The Hollow Cry of "Broke"

 

     Your editorial (3/3) exposed the nonsense of the Republican cry of poverty and being "broke."  While you cited Speaker Boehner, and Governors Walker and Christie, you failed to mentions that they are Republicans.  You could also have mentioned that Russel Baker, in his column in your paper, summed up the aim of the Republican party as "to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted."

     Ronald Reagan's Republican credo of "restraining government spending" and "tax reduction" made me wonder why the Republicans are so fixated on reducing taxes for the very rich.  But looking at the states where the GOP has a majority in the legislature and an elected governor, may provide an answer.  

     Is it possible that the "tax cut" is the first step in a  process designed to perpetuate Republican power in state and national elective offices?  Once the flow of income to the state and national treasuries is diminished, the inescapable next step is to cut services provided by the government, and the first casualty, usually, is education, followed closely by attempts to break the unions.

     Five states that had both a Republican Governor and a Republican legislature (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas and Alaska) are 50th, 47th, 31st, 28th and 10th in spending per pupil for education. The Republicans seem to believe that an educated electorate is not going to vote for them, and they may be right.

     The Republican party's propaganda, whether coming from their elected officials, or broadcast by bombastic radio and television persons, is geared primarily towards the less affluent and less educated citizens. By constant repetition of one-sided stories, lies and half-truth, and by calling their opponents "elitist" and "socialist" and worse, they create a divisive atmosphere and foster hatred in this country.

     There used to be a TV commercial with the tag line "an educated consumer is our best customer." The Republican party turned it around to "the ill educated citizen is our best voter."