John M Webb’s fine Top Comments diary last night featured a series of insightful tweets from a young woman named nafisa ahmed, using money to make a terrific and powerful metaphor she hoped might impact the rape culture in this society. I began thinking about the role money plays in our politics, and how seldom it happens that money can be an element of our broader moral argument. Where Republicans use it all the time.
Lately I have seen several stories about 45’s bs promises about coming tax cuts, how they’ll be massive, yadda yadda. Clearly he feels it represents the most promising path to support he could never legitimately earn. And tax cuts require no special competence or qualification, so they are right down the alley of 45 and all Republicans.
We have also seen lots of coverage on Republican efforts to sabotage, repeal and undermine the Affordable Care Act. Experts seem to disagree about exactly how many attempts Republicans made to repeal and undermine it during Obama’s presidency, but no one can dispute that they did everything in their power to weaken it, and to tie up the administration with maintenance tasks conceived to keep it from accomplishing more than it did.
More below.
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In December of last year I wrote a Top Comments diary about Obama’s legacy. Republicans were confident that control of the White House AND both houses of Congress would mean a simple path to the elimination of Obamacare, along with the gutting of just about everything they saw as his legacy. I didn’t think they would find it nearly as easy to do as they thought, not least because so much of his legacy exists in his integrity and class - both light years beyond anything 45 will ever be able to muster.
Yet, their utter failure to undo Obamacare legislatively highlights a large percentage of the legacy problem. They could pander to their base and try to undo it while Obama was president because his veto meant they would never face any accountability for damage done to that legislation. Governing, however, is not so easy. It isn’t anything ANY current Congressional Republicans ever trained for or devoted any serious thought to, because their jobs were so simple. All they had to do was be belligerent and obstructionist. Heck, the most incompetent politician in the world could do that! (And did!) Then they picked one of the most unqualified people the country has ever seen to be their standard bearer. His qualifications are limited to bombast and braggadocio, supplemented by limitless cheek and egotism. Nearly 100 days of ‘practice’ in no way show any sign that the lack of qualification is being addressed, no sign of progress as a human being or a leader, no reason to hope for better.
Indeed, as Egberto Willies noted, in a terrific recent diary, as formidable an Obamacare hater as George Will has predicted that their only viable path now is to move to single payer! Whoa! Wouldn’t THAT be an amazing development! And what a contrast! Can’t gut it, the people — INCLUDING 45 voters! — FORCE them to make it still better! Oh how they’d hate that! (Oh how I’d love it!)
So he is grasping already, in no small desperation, for what Republicans always believe to be their saving grace: tax cuts.
I think a broader ambition lies behind the idea of tax cuts. I think they plan to use them as they always have, to essentially gut government funding to avoid accountability for gutting government services, INCLUDING Obamacare, Medicare, Social Security, and dozens of other things that our government SHOULD do. ‘No money for it’ is how they have managed all of their racist programs for several decades now. It isn’t racism, in their book, it is ‘fiscal responsibility.’ Riiiigghhht. So they can claim, well, we’d love to do so many things, but, awww, too bad, we hate it as much as you do, the money just isn't there for it. So away it goes. But! Tax cuts!
If they succeed with this, as they so often have, then George Will’s optimistic prediction won’t come true. And they may indeed bring down Obamacare, along with the millions of people who need it the most.
I want us to have this debate. Money is NOT more important than people. Money is - and MUST be - a tool for making our world better. Ask nafisi ahmed!
On to tonight’s comments!
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From MikeTheLiberal:
The most important thing Democrats can do is summed up in this comment by fajunga07. Message!
Top Mojo ala mik!
For Sunday, April 23, 2017, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on the subject.
2017-04-24, courtesy of jotter!
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