The Republican budget proposal says our worst days are ahead and the only way to avert a calamity is for working families and seniors to suffer so the rich can get richer. The Republicans say their assault on the middle class is necessary to avoid "debt, doubt and decline." That's bull. The Republican plan repeals the Affordable Care Act, makes savage cuts to Medicaid and ends Medicare as we know it to give massive tax breaks to the super-rich.
The GOP budget is an immoral and callous clarion call for the middle class to pay more and get less. It promotes prosperity for the few instead of opportunity for all. It says we should be on our own instead of bound together by common purpose.
The Republican budget makes a mockery of shared responsibility. There is only shared pain for low-income and working families in the form of cuts to essential services while the 1% are let off the hook. What's "shared" about eliminating Medicare by intentionally inducing an insurance death spiral and crushing the elderly with thousands of dollars in new health care costs?
Under the Republican plan, people are not asked to pitch in for the greater good. The super rich are not asked to pay their fair share in taxes -- which a majority of millionaires have said they should do in poll after poll. Instead they get tax cuts many of them don't even want.
The Republicans cynically call the super-rich "job creators" to rationalize unjustifiable tax cuts. It's been proven that cutting taxes for the very wealthy does not create jobs. That's why the Republican tax cut plan for the 1% is more than bad policy -- it's an act of aggression against America's middle-class families.
The GOP plan says the richest country in the world doesn't have the resources to solve tough problems. Really? That's nonsense.
It's not hard to raise more revenue in a responsible, fair way. As rich people have already pointed out, we could ask them to pay more. We could start with rates similar to the levels we had under Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower. We could also get rid of scandalous corporate tax breaks like the subsidies for Big Oil, one of the most profitable industries on Earth.
If we raised more revenue, we could make significant progress on the debt, and we could avoid cuts to critical programs. We could even provide more funding for the public services that make our country great and give economic security to America's working families -- from health care to college tuition assistance. We could rebuild hospitals, schools and roads and put America back to work.
The Republican budget essentially says that America is doomed unless we abandon the American Dream.
We should not accept what the Republicans are peddling -- a second-rate vision for a first-rate country.