There is a philosophy at work here. There is and has been for some long time a philosophy that says the Federal Government should only be involved in a very few things. National Defense, international relations, fostering trade and internal commerce and actually not much else.
Laissez Faire. That's why people who believe various agencies should just disappear have been put in charge of those agencies. It's a philosophy that no one has taken seriously for over a century. However, it had to be shot as dead as McKinley to get them to stop and it literally was. It was TR that opened that door to progressive government when McKinley was shot dead. The grandparents of some of today's republicans were horrified by progressivism. Remember, Wilbur Ross is 82. Trump, himself is in his mid-'70s. Yep their grandparents and in some cases their parents. Institutional memory dies hard. We've created a different world and there are people who just don't like it much and definitely have the resources to fight back.
Some of these people are just outright idiots but some of them are just wrong. Geez, I hope you don't have to be an outright idiot to just be wrong. Some of the smartest people I know have been wrong. Some of them I know personally, quite well.
For some reason, you can't convince these people the pittance we spend in the overall scheme of things to help and advance our fellow citizens isn't some sort of affront. They have not grasped the great lesson of the last century that by helping, in some small measure, the least among us we elevate us all despite the evidence all around them.
Let's talk about government cheese. Where do you think that came from? It was purchased by the government to support prices to farmers who had flooded the market with dairy products. The same is true with rice, canned hams and various fruit juices. But it's worse than that on a growing share of our extremely productive economy. The SNAP program streamlined delivery but in the end, it's a way of subsidizing agricultural production. A growing portion of that production is concentrated in corporate concerns who shortly will instruct their republican friends to just shut the hell up. That's not where it stops.
Let's look at energy production for home electrification and heating. If it weren't for nationwide subsidies of these commodities 20% of their market would be gone. We'd be looking at 20% of American households with some form of alternative electric production even if it was candles and home heating production even if it was scrap wood.. Telephones? Without subsidies, the ubiquitous phone booth would be back PDQ. Even Reagan got that.
How about medical care? Without Medicaid and Medicare, about 50% of hospitals would close and you'd likely die at 50. Not because you can't afford to provide for yourself but the facilities you rely on couldn't be run without the provided subsidies and they wouldn't exist. This provision benefits us all and has elevated us all. Can we economize? Of course. Can we abandon a century of progress? Of course not.
They are following a philosophy but it's a failed philosophy we all should know will not work.
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