An Interesting Phone Call

Tonight I received a phone call from Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) inviting me to take part in a telephone town hall meeting. Naturally, I said I would love to share my thoughts with the Congressman who's now running for Jon Kyl's Senate seat.

A staffer came on the line and asked me what question I wanted to ask Rep. Flake. I answered that I would like to know why he was adamantly opposed to closing tax loopholes and why he insisted on Social Security cuts being included in any plan to reduce the deficit, especially since Soc. Sec. has absolutely nothing to do with the deficit. I said I would also like for the Congressman to explain to me somehow why the idea of a balanced budget amendment is not the stupidest idea in American history. I was very polite speaking to the staffer, so I was a little nonplussed when he told me that I could hang on the line, but they probably wouldn't get to my questions.

My first thought was "why would you ask me if I would like to speak when you seem to know that there won't be enough time?" My second thought was that this absolutely sounded like every Republican in America since George W. Bush -- if you're not in lockstep with them and willing to swallow their talking points wholeheartedly, then they want no part of a discussion with you.

I sat on the phone for the next 45 minutes listening to right-wing uninformed nutjobs telling Rep. Flake what a great job he's doing, how he should continue to support "cut, cap & balance," and how they were certainly going to vote for him come November (I guess they all assume he will win the Republican primary for Senator, which in Arizona pretty much amounts to winning the election). Several of the callers urged him to vote not to raise the debt ceiling under any circumstances.

In the entire time I was on the phone, I heard one caller ask him what could be called, maybe, a tough question. A lady named Cindy from Glendale asked him why the government couldn't do anything to punish corporations who accept tax cuts and subsidies from the government if they decide to outsource labor overseas, especially when unemployment is so high and the economy is stagnant. She suggested that tax penalties and stiff fines be assessed to these companies, along with possible tax rate hikes if a certain percentage of jobs were not maintained in the U.S.

Here's where I almost lost it -- Flake told her that in a free society such as ours you can't punish a business for making a sound, rational decision that is in the stockholder's best interest. He said what we need to do is reduce taxes even further on these "job-creating" corporations as low as possible and hope that they will then decide not to outsource! I was stunned, to say the least. That seems to be the Republican plan for job creation -- cut taxes and hope for the best.

I won't even get started on the misinformation he then supplied to his constituents, such as comparing our debt to that of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, and his outright lies about our tax rates in comparison to the rest of the world, and his assertion that the healthcare bill passed last year is "socialist job-killing legislation" (that's an exact quote -- I'm really not making it up).

Needless to say, I wasn't all that surprised that I never got to speak to him. I'm sure his muddled little mind has no intention of ever speaking with someone who can counter his lies with factual information.

Somehow, I don't think I'll be voting for Jeff Flake (Flaky R-AZ) for Senate next year.