The Right-Wing Extremist Vision For America

I want to start by pointing out that I’m not talking about true conservatives in this article. I’m talking about a growing faction of right-wing extremists that have taken over the Republican Party and who are advocating policies that have no resemblance to conservatism.

These extremists are not conservatives.

These extremists want to roll back the clock to a time before Medicare and Social Security, programs responsible for lifting millions out of poverty and keeping millions more from falling into poverty.

These extremists believe their beloved “free market” is the solution to every problem, except there is no such thing as a free market and so they are, at best, ill-informed, at worst, delusional.

These extremists want to radically change the America that we all have known our entire lives and they believe every progressive and liberal accomplishment during the past century have been failures.

These extremists point to the tens of millions of Americans in poverty as proof that progressive policies and programs (like Medicare and Social Security) have failed. Because they believe this, they want to either do away with these programs, or privatize them (again, because their beloved free market solves all problems).

Nevermind that the solution to fix Medicare is extending it to all Americans and spreading the risk pool beyond the most expensive Americans to insure, senior citizens. Nevermind that Social Security is NOT in fiscal trouble. It’s a right-wing myth that Social Security is doomed to fail. Social Security has been around for over 70 years and will be around for at least another 70 years if we don’t allow the ideologues that want it to fail to get their way.

There is one simple fact that contradicts their rhetoric and I’ll introduce it with a question. What do you think would happen if Medicare, Social Security and programs for the poor ceased to exist tomorrow? The answer is that tens of millions of Americans would fall into poverty and the tens of millions of Americans already in poverty would find themselves in even greater financial distress and many would wind up on the street.

That is the right-wing extremist vision for America.

dks

image by Truthout.org

PoliticsThe 'Free' Market

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