December 23, 2017 - Anchorage, Alaska. "They will be remorseless for the pain they cause" - Gary Greenberg, Harper's Magazine, p. 97.
I found the Greenberg quote while trying to catch up on all the unread magazines that have piled up around my bed. He wrote it in January of this past year, an article about the increasing numbers of books about people trying to get back to their animal nature. Like most of the articles in that issue of Harper's, there were hidden and overt references to the recent election. In some instances, like this quote, they were prescient without intending to be. We are, perhaps, in the maw of the wolf.
The passage of the recent tax "reform" bill (in quotes because, if it was anything, it was not reform) has been greeted by a number of different headlines. Most economists find the legislation deeply regressive, deeply one-sided (with generous provisions for the rich), and fundamentally likely to cost most average-income Americans more in the long run than they save (and those articles don't always quantify the impact of the weakening of Health Care by eliminating the individual mandate that was imbedded in this bill). Senator McConnell and others have said that they will change the feelings Americans have about the legislation by spending millions telling their story. It is interesting that they feel compelled to do this because Americans have read the articles, heard the debate, listened to the leaders of both branches of Congress and the Presidency and concluded something very, very different. They know what this bill is and whom it favors. But get prepared as the propaganda engines motivate. After all, those with the most wealth will fuel those ads: it's a small price to pay when you reap ten times the outlay. For me, though, the whole things\ has reinforced a narrative that was often laughed at - that the Republican Party only favored the rich. It's more than that. The leadership of the Republican Party must think the average American is a rube. "We will tell you that it is ok - spending our millions to do so - while we laugh our way to the bank (or the Caribbean, or St. Tropez, or....)!"
Now, with unfettered power, we are seeing exactly the vision they have always aspired to, regardless of all the crap they shoveled America's way over the past forty years. Back in the day "trickle-down economics" was, using a phrase our former half-Governor once said though more appropriately applied here, "putting lipstick on a pig". - a clever way to create a visual image to justify the shifting of American wealth to the wealthy from the middle-class. Back then the shift was mitigated by split government and Senate rules that have long since been scattered. This tax plan doesn't even hide behind that fiction. There have been no denials that the bulk of the tax "cut" will go to the richest Americans - those in the top 3%. Everything benefits the wealthy disproportionately – from the estate tax reductions (which they even almost eliminated), to the planned expiration of individual tax cuts in 2025 while corporate taxes stay low permanently. Folks who champion a populist message in their Republican screeds ought to be ashamed. The only place this populist message will resonate is a country club golf green. You have lied to America.
But I digress.
I think I'd rather share a story from the mid-80s, when I served on the Alaska Democratic Central Committee. We were meeting in Juneau in the late winter and the debate was whether or not we should accept a $1,750 contribution from the oil industry. The Party hadn't received a lot of support from those folks in the past, but we held the State House and the Governor's office, so it made sense that the industry would try to keep us happy by sending a little cash our way. Funny thing was, they had provided the Republicans over $87,500 in that same cycle. I made the argument that, if we took the money, we would underscore just how "easy" a date we were, that it ought to violate our principles: that we should stand for something. A powerful Democratic Senator with links to the industry showed up (they usually stayed away from those meetings) and said we couldn't make the industry mad and we should take the money. In the end we took the money on a very close vote. I left the Central Committee soon after. It was only a matter of a few years before the Republican party and its operatives gained control of the Reapportionment process. By 1993 Democrats neither held the House or the Governor's seat (Alaskan Independent and former Republican Walter Hickel did). We did not regain the House again until 2017.
What is the point of the story? Well, here we are again. We might get a little relief from the tax bill - - $20 or $30 a month which we won't even notice on our paychecks, but we will be transferring literally trillions to the wealthy. Not for working, not because they have gone broke or bankrupt, not because they will reinvest it (most have said they won't), but because that was the intent of the Republican Party - to protect and provide for the wealthy. Now this party, which claims they oppose deficits and the growing debt, will face am additional $1.4 trillion dollars in debt because of this legislation. They'll blame Democrats who have no power. And, if we are lucky enough to gain power in 2018, they will point to the flaws in their legislation and again blame Democrats. That's what they do. It is a shameful erosion of our political system, and it has already begun.
Recently Speaker Ryan declared "We're going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and deficit". To be clearer than his syntax, that will be the debt and the deficit that they will have doubled. It is a message that was initially reinforced by Mitch McConnell, Mario Rubio, Lindsey Graham and others, though they now are trying to shift that dialogue. But the message has always been clear to those watching: When you peal away false social issue narratives designed to pit Midwest middle-class Americans against coastal and urban middle-class Americans; when you look behind the racist undertones and fear-mongering designed to keep working class white folks from seeing common cause with middle-income and poor minorities; when you call out the false argument of rich citizens that economic growth by giving money to them will benefit all "if only we had more wealth our economy would be booming..."; you get to the uncomfortable truth: Republicans aren't concerned with your retirement, your health, your livelihood, or your safety. Their concerned about protecting their wealth, and ensuring access to yours.
The arrogance demonstrated in these past few weeks has not been missed. Just as we have observed now even earlier affronts to the nation - with the denial of even a hearing for a legitimate Supreme Court nominee in 2016; of an eradication of the rules that ensured a Senate that safeguards our highest ideals over cheap political argument; and of public demonization of the very institutions that provide for our General Welfare. I think the numbers bear it out: Are we really going to accept a few hundred bucks each, when the rich are getting millions? In the end they are sure you will sit back, satisfied with your nickel while they take thousands-times more than that because they are sure you are as greedy as they are, and that you won't notice. I think they are wrong.
There is always so much to write, so I can't possibly get to everything... but I thought I’d leave you with this: The new Presidential coin is out. The Presidential Seal has been removed, replaced by an Eagle with Trumps signature (which appears three times on the coin). The Eagle has been turned to face the opposite direction as it has historically been depicted, the motto of the country has been removed - e pluribus unum (out of many there is one) replaced with "Make America Great Again", and the coin is made of gold. Arrogance? Welcome to the New Gilded Age.