Democrats

Flint Michigan Deserves Your Tax Dollars, Not Iraq

January 8, 2007 ⋅  E-Mail Article ⋅  Print Article ⋅ Post a comment

As the Democrats take over the House and the Senate they need to make amends for the atrocities and neglect of their predecessors. Saddam Hussein may have abused the Iraqis but American politicians are doing something just as bad, they are neglecting their own brothers in sisters in desperate need right here in the United States. We are failing American cities while devoting time and resources to Iraqi and Afghan cities that hold no allegiance to the Untied States. Flint Michigan is every bit a war zone as is Afghanistan and Iraq and if you do not believe me just pay it a visit, the war is going on every day in that once proud American city and it is a shame that America has failed Flint and many other cities just like it. There is no reason we should be spending billions rebuilding in Iraq when we have cities like Flint who are much needier and deserving of our hard earned American tax dollars. If Americans pay taxes them the money should be spent on Americans and I demand that my tax dollars be spent helping out the city of Flint before one penny is sent abroad to any foreign country. I would also like to see the Republicans spit that idiotic rhetoric about ‘jobs Americans won’t do’ in Flint, let them get on their pedestal on ninth and Martin Luther king, lets see them say this absurd statement while looking the residents of Flint directly in the eye. They have the mouth but do they have the guts, I bet not because they know as well as I do that this statement is horse shit and they should be ashamed of how they are allowing America to be sold out.

Anyone who says there are jobs Americans will not do needs to pay a visit to Flint Michigan and see for themselves how absurd that statement is. Flint Michigan was once the model American city; it had jobs galore and a booming manufacturing base that was a world leader. However, as America allowed itself to lose its manufacturing jobs the city of Flint started to go belly up. If you don’t think it can’t happen in your area you better think again because Flint was a stronghold for the Big Three American Auto Manufacturers and now it is a city with boarded up buildings and falling down houses. Where once proud autoworkers gathered for after work drinks there are now teenage drug dealers gathering to hand out their wares. Where once beautiful landscaped new houses were constructed there now stands house after house of gaited doors and boarded up windows. Flint Michigan is everything that is wrong with America in the past ten years and if you do not have a fear of what can happen to your little part of America then you should visit Flint some time, it is a wake up call you won’t forget.

Flint was just like any other major manufacturing area, there were a wealth of investment money and an ample supply of manufacturing talent. However, as American policy slipped toward outsourcing the Flint community absorbed the negative effects of this policy. Numerous autoworkers became unemployed and America just moved on without them. As easily as Flint was abandoned so can you and your neighborhood, make no mistake. The devastation was so complete in Flint that it brought Michael Moore to the area where he went on to create one of his most popular documentary type movies entitled Roger and Me. Roger and Me is a documentary film directed and reported by Michael Moore. The crux of the movie displays the harmful economic impact of General Motors CEO Roger Smith’s decision to close several auto plants in Flint, Michigan and outsource their jobs to developing countries. The move cost over 40,000 people their jobs and economically devastated the city. Not only did autoworkers lose their jobs but so did surrounding businesses such as stores, pharmacies, hardware companies, and many more unique types of businesses.

We cannot totally eliminate outsourcing but we can do a better job of making America a more competitive entity. We can force countries such as India and China to work in good faith and follow the rules of fair trade. We can also enact taxation legislation that makes America more competitive and not just more spend-full. Tax breaks to citizens just frees up more money to be spent on imported goods, this in all reality helps no one. We need to give the tax breaks to companies and allow them to thrive in America and to keep work in America. If they pay us to build it we can afford to buy it and this is how we can keep America strong.

What happened to Flint should be a problem all of America addresses. There is no reason we should spend billions in Iraq and let Flint Michigan go it alone in their own domestic battle. There is no reason for Flint kids to grow up playing on cracked cement basketball courts or rat infested play grounds. There is no reason a child in Flint should have to go to school with lead filled painted class rooms. It’s time to keep some of the Iraq money right here in America and help out our fellow Americans.

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