I absolutely hate Trump’s projected budget, as well as Trump’s Obamacare replacement, which although is nearly universally hated not only on the left but on the right too (albeit for different reasons), is likely to pass this Thursday when Congress votes on it.
This administration not only wants to repeal Obamacare and take from the poor and middle class to give more tax breaks to the rich, they also want to eliminate (not just cut) the EPA, as well as Meals on Wheels (which help many disabled elderly and half a million disabled VETERANS), after school programs that help single moms, free legal services that help the poor in civil cases, federal grant programs for colleges, the NEH and NEA (both which promote arts and culture to the masses for free or nearly free), NPR (the only place on the radio where I can get the factual news while I’m driving), PBS (how can anyone hate Sesame Street? Really?), and many,many other programs that help families, and the poor and middle class. Not only that, but they want to privatize public education, making it impossible for the poor or those who live in rural areas to send their children to school at all. A voucher just isn’t going to cut it for these people, many of whom voted for Trump. Next I expect they’ll try to repeal the child labor laws. “Send those kids whose parents can’t afford to send them to school to work to teach them about the value of hard labor,” they’ll say. “Let’s make America great again — like it was in 1900.”
Let’s stop kidding ourselves by making excuses like “more jobs will be created” and “taking away entitlements will force people to be self reliant.” Nearly 40 years of trickle down economics has shown it does not work. It doesn’t create more jobs and the money funneled to the top doesn’t trickle down to the most vulnerable Americans whose poverty, illness, or advanced age is almost never their own fault. It’s become popular to blame them though for all the nation’s ills, instead of the greedy corporations and billionaires who keep taking and taking and taking and seem to be voracious in their need for more and more tax breaks and perks. This is typical “blame the victim” mentality on a national scale. Their greed and narcissism is off the charts and is destroying our country. The destruction or privating of everything good about America, and destroying its people and the environment we live in is exactly what they plan to do.
It’s time to face the ugly truth about this presidency. I believe this budget (and the repeal and “replacement” of Obamacare) is actually an intentional death sentence for the so called “nonproducers” — the most vulnerable members of society — the poor, old, disabled, and sick. Remove their only hope for healthcare, then take away all the popular programs that fill in the gaps and help many of these vulnerable people have better lives, keep them alive, and keep them from becoming totally ignorant. Many will die. Those who don’t die or suffer with chronic medical or mental conditions will be faced with lives so difficult and painful they may be forced to suicide. But this administration doesn’t care. In fact, letting the vulnerable people kill themselves off is probably what they want. They are evil. They want people to suffer. They want “the little people” to have nothing. They don’t even want us to have clean air or drinking water. They don’t care.
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will be next. What will happen to all the elderly, disabled, and sick who rely on these programs? What will happen to the nursing home residents who rely on Medicaid to cover their expenses? Guess they’ll all be tossed out in the streets and be forced to move in with their adult children, whether those children have the means to take care of them or not. If they don’t have adult children to care for them, they will die lonely, painful deaths with no one to care.
Yet these same far right conservatives wring their hands and shed tears over the unborn. Once you’re born though, it’s “bootstraps, baby!” Your child is sick? You shouldn’t have gotten pregnant. Don’t have the money to buy health insurance for your child? It’s not our problem!
It’s all because they want to keep everything for themselves. They decry socialism as the ultimate evil and tell lies about long wait times in European countries who have universal healthcare and other social programs that help their people. But I don’t know one European or Canadian who complains about having to pay higher taxes in exchange for having decent healthcare. In fact, every one I know is very happy with their single payer healthcare, and feel very sorry for us that we don’t have it. They wonder what is wrong with us that we still think healthcare should be for profit and don’t share their philosophy that “wer’re all in this together.”
I would be more than happy to pay higher taxes for single payer healthcare. I sure as heck would rather pay taxes for programs that help people and cultural enrichment programs like the NEH and PBS and NPR than I would for a ridiculous, unnecessary wall or for even further buildup of the military and nuclear weapons than we already have.
They say socialism is evil, but they are hypocrites. They believe in socialism alright — socialism and welfare for the wealthy and for corporations (remember, corporations are people!); but rugged individualism for everyone else. These people have no empathy. They have no conscience. They are morally bankrupt. Their hearts are black and shriveled like prunes. You can see it in their hard, cold, dead eyes and cruel smiles.
What they really are trying to do is thin the herd and create a banana republic that cares only about the wealthy 1% and f*ck you if you aren’t one of them.
But there’s a plus side to this. People will be so outraged if this budget (and the ACA replacement) goes through and these programs are abolished that charitable giving and community spirit will increase to levels we have never seen. Many corporations, celebrities (almost all who are liberals), and other compassionate wealthy people (they do exist!) will set up funds to fill the vast hole left by the Republicans or to fund the dying programs so they stay in existence — or create new ones. Grass roots organizations and community organizations will spring up to help their neighbors and fellow citizens. There will also be backlash from the left the likes of which has never been seen before, and Republicans are nearly guaranteed not to win another election.
Within the ruins these hardline conservatives leave in their wake, emerging from the ashes they leave behind of a once great nation that cared about the common people both here and around the world–the proverbial phoenix will rise again. People will start to take care of each other again, because we will have no other choice.