Posted on 05/12/2012 7:59:16 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
I’m a Republican. I’m also a compassionate conservative.
That’s why I’m troubled by remarks this week by Maine Gov. Paul LePage suggesting that the unemployed are jobless by choice.
“To all you able-bodied people out there,” he said, during a speech at his state party convention, “Get off the couch, and get yourself a job.”
Well, I understand that the cost of providing unemployment benefits to Maine’s 51,000 jobless is taxing the state’s treasury.
But, I simply don’t believe that most of those out of work in the Pine Tree State– including the able-bodied of whom LePage spoke – prefer government welfare to a full-time job.
LePage is no compassionate conservative. If he were, he would sympathize with the out-of-work. And he would hold the party of Obama accountable for the nation’s jobless recovery.
Indeed, in 2009, Democrats enacted the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the massive $825 billion economic stimulus package that was supposed to create millions of jobs and keep the nation’s unemployment rate below 8 percent.
Three years later, the stimulus has proven a complete failure. The unemployment rate has topped 8 percent a record 38 straight months (and counting). And there are today 740,000 fewer jobs in post-recession America than when Obama moved into the White House.
A close look at the U.S. Labor Department’s April jobs report reveals a labor market that remains in the worst shape since the Great Depression.
Some 12.5 million Americans were officially counted as unemployed. Of those, some 5.1 million were categorized as “long-term unemployed,” meaning they were out of work a half-year or more.
Another 7.9 million Americans were underemployed. They held part-time jobs because they couldn’t find full-time positions.
Then there were 2.4 million persons identified as “marginally attached to the labor force.” They wanted and were available for work, had looked for a job sometime in the previous 12 months, but had not searched for work in the four weeks prior to the jobs survey.
Nearly 1 million of the marginally attached were considered “discouraged workers,” having given up hope of finding work.
When you add the officially unemployed to the underemployed and the marginally attached, you come up with 22.8 million Americans lacking gainful employment.
It is a statistical portrait of pain, hardship and loss. It should move people of faith to compassion for those seeking work. Not to contempt.
That’s why Gov. LePage’s remarks have done damage to the GOP. It makes it appear that those of us who are Republicans lack sympathy for those who are unemployed through no fault of their own; who are victims of the jobless recovery.
Our last Republican president, George W. Bush, described himself as a “compassionate conservative.” Are you suggesting he was liberal, like the Dem who followed him inot the White House?
OH, said the spider to the fly. Welcome to the trap. GWB was NOT a true conservative by any means, and his "compassionate conservative" mess was part of the proof. Any true conservative instinctively knows this term is bogus. That's not to say he didn't hold some conservative positions. He did. It's not to say that he didn't sign some conservative bills. He did. But NO, GWB was in no way, shape or form a true conservative or a movement conservative. He doesn't even understand true conservatism, not the way Reagan does or the way Rush does or Levin does. Nope. And apparently, neither do you.
Seems to me you "misunderestimated" the depth of FR's knowledge. (a little compassionate conservative lingo for you)
Maine is a perfect example. Lord knows how many acres of wilderness are off limits to logging and other utilization due to federal regulation.
That doesn’t mean they have to mow all the trees down, just impose reasonable regulations at the state level. In my state of Michigan we have the same problem. We sit on an ocean of natural gas but the federal great lakes directional drilling ban puts much of it off limits.
I watched an interview with him following his remarks and he said he was raised in the welfare system, that so many generations just think that their life is nothing more than getting a gov’t check because that’s what he saw growing up, and that he managed to get out of it. So he was speaking from experience.
Whatever he/she is, it’s definitely a pimping of his blog. Let’s wait and see if we get any reaction...
Thanks for your welcome. And if my intent was to generate hits for my blog, my posts would be excerpted. And while I am a “Newbie/blogger,” my writings have been posted on FR for more than a decade, as my old friend Jim Robinson can attest.
Anyway, if you actually read my post, you would have seen that I laid blame for the unemployment crisis squarely at the feet of Obama and the Democrats, who passed a gargantuan economic stimulus that failed to deliver on its promises.
And, no, I don’t expect the government to support the jobless-by-choice. But, as a compassionate conservative, I don’t have a problem helping the temporarily needy.
Thanks for your welcome. And if my intent was to generate hits for my blog, my posts would be excerpted. And while I am a “Newbie/blogger,” my writings have been posted on FR for more than a decade, as my old friend Jim Robinson can attest.
Anyway, if you actually read my post, you would have seen that I laid blame for the unemployment crisis squarely at the feet of Obama and the Democrats, who passed a gargantuan economic stimulus that failed to deliver on its promises.
And, no, I don’t expect the government to support the jobless-by-choice. But, as a compassionate conservative, I don’t have a problem helping the temporarily needy.
Well that's obviously the case, but what is more interesting to me is that he/she seems like someone who has just gotten involved and has a perverted view of what true conservatives/tea party type/liberty lovers think and feel. Very sophomoric thought process. I don't mind the blog pimping nearly as much as I am offended by a kindergarten thought process. But that's just me.
Well that's obviously the case, but what is more interesting to me is that he/she seems like someone who has just gotten involved and has a perverted view of what true conservatives/tea party type/liberty lovers think and feel. Very sophomoric thought process. I don't mind the blog pimping nearly as much as I am offended by a kindergarten thought process. But that's just me.
Read my tagline and look the passage up....
I was laid off this past November (11/11/11) due to a reduction in force at the company I worked at. I was a contracts administrator at an aerospace & defense company.
I've been diligently searching for similar work since. I've had a few interviews, but unfortunately no offers yet.
I also have severe back problems - scoliosis and kyphosis so bad that I can probably be officially classified as “disabled” by the state if I so chose. Because of my back problems, most manual labor jobs are more or less out of the question because I can't stand on my feet for more than twenty to thirty minutes at a time without needing to sit or prop myself up on something.
So really, my only options are to continue collection unemployment, and then go to Extended Benefits, while keeping up my job search, or I can just say forget it and go on Disability.
I do have an exciting interview coming up though - I'm interviewing with the U.S. Coast Guard for a position as a Contract Specialist (GS-1102) on Tuesday.
You mean like this?
Obama: 'Sometimes I Forget' Magnitude of the Recession
For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” ... II Thessalonians 3:10
How is it Christian compassion to lower the dignity of a human being to government dependency?
I expected more compassion from Gov. LePage, a professed Christian.
As far as being a compassionate conservative i think those are just words, I can call myself what ever i want and while it might be true it could also be just words. the liberals lie all of the time about how they care, but their actions say just the reverse.
That is why Obama got elected , the republicans started going the same way as the liberals.
Also since The Gov. is getting heat for what he said makes me think there may be some truth to it although he may be looking at government figures which lie.
Let us agree that government should not allow long-term welfare dependency. But should we deny govermment assistance to the temporarily needy?
Make your own way in this world or quit taking up space on the planet!
Yeah, let’s have a nanny state. Forget about self reliance, and rugged individualism. Our “poor” have cars, cell phones, air conditioning, food, in some cases, they get more money from the government than a hard working person. I’m tired of this.
I'm reminded of that awesome quote of President Reagan (RIP!) ....
Constitutionally, the only thing I could support is some sort of budget item to fund faith-based temporary assistance programs in the states. This is the role of family, friends and community. Not government.
I absolutely agree.
What on earth does sympathy have to do with having the government change rules and regulations and laws... and having government divert funds from other important purposes (many of which might also have similar, or greater “sympathies” attached)? Emotional appeals should have very little power in our political discussions. Sadly, this is not so... and is one very large reason for the upcoming trauma that this country will face.
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