GOP Still Wants To Abolish Medicare

The smiling dunce pictured above is Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas). He represents Texas District 5 in the House of Representatives, which stretches from Dallas southeast to Palestine and Jacksonville. Texans know him as a proponent of far-right fringe beliefs and a hero of the teabaggers. He hates taxes on the rich and government help to anyone who is not rich (including children, the poor, the jobless, and the elderly).

But the true depth of his idiotic depravity was revealed in a recent article he wrote in the Wall Street Journal. In that article he blames the Democrats for the failure of the Super Committee (of which he was a co-chair). He says the committee failed because the Democrats on the committee would not agree to abolish Medicare (and force seniors to buy private insurance). Here's some of what he wrote:

 “Republicans offered to negotiate a plan on the other two health-care entitlements—Medicare and Medicaid—based upon the reforms included in the budget the House passed earlier this year. . .The Medicare reforms would make no changes for those in or near retirement. Beginning in 2022, beneficiaries would be guaranteed a choice of Medicare-approved private health coverage options and guaranteed a premium-support payment to help pay for the plan they choose."


The Republicans haven't been talking a lot recently about their plan to abolish Medicare (which almost all of their Representatives and Senators voted to do with the infamous Ryan Plan). They have seen the polls and know it's a very unpopular idea with voters, so they've toned down their anti-Medicare (and anti-Social Security) rhetoric in the hope of putting a Republican in the White House. But make no mistake -- they have not abandoned their nefarious plans to abolish Medicare (and privatize Social Security).

Hensarling has let the cat out of the bag. He reveals that the Republicans are not truly serious about cutting the budget, but only in accomplishing their ideological agenda -- all of it, with no willingness to compromise for the good of the country and its citizens.They still want huge new tax cuts for the rich and the corporations (the only two groups in our country who are doing well and don't need help), and they still want to slash funding for education and social programs (that help children, the poor, and the unemployed).

But highest on the Republican hit list are Medicare and Social Security -- the two programs that work to keep most of the elderly in this country out of poverty. If you are elderly, nearing that phase of life, or are planning to live long enough to become elderly, then voting for the Republicans would be voting against your own best economic interest. The Republican Party, controlled today by far right-wingers, would like nothing better than to abolish medicare and privatize Social Security. They must be stopped.