Ever feel like we’re under siege by the right? Do you read the next outrageous legislation or proposal and wonder where they come up with this stuff? Do you feel dazed after having been blind-sided by some whacky law that suddenly sprouts in states nationwide?
If so, you’re probably spending too much time in the reality-based community. So you’re not always on defense, you need to know what’s brewing in that other community — the strange world of the right-wing “think tanks.”
The future is there, my friends. Yes they’ve cooked up schemes and dreamed mad dreams, and they’re ready to unleash their vision on the unwary. No need to wonder “what next?” I can tell you what they’ve got in their sites.
Today: A right wing special report — 10 Most Harmful Government Programs!
Yes, according to the radicals there are ten programs singled out as hurting America and they must be destroyed. Here, I’ll let them tell you:
The programs elected by our judges don’t just cost money, they also attack our values and corrode the spirit of liberty that makes America the greatest nation.
What are these dastardly programs? Well, number one is no real surprise. We’ve known for years that they hate taxes, and here they just come out and say it — #1 Target: Internal Revenue Code.
#2 is Social Security, which we kind of knew as well, but did you know that Medicare and Medicaid are #3 and #5? They really hate people getting healthcare, evidently, since SSI, the program helping people on permanent disability gets “dishonorable mention.”
#4 is Tax Withholding which they’ve apparently thrown in for good measure in case they can’t get rid of the tax code entirely. These people are nothing if not thorough.
The list rounds out with the Endangered Species Act, Bi-lingual Education Grants, Title X Family Planning Funding, and Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
I suppose that was all sort of foreseeable, but #10 was a surprise — Sugar Import Quotas and Subsidies. Who knew the “sugar cartels” as they call them, were such a big deal? I mean, it made it over all the “dishonorable mentions” and there were targets in that list I expected to be much higher up!
C’mon! They’ve got Section 8, Superfund, Sex ed funding, Americans with Disabilities Act, Fuel Economy Standards — I’d think these would be much higher on their list than sugar.
See, this stuff is educational. When the Big Candy lobby hits your state, you’ll be expecting it.
We know why they hate those programs.
Maybe if we paid more attention to why voters agree with many of those same programs we’d have a bit more electoral success.
I can think of reasons why elimination of almost all of those programs resonate with some voters.
Of course, its hard to negotiate fixes to these programs when the Administration takes a “our way or the highway” approach to such negotiations.
Still, playing devils advocate for a moment:
Which is more socially “just”:
Until we as liberals are willing to point out these are life-and-death choices, and we’re choosing life (and the Republicans are advocating death for the poor, I guess), and we get society to demand the government do this… we’re gonna get killed. Repeatedly.
Liberal shouldn’t be just about getting the right outcome, it should be about serving the people. Kinda dumb we come off as being elitist snobs for “forcing” programs like medicaid on a cocuntry that would demand them if we only bothered to ASK THEM.
Let the Republican’s run asa the “pro death for old-people” party for a change.
Couldn’t agree with you more, yaright! The thing is, I don’t think the voters quite realize what the agenda is and who it is benefiting. This crap is being marketed as grassroots anti-government stuff.
And as the gap between rich and poor widens, it becomes harder for people to pay attention. We keep saying the red states are voting against their interest, but they’re not, at least so far as they’re aware.
They’re voting to keep their property taxes down, or their gas taxes down, not seeing the big picture. The right has been successful painting a false picture of the left as elite, squandering softies.
And we keep reacting to this stuff as though it’s unexpected. I think we need to get the word out on what their agenda is, who it’s benefiting, and go on the offense. Expose these people for the fanatics they are and explain their goals.
I appreciate you work in posting this stuff ’cause I’m a foolish political junkie. Why should our fellow Americans be referred to as ‘voters?’ If you look around, nobody really gives a shit about anything until it touches them personally. How many people even bother to vote? It’s okay if you go in the polling place once every four years. Now you’ve done your part, let everybody else take care of business. Isn’t that what we learn in school? I would avoid that word ‘voters’ and ‘citizens’ is questionable too.
I don’t really understand why you’re sorry or what your point really is. Are you saying you object to my use of the word “voters” when I’m discussing voting patterns?
It seems to me you might be saying that the folks who live in this country are not participating, therefore don’t deserve to be called voters or even citizens. I really hope I’m reading you wrong.
sugar import quota’s.
This is the same bunch that had the list of dangerous books, right?
Any group that lists Phyllis Schafley as “distinguished” is living on some twisted world not fit for normal human beings.
Yup — the exact same bunch. I think it’s a mistake not to take them seriously though. This government list is all over the place in wingnut land, and we’ve all seen what they can accomplish under the current administration.
oh, I take them seriously, the way I take an escaped lunatic confronting me w/ a knife seriously.
You just read their crap, though, and it’s plainly batshit insane, YET THEY’RE RUNNING THE COUNTRY!
I just … ugh.
I agree with the comparison! But if the batshit crazy guy with the knife announces his intentions, then wouldn’t it be good to know which corner he’s gonna be standing on next? and what his MO is going to be. And then tell everyone beforehand so when it happens people think — hey, they told us about this.
I mean, I know this stuff is hard to look at and even harder to believe, but that’s the situation we’re in — batshit crazies are reshaping the government. Pointing this out is not the job for the politicians right now — they’d just be shouted down and told they are crazy. They need the constiuency to back them up or at least be aware of what they’re talking about.
Normally, the job of reporting on this stuff and connecting the dots is for the media and we all know they’re not doing it.
So that’s how I see it — they’re batshit insane, they’ve gotten some power, and not many are pointing it out. They announce their plans and intentions — why not do the media’s job for them? Let the public know. I want my country back, too.
the media is hanging out smoking dope in the orderlies lounge playing strip poker.
I’m with you 100%.
THAT’S what the media’s doing? I’m gonna have to invent… I mean update my resume.