"Every time the government protects someone or some company from the consequences of their own economic profligacy, the chances of future profligacy increase. It's vital that the government let the Big Three automakers go down, and vital that only minimal help be given for those so greedy or so stupid that they took on loans they had no way to pay off."
So let me get this straight. The government should not intervene to help homeowners facing foreclosure not because it would be good for the economy (which it won't) but because to do so would encourage more bad behavior. Hmmm And he then goes on to smear anyone facing foreclosure as being either "greedy" or "stupid". Hmmm again.
A few thoughts:
It's amazing to me that Sullivan doesn't see the parallels between his reasons for opposing a homeowner bailout and the reasons many of his conservative bretheren oppose gay marriage. Isn't it always that the Social Conservatives don't have anything against teh gais but they think something like gay marriage will encourage further bad behavior like, I don't know, gay adoption, or maybe gay indoctrination in schools? But when that kind of framing is used against gay people Sullivan is all gung ho to lead the charge against it. But when he uses the same kind of framing, that human nature is such that if you help someone in need then you will encourage bad behavior, in this case the offense in question is having the nerve and the unmitigated gall to want to live the American dream and buy a home for you and your family, then I guess in his world thats different.
NEWSFLASH, unemployment rates are pushing towards double digits right now. Maybe, just MAYBE people can't pay their mortgages because they are being laid off in numbers not seen in over a generation. Maybe just MAYBE the fact that you and your conservative bretheren pushed so hard for deregultion of the financial system adverely affected very responsible people who took out very responsible mortgages but lost their jobs because of irresponsible assholes on Wall Street screwing up the financial system and THATS why they are in foreclosure.
Maybe just MAYBE there were people who wre fooled into signing for a mortgage that they could afford at the time that has subsequently reset to unmanageable levels.
Maybe just MAYBE there are people who are losing their home because they had to choose between paying the mortgage or paying for emergency health care.
Calling people who are losing their homes and being put out in the street, many of them with kids in tow, "greedy" or "stupid" is directly analogous IMHO to bigots blaming gay people because of their "depraved and deviant choices" when they get discriminated against.
As for letting the Big 3 fail, what exactly does he think that would do to our economy? Yeah lets let over 3 million people get shit canned so you can try to validate your irrational belief in the "free market" system. And then we can let those 3 million people lose their houses also since obviously they won't be able to pay their bills without a job right? I mean I guess they will fit neatly into your two categories of "greedy" or "stupid" for wanting to own a home and not forseeing that they would lose their jobs because some conservatives thought it was more important to live by princples that have never ever worked than to actually help the people who need helping and proactively help get our economy back on track.
Sullivan is very good on some issues but its obvious to me that he should definitely leave financial matters to the experts and shut his frikkin pie hole before people start to see him for the self righteous self centered ass that he REALLY is at his core.
Ok Im done ranting, and I feel a LOT better.
Posts
Great post (great blog for that matter, tip to Mr. Coates for sending me here).
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those liberals guilty of sometimes overlooking Mr. Sullivan's hypocrisy because of his willingness to sometimes stand up to the most extreme elements of the conservative movement. But then I'm jolted into reality by something outrageous that he writes and I have to remember why it is not just the most foul conservatives that are dangerous and heartless.
Today, I was slapped in the face by Sullivan's comments revealing his heartless disrespect for Americans who are struggling. I immediately stopped reading and pledged, again, to stop pretending this man is rational or kind, just because he's not batshit crazy on every issue like so many of his conservative bretheren.
I think this tendency to give people like Sullivan way too much credit is a result of how outrageous the conservative movement has become. They have so completely abondoned any shred of human decency that we are now surprised and delighted to read a conservative that does something all decent human beings should do like argue against torture. A very sad reflection on the fascist nature of the conservative movement in America.
So thanks for this great post and great reminder. We cannot excuse someone for being completely oblivious to the suffering of some people just because he cares of about the suffering of selected groups, as Mr. Sullivan does with torture victims or gay people. Poor or struggling people's humanity matters, too.
I appreciate your kind words and thanks for visiting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the bar for conservatives has been set so low that when a guy like Sullivan comes along we tend to look past his genuinely uncaring conservative side to focus on his selective support for a few "liberal" causes. I use the quotes because the truth is those are American causes but most of the conservatives have tried to convince the country that only liberals oppose torture and only liberals think gays should be granted civil rights. But there are many people who would define themselves as conservatives who know that torture is morally wrong and similarly there are rank and file conservatives who are either gay themselves or empathetic of gay people.
It is that subterfuge that draws us liberals/progressives in many times because we really want to believe that not all conservatives are that bad. But the truth is that anybody who could truly follow the conservative brand of thinking almost has to have a complete lack of empathy for their fellow man. Thats what its founded on. Survival of the fittest and let the rest fall.
And he continued onward today with this little GEM today.
ReplyDeleteI read him daily, also, but his obtuseness WRT current economic conditions is disappointing. Was it his post on the 15th where he mentioned 'recusing' himself from the auto bailout discussion on the Chris Matthews Show? As if, somehow, he had a legitimate reason other than ignorance to abstain from comment. Makes the mind wonder...