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A Redneck’s
Perspective
J.D. Pendry
Driving home Friday evening
fidgeting with the radio, I saw him creeping up in the rearview mirror. With a baseball cap pulled down over wrap
around sunglasses, he leaned to the left, one hand on top of the steering wheel
- a toothpick in the corner of his mouth.
The black Buick Grand National inched closer to my bumper. This was odd, I thought, since it was just
the two of us on this stretch of road, both in the slowpoke lane. Then I remembered it was Daytona 500
weekend. He eased up so that he was
sitting right off the inside corner of my bumper. He must’ve realized that a love tap would get
him a whoupin with a tire iron instead of spinning me out so he shot into the
left lane to slingshot around. He came
along side, looked at me and nodded – working the toothpick to the other side
of his mouth. Then he found all the
Buick had and left me in a cloud of blue exhaust. I saw his NASCAR vanity plate and a bumper
sticker that said I “heart” coal. “Damn
redneck”, I mumbled, and then went back to fooling with the radio.
After a few minutes of
drive-time radio, I concluded that I was a redneck with a neurological
disorder; the President hopes to destroy social security and balance the budget
on the backs of homeless veterans and they cancelled the NHL season. Should I be embarrassed to say I didn’t know it hadn’t started?
According to Congressman
Charlie Rangel, Bill Clinton is
a redneck. I thought saying anything
bad about the
According to Bill
Maher, Christians and others who are religious suffer from a neurological
disorder that "stops people from thinking". Using redneck logic again, that implies that
people who reject religion such as him,
"…
we have more in common with
Can I suggest that you move
to one of those more enlightened countries Bill?
Here’s the redneck perspective, without charts, on Social
Security. There is no Social Security
trust fund. Shocked? What you and I pay today provides benefits
for those receiving them today. If we pay more than needed, which is what we
currently do, the surplus is “loaned” to the treasury. Pork barrel kings like Senator Robert Byrd
who has every building, fence, road and outhouse in the state of West Virginia
named for him then proceeds to squander our money on said buildings, fences,
roads and outhouses. Too soon, social
security will begin to pay out more than we pay in. Senator Byrd and friends will have to figure
out how to pay back the squandered surplus and continue paying benefits at the
promised level. They’ll raise payroll
taxes to do that and probably other taxes to make up for the surplus they’re
accustomed to wasting on Byrd houses.
The question at this point is hardly about solvency. It’s about having a system able to provide
our children and grandchildren a decent benefit without them paying excessively
for it. Investing some of our payroll
tax into something similar to the Thrift Savings
Plan, which all federal employees (including Byrd) can use might be a
viable alternative to increasing wealth without raising taxes. On the other hand, we can continue to invest
it in outhouses named for Byrd or do nothing and let the next generation worry
about it.
I heard someone lamenting
that he’ll have to pay a $250.00 yearly enrollment fee and $14.00 for his prescriptions
in the future if he uses VA health care.
Either on purpose or out of stupidity, the concerned news commentator
left it hanging there. The VA healthcare
system’s core mission is to treat without cost veterans with
service-connected disabilities, low incomes and special needs. Veterans not in one of those categories pay
co-payments and the proposed future enrollment fee. The fee, which is cheaper than the government
medical insurance plan that I pay for as a military retired person, is meant for those who have the means to pay. Before you jab a stick in my eye, understand
that I qualify for Priority 1,
free VA medical care. It’s my choice to
pay for medical insurance. Many veterans
entitled to free care, but able to pay choose do the same as me instead of
further overburdening the system. The VA
healthcare budget is 47 percent higher than it was when the current
administration took office. The system
provides care for veterans who need it and those who can’t afford to pay for
it. Here’s a
link if you want to know the truth about costs for VA
healthcare.
That’s the redneck
perspective of the drive time news, but I’ve exceeded my self-imposed word
limit this week so on the cancellation of the NHL season; reckon we can get the
same people to negotiate for the NBA?
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J.D. Pendry
is author of The Three Meter Zone, Random House/Ballantine.
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