I was talking to an old friend on the phone today. He loves to argue politics, and I hate arguing politics with him, as he just throws absurd arguments rapid-fire, too fast to really respond to.
He doesn't like being called a liberal, and insists that he's a conservative. He bases that assertion on the fact that he's debt-free and not on welfare. He voted for Obama twice, for Kerry and Al Gore, Clinton and God only knows who before that. He favors raising the minimum wage to $12. He thinks that CEO salaries should be controlled and slashed, so that the money can be given to the "workers".
When I told him that raising the minimum wage would give many employers no choice but to eliminate some jobs, he insisted that those who lost their jobs would do something else, like start their own businesses. When I countered that entrepreneurial types likely don't work at McDonalds, he dug in his heels and said that these people would open businesses. When I said that highly paid CEO's are sought out for their talents, he insisted that anyone can do those jobs. He doesn't seem to have a problem with sports figures, actors and musicians making eight figures a year, though.
He's a public sector union worker, and hates Wisconsin's governor, who eliminated collective bargaining for public sector unions, and who turned a $1.5 billion budget deficit into a surplus. He thinks that the governor balanced the budget on the backs of public workers, and that there's nothing wrong with public sector unions negotiating with the same legislators whose campaigns they finance.
He hates oil companies, as he thinks that they're gouging the public, but has no problem with gas taxes. He hates pharmaceutical companies, but favors Obamacare.
It's scary to look inside the mind of a liberal.
