For the third time in less than an hour I stood at the counter in the local hardware store.
The night before a “bubble” in the sewer line deposited a lot of what charitably can be called “gunk” in our basement laundry room. I spent hours getting the drain re-opened and washing the gunk away with gallons of water spiked with bleach. The next morning I went out for new mop heads, one old fashioned spaghetti cloth wiper and one squeeze sponge for the final step.
I’d bought the sponge mop “system” (as they called it) from the same store a few years back, returning for new sponge heads from time to time. I bought another one and, as soon as I got home, tried to attach it to the handle. Previous mop heads had metal screws meeting metal-lined nuts to hold the sponge in place. The new and improved one had plastic screws and plastic nuts. Try as I might (and my wife tried too), the nuts popped-off as soon as I stopped tightening them. I took the mop head back to the store where I learned that I needed to apply more pressure against the sponge part while tightening the nut. No, that didn’t work, so I took the mop handle and mop head back to the store. Despite using parts from two replacement mop head packages, the oldest guy in the store couldn’t get a better result.
“You need to get a new mop system,” he said. I noted that I had bought all this at his store. “We don’t manufacture them, we just sell them.” And, when asked, he said they’d keep selling the same defective mop heads they had on the shelves.
Well, we’re just over a week away from Small Business Saturday. Yes, I prefer to shop at locally-owned merchants. At the same time, I prefer not to reward stupidity and mediocrity: I won’t be doing any Christmas shopping at that hardware store.
Along the same line, I’m not an automatic yes for every idea advanced by Democrats nor do I oppose everything proposed by “them.”
After reading most much of the House tax cut plan, well, surprise, a couple of things actually make sense. [ http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/02/politics/tax-plan-republicans/index.html ] For example, some changes for expensing purchases by small employers may actually help them. It is probable that several pages of good ideas reside among the almost 500 pages of legislation.
Yes, the bill holds enough bad ideas to sink a cargo ship. It’s the best Christmas gift ever for the Waltons, Kronkes, Gates and other Forbes’ list families. The bill devastates seniors in poor health and raises taxes on working class families in many states.
Still, I’d like to see Democrats counter with a bill full of “the good parts” from the GOP proposal and common sense improvements to the tax code. Whenever possible, offer alternatives and not just opposition. Democrats must be a party of good ideas and common sense, not just the “cold no” the Republicans offered Jay Nixon and Barrack Obama each day for eight years.
Next year when the average voter asks ‘why should I vote for a Democrat?’ we need clear, real-world answers. Not treatises on the Paris climate agreement but how smarter policy creates jobs in St. Louis.
Oh yes, if you need a sponge mop system and aren’t worried about efficacy, stop by my house late next Tuesday: the system will be outside, between the two trash cans.
Submitted by Glenn Koenen, WCD Member