A Majority Of Voters Say Health Insurance Costs Have Risen

 

The charts above are from the Change Research Poll -- done between August 5th and 10th of a nationwide sample of 1,858 registered voters, with a 2.6 point margin of error.

They Opened A Big Can Of Trouble

 Political Cartoon is by Al Goodwyn at goodwyncartoons.com.

Public Opposes Trump's Efforts To Make Voting More Difficult

The chart above is from a survey done by the Pew Research Center between August 4th and 10th of a nationwide sample of 3,554 adults, with a 1.8 point margin of error.
 

Cheating To Win

Political Cartoon is by Clay Jones at claytoonz.com.
 

Living In The Shadow Of The American Dream

The following post is by Andrew Tait at The Daily Yonder: 

I live in Shenandoah County, Virginia. I’m a factory worker, a farmer, and a father of two girls, one still in diapers. I get up before the sun, and most days I don’t sit down until after it’s gone.

My partner Hannah and I raise our girls on a small farm in the Valley. She works full-time too—though nobody calls it that. She’s a caregiver, a homemaker, a livestock handler, and a mother. She doesn’t get a paycheck. She doesn’t get a break. She doesn’t get counted.

We’ve relied on a cistern for water for over three years. I’m trying to save up to dig a well before it runs dry. We heat with firewood I cut myself. We raise animals for milk, eggs, and meat, because the grocery bill outpaces my paycheck.

We’ve stayed unmarried—not because we don’t love each other, but because getting married would kick my partner and our daughters off the Medicaid that keeps them healthy.

My employer offers insurance, sure—but only if I pay nearly as much as our mortgage. I can’t, so we stay as we are: in love but locked out.

I’m not ashamed of our life. It’s honest work, and it’s full of love. However, I am ashamed that in a country as wealthy as ours, people like us are left out in the cold.

When the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” passed, it was marketed as a win for working Americans. From where I stand, it looks like the opposite: cuts to Medicaid, reduced support for struggling families, and a ballooning deficit that somehow still leaves us more exposed than before.

You can dress it up however you want, but if it leaves working families behind, it’s not serving the people.

This bill, like so many before it, rewards the already powerful while punishing the people who hold up the economy in invisible ways. It gives to those who lobby and takes from those who labor. It reinforces a message I’ve felt in my bones for years: You’re on your own.

I’m not writing this as a Democrat or a Republican. I’m writing this as a man watching families like mine wear themselves thin—working hard, doing the right things, and still falling behind.

This isn’t about Red or Blue. It’s about the fact that we’re being divided against each other while both sides forget that real Americans bleed the same when the cost of insulin triples or the cost of groceries goes up again.

You shouldn’t be able to carry a hundred dollars’ worth of groceries in two hands. But these days, you can—and that’s not just wrong, it’s dangerous.

I’m writing to ask one simple thing: Who is this country really for?

Because if it’s not for parents doing their best to raise good kids in a broken system; if it’s not for factory workers and farmers who show up every day, no matter how little is left in the tank; if it’s not for families trying to make a life from the land and a paycheck. . . then maybe the flag doesn’t wave for all of us after all.

I don’t want handouts; I want fairness. I don’t want politics; I want policy that works.

I don’t want a revolution of violence. I want a revolution of responsibility—one where we take care of each other, where people can raise a family without choosing between groceries and medicine, and where love doesn’t have to take a back seat to red tape.

So, if you’re in power, hear me: We are not okay. We are drowning quietly.

And if you’re not in power, but you’re reading this and nodding along, then know this: You’re not alone either.

We’re not enemies. We’re neighbors. We’re parents, workers, and caretakers. And it’s time we start acting like it.

The Smithsonian Exhibits That Trump Wants

Political Cartoon is by David Horsey in The Seattle Times.
 

The Greatest Monument

 

Low-Paid Workers Suffer Heat Injuries 5 Times As Much As The Highest-Paid

 

Trump Views Putin As A Friend - Americans Overwhelmingly Disagree

 

The chart above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between August 15th and 18th of a nationwide sample of 1,568 adults (including 1,408 registered voters). The margin of error is 3.5 points for adults and 3.2 points for registered voters.

Greater Good Vs. Greater Grift

Political Cartoon is by Mike Stanfill at ragingpencils.com.
 

Democrats Must Reclaim The Fight Against Economic Inequality And Corruption

This post is by Robert Reich:

A large portion of America has felt bullied and harassed for decades. They’ve worked their asses off but haven’t gotten anywhere. Employers have fired them without cause or notice, made them into contract workers without any security or rights, spied on them during working hours, and otherwise treated them like children. 

They’ve been bullied by landlords who keep hiking their rent. By banks that keep adding large fees to whatever they owe. By health insurers and hospitals that charge them an arm and a leg. By corporate grocery monopolies that push up food prices.

 

Many of them voted for Trump because he promised he’d be their bully. He blamed others — immigrants, people of color, transgender people, foreign traders — for what they endured. He thereby found scapegoats for their deep feelings of powerlessness, vulnerability, and shame. It’s one of the oldest of demagogic tricks. 

Democrats could have put the blame where it belonged — on monopolistic corporations and billionaires that abused their wealth and power by taking over our politics. 

Democrats could have demanded higher taxes on big corporations and the wealthy to pay for childcare and eldercare. Tougher antitrust laws to break up monopolies. Labor law reforms that made it easier for workers to form unions and gain bargaining power. Universal health care. Strict regulation of big banks so they couldn’t shaft average people. And an end to big money in our politics. 

But they have not — not loudly, not with one voice, not with the clarity the people need to hear. 

The good news is they still can. They must. And we must push them to.

Trump is the culmination and consequence of decades of worsening inequality and corruption.

 

We could not have remained on the road we were on. Now that we see what we have reaped by allowing these trends to continue, we have a chance of summoning the political will to reverse them.

 

If there’s a silver lining on these darkening clouds, this is it.

Trump's Version Of "One Man - One Vote"

Political Cartoon is by Gary Huck at huckkonopackicartoons.com.
 

We Cannot Trust Our Officials To Impartially Administer Justice

 

The D.C. Takeover Is A Step In Creating A White-Dominated Country