Grand Old Pirates

I saw Pirates of the Caribbean the other night (for my wife's birthday), and there is a line in movie of one the pirates that made me think of the Republican party. "Grab everything you can, and give nothing back" (I'm not sure if that is the exact quote, but you get the idea). To be fair, Republicans (the politicians and their supporters) are not the only ones that act like that, and I guess not all Republicans act like that. But that seems to me to be consistent with the policies that they support.

In business, the greedy executives take great amounts of wealth out of companies at the expense of the company itself, and all the people who make it work on a day to day basis. Many corporations try to avoid any regulations that, while protecting workers and the environment, cost them money. When they can't avoid the regulations, they support politicians who can get rid of them. Of course the Republicans will just say that these things are all a part of a "free market" and democracy. But in fact the market is largely rigged, and the democracy is in many ways controlled by a powerful minority. So the GOP, or Grand Old Pirates as I now think of them, will take all they can and give nothing back.