Now, I can only call it as I see it, so some of my loved ones will disagree with me, but opinions don’t cause love to change, and you know what they say about opinions, everybody’s got one, right? My dad was a JFK-loving liberal Democrat (from Ohio, living in Louisiana) with friends who were leaving the Democratic Party to become Republicans. The South went through significant changes in the 1960’s, mostly due to a shift in support for integration and racial equality by Democrats, and even wo-men’s rights became liberal causes.
At the end of WWII, the economy started to soar, and instead of weapons of war we built cars and airplanes that expanded our visions of America. The Interstate Highway system was initiated in 1939 and again in 1944, but was completed under Eisenhower, and jobs were plentiful, much like Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps before the war, also because the Korean war created profitable markets. Industry improved with automation, and new manufacturing methods included chemical products for use in all walks of life. But the main reasons for the comfortable 50’s had everything to do with FDR’s social reforms, giving people a hand-out that led to a hand-up.
Workers were guaranteed a “cushion” retirement income through Social Security, the Federal Government authorized unemployment benefits, and we expanded unionization that increased wages and garnered worker benefits. Even medical costs were provided to those who were less fortunate than the average American, paid by State governments through Medicaid with Federal funding. As stated in my previous essay on the Economy (#10), the Unemployment Rate has little to do with the number of people who’re unemployed, but is calculated by the number of people applying to receive Unemployment benefits, and the qualifications to actually receive money are normally quite strict.
Under Reagan (Bless his previously Democrat/union heart, which still lived inside him.) this Republican Administration maneuvered the death of profit-sharing programs and stock options for employees, and unions were shamed and degraded in the public eye. (Yes, those GM laborers deserved $50 an hour, for their cars sold like hotcakes, and the profits were great.) The cost of everything rose during the 80’s — groceries, gasoline, utilities, all commodities, you name it, the cost rose. The healthcare system was ravaged by profit-making insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry.
The Republican Party, which has always supported Big Business over mom-and-pop business, gives tax breaks to corporations, thinking the profits will “trickle down” to us – what a laugh! The tax breaks of 2018-19 not only padded the pockets of CEO’s, select executives, and Boards of Directors, but their profits were put back into the stock market, causing it to soar. While middle-class Americans received more money on their paychecks because of this tax bill, they paid more taxes at year’s end. (I know I did.) Corporate profits should have gone for better wages, bonuses and benefits for the employees, as well as paying into a company’s Unemployment insurance coverage, which would help many people right now. Dems support these efforts.
In my career I was a State employee within the Criminal Justice system, and every time we had a Democrat as Governor, mental health and rehabilitation programs flourished, but funding for these programs was always cut under a Republican Governor. It’s been the Socialistic programs that have kept America afloat, along with a desire for free enterprise, and the Democratic Party has always upheld general welfare and care for the poor, even as Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) instructed us.
Social welfare programs thrived under Kennedy and Johnson, so check any certified graph to see that the Economy soared in those years, also in the 1990’s under Clinton, who left office “in the black” when it came to a budget surplus, despite his increased social welfare programs. Under Obama, we rose from near-Depression to the thriving Economy left for others to take credit for. The entire cost to “bail out” Americans right now — stimulus checks for all middle- and low-income taxpayers, continued unemployment benefits, and paying the medical costs for all uninsured and under-insured covid-19 patients — would be less than our magnificent F-35 fighter jet program.
So what’s the bottom line here? Will we continue to allow our Economy to benefit only the wealthy, while the rest of us suffer financially, just getting by, paycheck to paycheck (if there is one), “robbing Peter to pay Paul” by deferring payments and obtaining loans? Look again, I say, at verified charts of economic growth (not one made up by Showmen on the internet who sling crap and conspiracy theories uncontrolled by FCC regulations) and see for yourself how the economy grew during Democratic administrations, also how inflation increased and wages lagged during Republican administrations.
It boils down to a choice between the Big Guy (Corporate America) or the little guy, those of us who make well-under the income of today’s middle class, under $100,000 a year (even Dems say $400,000 a year for a family), to know the administrative and legislative candidates to vote for in upcoming elections. I believe that no one who makes less than $40,000 a year should have to pay income taxes, although Congress should explore options other than Federally taxing our income, perhaps a consumption tax on everything except food (caviar and the like not included). It’s past time that the Internal Revenue Service gets a complete overhaul, like a beauty make-over, dealing with what we’ve got to make reasonable, responsible changes in our tax system. It’s about trust, and I will vote for those who will do what they can to help the “little guy.”
Give to Caesar (government) the things that are Caesar’s, and to G-D the things that are G-D’s. Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17; Luke 20:25