July 24, 2007, The family values party
I first discussed this issue of the President's "philosophical" opposition to the idea of children of the working poor receiving government subsidized health insurance in an earlier post; now, it seems, the President has convinced those humanitarians, Senators McConnell and Lott and Congressman Boehner to tag along with him and assert the proposition that, well... insuring poor children is just plain wrong, and doggone it, they're going to stop it.
Well, you have to credit them for consistency; the doctrine of "socialism for the rich super-rich, and capitalism for everybody else" has been consistently advocated from the get-go by the current crew of Republicans (and yes, I mean crew the way Tony Soprano means it... and they have the indictments to prove it) and their K-Street sponsors, not to mention the Mellon Scaifes, the Wallaces and the rest of the Hitler youth... hence, all of their policies from tax cuts to free trade to immigration to the war (think "oil prices") favor the super-rich, even at the expense of the ordinary upper bourgeoisie... we won't even talk about what's left of the middle class, or of course, the damned workers...
While one of the quoted Democratic members suggests that the Republicans are just playing politics by trying to deny the Democrats "a victory"... it's a lot more serious than that. Because this kind of mean-spiritedness is perceived by "the base" by and large as racially motivated, the base (ostensibly now confined largely to the South and Mountain West) won't bolt the GOP, even as the super-rich-branch of The Party tries to do things that annoy it... like immigration amnesty... it's actually critical to the Republicans holding on to the support that they have, even as Junior and Dead-eye Dick do their damndest to sully the brand-name.
No, that's what Democrats don't seem to understand: this isn't a game. The Republicans sincerely and honestly believe that people who aren't fabulously wealthy should simply have insecure, miserable lives, so that the people in powerful positions can exploit them, preferably with the assistance of the state (and those same rich and powerful will be kind enough to reward their legislative champions with healthy campaign contributions of course). And you read that correctly: even the professional classes who once thought they were safe from the vagaries faced by day laborers have to realize that in the world dreamed of for them by the current Republicans, their expensive educations and professional apprentices qualify them for... the equivalent of day labor. Jobs without security, or benefits, or upsides... whether it be an agronomist, or an attorney, or a college professor, or a carpenter or a lettuce-picker... this is the world they want. Providing old age pensions ("privatize social security"), or even public education ("no child left behind") or a clean environment ("clear skies initiative") or product safety or workplace protections ("tort reform", as we now see, health care (fuck the poor kids)... things that are designed to provide any measure of collective security for individuals in their individual lives... are simply anathema philosophically to this group... and that's why they oppose it.
That's why the mania for tax cuts: because once the budget gets constrained by such tax cuts, it's politically easier to cut things that make a difference in people's lives than it is to cut defense, (or interest on the national debt, which, by and large, goes disproportionately to the super-rich, both here and abroad, as they are the big bond-holders).
The President was absolutely not kidding when he said "it's philosophical." We disbelieve him on this one at our extreme peril.
Comments
As anyone can plainly see, I'm 5-6 1/2 and a strapping 150, and unlike some people, I came by all of it naturally.
Posted by Bob Costas at July 27, 2007 4:58 PM