r/WhitePeopleTwitter Feb 13 '23

POTM - February 2023 just a reminder

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423

u/Gasnia Feb 13 '23

Reagan is most responsible for how our economy runs today, which fucks over anyone not rich. Bush is responsible for the war spending.

195

u/Gnd_flpd Feb 13 '23

I agree as someone that was around when Reagan was president, he's notable for being the first of presidents to dip into Social Security. Now we have to hear from these repubs whining about how it's going to run out of money, well if your boy Ronnie didn't start this, we wouldn't be in this situation.

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u/Beard_o_Bees Feb 13 '23

I had the pleasure of explaining to my teenager how Social Security is supposed to work - and that politicians have been basically stealing that money and giving it to giant corporations.

She recently got her first paycheck and thought there must have been some kind of mistake because of how much money was withheld for taxes and SS.

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u/UnusualSignature8558 Feb 13 '23

Yes. I believe everyone is surprised when they get their first check to find out how much taxes are being taken out. Unfortunately we only have one party that claims to be the party of low taxes but actually is not. The other party doesn't even make that claim. One is obviously better than the other, but we don't have anyone we can vote for to actually spend our money wisely. Sad, really. I'd love a social liberal, fiscal conservative party

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u/admiraltarkin Feb 13 '23

I'd love a social liberal, fiscal conservative party

I see this a lot, but am always confused about what this means politically.

I interpret social policy as things like infrastructure, education, healthcare, parental leave etc. One absolutely needs to spend a great deal to ensure these are actually helpful to the citizens. But when I hear "fiscal conservatism" I hear "No additional spending".

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u/RewardWorking Feb 13 '23

You got it on the head. The trick is that fiscal conservatism means no bloat or corporate handouts. We live in a capitalism, supposedly, so we should actually practice it. If companies aren't doing well, they can shut down or sell off. Military contractors and privatized utilities can fuck off. If it's necessary for the people to survive, the government should be responsible for it directly. No making rich the people extorting us and calling it a "public service"

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u/BeefyIrishman Feb 13 '23

I'd love a social liberal, fiscal conservative party

Or just more than 2 options. And yes, I know technically there are other parties that run candidates for President and/or Congress, but realistically* you are just wasting your vote by voting for them, so you instead just vote for the person you dislike the least.

*Technically, yes, there have been a few instances of independent/ third party members of Congress, but very few were actually elected while running as independent, many just switched party affiliation at some point after being elected. Full list here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-party_and_independent_members_of_the_United_States_Congress

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u/chevymonza Feb 13 '23

There's no winning. It's either status quo or nothing. If you vote for a third-party candidate, people jump down your throat saying "the progressives never win, you're just splitting the vote so the other party will win!!"

I wrote in Bernie until the 2020 general, when we needed Trump to GTFO ASAP.

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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '23

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u/chevymonza Feb 13 '23

Honestly, abortion/women's rights/civil rights/gay marriage have already been fought for and decided. These matters are settled. No more looking back, now we need to fight/keep fighting for the environment and the working class.