Rightwinger Stinginess

If you ever have the good fortune to sit and talk with an old school
Democrat, you’re in for a treat. When I say, ‘’Old School,’’ I mean one
who remembers the Great Depression and what it was like literally to
have no money. It was a different kind of ‘’broke’’ back then. And I’ve
listened to these survivors describe what it was like.

Talk with
these folks long enough, and inevitably they get around to talking about
hunger. And about the difference between republicans and Democrats back
then.

The republicans, they say, were stingy, mean-spirited, and
distrustful. If they had a good crop, they horded it; and stood guard
to protect against hungry neighbors snatching a head of lettuce or a
watermelon, or a few ears of corn.

Democrats, on the other hand,
were generous. If one neighbor slaughtered a hog, he shared it with
other neighbors who he knew were having a bad time. They welcomed
neighbors to come pick from their gardens; because they knew if the
situation were reversed those neighbors would open THEIR gardens to help
the hungry. That’s just the way it was.

Today, we see right
wingers questioning why the prosperous should help the less prosperous,
and it makes some of us want to spit on the ground.