Republicans Want To Punish The Elderly To Reward The Rich

The sequester is now going into full swing (the cuts imposed on the budget by Republicans instead of raising taxes on the rich or making corporations pay taxes) -- and it is going to hurt one of this country's most vulnerable groups -- the elderly. The cuts to Meals on Wheels ( a program that delivers nutritious meals to poor and/or shut-in elderly people) alone will total about $10 million -- and mandate the elimination of 4 million meals that would have been served.

This is both mean-spirited and will actually increase government spending. That's because those 4 million meals that are eliminated will harm the overall health of the elderly who will no longer get them -- and that will require about $489 million in extra Medicare spending. In other words, the GOP has mandated that $10 million be cut and $489 million extra be spent -- resulting in an increase in spending of $479 million. That makes no economical sense, and denying food to the elderly in morally reprehensible in addition.

It would have made much more sense, both economically and morally, to eliminate some subsidies or loopholes that let corporations pay little or no taxes -- or raise taxes on the rich just a little bit. But the Republicans would rather punish the elderly than make their rich buddies pay their fair share in taxes. But the mean-spirited policies of the GOP against the elderly doesn't stop there.

By the end of this year, the country will be facing the need to once again adjust the debt ceiling. And the GOP is already preparing their demands for cooperating on that. They are thinking big this time. In exchange for raising the debt ceiling, they are willing to again wage war on the elderly. They want to either abolish Medicare or privatize Social Security -- or both.

It doesn't matter to them that these are two of the federal programs that work exactly as designed to work -- by keeping most elderly people in America out of a devastating poverty. Unfortunately, keeping the elderly out of poverty is not as important to them as making sure the rich continue to have abnormally low taxes (the lowest taxes for corporations and the rich since World War II).

Those demands are not only unconscionable, they are insane. We must remember this war on the elderly (not to mention the GOP wars on women, minorities, and students) when the 2014 election rolls around. They have abdicated their right to power in our government.