“Why does a dog lick his privates?”
“Because he can.”
Dogs are a lot like Republicans in that respect. No, Republicans don’t lick their genitals, although I imagine if they were flexible enough, they might give it a try.
Actually, Republicans operate by one set of rules when they have control of the government and an entirely different set when they are out of power. Whenever Democrats try to spend money on average working people and/or the poor, they start whining about deficits and the national debt. But when they want to spend similar amounts on tax cuts for the very wealthy, it’s a completely different story.
I’m not sure it could be possible for politicians to be more disingenuous — or maybe we should just say dishonest.
It all started in the early ’80s with Reaganomics. Ronald Reagan said he could cut taxes, increase defense spending and reduce the deficit. One of his Republican opponents, a fellow named George H.W. Bush, called it voodoo economics.
But voters bought it, even though Reagan’s own budget director, David Stockman, later admitted that they had known all along that was impossible, but they did it to starve government spending on the working class and poor.
They never change. Ever since the days of the Reagan presidency, government has been all about shifting wealth to the people who least need it.
The most disgusting thing is that they are so sleazy in the way they sell it. If Democrats try to pass a program that tries to eliminate some of the ways the very wealthy prey on working people, Republicans counter by saying Democrats don’t think they can make it without government help. Republicans want to get the government out of the way to they can make it on their own.
Then they say — as Donald Trump did — that we need to end Social Security for “moral” reasons.
So why would anyone who needs any sort of government help?
Well, there’s Dr. Seuss.
And Mr. Potato Head.
And Confederate flags.
You can go back 400 years to find the real problem. It’s called “respect your betters.”
All the way back to Mother England, we have been taught that rich people are to be admired. If they have big money, we defer to them, whether they earned it, stole it, found it or inherited it.
Except for a short period during and after World War II, we have never really hit the rich hard as far as taxation. We did have a top tax rate of 91 percent for a few years, but that’s seriously misleading. That rate is only for the income earned above a certain point. Unearned income — interest and/or capital gains have never been taxed anywhere near that rate, and estate taxes have been even less.
Almost any major revenue bill is packed with little giveaways for various rich folks.
So when the Trumpublican Right whines about all the liberal giveaways in the $1.9 trillion relief bill, just say one thing to them.
“You had your turn. Now the working class needs some help. Lead, follow or get out of the way.”