When GOPers say they support "the American Dream," ask them why their version insists on lower pay for workers & more tax breaks for the 1%
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) November 28, 2015
As I listen to the current occupants of the clown car that is the field of Republicans vying for the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination, it’s difficult not to wonder what planet these folks call home. Even as this nation ever so slowly emerges from the Great Recession that began in 2008, it’s become clear that the recovery is not a rising tide lifting all boats. Indeed, the recovery, such as it is, has overwhelmingly benefited those at the upper end of the economic food chain. Those at the lower end are too often still struggling to make ends meet. While corporations and the 1% are making money hand over fist, workers at the other end of the hierarchy are seeing little, if any, of that largesse trickle down to them. For millions of Americans, it’s still a day to day struggle to keep a roof over their head and provide for their family.
The Republicans running for the GOP nomination are undoubtedly well aware of this. None of them are stupid, but their appeals are designed to lull the sheeple into a false sense of security even as they plot to hand yet more of this nation’s resources and wealth over to the oligarchy. They talk the talk about caring about the plight of the middle class and how the GOP is the only party that truly understands the issues important to Joe and Ethel Sixpack. When it comes to walking the walk, though, time and time again, Republicans have proven they care about the middle class only insofar as they need their votes every election cycle in order to maintain their grip on power.
Perhaps Americans might do well to give some thought to who’s actually responsible for getting us where we are today (Hint: they’re the same people currently spreading hatred, fear, and disinformation in an effort to camouflage their utter moral and ideological bankruptcy.)
Beginning with Ronald Reagan in 1980, Republican Presidents have worked to create an economy in which the rich get richer at the expense of the masses not fortunate enough to be a member of the ruling class. Income inequality has grown to epic proportions, fueled in large part by a system in which CEOs making millions do everything within their power to keep labor costs down by paying workers minimum wage. American businesses have endeavored to effectively disenfranchise millions of American workers, who are too heavily invested in trying to make end meet to pursue wealth building. When you’re making $9.00/hour and trying to keep food on the table and the electricity on, how are you supposed to save for retirement? How are you to have any hope of putting you children through college? Or to try to create a better life for you and your family? When day to day survival requires your full attention, it’s difficult to look to the future, much less plan for it.
If Republicans actually cared about the state of our economy and how it continues to adversely impact the middle class, they’d be presenting plans they’d sell as being what’s needed to make America work for ALL Americans. Instead, what’s being sold is fear-mongering, ignorance, propaganda, and dishonesty as they work to game the system in favor of the oligarchs bankrolling their campaigns…even as they attempt to convince the American Sheeple to vote against their own best interests.
This isn’t to put forward the argument that only Democrats have ideas for moving the economy forward in a way that will spread the benefits of the recovery among ALL Americans…but if Republicans have any ideas, they’re doing a great job of keeping them to themselves.
