When it comes to Senator Ben Nelson, The Daily Feltoon staff has been of at least two minds on Nelson for many years - even before we began working together.
In general, as a Senator - and before that, as a Governor - our opinion of Mr. Nelson has been generally positive. He has often made decisions that make sense for those he represents, even if those decisions haven't been fully understood or investigated by the media and the general public.
For those persons who think we're merely partisan, and that we like Ol' Ben just because he's a Democrat, we remind you that Sen. Nelson was once a Nebraska Republican, the kind who have lately been run out of the party. If you think the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle is endangered, you should try being a moderate in the present-day GOP. Nelson has said - more than once - he wouldn't change back to being a Republican because they have become too inflexible for someone like him, and we applaud him for his honesty on that subject.
The one thing that has perpetually disturbed us though, about Sen. Nelson's conduct over the years has been his apparent blindness to both history and basic math, in regards to the wealthy paying more in taxes.
When he was state insurance commissioner for Nebraska, Nelson supported several actions that protected the wealthy at the expense of the working class. Recently, that record came up again when Nelson expressed support for legislation which would protect insurance brokers from having to pay their fair share of the Affordable Care Act, aka the health insurance reform law.
Nelson's defense of the rich at the expense of the rest of us doesn't stop there.
When President Obama made brutally clear last week a point we've made for years - that fiscal responsibility for our government will require BOTH budget cuts AND tax increases - Senator Nelson stepped forward again to protect those of his constituents who are on the upper end of the income scale.
We do not have an issue with anyone being wealthy. We have more than a few friends who are better than comfortable, and to be honest, none of us is exactly starving. Most Americans also aspire to be wealthy someday, even if most will never achieve that goal.
The problem with Sen. Nelson that we see, as his 2012 re-election race approaches rapidly is not the good things that he's done in the past, or even his growing support by such far-right wing backers as the Koch Brothers.
It's his continual standing up for the wealthy, at the expense of everyone else, and in the face of basic math. As President Obama pointed out last week, even if America made insane amounts of cuts, we are simply not bringing in enough revenue as a nation. We are not collecting what we say we do - and some politicians keep attempting to collect more money by taking it from those who have the least.
Mr. Nelson, and his staff can most certainly do simple math. His actions in the Senate have proven that more than once. If he does not do the budget calculations, however, there are many things he may not be able to count on over the next year and a half.
The winning number of votes in Nebraska, in both primary and general elections, for example, might not be so easy to come by this time around.
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