Milquetoast Conservative or Ally of the Radical Right?

Congressman Richard Hanna (R-22NY) votes against progressive interests every chance he gets.  He started out his congressional career by sponsoring legislation that would lower the corporate tax rate from 25% to 15%, and shortly thereafter he voted to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, while voting to cut funding for Food Stamps, Meals on Wheels, and Head Start.  He has voted for successive Ryan Budgets that managed to cut just about every helpful program for many of his local constituents, including section VIII housing, Medicaid extension, health care coverage for the uninsured, and student loans and grants.  He proudly proclaims that he voted against the successful Affordable Care Act, and since it became the Law, has voted to repeal it every time he has had the chance, even though his district has some of the worst poverty in the state!  And, when he voted YEA for the Paul Ryan budget for 2015, he did what he has done in the past:  he voted for breaks for the rich and cuts for the poor and middle class.  No matter how you slice it, the Republican Party, and that includes Mr. Hanna, is not on your side.   They are your adversaries!
Oh, I know-- he's a nice guy, and a self-made millionaire, and his votes are sometimes quite moderate.  But that is not the point!  The point is, that every time he gets the chance, he votes for his real constituency - his big donors - and votes against the interests of ordinary citizens.  Yes, I know he sticks up for Remington Arms and DFAS, and local farmers, and I hear his constituency services are pretty good as well.  But, I submit to you one basic fact -- every Congressman, Republican or Democrat -- would do the same in those areas.  After all, Chuck Schumer, a Democratic Senator, has demonstrated his concern for our area by advocating for DFAS, as well as for Remington Arms remaining in Ilion.  He has even secured some additional federal gun contracts for them!  In matters like this, Hanna is just doing what others would do, and have done.  He advocates for businesses in our area, and for individuals who bring him problems he can help to resolve.  None of this makes him an outstanding Congressman; it just shows he has a job to do in certain areas that doesn't change much, but goes on no matter who occupies that seat.
But let's get down to brass tacks.  Mr. Hanna has now affiliated himself with the destructively radical Tea Party crowd.  On healthcare alone, he completely parrots their distortions and lies regarding Obamacare, evident in a recent brochure in which he touted his fervent opposition to the ACA by exclusively citing Tea Party distortions of that Law.  He unequivocally supported the 2015 Ryan Budget (as he did with the last few Ryan Budgets) that fervently advocates the undermining of healthcare expansion through Medicaid and other means.  If the Republicans keep the House and gain control of the Senate, they will almost immediately repeal the very successful ACA so that millions of people will continue to be uncovered or inadequately covered for health insurance, and upwards of 14 million people will suffer the loss of the coverage they just gained under Obamacare.  And, his excuse will be that he cannot support anything that increases our debt again parroting the Radical Right-wing.
Strange then, that he has consistently supported the huge increases proposed in Defense spending, as shown in all the Ryan budgets for which he has voted.  It's necessary to keep our nation strong, he will say.  But our nation needs to cut back its profligate spending for wars that are finally over, and have had substantial troop deductions.  We don't need to spend huge sums for a standing army.  That is the stuff of which a bellicose nation is made.  The Republican mantra is that we must always "be prepared" for war.  Why? because they - the Republican hawks - are always ready to start one!  Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Ukraine.  You name it -- wherever there is an international "incident" the Republican Party's first response is always to want to send troops in to protect our freedoms and to show those bullies that we mean business!  Mr. Hanna has aligned himself with that crowd, and he is not to be trusted.
One of his constituents reports other ways in which he cannot be trusted, having to do with his tendency to walk on both sides of a fence  and say anything to survive the moment. “When I spoke with him at his 'meet and greet' in Oneida last spring I introduced myself as  a registered Democrat who regularly voted for (his Republican predecessor) until he became an outspoken supporter of the Iraq War, and said I was disappointed that he (Hanna) voted for the Ryan Budget. He responded that "The Ryan Budget isn't going anywhere and it's a sh___y (he used that expletive) budget." Then why does he continue to vote for it? At his town hall meeting at the Colgate Inn last summer, I publicly asked why House Republicans repeatedly voted to repeal or defund Obamacare 40 times (then the count) rather than suggest needed changes. He admitted that voting to repeal something 40 times is ‘insane’ or the ‘height of insanity.’ Yet he has continued to do just that.”  If he votes over and over for something that is equivalent to excrement, and if voting against health care reform over 50 times is insanity, how can we trust his judgment or his veracity?
Perhaps even more egregious than that, Mr. Hanna has failed to lead the way on anything substantial relevant to this district,  in regard to a national purpose.  I have communicated with him about many issues on which he refused to take a stand until I began to wonder if the fence he sits on is beginning to make him weak-minded.  He never leads; he most often follows:  "I'm waiting to hear what the debate has to offer"; "I'm collecting information on that,    "It's unclear how I will vote until I know more about the implications."  Here are some of the issues I have brought to him or his staff:
* setting a minimum income tax for businesses and rich individuals
* expanding gun checks for guns sold at gun shows or by private dealers outside the federally regulated public vendors 
* co-sponsoring a discharge petition to get legislation out of Committee and onto the House floor for a vote
* support (and co-sponsorship) of a comprehensive immigration reform bill
* support for the rich paying their fair share in taxes
* vote against the sequester budget
* vote against shutting-down the government
* vote for re-opening of government  (to his credit, he did)
* take leadership on sponsoring legislation that would actually reform elections
* restore and extend unemployment insurance benefits
* raise the minimum wage
More than once, it seemed that Mr. Hanna would support something, as he did in one or two of the above cases.  But mostly, in the end he would back off, and more or less follow the dictates of his Party or of his Party's leadership.  Once in a great while, he did buck the Party with his vote, but mainly when there was no chance that the legislation involved would pass the Senate.  This way, he was able to appear to be voting for something that was moderate, but mainly he was using the system to look like a moderate. 
While in his home district, Hanna has most often managed to meet with editorial boards, with the heads of businesses, with the NY Farm Bureau in Albany, and with Business leader groups like the one in Hamilton, NY.  These are his usual haunts, along with several Rotary, Kiwanis, and Chamber of Commerce organizations.  The groups are pretty far removed from other constituents such as the poor, minorities, students and people who are sick or disabled. Although he has been known to meet with representatives of these groups, he doesn't usually sit down and talk directly to the people who must live with these exigencies every day.   I suspect he is more comfortable avoiding certain of his constituents who probably affiliate with another political Party.  His financial situation may have something to do with this tendency.  The second-term lawmaker and construction company founder made the 50 Richest list in Congress again this year with a reported minimum net worth of $14.38 million (putting him at #25), most of which is spread among dozens of mutual funds and individual stocks.  He reported making a loan of at least $250,000 to his last congressional campaign. 
Let me now tell you some of what he has voted against (as reported by "That's My Congress" and "Votesmart.org"), much of which might have benefited you, the reader.
Rep. Hanna's Conservative Action Score: 56
The Conservative Action Score is calculated by compiling a series of observably conservative roll call votes and bill co-sponsorships in the 113th Congress and comparing Richard Hanna's behavior against that conservative standard:

• Disregard for constitutional protections of American civil liberty
• Secrecy and exclusion of citizens from government
• Support for discriminatory policy
• The symbolic denigration and practical undermining of science and education in America
• Active harm to the environment or passive allowance for environmental destruction
• Pursuit of further advantage for those in America who are already its richest
• Dismissal of peaceful possibilities and obeisance to the military-industrial complex

H. Con. Res. 25 Amendment 3
If the Back To Work Budget from the Congressional Progressive Caucus had passed, it would have increased income taxes for millionaires and billionaires, eliminated tax loopholes for households with an annual income of over $250,000, brought education budgets back up to responsible levels, restored funding for jobs programs in impoverished communities, put income from investments at the same level of taxation as income from work, and ended tax breaks that reward outsourcing of jobs to overseas sweatshops. The Back to Work Budget would have shut down the pipeline of subsidies to polluting fossil fuels companies, reduced military spending to 2006 levels, and set a price for the emission of carbon pollution that causes disastrous climate change. The Back To Work Budget would have cleaned up both the environment and the economy. 
Hanna voted against it.
H.R. 1072 For decades, spokespersons for corporate interests have come up with many theoretical reasons why private-for-profit programs should be more efficient than government-run programs. However, empirical research into the matter has failed to consistently find an economic or operational benefit of privatization. Privatization of military operations, for instance, has led to infamous fraud, waste, delays and other abuses. Privatization of other government services has interfered with oversight and transparency. Despite this, corporate interests in Congress continue to push privatization. In the late Winter of 2013, Congressman John Duncan introduced H.R. 1072, legislation that requires the privatization of government services in many agencies, without the context of study into whether such privatization would actually do any good.
Rep. Hanna co-sponsored this bill.
H. Amdt. 308 to H.R. 2609 H.R. 2609 (the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act) is a cash cow for connected corporations in the fossil fuels industry. These hugely profitable companies like to complain about government regulations, but they love the money that the federal government pays them to help boost their corporate profits. The subsidies that Congress awards to these corporations more than compensates those corporations for their costs in deploying lobbyists and writing checks. In introducing an amendment to H.R. 2609, Representative Jackie Speier attempted to interrupt this flow of funds. If passed, Speier's amendment would have removed $30 million in extra government payments to oil, gas, and coal corporations that had been added on at the last minute by recipients of fossil fuel corporate largesse.
Rep. Hanna voted against this bill and the amendment
Amendment 100 to H.R. 2397
The National Security Agency, a U.S. military spying organization, has been caught seizing massive numbers of private telephone records, grabbing information about who Americans are talking to the telephone and when these calls occur. This surveillance includes practically every telephone communication within U.S. borders, and has been conducted without any evidence connected with criminal activity. The Amash amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act would have required the NSA to specify particular individuals as targets in its investigations, rather than conducting a massive dragnet of all telephone communications
Rep. Hanna voted against this amendment
H.R. 1506 Hardly before the 113th Congress had even begun, severe cuts began to education, housing, science, transportation, medicine, and other essential domestic programs. Even meat inspectors and nutrition for pregnant women and babies were being cut. In these circumstances, it is outrageous that funding for unnecessary military weapons programs survived. U.S. Representative Ed Markey responded to this problem with H.R. 1506, which would, if passed, block funding for new long-range bomber aircraft, reduce the number of American nuclear-powered submarines cruising the world's oceans, and cut the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons.
Rep. Hanna  failed to support H.R. 1506. 
H.R. 1554
H.R. 1554, the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, would, if passed into law, close the loopholes that corporations and wealthy individuals use to avoid paying their fair share of the dues that keep American society going, tighten prohibitions on foreign tax shelters and punish those who conspire to devise systems through which their wealthy clients can engage in tax evasion.
Rep. Hanna failed to support H.R. 1554. 
Just to round out this voting record, here are a few items in brief that reveal Mr. Hanna's true identity as an ally of the radical Right-wing of his Party:
*Voted to pass a bill that increases the number of hours from 30 to 40 that an employee is required to work per week in order to be considered a full-time employee for the purpose of employer-sponsored health care coverage
*Voted to return to less stringent standards regarding coal-mining waste
*Voted to adopt an amendment that prohibits the social cost of carbon from being used in an environmental review or decision-making process of a regulatory agency.
*Voted to pass a bill that authorizes either chamber of Congress to sue the President or an employee of the federal government if Congress believes the individual violated the constitutional requirement to faithfully enforce any provision of a federal statute, rule, or regulation; includes the establishment or implementation of a formal or informal policy, practice, or procedure to refrain from enforcing, applying, following, or administering any provision of a federal statute, rule, regulation, program, policy, or other law (Sec. 2).
*Voted to pass a bill that prohibits the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from issuing, revising, or finalizing any regulation that was in effect on January 1, 2010 regarding an organization that claims a tax exempt status under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.
*Co-sponsored and voted for a bill in 2011 designed to terminate provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that provide for taxpayer financing of Presidential Election Campaigns after December 31, 2009.
*Co-sponsored and voted to pass a bill that requires states to recognize permits issued by another state that authorize the concealed carry of a firearm
Now this is not to say that Mr. Hanna hasn't voted for some legislation that leaned toward the moderate side.  He did vote against defunding Planned Parenthood, NPR, the National Endowment for the Arts, and he voted for the Senate version of Violence Against Women Act.; he earned a score of 21 for such progressive votes.  But, once again, he has failed so many times to take the route of co-sponsorship and actually voting for progressive legislation, that his record shows his in-grained conservative attitudes.  His unfortunate tendency has been to vote against something in an amendment and then vote for the same thing in a larger Republican budget bill. When it comes to crucial big Republican issues in legislation, he usually falls in line with his Party. However, his alignment with the radical Right over healthcare is an indication of where you can expect him to go in another term.  Most assuredly, he will not be representing you if you make less than, say $250,000 per year, but he will represent those who make more than that. 
While he should be praised for the few times he has taken an independent route in his voting, it is clear that Mr. Hanna is not on the side of a goodly portion of his local constituency.  And here's the real problem:  he's not going to change; he's not going to lead; he's not going to become some sort of Progressive, taking on the philosophy and values that disturb him or introducing legislation favorable to the working poor or the paycheck-to-paycheck middle class. 
What can you do?  If Mr. Hanna runs unopposed, as it appears he will be able to do this coming November, start finding out what it takes to submit a write-in vote (go to surveymonkey.com and take the survey titled: "Democratic Action Network survey" if you want to express an opinion and find out what you can do).  On the other hand, if you are satisfied with a "conservative milquetoast" now allied with the Radical Right,  then don't worry about it.  Just sit back and let the waves of austerity, inflation, increased taxes and fewer services wash right over you.  Feel the warmth of  those who repeal your healthcare, your unemployment compensation, a decent minimum wage and the training you were seeking for a new job.  The Republicans don't care and Mr. Hanna is not about to go out on a limb for you either.  Sorry....

YOU Voted For It!

It's an old political adage, but it may carry more truth than we would like:  "Elections have consequences." 

The 2014 "off-year" election may be one that has consequences far beyond our wildest expectations.  Perhaps it has not occurred to those who most often vote in the presidential-election years, but this off-year election could mark a turning-point in our approach to governing, taking us back to a time when our central government was so weak it could not even mount an effort to research and destroy bacteria that caused often fatal diseases.  There was no such thing as flu shots or vaccinations, or swallowing a liquid.  Or, perhaps we shall return to the days when people carried guns and shot other people just because they argued, or disliked, or held bigoted views toward each other.  (Oh, I forgot -- we're seeing some of this already thanks to NRA influence over the Congress!).   We will certainly go back to a time when workers were exploited by big (and small) companies to the point of low wages, few benefits, long hours and continuous exposure to a toxic environment (Omigosh, we're pretty much there as well because of destructive Republican anti-Labor policies!).

The problem is, the average voter does not see the consequences inherent in a view of government that obsesses on certain themes and "principles" -- perhaps better known as "ideology."  Nor do most voters believe that political parties, once in power, will carry-through on what they espouse before being elected.  Too many voters somehow feel that politicians will always move toward the middle ground once in office.  In this case, a huge mistake!  Here are a few of the themes to which the current Republican Party is viscerally connected.  They are serious, and they are committed.  So beware of voting for a Republican (even if billed as a "moderate") because you will definitely feel the effects of the following:

1)  Weakening of the federal government by:
    *giving states more power and more responsibility for programs and governance
    *reducing the size of the central government which means fewer personnel, such as researchers, teachers, police officers, public health personnel, inspectors, agents, etc., and fewer safeguards for ordinary citizens relative to sanitary water, food, environment or safe job sites, automobiles, and schools, or lending practices
    *throwing out as many regulations as possible so that businesses can operate in an unfettered manner (meaning able to take unfair advantage of workers and consumers);
    *diminishing the role of the President and Executive branch so that Congress can exercise more control
    *gutting every social program that is now functioning under federal auspices
    -*returning programs like Medicare and Medicaid, along with administrative powers, to the states but without federal mandates or money
    -*privatizing as many governmental functions as possible, especially where people have money involved (prisons, schools, adjunct military operations, Social Security, etc.)

2)  Growing the military/industrial complex by:
    *private contracts, increased federal spending, and emphasis on foreign "threats" to our freedom
    *being always prepared to go to War as the primary response to international disagreements or aggression; they believe in bellicose action, not diplomacy, as a first response

3)  Denial of the existence of problems and of scientific method for analyzing and solving problems, so that one does not have to face them, or suggest solutions for them:
     *poverty, global warming, institutional racism, environmental hazards such as "fracking", dangers from unfettered use of fossil fuels; sexual assault in the military, gun violence; even bullying in schools
    *lack of health insurance for millions, lack of clean water,  lack of attention to safety in many areas such as home-building, dangers to people on-the-job; lack of adequate resources in schools; lack of "green" thinking in terms of industry and of the way we live

4)  The use of government power to force certain religious (and ethical) beliefs upon all the citizenry:
    *such as text books that tout "creationism", or prayer in schools and other public and private functions, banning of contraception and abortion; touting heterosexual marriage as the only allowable union;  promoting the establishment of a "Christian" nation; using Judeo-Christian heritage - such as the Ten Commandments - as the basis for legal proceedings and rulings; or passages like: "submit to your husbands" as grounds for diminishing of women's rights

5)  Certain "rights" placed on the chopping block:
    *continued curbing of voting rights for certain groups, over-turning of a civil right to marry whom you wish, the right to live where you wish, the right to health care and safety; the right to worship or not worship as you please, and the right to speak out against the government (once in power, the Tea Party will forget that the right to assemble freely and to protest were how they made their presence and their ideology known to many)

So, let's take a little closer look at what you (and your neighbors and family) will reap as a citizen from this radical Right-wing crowd and their sympathizers if they are victorious in 2014:

1)    Obamacare repealed  - up to 14 million people lose new coverage they just gained; Insurance companies reap rewards and go back to their old ways of denying coverage; young people lose extension on their parent's policies; consumers lose protections; Medicaid loses extension and is greatly restricted; premiums rise precipitously; care at home goes by the boards as the private institution business returns - nursing homes and extended care facilities will see a building boom and Granny will see the inside of an institution run for the shareholders and administrators rather than the familiar surroundings of her own domicile; YOU will once again be put in the position of losing everything you have accumulated because one catastrophic illness will send you into bankruptcy!
2)    Social Security  will gradually be harder to get in time to provide a supported retirement, as the eligible age is raised substantially, perhaps to 72 (like working until you are 72? -- it's what you voted for when you chose a Republican!).  Ooops - there goes another bunch of your money to privatization:  remember that Republicans want to place your funds into private banks?  Sorry friend -- they want to get that entire Social Security Trust Fund out of federal hands and into private coffers so they can make money on your money!  And you thought they were just talking about young people having personal SS bank accounts!  No - they want all the money they can get from SS into private banks
3)    Medicare – oh yes: the Paul Ryan voucher system.  Aren't you lucky - now you have to wait for a governmental voucher to come to you before you can go to the doctor -- feeling ill?  you should because we will have an ill population unable to get adequate medical care and attention because they do not get enough coverage with a voucher system.  And guess what, the voucher amount isn't keeping up with inflation because the central government doesn't want to spend the money, so you keep getting less help, but have more healthcare bills!  And the elderly, well they just keep getting sicker (and dying earlier) because preventative care is no longer available! 
4)    Medicaid – devolved to states.  Guess what? -- the states don't have the money to manage it, let alone fulfill all of its present requirements and benefits, so now coverage for nursing home care is eroded; certain care-at-home provisions are gone and your state has cut back on the number of people actually administering Medicaid, so long lines are waiting for you when you try to straighten things out at the state office building Medicaid offices.  But that's not all: more and more doctors are refusing to take Medicaid patients because they can't rely on the state to pay on time, nor to pay at all at a reasonable rate.  Don't forget, there will be no federal regulations to protect you as a consumer, so you and the state have to battle out the exigencies!  You voted for it -- don't complain!  And vendors:  guess what? those delays in payment -- they just got worse!

Now here's something to consider very seriously:  if all of these programs are weakened by the Republicans you elected, what is the result?  You will not have the guarantee of a Social Security check for your retirement in your senior years; you will not have adequate health coverage that is there when you need it; you will not have the support for that end-of-life period when outside care-giving is essential.  Whatever happened to your meager savings?  It will go to fill the gaps that your Republican friends set up for you.  But - I forgot - that's what YOU voted for!

5)    Social programs will be devastated.  I hear you are looking for some money to buy food because your medical expenses are eating up your budget?  Well there used to be food stamps, but they're gone.  Try the food pantry -- Ooops! they're out of food because of the many folks depending on their services.  Maybe you could get some help at the County Social Services department.  Oh, you tried it and they can't get to you until 3 months from now because of staff cut-backs.  Sorry, I have no answer for you.  That's right - there will be no answers for special needs of people because there will be fewer services, and they will be under-funded, under-staffed, and under-cut by the Republican juggernaut!  No Head Start; no aid to single mothers and children; no more public housing available.  But there may well be some institutions run by private profiteers where you can live and pay and pay and pay!  YOU voted for this!

6)    Public education narrowed to inner cities; support for privatized (for- profit charter) schools moves quickly; public schools close; teachers laid off; curriculum becomes an example of religious sectarian garbage.  You voted for it all.  Your middle-class kids can't afford to go to any of the privately owned (charter) schools, so what now?  Can't go to a private college with a big name because of the debt that will burden you and your child for decades.  Pell grants - gone.  Borrow, borrow, borrow - and those private bankers get one more piece of you.  Community colleges, trade schools, run-down state schools, are all the choices left to you, and your child wanted to become a doctor?  Sorry - YOU voted for it!

7)    Climate change, fossil fuels,  gun violence control - things you thought would not really affect you, but now clean water is scarce and rationed; hard, hard winters and brutally hot and arid summers are taking their toll, and your car doesn't get the gas mileage it used to; gas & electricity costs are sky-rocketing; the XL pipeline is bringing nothing but heartache and cleanup costs to communities who can ill-afford to clean up the sludgy stuff from their fields and streams (and from their tap water); people with guns on the highways are killing anyone who cuts them off or goes too slow; children are no longer safe in the run-down public schools, even with armed guards present; and now, you're paying a new tax on fuel because we can't afford as a country to buy anywhere else except from countries who hike prices all the time.  And now you have emphysema because of all the air pollution from our tax-subsidized industries that have moved in.  YOU voted for it all!

8)    Jobs, infrastructure, unemployment, minimum wage - and you can't find a decent job?  How long have you been unemployed?  10 years?  Have you tried the unemployment office?  Of course you have.  How about McDonald's or Wal-Mart?  Nothing?  I hear that those chains are cutting back on employees anyway, and going after part-time help.  And the wages - still can't earn enough to get out of poverty, but now it goes for more expensive stuff everywhere so it's worth even less.  Wow - we sure could use that Jobs and Infrastructure bill that Presidents like Obama and Clinton have proposed, but Republicans keep defeating!  but remember, YOU voted for it!

9)    We're at War with Iran, and in another Cold War with Russia.  Remember rationing... well, it's not convenient or satisfying!  Because of Republican cut-backs, we all have to go along with rationing of food, fuel, tires, even cosmetics because the war efforts require sacrifices to keep our troops equipped and fed, and YOU voted for this?

10)    The elite are given everything; the poor and middle class get nothing much.   Corporations, the richest 1%, CEOs, investors, professionals are protected and aggrandized through the tax system and through special laws, while government help for the rest of us is vilified and repealed.  Turns out - YOU voted against yourself!
 
Now, I realize that the election of 2014 is a ways away.  But it is not too early to begin thinking about it and its possible consequences.  In fact, in preparation for that election, you may want to consider what YOU can do right now to change the course of being subject to a Right-wing governing elite and Congress.  It's not too early to begin protesting every move they make.  Use your phone, use email, use the social media -- all can be used to protest and to enlist others.  Join a progressive organization that is currently opposed to Right-wing ideology like Public Citizen or MoveOn.org, or the National Action Network, Democracy for America, People for the American Way, Organizing for Action, Citizens United, League of Women Voters, NAACP, etc.  There are plenty out there and they need your support and your commitment (see www.sourcewatch.org for a comprehensive list and even some contact information).  Locally (around Oneida County and Utica, NY), contact Democratic Action Network, CNY Citizens United, NAACP,  OccupyUtica.org, Working Families Party, Latino Association, Refugee Center, For The Good, Inc., and others ( see www.TaxExemptWorld.com for listings and contact information). 

Do you really want to return to a time when this nation had slums everywhere, dark and dreary institutions, few social services, low wages, few consumer protections, and a disparity between rich and poor (or the middle class) that did not seem possible.  Do you like long lines at every help-centered agency, and nowhere to turn except to private profiteers, who gouge you at every chance?  Do you like higher and higher state taxes in order to conduct the services that will be state-run? 

Do you really want to vote for those who have little interest in YOU, and much more of a stake in industry, low taxes for the rich, tax breaks for the wealthy (that come from your taxes), privileges for themselves but not for others (like being able to deduct part of the cost of a private jet).  Do you really want a society with more shootings, slums, run-down schools, and rental housing than we now have?  Do you really want healthcare to become more expensive, more unaffordable, more consumer-unfriendly in order to further enrich the medical industry moguls? 

Elections have Consequences!  2014 is shaping up to be a challenge to our Democracy because Republican radicals want to change the way government functions and the way services are delivered.  They want to privatize everything so you end up having to buy from them, having to store your money with them, and having to dance to their tunes, not only of religious belief, but of capitalistic greed as well.  Now is the time to push back against the forces of Karl Rove, the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelman; against the commentators like Limbaugh, the Republican Super-PACs and their Heritage-like foundations and "think tanks,” and all their distortions of reality and of Truth!  They want to control your life and your money, but YOU hold the future in your hands; don't let it slip into the abyss of Right-wing know-nothingness and do-nothingness.  Don't give in...!  Vote for Progressives and Reformers!

SAVE the CHILDREN

Sometimes, it is terribly important to speak very plainly.  The United States government, many state governments, and local governments - and the representatives who are supposed to be representing us -- are simply guilty of abusing and neglecting children.  It just simply can't get any plainer than that!  Well, yes it can, and here's how.

Poor children, in particular, are being neglected and abused by a myriad of government failings and actions.  Let us first cite some important statistics from a Children's Defense Fund (CDF) Report on "The State of America's Children 2014", in order to set the stage for what must be said and done to alleviate such conditions and circumstances:

--Every fifth child (16.1 million) is poor, and every tenth child (7.1 million) is extremely poor.  Children are the poorest age group, and the younger they are, the poorer they are!
--Every fourth infant, toddler and pre-school child (5 million) is poor; 1 in 8 is extremely poor.
--At this point, a majority of our one and two year olds are children of color.  Within five years, children of color, who are disproportionately poor (nearly 1 in 3) will be a majority of all children in America, and in our future workforce, military, and as consumers. 
--Millions of these children are unready for school, poorly educated, and unprepared to face the future
--Nearly 60 per cent of all our children, and more than 80% of our Black and 75% of our Latino children cannot read or compute at grade level in 4th and 8th grades and so many drop-out of school before graduating.

--75% of young people, ages 17-24, cannot get into the military because of poor literacy, health, or prior incarceration.

--Nearly 1.2 million public school students were homeless in 2011-2012, 73% more than before the Great Recession
--Less than half of 3- and 4-year olds were enrolled in preschool in 2009-2011.  Early Head Start funding served only 4% of the 2.9 million eligible poor infants and toddlers  on any given day in FY 2012, and Head Start funding served only 41% of the 2 million eligible poor 3- and 4-year olds.
--More than 1 in 9 children lacked access to adequate food in 2012, 23% higher than before the Great Recession.  89% of children who relied on free or reduced price lunch during the school year did not receive meals through the Summer Food Service Program in 2012.
--In an average month in FY2011, 1.2 million households with children had no cash income and depended only on the SNAP program to stave off hunger
--Without government tax credits, food, housing and energy benefits, extreme child poverty would have been 240% higher!  In other words, Government safety net programs actually lifted 9 million children from poverty in 2012, including 5.4 million through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit, and 2.2 million through SNAP.

--In no state could an individual working full-time at minimum wage afford the fair market rent for a two-bedroom rental unit and still have enough for food, utilities and other necessities in 2013.
--A child - most likely an infant or toddler - is abused or neglected every 47 seconds
--Nearly 40% who are abused or neglected receive no post-investigation services or fewer services than they need
--In 2012, 101,719 children in foster care were waiting to be adopted
--4,028 children are arrested each day -- one every 21 seconds, and 1,790 children are serving sentences in adult prisons.
--U.S. children and teens are 17 times more likely to die from gun violence than their peers in 25 other high-income countries. 
--Gun violence disproportionately affects children of color.  In 2010, Black children and teens were nearly five times, and Hispanic children and teens were more than three times, more likely to be killed by guns than White children and teens.
--40% of children who needed mental health services did not receive them in 2011-2012.
--Family health care costs pushed more than 2 million children into poverty in 2012.

"The greatest threat to America's economic, military and national security comes from no enemy without but from our failure, unique among high-income nations, to invest adequately and fairly in the health, education and sound development of all of our young".  So states Marian Wright-Edelman, CEO of the Children's Defense Fund, in her Preface to this Report.  Pope Francis has backed up her thoughts with one of his own: "A population that does not take care of the elderly and the children and the young has no future, because it abuses both its memory and its promise." 

Is that where we as a nation have placed ourselves: on the brink of destruction of our stature, our country and our shining light of representative democracy?  One would hope not, but the facts and the statistics seem to indicate otherwise.  The Radical Republicans who have taken over (and begun to destroy) a strong central government with programs that have worked to alleviate some of these conditions, are hell-bent on making everyone in our society lift themselves up on their own accord, or fall by the wayside and get out of the way.  It appears to me that they have forgotten some very important axioms.

1)    children constitute the future of this country
2)    investment in the future i.e. the children, is a necessity
3)    the cost of neglecting this task is enormous
4)    current costs of inaction are increasing

Unfortunately, I think I know part of the reason that the Radical Right thinks it is on the right track:

1)    they believe our future does not lie in the funding of programs for the uneducated, the un-rich, and the under-class because they regard all of "them" as unworthy and thus unproductive.
2)    but they do believe (wrongly I think) that all this country needs for leadership, and innovation, and entrepreneurship, and prosperity are the sons and daughters of a rich plutocracy that can afford the best of everything, and thus produce the best of everything.  They think an elite private education, combined with well-invested resources and an innate sense of business acumen will lead the nation to a pre-eminent position once again in world politics.

Yes.  The Plutocracy, the new aristocracy, the elite -- call them what you will -- believe firmly that the destiny of this nation rests in their hands, not the hands of any other group or class.  They simply do not buy the axiom that "growing the middle class" is the way to prosperity.  The cost to this nation because of just such an attitude will be enormous as we begin to fade from our coveted number one spot to something more in the range of 10th or 12th.  Ask Britain -- they know how it feels to fall far in terms of top performance.

If our attitudes toward poor and minority children don't improve drastically, we shall continue to lose potential leaders, potential entrepreneurs, potential teachers and other professionals, great economists and inventors and researchers, as well as scientists.  Every time a child fails because he or she is poor, or Black, or Hispanic,  homeless or malnourished, we have lost a resource for this country.  Moreover, I hate to think of all the potential we have already lost because our system does not recognize this potential, but eschews its very existence.  Not only are we scrapping human resources and potential, but we are costing ourselves enormous sums in terms of achievement and productivity by the simple denial of the fact that government help and aid and resources can undo some of the effects of poverty and produce winners and leaders in more than one limited class.  

Let me just lay before you some of the preventable costs that the CDF Report says are already plaguing us as a nation

*    child poverty costs the nation at least $500 billion each year just in extra education, health and justice costs, and in lost productivity
*     child abuse and neglect cases cost the U.S. $80.3 billion each year in direct costs and lost productivity
*    gun deaths and injuries cost the U.S. $174.1 billion each year, or 1.15% of our total Gross domestic product
*    the high school students who dropped out of the class of 2011 will cost the nation's economy an estimated $154 billion in lost income over the course of their lifetimes
*     the achievement gap between American students and those in top-performing countries like Finland and Korea cost this nation $1.3 to $2.3 trillion in 2008

As the CDF Report indicates, "We can afford to do better."  In terms of counter-revolution of which we spoke in our last posting, we can turn some things upside down and inside out.  Here are a few of the suggestions in the Report.

• the amount the U.S. spends per minute on corporate tax breaks would pay the salary of 16 child caseworkers, and expanding childcare increases the work participation of poor working mothers.  More than 220,000 children are currently on waiting lists for childcare assistance.
• three days' worth of the amount spent on corporate tax breaks would provide a whole year's worth of SNAP food assistance for the estimated 737,000 children who don't have enough food.
• the amount the U.S. spends per year on corporate tax breaks for private jets would pay the salaries of 6,400 high school teachers
• all poor infants and toddlers could have been served by Early Head Start if the government had simply diverted 18 days of defense spending,.  Currently, only about 4% of eligible children reap the benefits of this high quality early learning experience
• more than 17,500 low-income children could enroll in Head Start for a year for the cost of just one F-35 fighter jet among the nearly 2.500 the DoD is scheduled to buy.

The justification for the austerity, the penury, and the cutting of social programs is often simply that we cannot afford them; that our deficit is already excessively even dangerously high.  This amazing rhetoric seems to miss a very decisive point: we cannot afford not to invest in our children because the consequences will be much worse than a strained budget.  Edelman says this: "If the foundation of your house is crumbling you must fix it.  Education is a lot cheaper than ignorance.  Preschool education is a bargain compared to prison."  Apparently, the Radical Republicans just don't get it, and they persist in putting forth for passage a budget that favors the rich and over-burdens the poor, in almost every aspect imaginable, instead of the other way round.  The Paul Ryan budget for FY2015 is the pre-eminent example.  You cannot continually protect and embellish a small group of rich people and expect that will make up for the harm done to our most precious resource: our children.

Where is the spirit of investment that usually characterizes the Plutocrats?  You would think, above all, that they would recognize the potential return on investment that this country would garner.  Nobel-prize winning economist, James Heckman, estimates a lifelong economic rate of return of 7-10% each year for every dollar invested in quality early childhood programs.    Are the Radical Republicans simply touting an ideology for its own sake instead of endorsing the most advantageous direction for the country, namely the investment in the general welfare and success of the poor, the working poor, and the middle class?  I suspect we have it about right!

Marion Wright Edelman ends her Preface to the CDF Report by telling a story about a young 12 year-old black boy in Washington, DC, who she encountered in a classroom where she was speaking to students about the riots and looting that took place in American cities when Dr. King was assassinated, and telling them not to jeopardize their futures by such actions.  The boy looked her in the eye and said, "Lady, what future?  I ain't got no future.  I ain't got nothing to lose." 

She concludes: "The Children's Defense Fund has spent the last 40 years trying to prove that boy's truth wrong in our economically and militarily powerful and spiritually poor nation.  And we will never stop until we succeed.  It's time to give him and the 16.1 million poor children like him today a fair chance to succeed and to keep Dr. King's dream - for him and the millions like him - alive."

I agree that's what we need to do, but how?  How do we turn the system inside out so that planes and tax subsidies and tax cuts for the rich become lesser priorities than the education, training, health, wages and quality of life for all children whatever their ethnic origin or their racial makeup?  Stay tuned....

Who’s Your Adversary?

I am writing to you today because I really want you to know that the Republican Party is your adversary, led by some people who believe that you are "not worthy" of having a good job with adequate wages, having a vote, or having your needs met by government programs.  They are in favor of welfare for the rich in the form of tax shelters, tax breaks, tax subsidies and lower tax rates.  They have no hesitancy about taking the tax revenues from the broad middle class to give to the richest one percent in one form or another.  What you must understand is that this form of welfare for the rich is all done by manipulating the tax system so that these amounts are not included in any budget that you will ever see.  It's simply done using the tax system to give breaks, subsidies and rebates directly to the wealthiest among us without their having to go through any oversight process. 

Here are some examples:

• when some companies, for instance, submit their taxes, they can deduct from their taxable income the total depreciation on equipment that they bought during that tax year (no need to parcel depreciation out over several years).
• some companies get special tax breaks written into the tax laws and it only applies to them (film-makers for instance, and some oil companies)
• and how about that special break that millionaires get who purchase a private jet supposedly used partly for business - they can deduct the cost from their income

Don't forget, the rich get breaks on other taxes as well, thanks mostly to Republicans.  At most, they pay just 15% on capital gains (the Ryan Budget wants to reduce it to ZERO).  They have a reduced rate on estate tax.  They don't pay into Social Security except on the first $113,700 of their substantial incomes.

Do YOU have anything written especially into the tax code that benefits you so substantially on your taxes?  Of course you get a deduction for interest on mortgage loans, on state income and property taxes paid, for charitable contributions, for some business expenses, and for some medical expenses (IF there is anything to claim after the percentage of income is first applied.).  But did you know that most taxpayers simply use the standard deduction, and do not get any benefit from itemized deductions?  That's right: the Tax Policy Center estimates that 70% of taxpayers use the standard deduction, but 85% in the highest brackets itemize, so once again the rich use even these deductions to their advantage.

That's the basic way the rich have the advantage over the rest of us: they get breaks through the tax system that we will never ever see!   

Then, there is the left-over tax revenue that comes to the Federal government after the rich individuals and corporations have already extracted their special (privileged) tax breaks and subsidies (revenue lost that might be used for the general welfare of ordinary citizens!).   That leftover pot of money comes into the U.S. Treasury, and the Congress decides how to spend it; how to "divvy it up", so to speak.   They do that by making up a federal budget in the House of Representatives (the President gets to submit his version as well, but lately that has been Dead On Arrival).  Case in point: the Paul Ryan budgets of the last few years.  In  legislative bills that appropriate funds from those budgets to various programs, departments, commissions and offices, they parcel it out to meet the perceived needs of these varying entities. But first, this year, the Ryan Budget brings the top income tax rate down to 25%  (from 39.6%) for the  millionaires and billionaires.  They also want to cut the rate for corporations to 15%.   In order to do that, the Republican budget-makers had to find extra funds to cover this reduction in taxes for the rich.  Where do they get it? 

By making drastic cuts in other programs, well-known to the poor and middle class: food stamps, public housing, Head Start, college loans are a few.  But, did you know, they have also included draconian cuts for certain agencies that oversee health and safety for all of us, including the EPA, FEMA, FDIC and OSHA (worker protections).  Here's Rep. Steve Cohen's (TN-09) take on it:

"I'm not surprised that House Republicans released their budget proposal for next year on April Fools' Day-it certainly looks like a cruel joke being played on the American people. The Ryan plan-with its gimmicks, fuzzy math, and loopholes-keeps the deck stacked against hardworking (citizens) who deserve a fair shot at the American Dream. It takes away the health care security provided by President Obama's landmark Affordable Care Act, kills jobs, ends Medicare as we know it and hurts seniors, slashes food stamps and NIH medical research programs, makes college harder to afford, and raises taxes on middle-class families to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy."

Mother Jones writes: "A quick look at his section on national defense makes it clear that he plans no cuts to Pentagon discretionary spending, but that he actually wants to increase defense outlays. So that leaves big cuts to domestic spending. The grand total of non-interest cuts for the non-poor, then, amounts to $604 billion over ten years. The grand total of cuts to programs for the poor and working class amounts to  $3,749 trillion.  So out of total non-interest cuts of $4,352 trillion, it looks like about 86 percent of them are targeted at programs for those with low-incomes."

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget  reminds us that some of the largest cuts include repealing the coverage provisions in the Affordable Care Act, block-granting Medicaid and food stamps, and reducing the federal contribution for civilian pensions. The largest savings, $2.1 trillion, come from repealing the coverage expansions in the Affordable Care Act while leaving the bulk of the Act's Medicare reductions and additional tax revenues in place. The budget also claims about $730 billion of savings by block granting and capping the growth of Medicaid. So, even though 7.1 million people enrolled in new private health plans and 3 million adult children are on their parents' policies and millions more are now eligible for, and enrolled in, Medicaid, the Republicans want to gut this successful program by cutting funds for expansions that have already occurred!

So friends, there you have it.  YOU are called 'unworthy' in many instances, but here in this Ryan Budget and under the Tax Code, you are the ”special-of-the-day,” being devoured at every turn.  Too many Republicans are foes of yours because they don't see you as worth a whole lot to their (greedy) world of business, and because they just don't give a damn if you are having trouble making it from paycheck to paycheck. 

When was the last time your Republican Congressman came to your part of town to find out what you needed, or cared about, or deserved?  Perhaps he or she spoke at Rotary, at the Chamber of Commerce, at the Kiwanis Club...how nice!  Has he or she ever visited your neighborhood and met with a representative group of ordinary citizens to hammer out what would be best for you and your neighbors?  Doubtful, because Republicans spend major time meeting with big donors to make sure they are doing all they can for the “fat cats.”  They are not particularly anxious to hear from people like us...

Congressman Richard Hanna votes against your interests every chance he gets.  He started out his congressional career by sponsoring legislation that would lower the corporate tax rate from 25% to 15%, and shortly thereafter he voted to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, as well as voting to cut funding for Food Stamps, Meals on Wheels, and Head Start.  He has voted for successive Ryan Budgets that proposed to cut just about every helpful program for many of his local constituents, including public housing, Medicaid extension, health care coverage for the uninsured, and student loans and grants.  He proudly proclaims that he has voted against the successful Affordable Care Act (actually it's the Law), every time he has had the chance, even though his district has some of the worst poverty in the state!  And, when he votes YEA for the Paul Ryan budget for 2015, he will do as he has in the past:  he will vote for breaks for the rich and cuts for the poor and middle class because, no matter how you slice it, the Republican Party is not on your side.   They are your adversaries, and voting for them gives them an advantage over you that will exploit your life and cash until the day you die!