To the Editor:
Martin, I had hoped that you would more fully comment on Citizens United v. FEC. It has led to the atrocities in corporate funding of political campaigns that you so abhor. Zuckerberg, Bezos, Koch, Thiel, or Vegas casino owners: Democrats and Republicans. That’s the point. It corrupts the entire system.
I agree that presidents and vice-presidents should reveal their medical information. They should also be obliged to submit their tax returns.
I was amused at your quote of Trump’s self-report that he got a “perfect score” on a standard cognitive test. He has also said that he is “a very stable genius,” that he “alone can fix it,” that the Republicans will “grow tired of winning,” and forced his physician to report that there “has never been a president in such perfect health.” Last week when he dined with infamous anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denier, and racist white nationalist, Nick Fuentes, Trump said he “had no idea.” Perhaps it’s a standard polygraph test he needs.
Republicans at least since Reagan have targeted Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare as “giveaways” to the undeserving and examples of “communism.” In fact, Martin, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was angry that Rick Scott (R-FL) did publish his “11-Point Republican Plan to Save America” last summer before the midterms. Even though Scott used innocuous language of reform and proposed to sunset entitlements at five years, everyone in Congress knew what the language really meant. ‘McConnell knew that publishing risked the Repo base getting wise. But, safe on first!
There is a 2010 video available on Newsweek.com of senate candidate Mike Lee (R-UT) in which he says, "I'm here right now to tell you one thing you probably have never heard from a politician: it will be my objective to phase out Social Security. That's why I'm doing this, to get rid of that. Medicare and Medicaid are of the same sort, they need to be pulled up.”
Lee at least said the dreaded “quiet thing” out loud. Republican legislators are going to try and cut social programs and entitlements benefitting the middle class, the elderly, and the needy, but are hoping that their base will believe what they literally say and not what they mean. So far so good.
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore