The upcoming mid-term elections are not insignificant nor typical. One could say that these mid-term elections are the most important election of our time. The future of our American society could be in the balance.
The Congressional elections for the federal House and Senate could reinforce Republican obstruction or eliminate it, depending on the results. State elections could make life or death differences to many who cannot receive medical care under Republican obstructed medicaid expansion.
To help you remember or to just inform some of you for the first time, of some of the deleterious effects of having Republicans in office, let me recall some things you should know by now.
America's unemployed work force could be put back to work if the President's American Jobs Act is enacted without Republican obstruction.
Women could become equal in the workforce if legislation to prevent discrimination in wages was lifted by removing Republican obstruction.
America's immigrant families could receive fairer treatment if Republicans could not prevent it.
Opportunity for all Americans and America's economic condition could be improved with an increase in the minimum wage which Republicans refuse to support.
The unfair control of government realized by the few uber-rich American contributors to the Republican party who influence their legislation and activities could be eliminated.
The American worker and middle class could rise in importance and our government could be "of, for and by the people" again.
Poor children would go to bed less hungry if Republican cuts to the SNAP program were eliminated and reversed.
Falsely imposed voting restrictions could be stopped if Republicans were run out of state legislatures.
The Republican party's partisan witch-hunts based on false accusations would stop being the focus of the Congress and taxpayer money could be used more productively for legislation that Americans need if Republicans lost control of the House.
America would never again renege on their debt obligations if Republicans are not given the power to cause it.
Dealing with scientific facts, the government could make more reasonable decisions to enact laws that protect our environment if Republicans were not in control.
Near treasonous acts that show Republican leadership's opposition to government would end.
Using fear tactics and lies to persuade Americans into voting against their own self interest could end if Republicans are shown that using those unethical tactics cannot win them elections.
The federal government may never face another shutdown if Republicans were not in control.
The Affordable Care Act might be allowed to continue to benefit people; improve the health of America; put money back into the economy with increased jobs in health services; improve the profits of medical device manufacturers, hospitals, doctors, nurses and insurance companies while at the same time making healthcare affordable.
Expanding Medicaid in Republican run states would insure and protect the health of over seven million uninsured poor voters and reduce costs for taxpayers whose premiums are higher in order to cover the costs of those who do not have health insurance. Hospitals in rural areas of Republican run states could become profitable again and re-open their doors.
America's tax policies could be reviewed and certain unfair loop-holes closed so that all Americans and American Corporations pay their fair share of taxes and revenue could again become part of the equation for budget considerations if Republicans did not control the federal House.
Ultimately, the mid-term elections are extremely important. You should consider this as important an election as a Presidential one and get out to vote.
The Congressional elections for the federal House and Senate could reinforce Republican obstruction or eliminate it, depending on the results. State elections could make life or death differences to many who cannot receive medical care under Republican obstructed medicaid expansion.
To help you remember or to just inform some of you for the first time, of some of the deleterious effects of having Republicans in office, let me recall some things you should know by now.
America's unemployed work force could be put back to work if the President's American Jobs Act is enacted without Republican obstruction.
Women could become equal in the workforce if legislation to prevent discrimination in wages was lifted by removing Republican obstruction.
America's immigrant families could receive fairer treatment if Republicans could not prevent it.
Opportunity for all Americans and America's economic condition could be improved with an increase in the minimum wage which Republicans refuse to support.
The unfair control of government realized by the few uber-rich American contributors to the Republican party who influence their legislation and activities could be eliminated.
The American worker and middle class could rise in importance and our government could be "of, for and by the people" again.
Poor children would go to bed less hungry if Republican cuts to the SNAP program were eliminated and reversed.
Falsely imposed voting restrictions could be stopped if Republicans were run out of state legislatures.
The Republican party's partisan witch-hunts based on false accusations would stop being the focus of the Congress and taxpayer money could be used more productively for legislation that Americans need if Republicans lost control of the House.
America would never again renege on their debt obligations if Republicans are not given the power to cause it.
Dealing with scientific facts, the government could make more reasonable decisions to enact laws that protect our environment if Republicans were not in control.
Near treasonous acts that show Republican leadership's opposition to government would end.
Using fear tactics and lies to persuade Americans into voting against their own self interest could end if Republicans are shown that using those unethical tactics cannot win them elections.
The federal government may never face another shutdown if Republicans were not in control.
The Affordable Care Act might be allowed to continue to benefit people; improve the health of America; put money back into the economy with increased jobs in health services; improve the profits of medical device manufacturers, hospitals, doctors, nurses and insurance companies while at the same time making healthcare affordable.
Expanding Medicaid in Republican run states would insure and protect the health of over seven million uninsured poor voters and reduce costs for taxpayers whose premiums are higher in order to cover the costs of those who do not have health insurance. Hospitals in rural areas of Republican run states could become profitable again and re-open their doors.
America's tax policies could be reviewed and certain unfair loop-holes closed so that all Americans and American Corporations pay their fair share of taxes and revenue could again become part of the equation for budget considerations if Republicans did not control the federal House.
Ultimately, the mid-term elections are extremely important. You should consider this as important an election as a Presidential one and get out to vote.
If you consider yourself a Republican, perhaps you have inherited that title or been influenced to vote as one from your parents and grandparents whose culture of Republicanism goes back many years. You should recognize that political parties change over time and may not be the same as the party your parents or grandparents aligned with. For example, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican who freed the slaves yet some modern day Republicans pass legislation to restrict voting rights to African-Americans. In regards to empathy toward others, Republicans have changed dramatically.
A political party affiliation should not be treated the same as your genetically inherited characteristics. Although "mutation" is a similarity between genetics and political parties, your party affiliation should be based on how closely a comparison of the overall beliefs and policies of the party match your own personal beliefs. The comparison should not be limited to one or two policies but to all policies and beliefs so you get a complete picture of a party. For example, Republican leaders claim to hold to the teachings of Christianity because they support a right to life but their legislation may indicate that they oppose Christianity since they do not support the needy and carry out injustices to other diverse populations.
In order to make such comparisons you should research the facts about the political party's policies; understand how they vote on issues and determine if they represent your views. It is important to determine these things by reviewing factual reference material while ignoring commentators or others who would attempt to deceive you or are just misinformed themselves. One way this can be done is by reviewing government web sites such as http://www.house.gov, http://bls.gov and http://www.senate.com.
To keep informed on current events in politics, watch political television shows on both sides of politics and judge for yourself which is most truthful. For example, Fox News is known to be conservative television that takes a less factual "entertainment" approach to supporting Republican causes while MSNBC is known to be progressive news reporting that supports Democratic causes. Seeing these two networks present both sides of the same issue can be enlightening.
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| Paul Ryan (R) Wisconsin |
That being said, I want to begin analyzing Republicanism with one of the most telling subjects in recent days; the 2014 Republican budget proposal. It has been said that you can tell where a party's priorities are by the budget they propose.
Paul Ryan was tasked with the job of preparing a Republican budget proposal that balanced within ten years. Balancing a budget can be done in many ways, but the Republican budget had to be based on Republican principles which molded and forced the end result.
One building block of that Republican budget is that tax revenue cannot be increased. Without new revenue, only cuts in federal programs would be possible.
Another prerequisite was that military spending must be increased. Increasing military spending without raising taxes means something else must be cut by the amount of increase in military spending. About $650 billion is spent on the United States military each year which exceeds the combined military spending of the next ten highest spending countries in the world. Even the US military has stated that the amount is too high and can be reduced. When Republicans speak of military spending they do not mean government assistance for veterans. They do mean to increase the wealth of defense contractors.
Yet another prerequisite of the Republican budget is that much of the cost and operation of Federal government programs must be passed on to the states. Making states take on safety net programs will force them to either increase their taxes (if they plan to continue to provide the service) or cut or eliminate the programs. In Republican run states I can state almost certainly that these services will be cut. Overall, their budget expects that the financial burden that they are eliminating from the federal government should be placed on the states. Provided the states maintain the programs, the savings to the individual would be no different than if the federal government had kept the financial burden except that the taxes would be coming from the state instead of the federal government.
The Ryan budget makes severe cuts to services that support the poor, middle class, students, the elderly and disabled while at the same time rewarding the rich with lower taxes, repealing the alternative minimum tax, reducing corporate tax, and changing international tax laws to allow corporations to avoid being taxed on foreign income brought back into the United States.
By the explanation he gives in his budget's narrative, Ryan tries to convince people that government loans are the reason that students must pay such high tuition costs as these somehow encourage Universities to charge higher tuitions. Even if this were true, Ryan's solution is to reduce government loans and cap Pell Grants for students, thereby eliminating help some deserving students might be able to obtain without a government loan. It's funny how Republican reasoning often defies logic. They accept big business' action of charging higher tuitions as reasonable given the availability of government money and instead blame the federal government for providing so much loan money. I guess we are supposed to understand as our Republican leaders do, that the ethics of businessmen can readily be overcome by such easy opportunity for profit.
Sticking to the Republican claims that the Affordable Care Act is the worst thing that could happen to America, his budget calls for the repeal of the ACA leaving no alternative but to return to the way it was before the ACA. The budget calls for repealing Medicaid Expansion and eliminating healthcare premium subsidies available on the government healthcare exchange. With these words, Republicans are saying that insurers can deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, so if you lose your job and have a pre-existing condition, you will no longer have health insurance. They remove healthcare access from millions of the poor who are now covered under medicaid expansion. Lifetime coverage caps will return so if you get a debilitating and costly disease you may also lose your life savings. If you have limited income, you will no longer get any help to pay for your insurance premiums. Certain free services will once again be charged. Children between 21 and 25 will lose their parent's insurance and be required to purchase their own or not be insured.
Medicare and social security will not be the same for future seniors. Not being capable of funding social programs almost certainly means medicare and social security will suffer under Republican rule.
There are many more aspects to the budget that you should see for yourself. Visit this link: The 2014 Republican Budget to find the actual text.
If you are not in the top 2% financially, voting for Republicans is not in your best interest. If you are a caring person, voting for Republicans should outrage you. If you are an informed and intelligent person and not in the 2%, you should never vote Republican. What does that make you?
Remember to vote in the fall's midterm elections. It's your protected right and it's what will make all the difference to America.
