Originally Posted by
Terry
Well, for years many Republicans of all shades (mainstream, center-right, far right, etc.) have said "America should be run like a business."
When I say "Republicans" I'm not strictly referring to elected political representatives, or elitist donors funding the party, either.
I've been hearing for 3 + decades from working class conservatives how "America should be run like a business."
These same sentiments were bandied about when Ross Perot ran in 1992. They were also bandied about when Reagan took on the airline traffic controller lobbyists and fired the controllers, all in part of his delegitimization of unions in general terms.
For a variety of reasons, not insubstantial numbers of working class people have bought into the notions that unionizing is anti-American and America should not only be run like a business, but should be run like a corporation. Not a municipal corporation, but a business corporation. Corporations being hierarchical in nature, and usually serving to enrich those at the top of the pyramid far more than those at the bottom.
It's always puzzled me as to why so many working class people I've known feel this way, particularly since more than a few of those people had been subject to corporate layoffs (or "workforce downsizings" or whatever euphemism corporations now choose to apply to firings to infer the act means something less than what it actually is).
I guess some people are more comfortable with social/economic Darwinism than others. Odd, in that so many can seem fine with this philosophy on a business level, but are uncomfortable with it on a biological level re: evolution of species.
However, I digress.
The effects of this latest round of healthcare legislation for me are best seen within the context of the long historical struggle on a global scale. It's the Golden Rule axiom: he who has the gold makes the rules.
Those at the top, to a man, tend to believe they deserved to be where they are, they got to where they are without the help of anyone other than themselves, they deserve to keep everything they earn, everyone else who isn't on top is a loser and the function of their government that they have funded via lobbyists and large contributions (that they, in effect, have paid for) is to keep them on top via non-progressive tax codes, militarized local police forces, strict enforcement of laws on the lower classes (and lax enforcement for the elite) and the like.
That mindset has been there forever, and while the times have changed the methods of this structural societal maintenance have remained remarkably consistent. Defunding federal healthcare programs for the less wealthy (old, middle aged, young, whatever) are just part of the old "survival of the fittest" mentality. Goes hand in hand with stratifying wages and diminishing political influence.
Ryan, to his credit, actually seems to believe his economic notions are philosophically good for all people. His plans will weed out the less deserving in our society, and that in turn will make our country stronger over the long haul. Jesus, in Ryan's worldview, was weak because he believed the measure of a person's character can be seen in how he tends to the weak...with compassion, care, patience and wanting no greater reward for doing so other than the privilege of being able to serve his fellow man: that service in itself is the reward.
It's plain weird how so many Christian Conservatives (not necessarily including Ryan in this, because he doesn't particularly strike me as a Pence-like kind of politician who sees the "Hand of God" in everything [Ryan] does) have such a charmless view of the poor. Like, the poor are basically a nuisance. I wonder what Jesus would make of how his teachings have been twisted and maligned by so many of those politicians who profess to love Him so much.