Friday, September 20, 2013

Republicans Vote to Keep Folks Hungry and Sick and Their Base Loves It. The Rest of Civilization is Appalled.

Yesterday the Republicans in the House voted to slash 40 billion dollars in annual food stamp (SNAP) coverage over 10 years, putting some 3.8 million poor people in jeopardy of losing their pitiful but essential pennies-a-day government food support.  (There are some 47 million people at the poverty level here in the United States.  A shameful fact that should point out the absolute need to keep the SNAP program alive rather than killing it.  But apparently in the People's House in Washington facts are sticky things to be ignored or stretched or blasted to smithereens.)

Today, in case the country didn't get how serious they were about enriching their pals by screwing the little people, the majority of the House Republicans made a game of pretending to care about balancing the budget by voting to defund Obamacare, a booby trap they set up to stop the budget bill in its tracks, threatening to shut down much of our central government if their crazy demands weren't met. (Clever fellows.  They chose to defund it this time, saving themselves the embarrassment of having to vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act for. . .ready for this?. . . the 42nd time.)

(Oh, wait.  Hold the phone. . .Here's a guy who says the 42nd time will be the charm.  I am not kidding.)

Obamacare will not be perfect.  For every person it helps, there will be those who will find it lacking--or even awful.  But it's a start.  It's the first opportunity we've had to hobble runaway insurance dictates, to slow down medical care costs, to get on the bandwagon leading to health care sanity.  We're doing it large-scale through the government--the only way it can be done effectively and efficiently.  The only way.  And if this is the best we can do because of the obstacles put in place by the high-flyers who will most definitely see a drop in their beyond-the-bright-blue-sky profits, then shame on them.  We'll keep moving forward, they'll keep throwing up obstacles, but eventually we'll catch up with those civilized countries that see so much value in their citizens they've figured out a way to keep the majority of them fed, safe, educated and healthy.

We thought we were heading in that direction.  All these years we thought we were moving toward the kind of democracy Lincoln envisioned when he spoke of a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and now, when the chance is ours to do the right thing, when the need is so acute, we're hounded by a bunch of Republican congressmen so mean even junkyard dogs won't mess with them.

It's panic time now, with only ten more days left to demonize the ACA before the real stuff goes into effect, an action that will show up those Republican Servants of the People for the lying mercenaries they are.  In their panic they've had to align themselves with some pretty nasty bedfellows.  Some of them are hoping, come 2014, we won't notice, but until then they're feeling pretty free to keep on toying with us.   And why not?  Their benevolent benefactors, ALEC and the Koch Brothers, show no signs of either going away or running out of money.  And some of us have very short memories.

But here's what's going to do them in:  We don't like bullies.  We don't like watching bullies hold weaker people down and use them for punching bags.  Sooner or later we'll get up off our asses and do something about it.  And if we're lucky the "watchdog" press will shake themselves loose and do the same.

And how's this for bad timing?  The Republicans voted to eviscerate the food stamp bill in September, the month designated as "Hunger Action Month".

Click here and scroll down for link to invite your congressfolks to take part.  Especially if they're Republicans.

(Obamacare myths debunked at FactCheck.org.) 


9 comments:

  1. Your title assumes the United States is civilized. I disagree, in part for the reasons listed in the fine article, and in part for the facts listed in this gem: http://youtu.be/nPZed8af9RI?t=23s


    We are barbarians. Some of us have been fighting slavery for hundreds of years. Some of us have been fighting to keep the institution alive. And the rest of us don't give a shit.

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  2. It's interesting that Chuck Todd got so much backlash from what he said. It makes me think people are finally sick of a comfy press so far removed from real journalism they don't know the meaning of objectivity.

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  3. Luckily, we're not all barbarians. Some of us actually think there is still such a thing as a democratic movement, even in America. That's why we fight so hard against the real barbarians. Unhappily, many of them have infiltrated Washington, so now it's our job to expose them and rout them out. We can do it if we don't give up.

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  4. I was speaking collectively. I don't consider most of the people I've met in my life barbarians. But viewed from the outside...

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  5. As I am reading this, Chuckles is on and doing his imitation of a concerned and level headed journo...it is so disappointing...I remember real journalists from a time not too long ago...and these folks don't even come close to measuring up to the standards we were used to...

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  6. dunebilly of swan beachSeptember 26, 2013 at 11:46 AM

    I think that more people are finally waking up to the repulsive behavior of these talking heads after FAR TOO LONG. David Gregory should have been booted from MTP immediately following his soft-shoe routine with Rove years ago. If something like that didn't register on NBC's radar, it's more criminal than shameful.

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  7. @Ramona
    Only in America could a bill pass to worsen food insecurity during Food security month.

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  8. Crazy, isn't it? I want to believe they didn't make the connection, but with this bunch it might just be another in a long line of thumbing-their-noses at us.


    Many, if not most of them, don't care because they know their constituents and want to be able to count on them come election time. The rest of us really don't matter to them.


    I don't know how we got so entrenched into this mess, where the voices of the people have been all but silenced, but I'm hoping this new bunch of Tea Party crazies infiltrating our government in order to shut it down will be the final wake-up call. I'm not holding my breath, however.

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  9. It is a reflection of gerrymandered districts. THe GOP has created a group of districts staffed by Michelle Bachmann clones.
    Sadly these are probably the same people who donate to religious relief efforts abroad and ignore the real needs here at home.

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