Which Party Now?

I’m a former Democrat, Republican, almost an Independent, and now I’m thinking about being a Democrat again.

Some years ago, when I was a struggling Democrat, I got a little extra money and put it into the stock market.

Although Clinton was president at the time, Ronald Reagan’s monetary policies eventually caused the market to rise. My investment was looking pretty good and so I became a Republican.

Then, although George W. was the president at the time, Bill Clinton’s fiscal mismanagement caused the market to dip. I didn’t lose enough money to become a Democrat again, but I did flirt with becoming an Independent.

Now, with the current stock market downturn, caused by Wall Street’s fears that a Democrat might win the White House, I’m forced to seriously consider switching parties again.
Without a pile of personal wealth, the only way I’m going to make sure the kids get educated, the roads get built, and the nation stays healthy is by everybody sharing the cost according to their ability to pay. Back in civics class that was called the "American Way."

As a Republican I was told the American Way was "every man for himself, rugged individualism, relying only on my wits, ingenuity and business acumen." It was the lazy poor and Marxists that called for government welfare. We resented giving up our good money to give government handouts to the lazy slackers that couldn’t hold a job.

I used to listen to my former fellow Republicans rail against what they called "socialism," which was anything that government did. "We can spend our money better than government," they said. It made some sense when I was aiming for Easy Street.

But back down here on Main Street, with the recent bailouts, I see that even the hard-nosed capitalists don’t turn down a little government help now and then.

Seems the system works only when there’s enough socialism around to rescue capitalists from their bad decisions. It seems to work like this: private business takes the profits, government takes the losses.

Now where did I put that old poster with the red, white and blue donkey on it?