The Real Life of Julia
Reflections of a Rational Republican has introduced me to “Julia” the cartoon solder of the fictitious Republican “War on Women”. Both the Obama Campaign and the Heritage Foundation have differing versions about the “Life of Julia“. While the Obama Campaign’s version touts the benefits of living in a cradle to grave socialist utopia, the Heritage Foundation’s version extolls the virtues of freedom of choice. Neither version truly depicts the reality of Julia right here, right now. This is my version of the “Real Life of Julia” without the cutesy graphics. It depicts what her life would be like at each age, if she were that age today.
Age 3
Both of Julia’s parents work. Their combined incomes put them in an income bracket too high to qualify for head start or other programs designed for underprivileged children. After “doing the math” her parents decide that the high cost of quality day care makes it impractical for both of them to work. Julia’s mom’s income is less than her father’s so Julia’s mom decides to stay home with her.
Age 17
It was important to Julia’s parents to bring her up in as safe a neighborhood as possible. They purchased a modest home in a decent suburb. Because she lives in a working class family her parents cannot afford private school. Therefore Julia has spent her youth in the public school system. Her state uses standardized tests to measure the performance of the teachers, schools, and students. Because the teacher’s unions have made it difficult to weed out ineffective teachers, and because school administrators fear the loss of state and federal funding due to government programs such as race to the top, classroom time is consumed with teaching children how to pass the standardized tests instead of proficiency in basic skills. Sports, music classes, and pay raises for competent teachers are cut due to a lack of funds, but administration costs remain high. PE and recess are cut and replaced with programs to teach environmental awareness, anti-bullying, drug avoidance, and sexual abuse defence techniques that are of little value in real world situations. Julia’s parents stressed the importance of doing her best and made sure she did her homework. They communicated regularly with her teachers. Because of this, Julia worked hard and made good grades.
Age 18
Because she has made good grades Julia has qualified for a modest state sponsored scholarship. She barely qualifies for a Pell grant because her parent’s income is almost to high even though they do not make enough to pay any of her college expenses. She chooses a community college because it is the most cost-effective option, allowing her to live at home and commute to class. Her scholarship and grant still are not enough to completely cover her school and expenses so she works part-time to fill the gap. Her public school education has left her unprepared for college level work, she takes advantage of the resources the college offers, but in spite of her efforts to study hard, she fails her math and english courses. Because the state sponsored scholarship pays some of the costs of trade school, Julia decides to drop out of college and attend cosmetology school.
Age 22
Julia has to undergo emergency surgery for an appendicitis. The recent passage of Obama care mandates that she is covered under her parents care until age 26, however, before the passage of Obama care, she still would have been covered under her parents’ policy until her 23rd birthday because she is a student.
Age 23-25
Julia finishes cosmetology school and begins her career as a hair stylist. At first she lives with her parents, but through hard work and dedication to her career she lands a job at a prestigious salon and moves into her own apartment. Among the benefits provided are health insurance and the opportunity to participate in a 401K program. This particular salon offered such benefits even before Obama care was passed. Her insurance pays for mammograms, pap smears, yearly exams, and maternity care. Her copay for prescription birth control is fifty percent of the cost, but because she is focusing on establishing herself in this business and building a clientele, she has little time for a relationship or casual sex.
Age 29-31
Julia meets Ethan a local electrician. They begin a relationship. Julia explains to Ethan that since he would assume half the responsibility for raising a child, he should share half the responsibility for the cost of birth control. Ethan agrees. (He’s a keeper). Since her insurance pays for half of the fifty dollar cost of birth control pills* and Ethan pays half of her half, her cost for the pill is a manageable $12.50 a month. Julia and Ethan marry and decide to have a child. Her maternity and child-birth costs are covered minus the $25.00 office copays and a $500.00 deductable. Because she and Ethan planned ahead for this child, money was saved and these expenses prove to be little problem for them. Even though money is tight, they still make too much for Zachary to qualify for head start or other daycare options for underprivileged children. Because neither of them can afford to quit their jobs, Julia’s mother agrees to watch little Zachary.
Age 37
Zachary starts preschool. His parents make too much money for Zachary to qualify for school vouchers designed to give underprivileged children a chance at a better education, but they do not make enough to place him in private school. His parents depend on both incomes to get by, so having Julia quit her job to home school Zachary is out of the question. Julia has no other option but to place Zachary into the inferior public school system.
Age 42
Julia is a well-known stylist around town and has built up a loyal clientele. She decides to open her own salon. She qualifies for a small business administration loan and purchases equipment. She rents chair space to beginning hair stylists and teaches them the latest techniques. In spite of a loyal and growing customer base, she is barely breaking even. The regulatory costs of the required insurances and licenses are high and the time required to keep up with the paperwork keeps her from her customers. When the ADA fines her $25,000.00 for failure to install a wheelchair accessible styling chair even though she has no disabled customers or employees, she realizes she can no longer keep up. Julia sadly informs her stylists and customers she must close. She sells her salon equipment to pay off the fine and the remainder of her SBA loan. She then takes a job as an instructor at the local beauty college.
Age 65
Julia enrolls in medicare. She has difficulty finding a competent doctor that accepts the plan. She must pay out-of-pocket for a medicare supplement insurance plan to cover the gaps. Ethan dies suddenly of a heart attack leaving her without his income. Fortunately he had the foresight to purchase life insurance even though paying the premiums was sometimes a struggle. This allows Julia to pay off the mortgage and Ethan’s funeral expenses.
Age 67
Julia applies for Social Security. The amount is nowhere near enough to cover her monthly expenses. She rolled over her 401K into an IRA but was not always able to contribute to it when her business was struggling. She realizes that her available cash flow is not enough to live on so she continues to work part-time at the beauty school as a receptionist so she doesn’t have to spend hours on her feet.
The truth is, neither scenario, whether it is Obama’s or the Heritage Foundations’s is going to help working class Julia. Making her dependent on the government for her cradle to grave care will eventually backfire like it did in Greece. Once the producers have been bled dry and robbed of any incentive to create wealth, the money will run out and untold misery will ensue. On the other hand, unbridled capitalism will not reduce the cost of healthcare and education to the point where they will be within reach of working class families. While it will create more freedom of choice, those choices mean nothing if you can’t afford them.
* Information on the cost of birth control pills was obtained from the Planned Parenthood website.
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Understanding the Occupiers Part Two
Day 3 of the protest Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A little over a month ago in a post entitled “Understanding the Occupiers”, I posed ten questions that I felt would be a reasonable measure of personal responsibility and life experience. I was hoping to reach people who had attended a protest, but didn’t really fit the media profile of an Occupier. The response was, well let’s just say it was not overwhelming. I got a couple of comments from LiberalTalkingPoints. Housewifedownunder answered the questions,and turned out to be just the kind of response I was hoping for. My two commenters were from two different ideologies, yet both expressed genuine frustration at the lack of opportunities for today’s young adults. It is my hope that the leaders of business and industry will listen to the desperation of these young people and will create jobs for those who are really willing to work. I hope the government will ease its regulatory burden so that they will be able to do so. And I hope that our universities become a place where young people are taught how to be competitive in a world economy rather that a place of political indoctrination. As for the Occupiers themselves, I hope that as they continue onto adulthood, they will realize that there are better ways than civil disobedience to be heard and taken seriously.
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Red State Blue State Nanny State
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I am not a Catholic. I have no problem with women choosing to use contraception to prevent a pregnancy. I think it’s great when an insurance company covers it.
But just who in the, heck, does the President and his Congressional supporters think they are? How did they come to the conclusion that they actually have the authority to force a religious institution to abandon its tenants of faith? This bill is not about women’s rights, health or contraception.
It’s about a government over reaching its authority and insinuating itself further and further into our private lives.
Who is to blame for this? We are. We have become dependent on the “nanny state”. To many of us are happy to trade away a few personal freedoms, for the government’s promise of a life without worry or want. We want the government to protect us from being offended, or inconvenienced by our neighbors. We want businesses to be regulated so that their profits are handed over to the government and redistributed, so that we can have free health care, a grocery allowance, and subsidized housing. Most dangerous of all, we want the government to be our conscience.
Both liberals and conservatives want the government to restrict behaviors that we find immoral or offensive. We want airwaves censored from sex, violence, and obscene language, yet we continue to tune into shows and buy tickets to movies that contain those very things. Some want women to be able to have an abortion any time, anywhere, for any reason, and some feel that there is never a justifiable reason to abort a baby. Many of us choose our elected officials on this issue alone. Meanwhile we fail to teach our children that a sexual relationship carries with it some heavy responsibilities, and requires a certain level of maturity. We want the government to prevent banks from charging penalty fees when we fail to handle our finances responsibly. We want the police to crack down on drunk drivers, speeders, and red-light runners, but we complain about rogue cops when we are the ones who get caught. We no longer have the ability to make very basic judgments for ourselves.
The Founding Fathers designed our Constitution to limit government. I’m sure they never intended for the Bill of Rights to be twisted and perverted into a device that allows the government to become our teacher, our parent, our God. We need to resurrect our common sense and good manners. We need to stop confusing legal with moral and take responsibility for our own clean living rather than imposing it on others. Most of all we need to use our patronage and our pocketbooks to effect social change rather than placing power that should belong to the people into the hands of the government.
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Where is the “Wow”
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I am the Independent Voter and I am waiting to be wowed. The Democratic Party does not understand me and the Republicans have taken me for granted for far too long. I am not an elite intellectual nor am I a backwoods buffoon. I am the key to victory in the next election. The deciding factor in which direction our country will go.
I am not impressed by the half-truths, out of context quotes and out right lies broadcast in your political ads. I don’t care if you paid your taxes at a 30% rate or a 15% rate. I don’t care if it took you three times to figure out how to make a marriage work. I don’t care if you did or didn’t change your mind about an issue. I don’t care if you stumbled over a question during a debate. I don’t care if you smoked pot in high school, posed nude to pay for college, pick your nose or sleep with a teddy bear.
I do care about keeping my job if I have one, and finding one if I don’t. I care that I might not be able to afford a gallon of gas, or a week’s worth of groceries. I want an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work. I want to be able to take my child to the doctor when he’s sick and not worry about if I can afford it. I want to see that brand new, mostly empty strip mall in my neighborhood filled with shops. I want clean air, clean water, and food that is safe to eat.
I don’t care if the man down the road is a billionaire because he inherited a thriving business that his father built from scratch. I just want a level playing field where I have the opportunity to do the same.
I worry that our quest to be a “tolerant” society will blind us to the machinations of our enemies, and I fear that our over burdened, over restricted and under manned military will not be able to protect us.
I want the schools to teach my children how to be competitive in an ever-changing world economy. Teach them basic academic skills. Train them in critical thinking, not what to think, but how to think. Don’t waste a school day filling my child’s head with politically correct, social, moral, and spiritual indoctrination. It is not the government’s place to teach my children right from wrong, or to boost their fragile egos. That is my job as their parent.
I want to preserve the wonder and majesty of nature. I want to have pristine parks and sparkling lakes. I want to be a good steward and manage our resources well, but I don’t want the Government telling me how. That oil well eyesore is a beautiful thing when it is the secret to feeding your family. I just don’t get that upset about the last remaining sub species of a toad, when there are thousands of other toads, and that toad’s existence will cost a family their farm, or a town a hundred jobs.
I want to feel safe in my home. I want to have the right to protect it from thieves, vandals and government intrusion. I want to be able to do as I see fit on my property, as long as I don’t pose an actual threat or nuisance to my neighbors.
The current administration has let me down, as have others before it. I want to know what you, if elected President, will do to restore this country back to its place as leader of the free world. To help us grow a vibrant economy, to secure our boarders, to give the power back to the people the way our Founding Fathers intended. Court me, impress me, wow me. The future of our country is at stake.
Observations and Opinions of a Middle Aged Housewife 
Blood On Their Hands
The unofficial military mission statement of “doing more with less”, the Secretaries of Defense that pushed it and the commanders who bought into it all share the blame. The dream of a “Lean Mean Fighting Machine” would only be possible if the military were staffed with robots, but it is not. It is staffed with men and women who think, feel, love and fear. Who have families and lives back home. It is their humanity that makes them vulnerable to the horrors of war, but it is also their humanity that gives them a reason to preserve the dream of liberty anywhere in the world. It gives them the courage to willingly accept that the cost of freedom could be their very lives. This courage should not be taken for granted. Every military doctor who has proclaimed a troop “fit for combat” when he should have been sent home, every commander who has proclaimed his unit ready when deep down he knew they weren’t, shares in the guilt. Every officer who has ever put his career ahead of his troops, every military leader who lacked the courage to tell his superiors the truth, that his unit was undermanned and stretched to the breaking point, shares the guilt. Every Secretary of Defense who failed to make unpopular decisions on how to increase manning, every Commander-in-Chief who was told what he wanted to hear and bought it, shares the guilt.
After all the investigations, reports and hearings, are concluded and “band-aid” recommendations are put in place we will still be left with a military that is undermanned and weary. We ask our military men and women to carry an unimaginable burden. Our military leadership owes the Afghanis and Sgt Bales’ family, who is now left without a husband and father, more than an apology. They are owed and honest assessment of what went wrong, and real solutions to prevent it from happening again. Until the people at the Pentagon find a way to bring more men and women in and retain the well-trained troops already in place, the stress of repeated deployments will create more Sgt Bales’.
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