I’ll have a Blue Virginia without you
By Brian Kirwin | Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 | ColumnsCheck out the whinefest at Blue Virginia. If you put your ear to your monitor, you can almost hear the footstamps as they hold their breath until someone offers them a column.
“apparently that great educational philosopher Meat Loaf’s “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” is the adjusted accomplishment curve”
Actually, that Meat Loaf song sums up the Blue Virginia Democrats’ view of the voters. “I want you, I need you, but there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you.”
Nice choice, lefties!.
Better yet. Don’t check out the whinefest. Read the latest columns of Vivian Paige, Jim Hoeft and me at the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press.
Leadership without labels – Vivian Paige
Was 2010 a blip or the start of a trend? – Jim Hoeft
Set PBS free, and Big Bird will be fine – Brian Kirwin
And pass Blue Virginia a tissue.
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About the author
The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
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9 Responses to "I’ll have a Blue Virginia without you"
“The only thing interesting about PBS/NPR’s news reports is how different they are from reality.” – BK
Great line Brian.
Soooo, Vivian doesn’t want party labels and she wants to convince folks that political parties don’t have any influence in local elections and local governing? Uh-huh. Who actually believes that? Anyone?
Jim Hoeft predicts blips on radars and trends are not made by recent election outcomes. Yet, if one were to study how Virginia changed from Red to Blue and back again, one can detect trends. Of course Jim is right, it all depends on who turns out to vote. Speaking of which …
Unemployed people (and under employed) are motivated to vote. They are a growing factor in future elections. It is interesting to consider them/us as a voting block and figure out what hot buttons motivate the unemployed/under employed.
As an unemployed person myself, I can speak first hand at a great many things that need reform. For the first time in my life I do not have any “healthcare” insurance. That is because my wife lost her job over a year ago and now neither one of us are working. That is very rare, as in – it is the first time that has happened to either one of us, ever.
What was one of the things I discovered as a result?
I discovered some questions to ask that I had not pondered before. Such as:
Q: How are there any children without healthcare coverage in this nation?
My daughter now has BETTER healthcare coverage then she did while my wife and I were both working and our employers were paying out a HUGE amount of money to subsidize my family’s healthcare coverage.
Healthcare was so expensive and the costs rising so fast that my last employer hired two additional full time staff experts just to keep shopping around for better deals for healthcare insurance. My last employer was a mid-sized firm with fewer than 1,000 employees. The point is that the cost to employees for deductibles and copays were as low as they could be.
How is this possible that my daughter now has BETTER healthcare coverage then she did while my wife and I were both working?
FAMIS – it is pretty darn good FREE healthcare coverage for Marina through the state/school system. In fact, the copays for some things are LESS with FAMIS than they were with my company healthcare coverage.
Who pays for FAMIS?
Taxpayers – like me. Yup, I have no income, but I still have a whole lot of taxes to pay.
Speaking of which, how am I getting by? How do I keep paying my taxes, making my mortgage payments and paying for my other insurance (car, flood, home), food, utilities, minimum credit card balances, vet bills for the dogs, car repair (we own our 3 cars, they are old-high mileage -we are blessed to not have a monthly car payment)?
I’m spending my 401K money. Yup, it cost me $5,151.51 to put $10,000.00 into my checking account on October 21st.
Here is why:
20% taxes to the Federal Government.
04% to the state government.
10% penalty to the Federal Government.
I need to keep paying my mortgage. But I may need to sell my home if I can’t find a new job that pays near what I was earning. What it took me 27 years to earn.
Of course, good luck selling our house in this market – based on recent sales in my neighborhood, it is now worth roughly $60,000 less than what we paid for it 3 years ago. So even if we can sell it, we will still take a significant loss –
So, all things considered, paying the Federal Government a 10% penalty and holding on to our house until the market improves is the lessor of two bad choices. (Well, depending on how long it is before the market improves)
Yet … I paid city property taxes on assessed “value” I never actually had – it was based on a “market value” that was false. Perhaps that whole estimated “market value” tax needs to be revisited?
What is my point?
I am not alone. There are a whole lot of people like me. The 9 point something number for “unemployed” is far from accurate to cover the true reality of this devastating economy. It fails to include the UNDER EMPLOYED who take jobs at FAR LESS than what they were earning – just to have a job. Any job. And … to have some healthcare insurance again – any healthcare insurance.
We vote. The question is who will we vote for and are there changes needed to help families like mine that are in severe distress due to job loss – or a lack of job opportunities that pay what we had been earning?
Will we vote for candidates that work to bring these changes about?
Are we too busy looking for new employment to even think about such matters?
Um, NO, we aren’t. We have a LOT of time to think about things since we don’t have a job to go to everyday. That is why I am reading Bearing Drift and posting here today. I am keeping myself busy.
Q: Are the policies of the Federal Government correct to hammer financially stressed families with “penalties” for using our 401K funds to try to keep up with the mortgage payments on our homes? Or, should we simply pay our fair share of taxes owed without the penalty?
Q: Why are school kids of low or NO INCOME families receiving better healthcare than the children of middle class and upper income earning working families – at taxpayer expense?
During the national healthcare “debate” we all heard, over and over, how tens of millions of kids have no healthcare in our nation.
Q: How are these children “without healthcare” with programs like FAMIS available to them?
And …
Q: … how will the answers to these questions affect the “color” of Virginia in the future? Will it stay Red or will it change back to Blue because the “Unemployed Class” are discovering things they never knew before? (… and they vote!).
Don’t get me wrong, I am glad my 14-year old daughter Marina has some healthcare coverage. I could not afford the monthly cost for Champus that I was offered so I might retain my previous healthcare for my family for up to 18 months after I lost my job.
The Champus family plan was so expensive; it was as if it wasn’t really a “benefit” at all. I don’t know who CAN afford it. I am a “family” of 3, so that is why the Champus family coverage didn’t make any economic sense for my family.
But I had no idea things like FAMIS were being paid for with tax funds and offered until I joined the ranks of the “Unemployed Class”.
The reality of a 10% “penalty” paid to the Federal government for using my tax deferred retirement money to save my house and keep up with my bills really hits home to my wife and I – when I have to pay $5,000 to put $10,000 of my retirement money into my checking account. That makes a lasting impression on us.
Meanwhile I have Congress making me a criminal if I don’t buy healthcare insurance? Uh, I can’t AFFORD it? So now I am a criminal subject to even MORE Federal “penalties”? Things like THAT will cause my wife and I to vote for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli not matter WHAT office he runs for!
I can’t image what the world would be like for my family if I hadn’t saved all my life and put so much money into my retirement fund. I can’t image how BAD times are for those unemployed or under employed out there that doesn’t have a large 401K to fall back on.
It takes a very long time to sell a $400,000 house for $350,000 in Virginia Beach. I know because my next door neighbor just did this. Banks are not qualifying and loaning money to a large enough pool of potential buyers. People are out of work or are working in jobs that pay far less than they were earning. So not as many folks can afford to buy a $400,000 home for $350,000.
Traditionally the Democratic Party is successfully at pandering to potential voters by offering them money and benefits at the expense of the taxpayers. The GOP is planning to cut benefits and reduce the size of the federal government’s spending. The GOP in state legislatures is also looking to reduce spending. I agree that we need to reduce the size of government and reduce government debt and spending. But I also appreciate how many people will “vote their pocketbooks”.
All of this can have an impact on that “color” Virginia becomes in the future. I predict the “recovery” will take a lot longer that the next few election cycles and the number of voters joining the ranks of the “Unemployed Class/Under Employed Class” will continue to grow for at least the next 4 or 5 years. I predict that whatever “Job creation” in the private sector our state and our nation might experience, it is going to result is a massive growth of the “Under Employed Class”. It is a growing voting block that is up for grabs.
I believe THAT is a trend that people seeking office need to consider.
Whew! Needed an extra cup of coffee and another fat laden Krispy Kreme doughnut to get Reid’s comment.
Yes, it is long. But, what do you think about the need for candidates to pander to growing the “Unemployed/Under-employed Class” and how it is most likely Democrats that will “win” in a battle over such pandering given the current GOP/TEA Party agenda?
The “Blue in the Face” guys @ Blue Virginia are probably reporting you guys to the Fluvanna County BOS for violating their ordinance just in case it might stick.
I adore Vivian and love her blog, but I am a little disppointed with her article. I expect to disagree with her on a few topics. I don’t mind a view that often sides with the Democrats, but I don’t normally expect partisan line towing from her. Despite the overt claim of wanting to not be partisan, the “No Labels” alleged movement is indeed partisan! How so?
Gee……where were these “no label” people when the Democrats were solidly in power and anyone with an “R” after their name had no say in anything?
Now all of a sudden after Democrats had their hind quarters handed to them, labels don’t matter? When Democrats are still trending downward, now we don’t want partisanship and those labels? Now we want to just do what is best for the country? PLEASE!!!!!!
I’m not even a Republican, I am a Libertrian that at times has issues with the Republican Party, but even I have to just laugh at this call for “no labels” at a time so convenient for Democrats and called for by Democrats or guys like Bloomberg.
@ Reid, good luck on the employment search. You might have to take a lower paying job to supplement that 401k as you wait on those job offers. It never feels good to take a job you know you intend to drop later, but it comes down to that some times. I totally agree that you should have better access to your 401k money in the case of unemployment, maybe a 0 interest loan,penalty free loan with flexible repayment schedules perhaps?
Thanks Britt.
The reason for my long diatribe was really to point out that there is a growing voting block that could trend towards to Democratic Party becuase they will vote with their pocket books and the Left will always out pander the Right.
I haven’t read or heard any discussion of the “Unemployed/under-employed Class” as a new voting block.
In the past this would be a short term group/situation. Not a “group” one could target. But these days folks that find themselves as members of the “Unemployed/under-employed Class” may well find themselves in this situation for many YEARS (not just a few months, like the past).
This is something new to consider, from a swing vote point of view.
It’s amazing the damage that liberals, both Republican and Democrat , have done to our ethics and the economy in such a short period of time. I think you’re right when in mentioning the pander factor and those liberals will attempt to leverage our new and burgeoning classes of government dependents towards keeping or extending dependency on the Government with their votes.
It’s taken almost 2 years for liberals to stop mentioning the “last 8 years” of “failed economic policies” because they now own the rotten economy with their failures despite trying to weasel their way out to spin the blame on Republicans. The question is going to be if Democrats can tar and feather the attempts of the new GOP freshman class for the ballistic trajectory of economic failure that may influence the un-employed or under-employed voter demographics in the next election. The new freshman class is full of smart guys and gals and I am inclined to believe that they will be able to keep control of the discussion and the message since the old song and dance routines the Democrats have used have become boring and hollow.
Getting back to the point of Brian’s article, Brian – you can’t expect the guys at Blue Virginia to be happy when you and J.R. (and Vivian) get the chance to make some actual money writing for folks. That’s their dream over there and they never seem to make it work.
We all know they wear their emotions on their sleeves over there, including jealousy.
Take it as a compliment.
Funny guys, those Blue Virginia types.
They wail about the columns that Brian, Jim and Vivian landed, as if they wouldn’t write one for a paper if offered the chance. In fact, I hear Lowell is still peddling copies of his book out of the trunk of his ’73 Volvo.
The guy likes to write (just not well). Ever read his blog?
But consider their options in NoVa:
* They would sooner go on a hunting trip with Sarah Palin than pen anything for the Examiner, Politico or the *gasp* Washington Times.
* They have declared all-out war on the Washington Post, their loyal ally in all things liberal, because Kaplan is a subsidiary of the Post.
Here’s their quandry:
* The Post got Jim Webb elected in 2006.
* But they hate the Post now.
Oh, what are frustrated liberal bloggers to do?
Maybe approach DC’s City Paper or some other free rag … that won’t pay them.
Ha.
Seems to me that Lowell didn’t care much about purity when candidates were paying him.
(Hey, Lowell, about quitting your cushy government job to do blogging … how’d that go?)
Lowell had his time in the blogosphere, circa 2006 or so. But between then and now, well, that’s a lifetime in cyberspeak.
If you’re reading this, Lowell, watch out for that tar pit over there … I hear that’s where dinosaurs go to die.
So long, Lowell. We hardly knew ye.
Saw that Blue Virginia post. Have to agree that they are whining. As if they wouldn’t jump at the chance to write a column if it was offered.
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