A day in the Life of Joe the Plumber

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean because Democrats demanded minimum water-quality standards over three decades ago.

With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe because the FDA checks pharmaceuticals and demands they work as advertised.

Joe prepares his morning breakfast of bacon and eggs.  Joe's bacon is safe to eat because consumer groups fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry that said any new regulations would put them out of business. 

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo.  His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because Democrats fought for his right to know what was in the shampoo he was putting on his body.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because environmentalists fought for laws to stop polluters from fouling the air.

Joe jumps in his car and speeds to work on a smooth interstate highway system built and maintained with public funds over the last fifty years.

Joe arrives at work and starts repairing a water line using a highly engineered plastic developed by a polymer initiative project with federal dollars at a local university. 

Joe can plan for the future because he know if he gets hurt or loses his job he'll get workers’ compensation or an unemployment check because our society decided workers shouldn’t lose their homes because of financial cycles.

Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe doesn’t have to worry about the bank going under because his bank, like all banks, has FDIC insurance. The government developed the FDIC system to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe pays his Fannie Mae mortgage and below market federal student loan while at the bank. Past generations developed both programs because they believed the country would prosper if people could own their own homes and get a good education.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because Democrats fought for car safety standards that have been adopted around the world.  

Joe arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house that had to be financed by the US Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans in the old days. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government bureaucrat stuck his nose where it didn't belong and pioneered rural electrification.

Joe is happy to see his father, who is now retired.  His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because Democrats helped workers win the right to bargain collectively and now Joe's dad can take care of himself.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that Democrats are bad and conservatives are good.  He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.  Joe agrees: "We don't need big-government ruining our lives!

”After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”