicians lie and are corrupt.
-If someone else pays for it, it is not a right.
-Public education is nothing except indoctrination for children, and taxpayers shouldn't be forced to pay for it.
-President Obama wants to take away our freedom and liberty. (See any Ron Paul YouTube video and it's comments)
-President Obama wants to institute White Slavery. (Sign at a Tea Party rally)
-President Obama wants to raise taxes on everybody.
-Willard "Mitt" Romney is a moderate Republican.
-There is a liberal bias in the media.
-MSNBC=The liberal equivalent of FOX News
-President Obama wants everybody on food stamps, rather than paychecks.
-President Obama wants gas prices to increase.
-San Francisco is the most liberal city in America.
-The U.S. should not have universal health care because our nation believes in capitalism, not socialism.
-Left-wing and Right-wing=Same Corporate Bird
-The 1st Amendment guarantees people the right to say anything bigoted or sexist without being called out on it.
-Political correctness infringes on our 1st Amendment rights.
-Global Warming=ManBearPig (See South Park)
Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)goclark
(30,404 posts)krispos42
(49,445 posts)MNBrewer
(8,462 posts)Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)guns don't kill people, people kill people. Or guns keep us safe. Or "a well-regulated militia" is a bunch of guys in camo playing survival games in the woods.
airplaneman
(1,239 posts)Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)The NRA will never buy it.
eyewall
(674 posts)As in, if you elect a Democrat the debt will grow, deficits will soar, and the US will have to raise taxes and borrow more from foreign countries.
It's always been such a pervasive image even most Democrats believe it.
Obviously, it's not true, surely not since the Carter administration. In every successive administration republicans run up huge deficits, add more to the debt and spend uncontrollably, creating huge bureaucracies that expand govt's size, cost and intrusion into people's lives, in an order of magnitude greater than the Democrats on either side of them chronologically. The other part that no one seems to take into account is what the people get from an administration's priorities. I once challenged a republican I was having a heated argument with to name ONE thing the republicans did in the last twenty years that benefited the common good. Something that was good for the middle class, that made people's lives better or gave them more for what they spent on govt. He couldn't think of a single thing.
Republicans take away social programs that help low income families and yet they spend far more while doing it.
I could go on for hours but it's not needed here. Thanks for this thread, all of the above are important misconceptions to try to overcome in our sociopathic republican brothers and sisters. I agree with the person above who said that these "myths" would more correctly be labeled lies.
skepticscott
(13,029 posts)toss out the old strawman "Money is speech" as a "myth", and immediately afterwards ask for money. If money and the ability to disseminate political messages are not inextricably connected, why do you need money?
Devil_Fish
(1,664 posts)though it shouldn't be that way.
skepticscott
(13,029 posts)it shouldn't be so much the deciding factor that it is. But for time being, until campaign finance laws can be changed in a way that comports with the Constitution, this is what we have. In our current political environment, the ability to raise and spend money is inextricably linked with the ability to disseminate political messages, and, like it or not, a restriction on the former amounts to a de facto (and unconstitutional) restriction on the latter.
The Wizard
(12,545 posts)is not the same as the master race.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Clear omission was made - it was Eisenhower, one of the Republican Party's oldest icons, that put together the largest single non-war job creating program - the construction of the national highway system.
The notion of creating jobs through government spending is not a Democratic vs Republican notion. It is a sensible notion.
Including this fact makes the current day crop of republicans look even sillier.
TBF
(32,062 posts)for that alone I'm sure he'd be banned from today's republican party.
SomeGuyInEagan
(1,515 posts)Ike, Roosevelt and even Nixon would be too liberal for what the current Republican party has become.
texshelters
(1,979 posts)and I am sorry to post one of these myths:
1. A two party system is the most democratic system in the world.
2. Everyone models their democracy after the U.S.
PTxS
airplaneman
(1,239 posts)Socialism and Communism are evil and don't work.
Taxes are taking money from people who deserve it and giving it to people who don't.
The rich are rich because they are smart and the poor are poor because they are not smart.
Liberals want the government to pay for everything.
-Airplane
wickerwoman
(5,662 posts)Regulation is always bad.
Government jobs are cushy and overpaid.
Our president should be someone you'd want to have a beer with.
Being a "career politician" is a bad thing.
Keep fighting the good fight Mr. Grayson and thank you for your service.
panader0
(25,816 posts)Thank you for your service Mr Grayson, and best of luck.
Rain Mcloud
(812 posts)5000 years ago approx., Rep. Moses R-wandering the desert wrote and sponsored a bill which was silently adopted by his republican cronies in the US,ALEC is nothing new,People.
Here is the wording of this bill taken from the Torah and later Genesis 1:28
And God blessed [ Adam and Eve ] and God said unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Genesis 1:28
Much of the list derives from Moses laying around his yurt,drunk off his ass and screwing his daughter's,(look it up)lying through his holy teeth that his writings and perclivities were mandated by god almighty himself,just like modern conservatives do today.
Similarly when they don't get their way they destroy any incriminating evidence and then blame the people for their lusty ways which provoked him/them to do it in gods name,amen.
Luckily most conservatives are too intellectually lazy to read further into the bible(or fall asleep in church)so this is as far as it goes.
Jesus was in that other part of the bible but was a dirty liberal hippy,however his name rolls trippingly off the tounge thusly and so must be praised to promote piety and unctousness all the better to bend over the chump customer(people).
And people wonder why this country is FUBAR.
Go Mr. Grayson,hand Goliath his head,for the little people!
K&R!
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)the other day, I often get good ideas or information there. But one day in the past week or so there were 3 or 4 people around the table, and the guest said something to the effect "We all know government can't create jobs".
I remember being shocked because it looked like everyone freakin' nodded their assent. Not one person even suggested that maybe the government creates the atmosphere and infrastructure so we can have jobs, that the taxpayers employ an amazing number of people to do their work, or just flat called bullshit on that assertion...
The show purports to be pushing ideas regarding how we can create 30 million jobs, but I would defy them to present any credible evidence as to how that is gonna happen without the resources and power of the U.S. government/taxpayer. It certainly hasn't happened by letting greedy wealthy bastards keep more of our money to trickle back upon us.
On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence in the CCC, war, infrastructure building, our invention of the internet, public education, racism, all sorts of technology and ideas from which the government, that is the taxpayer, was not only responsible, but indispensable, in the creation of jobs both good and bad. (I wonder how many police jobs owe our invention of racism a debt of gratitude?).
Maybe I didn't see what I think I saw, I was busy that day and didn't get a chance to check back, but I was really surprised that not one person took him to task. It doesn't really matter who the guest was, but crap like that needs to be challenged for it's veracity if we expect to make progress, and I kinda look to the people hosting the show to do that.
Maybe they were just tired, however, because I am pretty sure if any of them were asked directly they would disagree. I hope.
airplaneman
(1,239 posts)In my town government picks up the trash, runs the police department, treats our sewer water, runs the fire department, supplies the electricity (at a significant discount to PGE which is the only other source of power), supplies our water (pulled from wells and softened and treated so it is drinkable), maintains our parks, streets, and storm drain system, installed bike paths. It goes on and on. Do we really think these things are unnecessary??
-Airplane
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)inna
(8,809 posts)ut oh
(895 posts)If only more people could see this and be honest about it.... but I'm afraid that too many 'can't handle the truth' and therefore remain willfully ignorant.
Additionally, this is all kinda of Matrixy if you'll pardon the analogy, 'some people are so dependent on the system that they will stop at nothing to protect it.'
ProfessionalLeftist
(4,982 posts)- looking at these myths that millions of Americans believe - Grayson is the SANE one. SOMEBODY has to be wise enough not to buy into the theocratic/corprat bullshit they're trying to peddle to people. EDIT: And someone has to LEAD people away from it. That would be someone like Alan Grayson.
Initech
(100,079 posts)This was a myth created by the Raygun administration and continues to be exploited. Raygun is famous for saying "The eight most dangerous words in the English language are - I'm with the government and I'm here to help."
Actually no - the most dangerous words in the English language are "I'm a republican, mind if I peek inside your bedroom?".
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)Beam Me Up
(6,218 posts)That number 1 myth is the myth of the so called "War on Terror." And the myth that holds that number one Myth up, gives it any believability is the core myth of 9/11 itself: That we were attached by Muslim terrorists on 9/11.
If one believes that science is not a matter of opinion, then science is very clear: Whatever happened on 9/11, the epithet of "terrorist attack" hardly covers it. The physical and scientific evidence is abundant for anyone willing to look at it objectively, without rankling their intellectual noses at "conspiracy theories." Architects, engineers, physicists --thousands of not so "woolly headed" professionals are speaking out to those who will listen. The fox has been inside the hen house all along: Which means the real perps are still at large, still unidentified, and that every one of us remains at risk because they are far more ruthless, powerful and pathological than we ever dared allow ourselves to imagine.
These core myths are literally killing us every day. And everything that has happened to further drive our society toward accepting a technological super surveillance state has been predicated upon these myths BEING TRUE. The Emperor wears no clothes except for those who have been convinced by his wink and nod to say that he does. All of which doesn't make him any less dangerous.
saras
(6,670 posts)One version: Poor people deserve bad things.
Another version: There is a positive correlation between wealth and desirable human traits.
This would make room for the war on a fundamental mammalian response to threat.