An Open Letter to Scott Brown and His Fellow Republicans

Dear Senator Brown,

I didn’t vote for you, I voted for Martha Coakley. And I don’t intend to ever vote for you if I can help it. Keeping that in mind, I would understand why you’d feel no need to listen to me. But I have something that needs to be said and so I’m just going to go ahead and lay it all out there.

(The fact that this is written on my blog and not in a letter to you would also indicated that you probably won’t be reading it).

(But writing this out sure does make me feel better).

Scott Brown, you are a hypocrite of epic proportions. Epic. We’re talking Homer (the Greek guy, not the cartoon donut eater) here. You get up in front of congress and say that you won’t vote to extend unemployment benefits because it’s not fiscally responsible… and then you turn right around and say that we need to extend the Bush-era tax cuts. Well, Scott Brown, which one is it? Are we fiscally responsible or aren’t we? You don’t want to pay for unemployment benefits if they have to “go on the credit card” and we don’t “take the money out of checking.”

Well, Scott Brown, extending the Bush-era tax cuts is tantamount to voluntarily cutting our hours at work because we just don’t feel like going.

Many of the world’s leading economists agree that extending unemployment benefits is a good way to keep our economy going. It’s like a little stimulus package. People who continue to receive their benefits will spend money on things like “rent” or “mortgage” and “heat during the winter months” and “groceries for their children.” All of this spending keeps money flowing through our economy. This means fewer layoffs, fewer foreclosures, fewer people lined up outside of soup kitchens. Extending benefits is not just the right thing to do, it’s good for the economy.

Tax cuts for the wealthy, on the other hand, do almost nothing for our economy. They do, however, make your major donors happy. Which is what this is all about, isn’t it?

Senator Brown, it has become blatantly obvious that you only want fiscal responsibility when it comes to other people’s money. Well, you can’t have it both ways.

(Especially when you’re against gay marriage).

(Ha).

I don’t like paying taxes. I don’t think anybody does. I don’t look at my pay stub and go, “Wow the government took several hundred dollars of the money I earned. Isn’t that great!” I pay my taxes and I don’t try to cheat the system for one very important reason. I like that there is a fire department that I could call if my house was on fire. I like that the road in front of my house is paved. I like that my future children will have access to education. I like that my out of work friends can still go to the doctor’s office and not be evicted from their apartment and continue putting food on their table. We all want the government to provide all of these services for us and but then most people don’t want to pay for them. Well, I’m willing to stand up and say that I will continue to pay my taxes if it means that government will continue to pave the roads and teach our children.

You say that it’s all about job creation. Well, what jobs? I have a job and I’m lucky to have it. But there aren’t a lot of jobs out there. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re almost into a double digit unemployment rate. We are at a double digit unemployment rate for people who don’t have a high school diploma. Where are these mythic jobs that you keep talking about and how do you propose that we start giving them to people?

Maybe there are a few lazy folks who would rather stay on Unemployment than they would go out and find a job. But, you know what? Their numbers are dwarfed by all of the people who want nothing more than to find a real job and start collecting a paycheck. Being unemployed is no walk in the park. Maybe we should all vote you out of office and you can see what it feels like.

On NPR this morning, they said that it’s quite possible that the only way to get Unemployment benefits extended is to attach them to a bill that extends the Bush Tax Cuts. At this point, my vision went red, my blood pressure soared and I felt an overwhelming desire to punch the dashboard of my truck. I switched to sports radio just to avoid becoming the perpetrator of some major road rage. Let’s all take a moment to give thanks that the Pats are on a winning streak. It’s one thing to say no more Unemployment and then, at a later date, to extend tax cuts for the wealthy. But, to argue for both things in almost the same breath? It’s a wonder that you and your fellow Republicans can sleep at night. If I attempted to say the things that you say, my head would explode. I don’t think I’m physically capable of doing it.

At this point, you don’t just need a shovel. You need a whole goddamn backhoe.

You’re up for re-election in 2012. Maybe then you’ll understand the importance of Unemployment benefits.