Defunding Is on the Ballot
The GOP’s Imagined Oppressors Face Oblivion
Those of us living outside the Republican bubble may have missed their all out effort to paint Democrats as the party of ‘defund the police.’
Never mind that these so-called ‘soft on crime’ Dems have actually increased funding for police on virtually every level of government.
Never mind that increases or declines in crime are not necessarily unrelated to police funding. Virtually every GOP social media account is chock full of claims about increasing crime and/or Democrats defunding police.
This is what the Red-voting masses are seeing. Thanks to the right’s media infrastructure, lots of people believe it. And this claim has been repeated often enough so even mainstream media outlets are using this framing for their election reporting.
The biggest crime wave going on involves the price gouging and profiteering by corporations driving the inflation rate. This is taking money out of everybody’s wallet, every day.
I remember the days when Republicans could look you in the eye and say we needed less government because the market could do a better job. Now, no government seems to be at the top of their agenda.
So, let’s take a look at what Republicans would like to see defunded. I should say upfront that most of these actions aren’t going to happen in the upcoming congress, no matter what the majority/minority count ends up being.
Promises to defund are goals to be baked into every compromise between the executive and legislative branches in 2023-4; after all, the BIG goal is to effectively shut down the government via a refusal to raise the debt ceiling.
We’re talking hostage crisis here, and believe it or not this is the moderate Republican strategy. The nutcase caucus wants show trials and for law enforcement to look the other way in response to lots of stochastic terrorist actions.
In any case, here’s a list of some stuff that bothers Republicans enough to call for pulling the plug:
Healthcare–despite sixty plus attempts at defunding the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) House candidates all over are saying they’re going to try again. Oh, and let’s make polio great again as vaccine mandates get dropped.
Planned Parenthood– the women’s healthcare organization gets government funding for their preventative care programs. The more breast cancer lobby is cheering this on.
Internal Revenue Service– No government income equals no government programs, and Republicans are ready to shoot themselves in the face to make this happen. This notion comes out of the Big Lie about 87,000 people being hired at the agency.
Federal Bureau of Investigations – The only reason Republicans want to get rid of it now is that some of their people got caught. And that an FBI head wouldn’t play nice for Dear Leader when asked to violate the law.
Homeland Security – Somebody at this agency realized there were national security implications with the flood of misinformation in this country and decided to study it. When a political party’s core agenda is dependent on the promulgation of big lies, obviously it’s time to make this program go away.
Social Security and Medicare – After years of their pussyfooting around the topic it’s almost refreshing to see all these Republicans coming out of the closet on this issue. At the heart of this problem is the refusal of Congress to allow the income cap for deductions funding these programs (they are not entitlements!!!!) to float with inflation. There are various approaches being discussed, but they all add up to the same thing: people being harmed in the name of the rich getting richer.
Department of Labor – The workplace safety issues arising out of the pandemic galvanized righties looking to eliminate or dismantle this agency. And then there’s those pesky unions…
Department of Education – Since Betsy DeVos wasn’t competent enough to dismantle it from within, the shock troops at Moms for Liberty are going to make this a cause for 2024. In the meantime, they’ll be busy banning library books along with any teaching lessons that don’t promote a white supremacist agenda. The dream is to have public schools prepare not-wealthy American children for their future 'careers' at Waffle House or Family Dollar.
Consumer Protection Bureau - The GOP may have gotten its way already with this item, as a lawsuit challenging the legality of its funding mechanism has made its way past the 5th Circuit Court and is headed toward the abyss now known as the Supreme Court.
Agencies the GOP won’t be defunding (besides everything connected to the military industrial complex) include the Food & Drug Administration, National Institute of Health, Centers for Disease Control - It’s not that Republicans approve of what these agencies do, it is that they’d like to see them figuratively beaten to a pulp before being put out to pasture. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is in line to be chair of either the Oversight or the Health, Labor and Pensions Committee, and he’s on the record saying there’s a price to be paid for past prevention policies.
I could keep going, but I think you get the picture. The American public was saved from many consequences during the Trump years because the loyalists installed in high positions were clueless. Should the GOP gain widespread control of government in 2024, the aforementioned list is reflective of what they have planned and they at least think they’ve learned from past mistakes.
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One final note — HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Billionaire butthole Elon Musk fired a bunch of the key people needed to keep Twitter afloat . Now they are trying to hire them back.
Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com
Lead photo c/o 🇩🇪Professional Photographer at Flickr