A mattress TV ad shows a reprehensible person being asked by an onlooker “How do you sleep at night?” The accused claim to sleep all night long on one of the company’s mattresses.
Cute, but it made me think. “How do Republican legislators who voted for tax breaks for the wealthy, but large social spending cuts, sleep at night?” They may be thinking:
- Throwing people off social programs such as Medicaid will be done by the states that now must decide to raise taxes and cut essential services to make up the difference. Those working the front lines in state human services departments and healthcare providers who directly help the disabled and seniors in nursing homes will do the dirty work.
- The cuts don’t take effect until January 2027, when Democrats might be back in power to deal with the mess. That’s plenty of time to fully justify cowardly actions to voters with short memories.
- New regulatory changes buried in the “Big Beautiful Bill” that are difficult to interpret and implement will discourage participation by those in need.
- The changes don’t affect anyone in Congress personally, particularly if they don’t know anyone who is disabled, and because they themselves are covered by health insurance, provided at taxpayer expense.
- They could lose their seats if they don’t vote the way Trump and the MAGA cult say. Trump will make their lives miserable and finance their opponents in the primaries.
There are any number of other reasons that Congressional Republicans might use. The point is that those who voted for cuts to social programs may never have to stare a taxpayer in the eye and tell them they can’t have the necessary support they need.
The role of government is to set and fund priorities. Based on their actions, Republicans prioritize tax breaks for the wealthy and less regulation and oversight of major corporations, all at our expense.
Some Republicans believe poverty is the fault of the person suffering it. They didn’t work hard enough; they were born at the wrong time and in the wrong place; things that legislators think they have no responsibility to correct. Republicans say throwing money at a problem won’t fix it and will add to the federal deficit. Funny how they don’t think that way about tax breaks for the wealthy, corporations, and any organization that supports MAGA values.