How would you respond to the "Jack and Diane" story circulating?

[Havax]

How would you best respond to this? I've seen this circulating around social media a lot recently. If someone could come up with a line by line response that would be great.

Jack and Diane wake up 6 a.m. and fill their coffeepot with water to prepare their morning coffee.
The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.

With his first swallow of water, Jack takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because 50 years ago, liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Jack and most Americans get it too.

Jack can’t get kicked off his medical plan by his insurance company if he develops cancer because some big government, bleeding heart liberal fought the huge insurance corporations to ensure that they don’t kick Americans off of their health plans just because they get sick.

They prepare their morning breakfast: bacon and eggs. Jack's bacon is safe to eat because some big government liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Jack reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Jack dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Jack begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards.

Jack’s co-workers are white, black, asian, hispanic, and belong to every race. They are allowed to work for the same company, and drink from the same water fountains because some fascist big government liberals fought and died to bring about equal rights for all races.

If Jack is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune. It is noon time and Jack needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Jack's deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Jack's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Jack is home from work. He eats dinner with his wife Diane. Diane is allowed to vote because some pinko hippy liberals fought tooth and nail because they believed it would be a good idea to afford women the same rights that are given to men.

He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax-payer funded roads. He arrives at his boyhood home.

His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Jack wouldn't have to.

Jack gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good and that Tea Partiers are the only patriots in the county. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Jack enjoys throughout his day.

Jack agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives!

After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

[Bobster]

And then the next day, the Government went bankrupt. Massive inflation followed, preventing Jack and Diane from purchasing their basic necessities. The End.

[aravoth]

And then the next day, the Government went bankrupt. Massive inflation followed, preventing Jack and Diane from purchasing their basic necessities. The End.

Ding ding ding!

[kylejack]

With his first swallow of water, Jack takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.
This part's easy. FDA does very little oversight of medication. The pharmaceutical companies pay a fee to the FDA to bring a new drug to market. Then they submit their own testing to the FDA. The FDA does not perform the testing. The company can have five tests that show the drug is dangerous and one that shows it's safe, and they only have to submit the safe report.

It costs about $1 billion in government fees alone to bring a new drug to market. That's why drugs cost so much retail.

[kylejack]

doublepost

[JohnGalt1225]

The free market would work all of that out, with out costing us our liberty. Private "watchdog" agencies will step into fill the void. Not to mention, companies that sell faulty products or pay crappy wages will suffer. Why do we think so little of our fellow man that we always think they wan to screw us over?

[Mahkato]

What is seen, and what is unseen.

It is very easy to see what the government does. It is not so easy to see that which has not happened as a result. For example, in the absence of all of these "consumer protection" bureaucracies, we would very likely have dozens of Consumer Reports/Underwriters Laboratories organizations which would help consumers determine the reputability of merchants and the products and services they offer. Also, a lot of products simply don't exist because they were squashed early on by regulations, IP laws, etc. Competition is held down, and quality of life suffers as a result.

[My First Name Is Paul]

The story is a red herring. It's all unconstitutional and breaks down the rule of law to pave a path for corporatism.

[Dreamofunity]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcJz-x6idd8

All I could think about.

[pcosmar]

I would dispute the very premise and first statements. Not supported by facts.


The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.
No it ain't, and it tastes horrible. Drink from my well, and compare that to city water anywhere.


With his first swallow of water, Jack takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take
Big Pharma drugs are far more dangerous than street drugs. Do some research into side effects and deaths caused.

I could take it apart line by line.
Socialist Propaganda, and not even close to real world truth.

[angelatc]

I few years ago, I wrote a line-by-line response to this, starting with the point that pcosmar went for: The water the government provided tasted horrible, but because they held the monopoly on water delivery, Jack was taking a swig out of a bottle of water, which would end up in a landfill forever.

[Standing Like A Rock]

For the women voters one, I would argue that it was not liberals that thought women should be equal that got the 19th Amendment passed. It was multi-generation Americans who saw that immigrants were becoming a large and growing percentage of voters and that allowing the American women to vote would negate the growing percentage of immigrant voters.

[Lucille]

I've responded to that with this one:

Leave Us the Hell Alone (http://anarchangel.blogspot.com/2009/08/leave-us-hell-alone.html)


I've been in an incredibly foul mood the last couple of days, and until this morning I did not understand why.

We're planning on moving to where we actually want to be. We're constantly being asked why we want to move to the middle of nowhere. I tell everyone, "because I feel hemmed in and trapped." Almost no one understands what I mean. Until this morning I could not explain the feeling of being a rat in a cage. Now I can.

This morning I woke up on my "don't remove the tag" mattress, walked through my building code compliant house, used the federally compliant toilet, dressed the kids and drove them to their "state certified" charter school where they'll eat a state approved lunch.

I got back in my state registered, emissions compliant, insured (by state requirement) car and drove the legal speed limit back to the house. I then walked through my Scottsdale code compliant yard (no weeds in our "desert" landscaping")into the house, drank pasteurized (USDA required) juice, and ate cereal processed in an inspected facility with milk from an USDA compliant dairy. I then took my FDA approved prescription pills (from a licensed pharmacy of course) and played with the state-licensed dogs.

I took a call on my federally taxed cell phone (instead of the federally taxed land line), stopped by our FDIC insured bank (which received TARP money that it didn't want and is not allowed to pay back), and drove along city streets (paid for by sales and property taxes) to the closest Costco (which has a business license of course and pays mandated worker's comp). I bought beef franks made from inspected beef in an inspected facility, buns made in an OSHA compliant factory, and a gallon of Frank's in an approved plastic bottle.

All of this before 10:15 am.

This is not restricted to me of course. This is normal daily life for the vast majority of Americans. Almost everything we do is touched by one agency or another.

In preparation for moving I've been researching what I want to do with the land. We want to build our own house and outbuildings and drink our own water and make our own electricity.

In order for this to work we have to:

* Buy land with the proper zoning.
* Wait for the required escrow to be completed.
* Apply for building permits and well permits.
* Possibly apply for a zoning variance in order to raise a wind turbine.
* Build code-compliant buildings.
* Wire the electricity according to code.
* Pay sales tax on all materials used.

My biggest dream is to grow an orchard, plant some vegetables and grains, and raise our own milk and meat. In order for this to happen we have to

* Buy only trees that can be delivered to the correct state (as decided by each state's government).
* Use only approved pesticides (like we could buy anything else).
* Buy a tractor (with applicable state tax).

If we find ourselves with an excess of food and would like to sell it we have to

* Apply for a license.
* Obtain a tax i.d. number.
* Collect sales tax.
* Label the goods according to code.
* Submit to random inspections of the dairy operation.
* Submit to random inspections of the meat process.
* In order to sell prepared foods (like jams) submit to inspections of the "commercial" kitchen (which cannot be used to prepare the family's food).
* Pay sales tax on all goods and materials used.

In order to set up the business properly, we have to

* Apply for a business license.
* Obtain a tax i.d. number.
* Obtain permission from the state to use the name.
* Collect sales tax.

God forbid we deal with the local fauna. We plan on moving in an area thick with moose and wolves, but in order to hunt we have to obtain

* A hunting license.
* A controlled-hunt tag for the moose (if we're lucky enough to get one).
* Forget about the wolves, they're "protected".

Should we need to protect our livestock from the moose or wolves we are allowed to dispose of the threat, but we must

* Inform game and fish.
* Turn the carcass over to the state.

If we use firearms to dispose of the threat, we must

* Use a "legal" firearm (as determined by the NFA and ATF).
* If we choose to use a suppressor (because of dogs, horses, and our own hearing) we must pay the stamp.

This doesn't even account for all of the hoops the realtor and the vendors have to go through.

All of this instead of

* Pay for property. Make contract with owner.
* Build.
* Dig well.
* Wire.
* Buy tractor.
* Plant.
* Sell food.
* Sell services.
* Protect livestock.

No wonder I feel trapped. I can't do a single thing with my own property that doesn't involve one government agency or another (or several). I feel like a rat being funneled through a maze, and I am cognizant of the danger that someone will block off the exit. It's my claustrophobia writ large.

This is just wrong. I'm a grown woman. Why does the government have to meddle in all of my affairs? Why do I have to jump through hoops just to accomplish the most simple things in life?

It's all about power and control. Always has been always will be.

I'm sure in the beginning the encroachment began with simple things. After all, isn't the government supposed to protect our rights? Isn't having a dedicated police force, justice system, military, etc. worth a little in taxes?

Then a little more encroachment. Who can disagree with a little tax to pay for state roads? That's entirely reasonable, right?

Then enforcement of standards. Who can disagree with licensing teachers? Making sure underage kids can't marry?

Then the panics set in. Contaminated meat? The government should "do something" so it won't happen again! E coli? Pasteurize EVERYTHING!

Of course, the NIMBY'S added their own input. Nuclear power plant? Not in my backyard! Enforce zoning so I won't have to worry about it! Require my neighbor to clean up their yard so my house values don't go down!

Then the lobbyists. Require farm inspections and multiple hoops so small farmers give up and "our big backers don't have competition". Give into the "green" lobby so they don't pull their campaign contributions.

Of course there's always the pure tax whores. "It's just a little reasonable fee. On everything. You want to pay your share, right?"

Of course all of this gets codified into law, and the ultimate persuasive tactic is put into play.

"You don't want to be a criminal, do you? You don't want to go to prison, do you?"

This is exactly how we went from a system in which the government's job of protecting our rights to a system where government determines WHO is ALLOWED to trample on our rights.

Well I have a message for all you busybodies, bureaucrats, rent-seekers, and whored-out legislators.

LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE.

Get out of my contracts.

Get off of my land.

Leave my property alone.

Stay the hell out of my bedroom.

Most of all, KEEP YOUR NOSES OUT OF MY BUSINESS.

And everyone else's for that matter.

h/t The Liberty Papers (http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2009/08/21/leave-us-the-hell-alone/)

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

How would you best respond to this? I've seen this circulating around social media a lot recently. If someone could come up with a line by line response that would be great.

Jack and Diane wake up 6 a.m. and fill their taxed, over priced coffeepot with over priced monopoly municipal water to prepare their morning taxed, over priced coffee.

The water is polluted with flouride because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards creating over priced municipal water monopolies that everyone is forced to pay for and use because wells, rain water collection, or other sources of water are outlawed.

With his first swallow of water, Jack takes his taxed, over priced, over regulated daily medication that are only manufactured by a few select government approved companies. His non-organic medications are deemed safe by government to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised including side effects which have government protected liability immunity.

All but $10 of his taxed, over priced, over regulated, non-organic, government approved medications are paid for by his over priced, over regulated employer's medical plan because 50 years ago, liberal government created union workers fought their employers for over priced, over regulated paid government approved medical insurance - now Jack and most Americans are forced to over pay for low health risk medical insurance and get it too.

Jack can’t get kicked off his taxed, over priced, over regulated medical plan by his state privileged over regulated insurance company if he develops cancer which is now at 40% odds thanks to big government regulating everything because some big government, bleeding heart liberal fought the huge state monopoly insurance corporations big government liberals created to ensure that they don’t kick Americans off of their taxed, over priced, over regulated health plans just because they get sick from something regulated by government and can't sue because of limited liability.

They prepare their morning breakfast: taxed, over priced, over regulated, genetically modified, bacon and eggs. Jack's taxed, over priced, over regulated, genetically modified bacon is deemed safe by government to eat because some big government liberal fought for laws to regulate the taxed, over priced, over regulated meat packing industry and provide limited liability just in case you get sick.

In the morning taxed, over priced, over regulated, shower with a government approved shower head that barely trickles water, Jack reaches for his taxed, over priced, over regulated, shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his government owned body and how much it contained despite being unable to sue if ever harmed by government approved ingredients.

Jack dresses in taxed, over priced, over regulated clothing, walks outside and takes a deep breath of government approved levels of pollution. The air he breathes is deemed clean by government because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air beyond liability immune government approved levels. He walks on the taxed, over priced, over regulated government-provided sidewalk to a government run subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work since government put the rail road companies out of business a century ago. It saves him considerable money (if you don't count all of the unseen expenses such as working until July just to pay income tax, and that is just one!) in taxed, over priced, over regulated, parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a coerced contributor whether you use public transportation or not.

Jack begins his work day. He has a good job at McDonalds with excellent pay a couple dollars above government mandated minimum wage, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards because all workers were slaves before government parted the sea and led them to minimum wage prosperity.

.... (continue plugging in the real costs) ....

After all, I'm a government-made man who believes if I wasn't forced to pay for everyone else I should have no problem taking care of myself, with plenty of money left over."

[TheNcredibleEgg]

The following could also happen:




Jack and Diane wake up 6 a.m. and fill their coffeepot with water to prepare their morning coffee.
The water is clean and good because they, as consumers, demand clean water and made sure their water provider was rated the best by an independent safety inspector.

With his first swallow of water, Jack takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because the drug companies want to put out the best product possible - to ensure their competitors don't get his business.

Jack chose a medical plan from the many free market providers that needed to offer him the best plan possible in order to get his business. All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan. It was more expensive - but he decided it was worth it. He didn't need a federal bureaucrat to decide this for him.

Jack chose a plan that he can’t get kicked off by his insurance company if he develops cancer. It was more expensive - but he, himself, decided it was worth it. He didn't need a federal bureaucrat to decide for him.

They prepare their morning breakfast: bacon and eggs. Jack's bacon is safe to eat because the meat industry doesn't want to kill him off. They want him to be a customer for forever and ever. And don't want him getting sick and ruining their company name in the lawsuits that would follow.

In the morning shower, Jack reaches for his shampoo. He doesn't give a chit what the ingredients are. Does anyone for shampoo? He knows the brand name and likes the results of the product.

Jack dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because he and his neighbors demanded it to be clean. They refused to build houses in industrial zones - and they sued the nearby industries to stop polluted their private property. He walks on the provided sidewalks that the builders built into the neighborhood to increase property values to subway station that he, himself, paid for his morning commute to work because it was the cheapest option.

Jack begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because he does good work and his employer wants to keep him happy and productive.

Jack’s co-workers are white, black, asian, hispanic, and belong to every race. They are allowed to work for the same company, and drink from the same water fountains because eventually common sense took hold. It was just stupid economically speaking to have two water fountains when there only needed to be one.

If Jack is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because he, himself, negotiated it with his employer. It forced him to accept less take home pay - but he decided it was worth it in case of his temporary misfortune. It is noon time and Jack needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Jack's deposit is safe because there is no fractional banking system and his money is backed by gold.

Jack is home from work. He eats dinner with his wife Diane. Diane is allowed to vote because woman (and some men) finally stood up for themselves and demanded the right to vote.

He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because he chose all the safety options available to him when he bought the car. Sure, it made the care more expensive - but he decided it was worth it. And the car company offered him all the upgrades because so many people want to buy them. He arrives at his boyhood home.

His was the third generation to live in the house financed by savings and hard work by his father. The house didn't have electricity until some free market company found there was demand for rural electricity and set up the infrastructure to bring him electricity.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on savings from a lifetime of work - which backed by gold kept its value and since it was taxed very, very little by the gov't - it was more than enough for him to enjoy a comfortable retirement.

Jack gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on the radio. He enjoys some nice leisurely music since life is so good. After a while - he tunes into to some news radio program talking about the collapse of the socialist state in Europe and those countries are so fked.

Jack agrees - and smiles to himself - after all, he's a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves and their families - just like I do."[/I]

[BlackTerrel]

J[I]ack and Diane wake up 6 a.m. and fill their coffeepot with water to prepare their morning coffee.
The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.

In a free economy a capitalist would provide clean water.


With his first swallow of water, Jack takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

Again. In a capitalist society companies will produce medicine that actually works because it will make them more money.


All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because 50 years ago, liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Jack and most Americans get it too.

And his employer has less money because they have to pay for this. Less for jobs, less for investments, less that goes into the overall pot. Not to mention that prices are jacked up (no pun intended) because Jack doesn't shop around for the best deal since his insurance company pays for it.


Jack can’t get kicked off his medical plan by his insurance company if he develops cancer because some big government, bleeding heart liberal fought the huge insurance corporations to ensure that they don’t kick Americans off of their health plans just because they get sick.

I am pretty sure no one would sign up to be insured by a company that kicks you off as soon as you get sick (would defeat the whole purpose of health insurance). Insurance companies that competed in a free economy would have to give decent service.


They prepare their morning breakfast: bacon and eggs. Jack's bacon is safe to eat because some big government liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

Or people would just choose to buy bacon from reputable companies based on capitalism and free information.


In the morning shower, Jack reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

There are 100 shampoos in the aisle. Again, competition. If it sells companies will do it on their own.


Jack dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

This part I'm actually fine with. I'm ok with government roads and making illegal certain pollutants. I'm sure others here will disagree.


Jack begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards.

If Jack creates value his employer will give him good pay/benefits lest they lose him to someone else. It's called capitalism.


Jack’s co-workers are white, black, asian, hispanic, and belong to every race. They are allowed to work for the same company, and drink from the same water fountains because some fascist big government liberals fought and died to bring about equal rights for all races.

Again I'm ok with this one. I think government can intervene and say "hey you can't stop Asians from drinking from a water fountain". Someone else can take this one if they want.


If Jack is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

OR people just won't work for comapnies that treat their employees like shit. And benefits will make their way to Jack.


Jack is home from work. He eats dinner with his wife Diane. Diane is allowed to vote because some pinko hippy liberals fought tooth and nail because they believed it would be a good idea to afford women the same rights that are given to men.

Again. This is fine. Of course women should have the right to vote.


He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax-payer funded roads. He arrives at his boyhood home.

How are cars in Japan? Germany? Again - I'm ok with the roads. But competition leads to high quality cars. Not government.


His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

If there's money to be made providing electricity and loans in the country then it will happen without government. If there isn't - well it's a free country. Move.

[Koz]

Jack went to buy an incandescent light bulb today but was told at the store they were outlawed by liberal tree huggers so he had to fork over $8 for a compact flourescent bulb.

Jack is paying $4.50 per gallon of gasoline because some tree huggers won's allow us to develop our own resources.

Dianne can't afford to buy enough groceries at the store because the Federal Reserve is destroying the currency and food prices have risen.

Jack and Dianne have to send thier kids to parochial school because the big government socialists have destroyed the education system in the US with central planning instead of leaving thier education to local government.

Jack can't afford to send his kids to college because the statist progressives are driving up the cost of college with government student loans for everyone.

Jack just go laid off because big government statists put too many regulations on his industry so the owners of his company decided to close up shop and move the operation to India.