As bad as Donald Trump is, and he really is bad in so many ways, Republicans in Congress are no better.
House Republicans just passed a bill making rich people and their corporations richer at the expense of everyone else, but claim it will help the middle class.
We’ve never heard that before, have we?
Senate Republicans are set to go one step further by declaring open class warfare on the poor.
Their plan is to drop 13 million people from subsidized healthcare and use the money they save to pay for tax cuts they say will benefit the middle class, or what’s left of it.
My God, you can’t get any more blatant about class warfare than that.
Makes you wonder why they are doing it. They may say they want to help the middle class, but the facts do not, I repeat, do not, support what they claim.
So what’s behind it? Two answers come to mind.
The first is that it’s a ruse to ease middle class criticism of them for giving even more tax cuts to the rich, and the second is that they are simply playing to their rich base.
I want to suggest a third reason that seems far more plausible to me.
I think Republicans now see that Trump’s unpopularity and inability to change has put their control of the Senate and the House in the 2018 mid-terms in serious jeopardy.
So they are rushing to institutionalize economic disparity while they can that will bring back the days like those of the early 20th century when most of the nation’s wealth and economic power were in the hands rich individuals and their corporations.
Then Franklin Roosevelt got elected in 1932 and his New Deal policies allowed the government to level the economic playing field.
Those policies, along with what Lyndon Johnson accomplished in the 60s with Medicare and Medicaid, created America’s middle class.
Republicans have been fighting against the middle class ever since, but they never had the political power to get rid of New Deal policies.
Then Trump got elected and their dreams are about to come true.
Yet, nothing can hide the fact that injustice is injustice no matter how politicians dress it up, so allow me to offer a personal message to people who are supporting what Republicans in Congress are doing.
If you are rich and support them, you don’t have a moral conscience.
If you are middle class and you do, you are either not thinking or you are letting your prejudices control you.
If you are Christian and you do, you have no informed understanding of Jesus or the Bible.
If you don’t care one way or the other, you deserve every bad thing their economic policies will bring your way.
The good news is that Republicans are probably reading the political tea leaves correctly.
It is more likely than not that their days in power are numbered, not only because of Trump, but because in their own way they are just as bad as he is.
For now, though, they will enjoy this victory in class warfare, and on Thanksgiving Day when they gather around their family tables they will take God’s name in vain as they give thanks for the spoils they have taken from the poor.
Jan,
Your observations are right on the money, as usual. I especially agree with your comment about Christians who support the present tax proposal; I never cease to be amazed and saddened by the apparent lack of understanding of the life of Jesus by these people. They seemingly totally ignore the Beatitudes, which I take to be the heart of Christianity.
Cheerz!
Gene
Gene, you and I are on the same page for sure, especially re evangelicals. I’m at the point where I can no longer call them “Christian.” I just don’t see how they think they are.
Powerful words Jan. The nearly daily decisions made by Trump and republicans to favor their wealthy cronies is blatant beyond belief. It may not destroy the country but we have a lot of tough years ahead. People better get involved and vote.
Voting is the key, Wilbur. There are enough sensible and caring people to vote out the Republicans in 2018 and Trump in 2020. They just have to vote!
The only place I’ve ever heard of where there is Total Equality where everybody/everything is shared so that there is no division of rich and poor– everyone treated the same, reap the same rewards — is in a monestary. Not even the pen you write with is your own to claim. But everyone works, everyone prays, everyone eats, everyone shares equally.
Your comment re “total equality” might be worth a response except that it has nothing to do with what I wrote. The fact that you think it does tells me anything else I might say is pointless. Making an argument whose validity or invalidity has no bearing on what I wrote is a waste of your time and mine.
:o)