What Are Bootstraps, Anyway?

My father was a Republican until he got wiser in his old age, or until George W. Bush became the leader of the party, whichever you prefer. Last night we got into a discussion of Reagan and the Republican ideal of "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps."

What's interesting is that the Republicans don't have this same philosophy for corporations - they get tax breaks, they get huge grants with no oversight,  they get deregulated and sometimes they even get to be exempted from laws. Really. Look it up.

I'd always fought against the Republican philosophy - arguing for government help for the individual, such as keeping the mentally ill in hospitals and affordable health care and affordable day care and no tax breaks for the rich and parental leave policies at least as good as Hungary's and a high minimum wage. But as we prepare to bail out mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and our economy goes down the tubes I'm starting to think maybe I was wrong.

All the Republican handouts for corporations have led to this  mess, you know. (Oh, and the war. Wasn't it nice of us to step in and help all those Iraqi citizens? I wonder why American citizens don't rate the same concern.) The great free market (except for farm subsidies, of course) and the beautiful, even corporate playing field has not worked out, has it? (Though I suppose it's not completely even, according to Time Magazine 68% of foreign corporations that do work in this country don't pay any taxes). Lives aren't improving. Job growth isn't improving. The only thing we've got growing is inflation. So who knows what would happen if we gave more help to the average citizen? Maybe things would get even worse. LIke they are in Canada. Or Sweden. Or New Zealand. Or Australia.

Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is actually one of those ideas that sounds great in theory. Maybe if all kids were born into safe and healthy homes and then went on to effective schools, maybe if they all got enough to eat and good healthcare and none of them had any mental illnesses, then I would believe that it was possible for everyone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.