Courtesy of Bastrop Advertiser
July 22, 2021
By Joni Ashbrook
Republicans are great at branding, but lousy at helping people. Now, the GOP is trying to rebrand itself as the “blue-collar” party.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had the chutzpah to make that claim shortly after he was caught escaping Texas’ deep freeze that his “deregulation party” helped put us in.
Former President Donald Trump convinced many working people that he was their president, but this statement to his wealthy Mar-a-Largo pals, “You all just got a lot richer,” sums up exactly for who Republicans work.
Trump was referring to the tax cuts he had just signed into law. Republicans sold the cuts as “middle class” knowing they benefited the wealthy and large corporations.
Also, millions of Americans are literally dying for health care coverage. Republicans never worked to improve the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, but constantly sabotaged it.
Trump and Republicans even tried unsuccessfully to have the Supreme Court kill it. That could have stripped coverage away from 21 million people, and ended protections for people with preexisting conditions.
And the Texas GOP has repeatedly rejected billions in federal dollars to expand health care coverage for uninsured Texans.
Americans also want government to deal with our crumbling roads and bridges, but Trump’s multiple calls for “infrastructure week” ended like a bridge to nowhere.
In contrast to those GOP priorities, the American Rescue Plan that President Joe Biden signed into law actually helps people.
For example, last week 39 million families received their first monthy payments of up to $300 per child due to an expanded child tax credit. This measure is estimated to cut child poverty by 50 percent. The program will expire in a year, but Democrats want to extend it.
That law also included money for COVID-19 vaccines and for small business and restaurants, expanded stimulus checks, and allocated money to state and local governments that could be used to fund their police.
If Republicans bend over to take a bow for any part of that law, give ’em a kick in the pants because not one of them voted for it.
Since Republicans haven’t done much of anything to improve peoples’ daily lives, some have shamelessly claimed credit for popular things included in that law.
Now, Biden is working on a two-track infrastructure plan. One part is a $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill that deals with traditional infrastructure.
The other $3.5 trillion plan would address climate change and also fund “human infrastructure” such as universal prekindergarten, free community college, elder and child care, paid family leave, and expand Medicaid and Medicare. No Republican is expected to vote for this.
How to pay for infrastructure is the problem. Democrats want tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, but Republicans strongly oppose that. Republicans prefer things like “user fees”, but Biden opposes that because he pledged not to increase taxes on Americans making less than $400,000.
America’s income inequality is obscene, and everyone should pay their fair share. ProPublica reported how billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk often pay little or no taxes.
And according to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 55 U.S. companies, including Nike and Fed-Ex, paid zero in federal corporate income taxes in 2020. That was a result of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and loopholes.
Biden also wants to increase the IRS’ gutted budget that has hobbled its ability to conduct audits on the wealthy and large corporations. Unfortunately, conservative groups are mounting strong opposition to that effort.
The GOP may be good at branding, but they don’t have near enough lipstick for all the pigs they allow at the trough.
Ashbrook is a contributing columnist for the Advertiser. She is a retired school teacher and may be reached at [email protected]
