Home of the Phony Brave

I keep hearing Republicans from Mitt Romney to John McCain to Mitch McConnell to John Boehner talking about the brave risk takers who drive the American economy with their courage, guys who dare to be great and all that.

Mitt Romney did it as a member of a firm of "Venture Capitalists."

Doesn't that sound daring? Like Viking Capitalist's.

But what did he ever really risk? If the firm had folded, would his family have lost its home and been wandering the streets of Boston?

I ran my own business for 27 years and for every day of that, I thought about what would happen if X happened which could crimp my revenue stream, or if Y happened to jack up my expenses. I was locked into a lease which committed me to paying out $250,000 over the term of the lease, and I had employees, and large phone bills and insurance premiums not to be believed and no company paying into a pension plan--I had to fund my own. And I had to buy my own health insurance and find a plan for my employees. My profit margins were slim and there were always unanticipated expenses and rising costs I could not control.

And when I interviewed for a job, to become an employee, the CEO of the company started grousing about taxes and how Democrats wanted to cut the balls off the drivers of our economy, hit guys like him, a risk taker, a job maker.

And I sat there thinking, "You have been an employee of a huge corporation for 30 years and before that you were in the Marines, again an employee, a government employee for that matter. You don't know what risk is."

Did he ever doubt for a moment that he was a tough guy, a risk taker, a job maker, a swashbuckler?

Where are these guys on Sunday afternoon when the games are played at Lambeau field, in the snow? Home, safe and warm, wearing their store bought jerseys, feeling real brave and heroic.

Have any of these Republican big shots, these Vikings of the 21st century American economy ever had a shot fired in anger at them?

The picture is the bridge between Ohio and Kentucky, built, you can bet, with government money, along which moves a big chunk of commerce all the way from Minnesota to Florida. But the bridge is crumbling and the Republicans don't want to spend government money to upgrade it. The bridge runs into Kentucky, Mitch McConnell's own state, and he won't let the money flow to fix that bridge because, as he freely admits, all he cares about is defeating President Obama. He's safe and warm at home, watching it all from the comfort of his wood paneled office. He's never been out on the field, in the snow.

Is this guy, are any of them, actual patriots? Do they care anything about the people who live across that bridge? Are they not the ultimate phonies?