We are in the home stretch for the mid-term elections. Among all the negative campaign ads there are a few desperate Republican promises popping up to sway some votes. I’ll give you my views, but judge for yourself.
Healthcare Accessibility
Josh Hawley and many Republican candidates have vowed to protect the pre-existing conditions coverage mandate in the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile GOP state officials (including Hawley) are suing the Federal government to END the ACA. After all of those votes to repeal and replace ‘Obamacare” and the Republican majority failing to construct a replacement plan, this promise is disingenuous.
We can build a more comprehensive health plan instead. In Missouri, let’s close the coverage gap by accepting Medicaid funding and finally embracing the ACA.
Cost of Healthcare
Within two weeks of the mid-term election, the Republican party lead, Donald Trump has proposed allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices (an Obama initiative that was blocked.) The plan is to index U.S. drug prices to those negotiated by other countries’ national health institutions. The mechanism for this would be the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation— which was created by the Affordable Care Act– which the Republicans have vowed to shut down. Really?
Let’s instead expand Medicare and leverage the aggregate buying power of the U.S. government to reduce costs for all.
Immigration
Immigration has been the hyper-focused issue of the Republican party for the last two election cycles. Their proposals have been offensive, immoral and financially irresponsible: Building a 2,000 mile wall, banning Muslims, sanctioning sanctuary cities, deporting DACA recipients, caging migrant children and deporting their parents. A few days ago it was announced we would send up to 1000 soldiers to help turn away a column of desperate Honduran refugees moving slowly through Central America.
Republicans preach fear of immigrants. We are a nation OF immigrants and this all can be better managed by embracing the strength diversity brings and re-regulating the hiring practices of industries that depend on migrant labor. Let’s show the world Americans are not all cruel bigots.
Financial Responsibility
The Republican tax cut for billionaires and corporations has been a failure. Proceeds were used to buy back stock rather than increasing worker pay, and there has been no uptick in tax revenues to offset the revenue loss– leaving us with an extra $1.5 Trillion in our national debt. Republican leadership have now suggested they will have to ‘reform’ social security to balance the budget if re-elected. PLUS, we have brand new proposal from the Republican party to have another tax cut which will add another $600 Billion to the national debt for no other reason except to buy votes.
Lets return to fiscal responsibility and roll back Republican tax cuts for the 1% and ask the highest income earners to pay their fair share for the support of our great nation again.
These are only the most recent proposals intended to re-brand the Republican party, but they fall short and we have even more Republican-caused issues that should also be on radar:
- Corrosion of our educational system through privatization (which does add cost that doesn’t improve results.)
- Regulation of women’s use of their own bodies and reduced access to women’s healthcare.
- Expanding costs of an unjust, privatized prison system through mandatory sentencing for non-violent crimes.
- Ignored climate change and blocked access to environmental research we have already paid for.
- An assault on working families with a national right-to-work initiative and opposition to increasing minimum wages.
- Protectionism through arbitrary tariff increases that is damaging job growth, the stock market and business growth.
- Rising gun violence due to the lack of common sense gun legislation.
We are seeing just how bad authoritarian, corporate-dominated, national leadership can be. Nearby examples like Kansas illustrate what happens if you actually enact Republican fiscal programs at a state level. Absolutely no-one is pleased with the divisiveness and hate promoted by the Republican party to maintain their dominance.
All considered, isn’t it time we refresh the direction of this country?
We now have the potential for restoring civility and integrity to our political system if we have the will. We have solid progressive proposals that can make us safer, healthier, fiscally responsible and more just — and a willingness by Democrats to work collaboratively with all to ensure the promise of America.
Changing the direction of our state and country will take hard work, but the first step is voting Democratic in 2018.
— Mark Toenjes, WCD member