Republicans Are The Party For The Rich - Not Workers

Sen. Josh Hawley claimed the other day that the Republican Party was the party of working men and women. I have to wonder what planet he's been living on. That's not the Republican Party here in the United States - at least for the last century and a half!

In the last part of the 19th Century and the early 20th Century, the Republican Party was controlled by the ultra-rich oligarchs - and the policies they pursued helped the rich to get much richer while making workers poorer. That policy led to the Great Depression with massive poverty and unemployment.

Today, the GOP has continued those same policies, and with the election of Ronald Reagan, gained the power to reinstitute those policies. Once again, they are bowing to oligarchs - making the rich richer and everyone else poorer.

When you look at the history of the modern Republican Party, it is obvious that they don't care about the workers in this country. For instance:

* They opposed the creation of Social Security. And even though Social Security has been very effective in insuring that working men and women won't have to live in abject poverty after retiring, Republicans still oppose the program. They continually try to cut benefits, and have expressed a desire to eliminate the program altogether. 

* Republicans opposed Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act - programs that insured the poor, workers, and retirees have life-saving medical insurance. They still oppose them, and currently are trying to cut the programs - causing millions to lose that insurance.

* Republicans oppose the minimum wage, and have blocked raising the current wage (a poverty wage of only $7.25 an hour). 

* Republicans oppose labor unions. They consistently try to make it harder to join a union, or create a new union - even though it was labor unions that created a large middle class in the United States.

* Republicans want to cut Pell Grants, which help working class students to better their futures through access to higher education.

* Republicans support a GOP president who has imposed tariffs on almost every country importing goods into the United States. This increases inflation. The higher prices affect workers far more than the rich.

* Republicans oppose the government helping working parents to pay for child care.

* Republicans passed a tax cut bill in Trump's first term, with 82% of the cuts going to benefit the rich. Now they want to extend those cuts.

* Republicans want to cut SNAP (food stamps) which help low-wage workers feed their families.

I am amazed that Hawley has the temerity to call his party the party of workers. Their policies always help the rich, but I can't think of a single one that helps workers.