The GOP Is Pursuing A Strategy of Public Slaughter

[appalachiablue]

- US President Trump (L) listens to White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Scott Atlas speak during a press conference in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on Sept. 23, 2020, in Washington, DC.

'The GOP Is Pursuing A Strategy of Public Slaughter,' Thom Hartmann, Independent Media Institute, Oct. 07, 2020

People are acting shocked—shocked, I tell you!—that the Trump/GOP strategy on coronavirus is essentially one of promoting herd immunity with the possible downside of as many as 2.5 million dead Americans.

We shouldn't be surprised. It's simply the logical extension of conservative policies on pretty much everything for the past 90 years—policies that have killed a hell of a lot more than just 2.5 million people.

Republicans simply don't believe it's part of the job of government to provide for the "general welfare" of the American people; instead, government—in their minds—should only run the police and the military, while maintaining a stable currency so business can function. Here are some other beliefs driving Republican policies:

Government shouldn't help the elderly avoid poverty—Social Security should only go to those who set aside money during their working years, and be run by private insurance companies, as George W. Bush told us in 2005. Republicans have tried to cripple, privatize or destroy Social Security year after year ever since the 1930s when it was created.

Government shouldn't pay for health care anywhere, anytime because that should come out of people's own pockets. If they want protection from serious illness or accidents, they can buy private insurance. Republicans have tried to cripple, privatize or destroy Medicare and Medicaid since the 1960s when these programs were created.

Government shouldn't protect citizens from being poisoned by industrial pollution or protect our rivers, lakes, oceans or air; these are all the jobs of private industry. Since 1920 when Republican Warren Harding successfully ran for president on the platform of "Less government in business and more business in government," GOP politicians have championed deregulation and privatization as the solution to almost all problems.

Government shouldn't provide education, according to conservative theology. As the late billionaire David Koch put into his platform when he ran for vice president in 1980 on the Libertarian ticket, "We advocate the complete separation of education and State. Government schools lead to the indoctrination of children and interfere with the free choice of individuals. Government ownership, operation, regulation, and subsidy of schools and colleges should be ended." Today, billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos continues Koch's work.

Reflecting conservative philosophy dating back to the 1920s, Koch even called for "the abolition of the governmental Postal Service," "the abolition of the Environmental Protection Agency," and "the abolition of the Food and Drug Administration."

After the Republican Great Depression struck in 1929 and about a third of Americans lost their jobs, homeless exploded, and hunger stalked the land, Republican President Herbert Hoover's treasury secretary, Andrew Mellon, famously argued that saving the economy and American workers was the duty of the private sector, not government. Instead of helping out working people, Mellon's advice was just to let everything crash, and the very, very rich (like himself) would eventually pick up the pieces and start over.

"Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate," Mellon said. "Purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down… enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people."...

More, https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/the-gop-is-pursuing-a-strategy-of-public-slaughter/
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- Stanford Researchers Say They Won't Be Silenced after Criticizing Trump's Coronavirus Advisor Dr. Scott Atlas, CNBC
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/24/stanford-researchers-say-they-wont-be-silenced-after-criticizing-trumps-coronavirus-advisor-dr-scott-atlas.html

..Atlas, in his medical career, has specialized in radiology and neuro-radiology and not infectious disease. In recent months, he’s made a series of controversial statements, including to push the White House to allow young people to contract the coronavirus in hopes of achieving “herd immunity.”...

[beachbumbob]

1. ALWAYS the intent, so no surprise

[SharonClark]

2. Evidently Thom Hartmann doesn't know what the word "slaughter" means.

It's not helping to make his point when he begins with a ridiculous headline.

[appalachiablue]

3. Dr Scott Atlas, Fox TV doc, is a neuroradiologist, has no experience

with infectious diseases, epidemiology and public health