We watched plenty of Republicans talk last week about building-it-themselves while feeding from the Big Gummint trough, but the Institute for Southern Studies tabulates Republican Governors who spoke at the convention yet gave great big government handouts to the private sector, thus undercutting their argument about government getting out of people's way.
But, in not wanting to expose myself to too much of the Republican convention madness, I did miss this pristine bit of circle-jerk: an actual small business owner complaining, at length, at the convention, that the Obama Administration doesn't give him contracts like Tha Bush Mobb did. It's like they think we're all really, really stupid.
FactCheck goes after Rick Santorum for suggesting that "almost half of America receiv(es) some sort of government assistance," which was, according to FactCheck, nearly as true under Mr. Bush as it is under Mr. Obama. But FactCheck's focus is far too narrow, as usual, because a) it's our government and b) we all get some sort of government assistance -- I didn't build any of the roads on which I bike to work, after all -- and we all pay for it.
OK, enough Republican crap: visit this Richmond, CA street corner, where residents have turned a vacant lot into a thriving community garden, replete with running chickens, buzzing beehives, and a solar-powered radio station playing R&B all day. Now that's building it!
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