Gov. Bobby Jindal's major contribution to the national discussion was to complain his state wasn't getting enough federal money soon enough.
All this while the GOP rails against "big government" and assures us that "We built that." By which they don't mean the bridges and roads people used to escape the storm as it bore down on them; nor the satellites, radar, and entire national weather forecasting system which told them, days in advance, that this hurricane was coming.
And they say irony is dead.
Somehow whenever Republicans, Randians and the like go on about "I made this myself, and nobody helped me", I can only manage to think of Deuteronomy 6:10-25.
ReplyDeleteBobby Jindal...living, breathing evidence that hypocrisy lives. Makes me want to call him names. In my mind, I do, but I won't spoil your blog with the epithets in my head.
ReplyDeleteOh yes ... and Deuteronomy 8:10-18.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'm sure right-wingers of a certain ilk read that passage, though, as indicating that their success is a sign from God of their prosperity, and thus government has no business taking away their God-given wealth. And they will completely miss the whole point about what happens when you have a proud heart and forget where you came from. Of course, they will say (as many are saying in the convention -- I guess in part to deflect from Romney's inherited wealth) "I don't forget where I come from -- I raised myself up from the bootstraps", while ignoring that which helped them on their way up and even wanting to cut the very ladders upon which they (and their parents) climbed.
They forget that among the laws are the tithes and corners left to support the poor (not an exhortation to give charity, but legal requirements under the covenant), to pursue justice and to "remember" (as God "remembers") the least among us -- the poor, the slaves, the widows, the orphans, etc.
Such forgetfulness is, of course, the very dangerous (for society as a whole, says the Deuteronomist) proud heart of which the Deuteronomist warns.
And listen for what Nikki Haley has to say if it slams into South Carolina, comparing that to her speech the other night.
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to supply that comparison yourself as the news media promotes Romany-Ryan.
Alberich--
ReplyDeleteIf it weren't so sad, it would be amusing how raising oneself by one's bootstraps has gone from being a sardonic comment on "independence" to a proud statement of self-reliance.
Mimi--
I understand. My governor is Rick Perry, after all. :-(