Cross-posted from And The Horse You Rode In On
This chirpy little Republican marching song answers to the tune of "Love and Marriage."
Blame the victim,
Shame the victim,
and, if possible, you
Maim the victim
Once you’ve got their savings,
No-one will listen to their ravings
How it works:
First, you select your victims – let’s say old people, who often get sick. Start by bleeding them dry with regressive taxes, and hand out their money to your robber baron chums.
This leaves the government without enough money to finance Medicaid. Whose fault is that? Theirs, obviously. Old people are a burden. So in 2005 the Republican Congress piously perpetrated the "Deficit Reduction Act," which pushed more of the cost of Medicaid onto the consumer.
That made it virtually mandatory that the states vigorously promote (if not require) the purchase of long-term care insurance by the elderly.
The insurance companies are jubilant. The victims have yet another set of bills to pay.
But what about that "Deficit Reduction Act"? Why was that necessary after Clinton had handed Bush a big budget surplus? Oh, that. Just blame another set of victims – those expensive reservists (or at least the ones who are still alive) burning up billions a month on their second, third, and fourth tours of duty in Iraq. Later, Congress will cut their veterans’ benefits and health care, saving tons of money, as they did at the Roach Motel, AKA Walter Reed Hospital.
Then there are the burdensome victims of Katrina, many of them living ever since that tragedy in 120,000 FEMA trailers.
A year ago, FEMA was notified by field workers that these victims were being poisoned by formaldehyde fumes oozing from the trailers. So what did FEMA do? Nothing. If they were to conduct tests, it would start the clock on legal responsibility for the deaths and illnesses they were causing – a clear violation of Blame-the-Victim guidelines.
Besides, if you wait long enough, the victims are either dead or too sick to sue. Never give a sucker an even break.
That’s a Three-Fer!
Start with victims of a racist, elitist economic system who can’t afford to live above the flood plain. Victimize them again with defective levees that destroy their homes. Then nail them for a three-bagger with toxic trailers that exude carcinogens.
Historically, it took some negligence and corruption by Democrats and Dixiecrats (Republicans) as well as out-of-the-closet Republicans to set the stage for this biblical ordeal.
But it took the morally bankrupt, power-drunk, crony-ridden Bush League (They go together like a horse and carriage) to turn it into a Blame-the-Victim Trifecta.