The rich Republicans are liars.

 Rich Republicans hate government workers.  Actually, they hate all union workers too.  For example, let’s take a close look at the state of Wisconsin, where multi-millionaire Governor Scott Walker is putting an end to collective bargaining while increasing the cost of state employees’ health care and pension’s plans to the tune of $137 million.  Why?  In part the answer is to pay for the $140 million tax break he gave last month to the largest corporations, including that anti-union stalwart, Wal-Mart. Let me repeat this. He is going to charge middle state employees an extra $137 million in order to give Wal-Mart and other large corporations a $140 million tax break, got that? Walker is just following the formula being used to by the Republicans at the Federal level. Here is why austerity will not work.

Cutting spending on all federal programs that promote the public good while cutting federal and state jobs during the Great Recession will do nothing more than put a small dent in the deficit while significantly deepening the divide between the haves and have not’s.  It will also make our neighborhoods less secure and our schools less capable, as well as rob all of us who give a damn about a quality of life and the chance at an even playing field of our due.

These two notions of public access and a level playing field are central to the American Dream.  Both allow free access to good public schools, public parks, and libraries, as well as to real news and information that is now pretty much limited to what we get from NPR and PBS.  And need I mention that for many working people, the power of unions and the tools of collective bargaining are all that we have to leverage against the rich and oppressive.  Without Unions all wages will drop and all employee rights will be a thing of the past.

 Why must these programs be cut?  Because millionaires don’t tax other millionaires.  And, according to an investigative report in Mother Jones and verified by Forbes, billionaires pay them to make sure it stays that way.  In Wisconsin’s case, those billionaires are the Koch Brothers.

To them, those of us who aren’t rich are little more than the shiftless lazy and dirty people not to be associated with but to be used.  In their estimation, if we really had a brain, really believed in capitalism and weren’t entirely lazy and/or lame, we would start our own small business, work hard, and become rich just like them.

But is that what most Americans believe?  Or is it part of the Big Lie that has been so often repeated that we are afraid to contradict it?  Put simply, do most of us working people really want the same things, the same budget cuts that rich Republicans say we want?

According to a new Pew Center study, the answer is no.  “62 percent of Americans want to increase education spending. Only 11 percent want to cut education spending. Combined with those who want to leave education spending as-is, 87 percent support it. This massive disparity plays out all across the board. 71 percent of Americans want to increase or to continue health care spending at the same levels. Only 24 percent want to cut it. Only 26 percent want to cut spending on environmental protection. I can go on and on. Only 12 percent want to cut Social Security. Only 21 percent want to cut infrastructure. Only 23 percent want to cut scientific research. Only 28 percent want to cut unemployment benefits.  Most of us embrace government spending, but we're afraid to admit it.”

The rich Republicans are liars.  Spending cuts aren’t what we want.  It is what they want. That is the final insult and one that I hope all of us take personally.  Unless we do take it personally, and vow to do something about it, we are the dupes, the rubes, the fools they want us to be.  After all, their narrative of hate is a fat wad of spittle aimed squarely at our faces.  Normally I don’t rant.  I’m more of a reasoned argument sort of guy.  But thirty years of Republican propaganda has brainwashed too many people into believing that government is always bad, taxes are always bad, and regulations are always bad is unlikely to be turned around using cool reason alone. You can’t reason with people who hate you.

It is time to wade through all their shit and stick together. We do have the power of the vote and must vote out people who deny women equal pay or decisions about their reproductive rights.  We must take a stand against the 1% that wants to lower our wages, reduce or eliminate our safety net. We must follow our ancestors that fought for these working rights like better pay, health care, vacations, and a safe working environment.  And that is the hell of it. If we don’t fight back we will have blown the great American experiment that is our democracy.  If that happens, shame on us all.