by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Donald Trump marched into office sixteen months ago with promises to make America great again, despite the assurances of many that the country he sought to uplift was already great. They argued that many of the things he sought to change were what made America great in the first place. But resistance be damned. Trump and his toadies in Congress were going to make monumental changes in America, whether Americans wanted them or not.
Trump rolled into Washington vowing to give more money and resources to the military. He would increase the pay of service members, falsely claiming that that they had not received salary increases in years, and provide the latest in technology and weaponry. The "military-industrial complex" that Eisenhower had warned us about, would flourish under Trump. In fact, the United States military would become so grand that Trump would command a $30 million parade to show it and himself off to the envious world.
And Trump would take care of the wealthy benefactors who fed his ego and owned Congress. At his urging Congress would pass a tax bill that would provide permanent tax relief to America's wealthiest individuals and their corporations - and a pittance of temporary tax relief to those of more modest means.
But those military expenditures and giant tax cuts promised to drive the deficits into the stratosphere - and Republicans don't like deficits. After filling their goody baskets, Trump and his sycophants in Congress turned to finding ways to "claw back" spending - and, in the process, change some social priorities.
Things like health insurance became an issue. Republicans are not opposed to the idea of health insurance, and many of them are quite well insured - thank you very much. What they are opposed to is the idea of tax dollars being used for health insurance - particularly insurance that does not benefit them directly. Obamacare was a target, and the partisan knives came out to whittle down or eliminate the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in which the federal government gives grants to the states to help insure children who were born into families of modest means. What was once seen as Christian benevolence was now being interpreted as ungrateful beggars taking advantage of god-fearing taxpayers.
Medicare was also maligned by the new administration, but it has had fifty years to take root into the social fabric of America and was seen as a much tougher target to eliminate. Many members of Congress had parents and grandparents who were dependent of the services of Medicare and the income of Social Security.
While the elderly posed a formidable constituency for the protection of Medicare and Social Security, programs designed primarily to benefit the poor lacked the same legions of voting supporters. CHIP was a viable target, as was school meals, food stamps, and even Medicaid. Great savings could be had with little or no political risk.
And then there was "greatness" to be achieved by cutting programs that were seen as primarily benefiting elite (or at least "small') groups - things like public radio and public television and AmTrak, the nation's passenger rail system. There were also those in the new government who considered the National Park System to be a luxury that the government could not afford. Admissions to the parks began to rise, and some public lands and monuments were being cut back in size and opened to exploitation by corporate interests.
Free public education had always been seen as a problem to some elements of American society - particularly those who spent extra to send their children to private schools in the hope that would keep them separate from and socially above the masses. Some regarded the nineteenth and twentieth century moves toward compulsory public education as little more than a strategy to remove child workers from the factories and give a leg up to the union movement. The new administration brought in a Secretary of Education who had an agenda for moving tax dollars away from public schools and into the more exclusive world of private and charter schools. Public schools were to be starved into submission, and sooner or later America's impoverished children could find their way back into the workforce - and labor unions could sink into the tar pits of history.
Trump's vision of American greatness also included demonizing immigrants and racial, ethnic, and religious minorities - as well as giving cover to white nationalist and nativist movements, promoting a well-armed society, and appointing a cadre of federal judges who would keep the country looking backward for at least another full generation.
And infrastructure? There may be no new roads and bridges, but our government will be filling potholes with a vengeance! How great is that!
If Trump and the GOP Congress pile much more "greatness" on America, our tired old bridges won't be the only things in danger of collapsing - and Mexico may indeed pay for the damned wall - to keep us out!
All of this "greatness" is going to come with a price.
Citizen Journalist
Donald Trump marched into office sixteen months ago with promises to make America great again, despite the assurances of many that the country he sought to uplift was already great. They argued that many of the things he sought to change were what made America great in the first place. But resistance be damned. Trump and his toadies in Congress were going to make monumental changes in America, whether Americans wanted them or not.
Trump rolled into Washington vowing to give more money and resources to the military. He would increase the pay of service members, falsely claiming that that they had not received salary increases in years, and provide the latest in technology and weaponry. The "military-industrial complex" that Eisenhower had warned us about, would flourish under Trump. In fact, the United States military would become so grand that Trump would command a $30 million parade to show it and himself off to the envious world.
And Trump would take care of the wealthy benefactors who fed his ego and owned Congress. At his urging Congress would pass a tax bill that would provide permanent tax relief to America's wealthiest individuals and their corporations - and a pittance of temporary tax relief to those of more modest means.
But those military expenditures and giant tax cuts promised to drive the deficits into the stratosphere - and Republicans don't like deficits. After filling their goody baskets, Trump and his sycophants in Congress turned to finding ways to "claw back" spending - and, in the process, change some social priorities.
Things like health insurance became an issue. Republicans are not opposed to the idea of health insurance, and many of them are quite well insured - thank you very much. What they are opposed to is the idea of tax dollars being used for health insurance - particularly insurance that does not benefit them directly. Obamacare was a target, and the partisan knives came out to whittle down or eliminate the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in which the federal government gives grants to the states to help insure children who were born into families of modest means. What was once seen as Christian benevolence was now being interpreted as ungrateful beggars taking advantage of god-fearing taxpayers.
Medicare was also maligned by the new administration, but it has had fifty years to take root into the social fabric of America and was seen as a much tougher target to eliminate. Many members of Congress had parents and grandparents who were dependent of the services of Medicare and the income of Social Security.
While the elderly posed a formidable constituency for the protection of Medicare and Social Security, programs designed primarily to benefit the poor lacked the same legions of voting supporters. CHIP was a viable target, as was school meals, food stamps, and even Medicaid. Great savings could be had with little or no political risk.
And then there was "greatness" to be achieved by cutting programs that were seen as primarily benefiting elite (or at least "small') groups - things like public radio and public television and AmTrak, the nation's passenger rail system. There were also those in the new government who considered the National Park System to be a luxury that the government could not afford. Admissions to the parks began to rise, and some public lands and monuments were being cut back in size and opened to exploitation by corporate interests.
Free public education had always been seen as a problem to some elements of American society - particularly those who spent extra to send their children to private schools in the hope that would keep them separate from and socially above the masses. Some regarded the nineteenth and twentieth century moves toward compulsory public education as little more than a strategy to remove child workers from the factories and give a leg up to the union movement. The new administration brought in a Secretary of Education who had an agenda for moving tax dollars away from public schools and into the more exclusive world of private and charter schools. Public schools were to be starved into submission, and sooner or later America's impoverished children could find their way back into the workforce - and labor unions could sink into the tar pits of history.
Trump's vision of American greatness also included demonizing immigrants and racial, ethnic, and religious minorities - as well as giving cover to white nationalist and nativist movements, promoting a well-armed society, and appointing a cadre of federal judges who would keep the country looking backward for at least another full generation.
And infrastructure? There may be no new roads and bridges, but our government will be filling potholes with a vengeance! How great is that!
If Trump and the GOP Congress pile much more "greatness" on America, our tired old bridges won't be the only things in danger of collapsing - and Mexico may indeed pay for the damned wall - to keep us out!
All of this "greatness" is going to come with a price.
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