Once upon a time, Mr. Blunt and Cranky was contracted to play a session in Santa Monica for a singer-songwriter –  3 hours, 3 songs, $120.00. Not great pay,  but a man’s gotta eat.

As it turns out, the “artist” stiffed the studio cats (including your humble correspondent). He then had the brass to ask us all to play again , promising he’d pay  us this time. A few of the players were fool enough to trust him a second time, and (surprise, surprise) got shafted again. No one had much sympathy for them, of course: when you do business with a contract-breaker, what do you expect?

Since the middle of the last century, Americans have been paying their insurance premiums for a variety of programs; these are also contracts. Contracts for retirement income, health care, crop insurance, disaster insurance, and so on. Said premiums paid to the U.S. Government, with or without the consent of the payers.

Today, the Vice Presidential Nominee of the “Republican” Party wants to break a number of those contracts. All on his own, without your consent. Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment insurance, Agricultural insurance, a whole laundry list of products for which you have been paying, all to be sliced, diced, or done away with completely. You keep paying, but the government stops delivering.

This writer has been paying his taxes and premiums since 1974, and as any party to a business deal, has the right to expect that the other party will obey the law and uphold their end of the bargain. But with Washington, D.C. (and some States as well)under the effective control of a party that does not believe in honor, the rule of law, or of even honoring a contract that has been in force for decades, he is more than a bit concerned that Ryan, Boehner, McConnell and Co. will do as they say, and rip up the contract. Thereby stealing 38 years’ worth of his hard-earned money paid to those crooks.

Let’s be clear: People who break contracts are criminals. Crooks. Thieves. Liars. Scumbuckets. And like that coke-headed artist of yore, the “Republican” party has announced its intention to steal your money and give you little or nothing in return.

If you vote “Republican”, you are enabling this pattern of criminal behavior. Don’t come crying to the rest of us when you find out you’ve been robbed, because when you do business with a contract-breaker, what do you expect?

MR. B & C