I shouldn't bother, but....
• Republicans have a poor record of fiscal responsibility. E.g. Reagan increased spending and cut taxes, which unsurprisingly increased the deficit; Clinton generated a surplus; Bush 43 turned that surplus into then-record deficits when he taxes while simultaneously waging
two insanely expensive wars, plus he added Medicare Part D; his policies and the recession saddled Obama with massive deficits, and since its peak the deficit has fallen by 2/3.
• No one is saying that "work is a bad word."
No one.
• Unauthorized immigrants do not get any government benefits whatsoever. None, nada, zip. Their children, if born in the US, can get benefits -- but that's because they are citizens. And let's get real, no one is risking their life crossing open deserts and spending thousands to
coyotes to collect $100 a month in food stamps.
• Free phones, eh? Reagan started a program to subsidize land-line phone service in the 80s; Bush 43 extended it to cell phones in 2008.
• As to the "pay criminals not to commit crime?" There's a pretty good chance that
it actually works. The first program was in Richmond CA, which cut its crime rate in half. If it can be replicated, then yes, the people operating those programs should be proud.
Alternative methods for dealing with crime and punishment also isn't a partisan thing, as a lot of people from all over the political spectrum are slowly realizing that locking people up indefinitely doesn't work and is not justice.
The Conservative Case For Prison Reform
