Because we have, quite properly, been focused on the
disaster called Trump, we, or at least I, have been less attentive to the harm
threatened by the Republican Party. It
is time, however, to think about how to undo the calamitous harm that the
Republicans have done to America with the tax bill they are in the process of
passing. This legislation is the
fulfilment of desires Republicans have harbored for more several generations. As someone wryly observed, Paul Ryan has been
dreaming of this moment since he first read Atlas
Shrugged.
Most attention has been directed to the increase this bill
will bring about in America’s already extraordinary inequality in the
distribution of income and wealth [the latter being far more unequally
distributed than the former] and to the assault on health insurance contained
in the legislation. But we must not lose
sight of the longer term consequences, which are intentional and truly
disastrous. The bill will dramatically
increase the yearly deficit and therefore the national debt. Republicans mouth assurances that the loss of
revenue will be made up by increased economic growth, but they do not really
believe that and in fact would be disappointed if it were to turn out to be
true.
The real purpose of increasing the debt is to create a
justification for doing what Republicans have wanted to do since the nineteen
thirties: dismantle the entire social
democratic welfare state. Their dream is
to be “forced” to privatize Social Security, end Medicaid, diminish and then
end Medicare, and in general return America to where it was during the Great
Depression.
Can they be stopped?
Never mind our dreams of socialism.
Can we hang onto such protections as eighty years of struggle have
secured for the poor and for those genuinely in the middle class [which is to
say, households with annual income of fifty to sixty thousand, not one hundred
to two hundred thousand]?
There really is only one answer to that question, and it isn’t
revolution. I mean, let’s get real. The answer is the vote. We need at an
absolute minimum to take back and then hold onto the House. We need to fight as hard as we can to take
back the Senate [allowing us to block more Gorsuches before it is too
late]. Then we need to take the
Presidency, and start undoing some of the damage. I realize that this is not an intellectually
interesting answer, one that allows us to cite recherché social theorists or talk about Marx [my personal favorite
pastime]. It is about as much fun as
flossing or counting calories. But it is
our only chance.
The wind is blowing in our direction. When you win an unwinnable Senate seat in
Alabama and take a Virginia House of Delegates seat in a recount by one vote,
you know this is your time.
1 comment:
Couldn't agree more.
"No" (to Trump), to quote Naomi Klein, "is not enough." We should add that Mueller is not enough. But many Dems fear an FDR uprising more than they do losing to Repubs. The "Autopsy" of 2016 (https://democraticautopsy.org/), written by progressives, was not just ignored by Perez and company at the final meeting of the Unity Reform Commission, it wasn't even allowed to be distributed. http://bit.ly/2BEZiAD
Bernie's insight was a good one: (words to the effect) Establishment Democrats don't mind going down with the Titanic as along as they have 1st class accommodations.
I think it is evidence that we need to strongly defend the left, it's accomplishments and policies and today's leftists: we are now under attack by both major parties.
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