12 Ways the GOP Would Destroy the Country If They Controlled Washington After 2016

[robertpaulsen]

12 Ways the GOP Would Destroy the Country If They Controlled Washington After 2016

The budget Congress just passed for next year offers a nightmarish blueprint.
By Steven Rosenfeld / AlterNet
May 8, 2015

The GOP controls the House and Senate and last week passed a federal budget slashing virtually every social program from pre-school to senior safety nets.

Democrats, responded by accurately calling it “a recipe for national decline,” as it goes after health care, anti-poverty programs, schools and student loans and Social Security, all while raising taxes on the middle-class, breaking promises to veterans and boosting military spending.

Meanwhile, in red states where Republicans control the Legislature and executive branches, the rampage has exceeded even this Congress’ wildest dreams. In Kansas, the GOP rewrote laws for their welfare programs, turning assistance from a safety net into a barbed-wire fence, treating recipients—mostly single parents and children—like paroled convicts. In 11 red states, 37 new rules have been adopted this year creating more barriers to abortion—from requiring parental consent, to mandatory waiting periods, to falsely telling women that some procedures can be reversed.

It doesn’t stop there. As a June 30th deadline approaches for states to expand Medicaid— state-run health care for the poor—by using Obamacare’s federal subsidies, 21 red states are still refusing to do so. According to Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation’s statistics, 960,000 adults and 2.52 million children are being deliberately denied access to care. In a handful of other red states, the right-wing war on labor grinds on by repealing prevailing wage laws for construction jobs, which academics found cuts union wages by 10 percent and non-union construction pay by two-to-four percent.

more....

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/12-ways-gop-would-destroy-country-if-they-controlled-washington-after-2016

[bluegopher]

1. This is a good read.

Depressing as hell, but good.

[raccoon]

2. Looks like it might be a good article but somebody should've proofread it more carefully.

3. Privatize and gut senior healthcare. The GOP’s war on safety nets continues with

Medicare, the federal health plan for Americans older than 67."

Last time I checked, the eligibility age for Medicare was 65.

[Paka]

3. K&R

Bookmarking to read later.

[4dsc]

4. Too bad the GOP will win the messaging war with the middle class

It would appear that this is not on the GOP radar of issues to discuss during the upcoming election cycle. Will the Democratic Party carry the day or let the GOP claim the high ground.

I don't expect centrist and the DNC to take up the cause of that would ensure the GOP's demise if 2014 is any indication of their intentions.