For the 2014 campaigns, the GOP is
tinkering with its attack on the safety net.
Ah,
progress.
In
the 2012 elections, Republicans cast themselves as budget-balancers by
promising to whack welfare programs for the poor, snarling that such people are
“takers” and “moochers.”
Such
vindictive sourness didn’t play too well with voters, and Republicans may have
learned their lesson. Oh, they’re still going after food stamps, school
lunches, etc. with a vengeance. But this time, the GOP has a gentle, even
loving tone.
Its
official message-massagers have their members saying that they want to “help
the poor” by scrapping those programs.
Here’s
the GOP’s message: We’re doing this for the poor people’s own good. Their chief
budgeteer, Rep. Paul Ryan, trotted this theme out at a recent right-wing rally
where he condemned school lunches as unloving “Obamafare” plopped on plates by
unsmiling cafeteria personnel.
“What
they’re offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul,” oozed the
Wisconsin Republican who served as Mitt Romney’s
presidential running mate.
If
that doesn’t make you gag, consider another subsidized lunch program that
tender-hearted GOP budget whackers never mention, much less demand that it be
cut. It’s the tax subsidy for corporate meals, drinks, and entertainment.
Multimillionaire
CEOs can go wining and dining on your and my dime, writing off their lavish
lunches, cocktails, dinners, and club-hopping as a business expense. And
expensive it is for us taxpayers — this subsidy adds up to more than $12
billion a year.
We
ought to be subsidizing healthy meals for poor people with that money.
Besides,
just think about all that executive initiative being sapped by this giveaway.
Paul Ryan should start doing something to end the culture of dependency in the
CEO community.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is
a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He’s also editor of the
populist newsletter, The Hightower
Lowdown. OtherWords.org