The Crass Hypocrisy Of Republican Politicians

The Republican politicians in Congress are trying to once again crap on the American public. Instead of spending some money to help create jobs to replace the millions of jobs their economic policies have destroyed, they want to severely cut government services -- the same government services that are helping jobless Americans to barely keep their heads above water.

After giving their rich buddies a $400 billion dollar a year tax cut, the Republicans have decided the budget deficit is too large (totally ignoring the fact that their tax cut for the rich makes up nearly a third of that budget deficit). They are preparing a budget bill that would cut federal agencies by at least 9% for this year (to September). If these cuts were for a full year, they would balloon to a 16% cut. This is a massive cut and would cost many federal jobs (and other jobs as it ripples through the economy) and reduce the services offered to American citizens.

If such a massive cut is proposed for government agencies, one would expect that Congress would be willing to take an equal cut to its own budget. It would only make sense for these Republican politicians to lead by example. But that's not the case. They are doing a lot of self-congratulating and backslapping for proposing their own $4.7 billion budget be cut by a whole 2%. If extended to a full year, this would be about 5% -- a full 11% less than the cuts they want other federal agencies to endure.

Think about that -- Congress has a budget of $4.7 billion! That's $8,785,047 for each senator and representative. I realize that pay for the Capitol Police and congressional aides and things like utilities must be paid for, but it still seems like there's a lot of fat that could be cut out of that budget. At the very least, they could take the same 16% cut they expect other government agencies to take.

But that's not how Republican politicians operate, and never has been. When they talk about sacrifice and cuts, they are never talking about themselves or their rich buddies. Those cuts and sacrifices are only meant for the general public, while they keep their own money and perks. This is nothing but crass hypocrisy!

They could start the cuts by cutting their own salaries by 16% (and eliminating federally-paid health insurance for themselves -- since they don't want anyone else to have government insurance). But they won't do that -- no way, no how. They only want to make cuts for the poor, the jobless, the sick, and children in need of education.

And its not just the federal Republican politicians. Here in Texas, the Republicans (who have run this state for years -- and run it into the ground) have proposed even more draconian cuts to services. The governor and legislator want to cut state agencies by about 30%. This would cost more than 10,000 state jobs, cause the layoff of up to 100,000 teachers and school employees, and probably cause thousands of more jobs lost in the private sector when their cuts ripple through the state economy.

Of course none of the Republican leaders (either elected or appointed agency heads and top management) will get their own salaries cut by even a penny -- although many of them make well over $100,000. Their salaries are not included in the massive cuts proposed -- only cuts for rank-and-file employees.

As I said, when Republicans say sacrifices must be made and budget cuts enacted they are never talking about themselves. Is there anyone more mean-spirited or hardhearted than a Republican politician? I doubt it.