I often ask myself, Why?? Why are the Republicans doing this? Why vote for a horrible healthcare bill that will, literally, kill some/many? of your constituents. Why would Stefanik, NY21, vote for Trumpcare when 70,000 of her district will lose healthcare? Does she not care? Does she think she won’t lose her seat next year? It makes absolutely no sense.
Why shift Medicaid over to the states? NY, California, other blue states will probably find a way to cover our poor and elderly on Medicaid, those in need. Will Alabama? Kentucky?? No! So now you will have even more dead people who used to vote Republican. Will Trump’s new buddies in red PA, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida lose rural white people to easily prevented illnesses and drug use? Of course! The poor in red states won’t get help, while the poor in blue states will, so to vote for what they are going to vote for really makes no sense for the Republicans. Many more poor people in blue states will survive the slash and burn the Republicans are implementing that those in red states. It seems crazy.
What’s the reason?
I went to my son with this question. He is a smart young man who graduated with a history degree from an excellent college that still believes in critical thinking and he also loves to read about leaders past and present, eras come and gone, etc. He has a lot of useless knowledge, but also some useful knowledge and he puts things together in ways that I find really unusual. He offered me a perspective last night when I asked him that if Bannon’s goal is to destroy the state, what will be left for him and his ilk? The safety net in ruins, the elderly and weak or poor dying, what will they be presiding over? His answer really took me aback and actually made me queasy, because I have never thought about the world in this way. He said they want an authoritarian regime funneling money to the wealthy, and that we are all expendable.
In a capitalistic society with a great deal of automation, we are expendable. The oligarchs/corporate leaders (whatever you want to call them) no longer need our bodies to make their money. We are nothing but a drag on society. As an educator, (on my lunch, don’t worry, taxpayers) I am borderline expendable. As a factory worker, we no longer need you, so why support you? Letting you die sooner rather than later is a boon to a capitalistic society. You/I will eventually just suck up resources they want for themselves. Using up monies they want to feather their incredibly well-feathered nests. This may all be purposeful, the world according to Ryan and Bannon, who have a lot more in common than they show.
I’m still sitting with this. His answer doesn’t really answer the question for me as to what the red state reps voting for this or even worse cuts to healthcare will gain, but I at least think I get why the leadership is for it. What do you think?