Friday, June 30, 2017

They've Been Asleep

 
The Senate version of Trumpcare is nasty and cruel. It can't be called anything else. Then why, Paul Krugman asks, do the Republicans persist on pushing it? The answer, he writes, goes all the way back to Ronald Reagan:

One way to understand this ugly health plan is that Republicans, through their political opportunism and dishonesty, boxed themselves into a position that makes them seem cruel and immoral — because they are.

This story began with a politically convenient lie — the pretense, going all the way back to Ronald Reagan, that social safety net programs just reward lazy people who don’t want to work. And we all know which people in particular were supposed to be on the take.

Now, this was never true, and in an era of rising inequality and declining traditional industries, some of the biggest beneficiaries of these safety net programs are members of the Trump-supporting white working class. But the modern G.O.P. basically consists of career apparatchiks who live in an intellectual bubble, and those Reagan-era stereotypes still dominate their picture of struggling Americans.

Or to put it another way, Republicans start from a sort of baseline of cruelty toward the less fortunate, of hostility toward anything that protects families against catastrophe.

In this sense there’s nothing new about their health plan. What it does — punish the poor and working class, cut taxes on the rich — is what every major G.O.P. policy proposal does. The only difference is that this time it’s all out in the open.

The Republicans are stuck in the "80's, when Reagan savaged welfare queens. Globalization has left millions of Americans dependent on government welfare programs. And -- somehow -- the Republican Party missed that development.

They've been asleep for a long time.

Image: Plays For Young Audiences

12 comments:

Dana said...

See also: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06/donald-trump-enablers

The Mound of Sound said...


The Trump meltdown continues. Perhaps it's the old geezer's prostate but today he's telling Congressional Repugs that if they can't reform healthcare they should simply repeal the whole thing. Wipe the slate clean and then formulate a new healthcare regime. Everybody out of the pool. And Trump figures the House and Senate Repugs can just wave their magic wands and - voila - a new and wonderful healthcare bill will emerge out of the smoke.

What Trump seemingly cannot get through his mind is that this isn't about healthcare but about gutting healthcare to free up funds for further tax cuts for the rich. Starting from scratch won't change that dynamic. If anything it will make it harder to mask the true intent.

He is so profoundly stupid and shallow. Jesus wept.

Owen Gray said...

I doubt that he's read the bill, Mound. He doesn't have the attention span required to do so.

Owen Gray said...

An excellent piece, Dana. I suspect that -- like the Vichy collaborators -- they will eventually held to account.

Anonymous said...

Welfare Queens, Owen, wrecked America.

Owen Gray said...

But times have changed, lovingit. There are millions who are not freeloaders milking the system. They need assistance.

Anonymous said...

My sarcasm is a poor approximation of humour.

I am intimately involved with social safety nets and know the need for them.

I'll do better with my expression of gallows humour, in the future...I hope.

Anonymous said...

I feel that every time I comment here, Owen, I'm in for a lecture or an out-right slag from you and/or your guests. Am I mistaken? Or, just misunderstood? Sincerely.

Owen Gray said...

Sometimes gallows humour helps us keep our balance, lovingit.

Owen Gray said...

I don't see it that way, lovingit. I may have a different take on things. But I appreciate your comments.

Toby said...

liberalandlovingit!, it is not a slag. Owen likes to acknowledge each and every poster. That's a good thing.

The Internet is a tough place to be understood correctly. Alan Greenspan's comment nails it for me.

“ I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant”

Anonymous said...

I see, thank you Toby.