So Disappointed

[caseylane]

Went out to dinner with my sister and my mother. It was lovely until I realized my sister was going to vote for Romney. What's so bizarre is that she and her husband are both civil servants with nice cushy pensions, in fact he's drawing on one while he working a teaching job now. They hardly pay anything for health care because of their jobs

Comments

[cookiefleck]

Well... I dunno. I think maybe you can point out that Repubs are anti-pension and anti-teacher/union, so how do they reconcile their party allegiance with those platforms. !@#$%^&* But on the other hand, I disagree with your characterization of a pension as a govt handout. I've never heard it called that (except by a Repub, maybe?).

You know I have a pension w/health benefits (pension being about 60$ of my former income). It's not charity - IMO - I earned it, and paid into my pension fund for decades before I could even begin drawing on it. It was a "typical" component of the benefits package. Govt generally pays lower than private sector, so often the benefits package compensates for that. Pensions used to be part of the "norm" for large private sector companies, too. It's only in the past few years that they've become convenient targets for demonizing by the Repubs.

BTW, if Romney wins, I think I may just leave the country.

[caseylane]

I actually don't think of it as a handout. What I meant is they complain about big government and handouts while getting paid by that government and also having a far better retirement plan than the average person because of their government employment.

It just irked me.

Oh, they are both smart, I don't have to point anything out to them. My BIL used to be pretty liberal but boy has he gotten stodgy in his old age. She's always been one of those conservatives that rant against things even as she uses the benefits of the things she rants about. Like those Christians against abortion until they get one, then go back to being against them. Or gay politicians that rant about how gays are undermining society. That is my sister, even as she's a wonderful person in a multitude of other ways.