If you haven’t realized what the goal of this new administration is yet, don’t wait for the book to come out. They are devoting all their resources and think tanks to ending the “New Deal.”
If you aren’t old enough to remember what the “Old Deal” was like — it was bleak. There w
ere a lot of suicides and a lot of starvation.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid aren’t just for the poor. You have to be relatively wealthy to survive in your older years without any help from government programs. The administration’s tactic on fighting these programs is to fire enough staff so they can’t function. You’ll get your SSA check; it just might be a couple of years late. And if you’re applying for new benefits, hopefully, there will be a new election by the time someone answers the phone.
The idea that they’re just trying to make government more efficient requires extreme gullibility and naivety to accept. The completely unnecessary chaos and meanness of this process is the hardest thing to accept. The targets are indiscriminate as well as surprising. Tens of thousands of veterans, our most skilled and senior FBI agents, FEMA, NOAA, NIH, CDC, Departments of Agriculture and Education are being fired as a way to pay for tax cuts that benefit the top 1% and 99% of the money goes to the wealthiest.
USAID is the cruelest cut because children and adults are dying as we speak, which aside from providing lifesaving aid is a favorite counter-propaganda tool of the military. We are a government by the people and for the people. We the People have to make our displeasure loudly known or we will lose everything.
If our Republican representatives can’t find the courage to lead, then enough of them should resign so the Democrats can control at least the U.S. Senate or the House. Make some noise. Call and write letters to your senators and congressional representatives. If you remain silent don’t be surprised when first Medicaid, then Medicare and Social Security disappear.
Walter Meltzer lives in New Milford. ...read more read less
