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I admit that I got a kick out of this picture from a Tea Party rally several years ago. First and most obvious is that Medicare is government, so there’s no way to have Medicare without government being in it. Second, there’s no way this guy is old enough to qualify for Medicare, so, what’s he doing with that sign?
Then this pic popped up. C’mon, people. Medicare is socialized medicine. It seems that some neurons may not be firing properly for this guy, or he’s confused because medicine is a science-y thing and we don’ need no stinking science-y stuff.
Later that same year, we went about tackling the Medicaid problem but, as you can see, did it without using spell check. And there’s that same vexing problem again, that Medicaid is government. What’s a Tea Partier turned Trump supporter to do?
This really is laughable stuff from Trump country, so it’s easy to dismiss and ridicule, which I confess I did. Now it isn’t quite as laughable because these unsuspecting folks are about to get thrown under the bus.
“From” on, dood
That’s because your Congress and your President just passed a sweeping tax act that is designed to create over $1 trillion of additional debt. And we just can’t have that additional debt because true blue Rs hate debt, right? Well, yes and no. Hint: we just reentered the “yes” phase.
Republicans hated debt during the Reagan, H.W. Bush and Clinton years – at least they said so, even as they created the largest debt in the history of the world. Then Bush II came along. With him came their clever verbal reversal on this issue, as Dick Cheney declared the new Republican truth, “Deficits don’t matter.” So Dubya doubled the debt. It seemed that debt really didn’t matter any more.
Until Obama came around. Then the Republicans told us that deficits and debt were the worstest things of all, and any additional federal spending should be rejected, regardless of the need.
Now your Republican Congress and President have set about dumping over $1 trillion of tax act debt onto the backs of our children and grandchildren, so I guess once again debt doesn’t matter. But wait!: The Republicans are telling us that we’re now back to hating deficits and debt.
Let’s see, we’ve already lowered taxes on our wealthiest citizens, especially the big donors to legislators, and we all know that we can’t reverse that because that might adversely affect politician’s sources of campaign cash, so there’s only one thing to do to prevent the debt we now don’t like any more: we’ll just spend less. Hmmm, where should we cut?
Before the new tax plan had even gone into effect Paul Ryan was already talking about cutting the very programs that Trump nation demanded he leave his slimy government fingers off. That’s right, the fundamentalists and white supremacists and citizens in so-called flyover states, the disgruntled mid-west factory workers, the coal miners in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio, the absolutists in North and South Dakota and all the Bubbas in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana who refuse to see the reality that is right in front of them are about to have something dropped on them that they cannot ignore or rationalize.
The Republicans have declared open warfare on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and it’s going to hit these folks hard. It’s possible that Trump will stand up to the Congressional Rs for a while with chest-thumping declarations that he is taking care of his people, this so that they worship him with yet greater fervor, but don’t count on it. These programs are on the chopping block and Trump has no policies or any firm principles, so you can’t rely on him for protection from those benefit sucking government hands.
Have your answer ready by Monday, January 15, 2018
So, Trump voter, if you’re a poor mom, start thinking about what you’re going to cut from your meager budget in order to pay for your healthcare once they put their government hands on your Medicaid. If you depend on Social Security and Medicare in your later years, don’t count on a nice retirement. Grabby government hands are headed directly toward those programs to cut funds from them.
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) told us several years ago what’s coming: it’s the comprehensive, low cost Republican healthcare plan, which is, “1. Don’t get sick; 2. If you do, please die quickly.”
The services you were promised won’t be there for you. I know, you just don’t want to believe it, but that bus is headed directly at you and when it arrives you’re going under it. After all, we can’t keep supplying the services you were promised and at the same time stuff the pockets of big political donors and other rich people. Something has to give. Looks like it’s you.
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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we’re on a path to continually fail to make things better. It’s my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That’s the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.
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Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
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