Shipwreck in a stormy sea by Ivan Aivazovsky
Flush with campaign donations from the likes of the Mercers and the Kochs, GOP senators are trying to sell the pipe-dream of trickle down economics to the middle class. "A rising tide raises all boats," they rhapsodize, as the wake of their yachts rock our leaky skiffs.
They assure us that almost halving corporate taxes for the 1% while eliminating tax codes that allow the 99% to own homes and afford health care will somehow lead to a golden future for 100% of Americans. They swat away inconvenient reports from the Bipartisan Tax Referee that heckle their grand claims of unprecedented economic growth that will pay for the tax cuts. They ignore dire predictions from the Congressional Budget Office about the millions who will get priced out of health insurance if the individual mandate is nixed.
As a physician almost guaranteed to make six-figures, I stand to gain financially from this tax bill. But whatever I gain will be minuscule compared to the suffering that I am sure to witness. Taxes are a means to promote economic fairness. Americans believe in fairness. It is telling that Americans favored tax hikes by Presidents Clinton and George H. W. Bush more than they favor this tax cut!
So it is surprising then that senate republicans are ignoring the will of the people and pressing on with a horrendous bill that will change American life profoundly. If the tax bill passes, December 1st will go down in history as the day America transitioned to oligarchy. In the shipwreck of democracy, Americans will remember the craven behavior of their lawmakers.
No one should rescue them as their pockets, heavy with gold, drag them into the deep. And no one will.