For The GOP Up Is Down & Truth Is A Lie

After watching the United States Senate on C-SPAN most of yesterday afternoon I am convinced that the Republicans live in a different world from the rest of us -- a world where up is down, black is white, and the truth is whatever they say it is. Frankly, I have never seen so many lies told by so few people in my entire lifetime. Of course I understand why they are doing it. They simply cannot defend their record of incompetence by telling the truth.

In their zeal to protect the rich and the corporate interests the Republicans have, since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, systematically lowered taxes for the wealthy, eliminated regulations to protect the public from Wall Street greed, destroyed unions and workers' rights, rewarded the outsourcing of American jobs, and wasted more federal money than the Democrats ever could. This has resulted in a vast accumulation of wealth and income by the rich (where the richest 1% or 2% controls more than 40% of the nation's wealth), and a thirty-year stagnation of wages for workers. It also resulted in the "Great Recession" and the loss of about 12 million jobs.

The Republicans took a budget surplus left by the Clinton administration and through profligate spending and unneeded tax cuts for corporations and the rich, they turned that surplus into the largest deficit in the history of the nation. And now, after blocking any job creation efforts and forcing more tax cuts for the rich, they now want to blame the deficit they created and protected on President Obama.

But they didn't stop there. They are now engaged in a campaign of fear to convince Americans that the huge deficit and national debt threaten the very existence of this country. They now want to use the fear of the deficit they created to slash and destroy social programs, environmental protections, education, and anything else they don't like.

And when they were able to retake control of the House of Representatives in the last election, they were able to do more than just block Democratic efforts to cure the economy and create jobs. They passed their own economic plan -- the Ryan Plan, which attempts to slash government spending through abolishing Medicare (and other programs) and using that money to give corporations and rich people even more tax cuts.

The Republicans voted en masse for the Ryan Plan in the House and began to brag about how they were saving the country from deficit spending (which they had created) and the national debt (which they had raised to record levels). They thought they had pulled the wool over Americans eyes and convinced them that actions such as the abolishment of the Medicare program were necessary to save the country. They were wrong (as usual).

The people have rebelled in large numbers (a significant majority) and made it clear that the abolishment of Medicare was more than just a mistake -- it was a serious blunder that could well cost the Republicans any hope of a return to power. The American people like and believe in both the Medicare and Social Security programs and will not stand by while either is harmed or abolished.

Yesterday the Ryan Plan to abolish Medicare made it to the Senate. And it resulted in a flood of lies from the Republicans. Republican after Republican took the senate floor to claim the plan did not abolish Medicare, but "saved" it. They claimed it would protect it for future generations, even though it clearly abolishes the program and replaces it with an inadequate voucher system that would leave millions of elderly people without medical insurance (and therefore, without medical care). But regardless of their fallacious claims, up is not down, black is not white, and abolishing a program is not saving that program.

They have also, in an effort to save some face, been saying that their's is the only plan and Democrats refuse to put a plan forward. This, in spite of the fact that Democratic leadership is waiting for the Biden group's plan (which is the only plan with a chance of being passed). But if they really want a Democratic plan, then how about instituting the following things (all of which have been proposed by Democrats):

* Eliminate the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy (which would bring in at least $400 billion a year to the government).
* Eliminate the subsidies for Big Oil, who are making record profits and paying no taxes (more than $20 billion a year).
* Allow the Medicare program to negotiate drug prices like the Veterans Department does (which would save Medicare nearly $3 billion a year).
* Eliminate the tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs (which would not only bring in more money, but would save jobs and encourage companies to create new jobs here).
* Stop the two unnecessary wars (which would save at least $110 billion a year).
* Cut the ridiculously bloated Defense Department budget.
* Remove the cap on the taxes that fund Social Security (and Medicare) so that all Americans pay the same percentage (including the rich).
* Eliminate the Capital-gains tax and tax those earnings at the same rate as any other kind of income.

There is more, but those things alone would put the country back on the road to recovery and economic sanity. But the Republicans would never agree to those sound economic steps. They are too stuck in their ego and ideology driven world of fantasy (where the rich share their wealth with the poor, private insurance companies are not greed-driven, and unicorns abound).

NOTE -- Forty Republican senators voted to abolish Medicare. No Democrats did.