This just in: Note the title of this blog. While I try to be factual, I don’t have time to do hours and hours of research. So, in this post, I’m going to post what I think “appears” to be the rationale behind recent political choices/actions.

Issue #1: Let’s go back to the tax cut in 2017. The GOP sold it to the American public saying, “We will have record economic growth. It will bring manufacturing back to the states. Money to the rich will trickle down to you and finally, you will be able to fill out a postcard to file your taxes.” NONE of this happened. The national debt went up by $7.8 trillion in 4 years.

The motivation: The GOP is funded by a few special interests and billionaires. This tax break made those interested parties extremely wealthy. Those GOP supporters, in turn, funnel money back to the GOP. So, this was essentially a money grab.

Issue #2: Democrats are trying to pass a voting rights act. The ONLY rationale is to make sure that voting is safe and accessible for ALL Americans. Yesterday, in Congress, this bill was put up for a debate. The Republican Party immediately filibustered it which means they stopped all debate from even happening and thus, killed the bill.

The motivation: The GOP is endorsing The Big Lie, that Trump actually won the election. They do this knowing that Trump lost and there was no fraud. However, in the name of protecting elections which they have now framed as corrupt, they are passing all sorts of voting restrictions laws. This will make it harder for people to vote that the GOP knows will not vote for them. They are also putting in laws that will allow a state’s Republican legislature to overturn any election and put in their own person. The GOP is doing this because, for decades, their base of old white men has been shrinking and the only way they can win is to either (1) cheat or (2) ignore the will of the people.

Issue #3 There is a congressional committee looking into the January 6th assault on the Capital. Some of the people the committee wants to hear from have defied subpoenas. This means that people that have information about the assault are refusing to testify. The committee has asked Congress to assess criminal charges against those that refuse to testify. The Republican Party is set to vote against this. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS VOTING AGAINST MAKING PEOPLE SHOW UP TO TESTIFY WHEN ORDERED TO DO SO BY CONGRESS.

The motivation: Several GOP members, including Trump, his chief of staff and the minority leader in the House are involved. This investigation goes to the very heart of the Republican Party plan to stay in power and lead from a minority position. They are involved and they don’t want anyone to know this. They have gone so far as to compare the January 6th assault as a tourist walk-about.

Issue #4: A hugely popular plan to Build Back Better is in danger of becoming a nothing-burger. This bill originally cost $350 billion per year for 10 years. By comparison, this is about half of what we spend on the military. By comparison, the Trump administration gave away nearly $2 trillion per year via the 2017 tax cuts and other over spending. The BBB plan funds climate change, poverty, education, infrastructure and overall modernization of our country. Two democrats and every Republican opposes it. This is enough to make it not happen.

The motivation: Republicans oppose it for several reasons: (1) It isn’t their idea so they will get no credit for this very popular initiative, (2) Aside from voter suppression, opposing the Democrats on every issue is their only platform, (3) The GOP is funded by big oil that wants to continue to pollute the earth, (4) the GOP is funded by large corporations that don’t want to see their taxes go up, (5) the GOP is funded by billionaires that don’t want to see their taxes go up. (6) the GOP is funded by special interests such are Big Pharma that don’t want their profits reduced. Democrat Manchin is against it because he make $500K a year on his investments in coal. Democrat Sinema is against it because she has made it clear she will accept money from any entity willing to pay her a bribe. Companies have noticed this and she is making a ton of money, 90% of which comes from outside her own state. NO ONE IS OPPOSING THIS BECAUSE THEIR CONSTITUENTS DON’T WANT IT.

Issue #5: Congress needs to raise the debt ceiling in order to pay its debts. This isn’t about the budget. It’s about approving spending that has already occurred. Spending line the $7.8 trillion in over spending from the Trump era. This is basically agreeing to pay our bills. Republicans voted to not even allow a debate about this. They will not allow a debate about paying our debt. This is the same as saying, “We will not, as a country, pay our debts.” This includes things like Social Security or military paychecks.

The motivation: This one is simple. The Republican Party is counting on the ignorance of the American public. They want you to believe they are fighting to control spending. While this is a complete falsehood, that is how they are framing it. So they want us to default on our debt and send the country into a recession so they can blame Democrats for overspending even though the spending and the paying are different issues.

All of this is being done in plain site and yet, millions of people are still in support of these people. Interestingly, these are the same people that fear vaccines while taking horse deworming medicine.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim