This past Tuesday, January 16, 2018, a highly qualified Democratic candidate Patty Schachtner won a Wisconsin state senate seat in a “special election” in a district where the voters in 2016 elected the republican President Donald Trump by 17 points. She won with this message, “Always be kind, be considerate and we need to help people when they’re down.”
This should be the message for every democrat who is running for an elected position in the 2018 mid-term November elections. Somehow the republicans want to sell their republican party to the American peoples solely on the concept of a booming economy, or their version of a booming economy.
The vast majority of the American public want a country with a robust growing economy where kindness is being extended to them and their neighbors. As in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Virginia, voters are rejecting republicans’ meanness and selfishness. No, they are not motivated by greed alone. There is that percentage of American citizens who have a hard-line negative attitude towards immigration to where they will always be supportive of President Donald Trump. But, here’s the reality that Republicans don’t get, the vast majority of American peoples don’t suffer from these same sentiments.
Listen to your own republican Governor Scott Walker sounding the alarm:
Walker, who looks a lot more vulnerable in his quest for a third term than he did yesterday, called the results “a wake up call.” In a flurry of tweets that posted around midnight, the governor urged his supporters to take nothing for granted:
Senate District 10 special election win by a Democrat is a wake up call for Republicans in Wisconsin.
WAKE UP CALL: Can’t presume that voters know we are getting positive things done in Wisconsin. Help us share the good news.
WAKE UP CALL: Can’t presume voters know that more people are working than ever before. Help us share the good news.
WAKE UP CALL: Can’t presume that voters know that we invested more actual dollars into schools than ever before. Help us share the good news.
Its is always a matter of truly caring about the least among us.
Our income inequality is higher than other developed countries. Rich countries tend to have less income income inequality than developing countries with the exception of the USA.
The main reason for the high income inequality in the U.S. can be explained by its redistribution and imperfect tax system. According to a 2013 research paper, top tax rates in the U.S. have moved in the opposite direction from top pre-tax income shares for a few decades, supported by the belief that rewarding top earners might spur more growth and entrepreneurship. I bet this “trickle down economics” sounds familiar. This is the “trickle down economics” tax cuts bill that the republicans passed on a partisan basis, again in December 2017.
Here is the rest of the story...
The Fire and Fury book by Michael Wolff makes for interesting reading but the must read book is: It’s Even Worse Than You Think’ by David Cay Johnston where the author describes what President Trump and his sycophant republicans in the White House and the US congress are doing to damage our government and your income, health and safety.
On January 17, 2018, DC Reports published the following review, “Must Read: David Cay Johnston’s New Book, ‘It’s Even Worse Than You Think’
Excerpts:
“What the Trump Administration did to our government and to you in its first year is the subject of our Editor-in-Chief David Cay Johnston’s new book, published today (1/17/18) by Simon & Schuster.”
‘It’s Even Worse Than You Think explores how Trump promised voters one thing and then did the opposite for children, education, the environment, veterans, worker safety and the economy. Instead of draining the swamp, Trump has turned Washington into a federally protected paradise for swamp monsters.”
“The book has been heavily covered by competing German television shows. Two German crews are filming David this week in Manhattan.”
“David will also be speaking to groups that have invited him or decide now to invite him, in the U.S., Canada and Europe. He will be in Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco the last week of January.”
“David’s book explains in plain English how the Trump Administration:”
- “Stopped posting information about workers killed on the job. Previously the information at the very least shamed companies that did not take care to protect workers from injury or death.”
- “Cut environmental inspectors, reducing the number of cases that could be brought in the future against polluters, thereby emboldening other firms to spew toxic wastes.”
- “Blocked a rule, in the name of ending excessive regulation, requiring that bus and truck drivers be tested for sleep apnea, a treatable malady, which will certainly result in people dying when drivers fall asleep at the wheel and lose control of their vehicles.”
- “Sought to cut veterans benefits despite promising to expand support for veterans.”
- “Forced a senior government executive who worked on climate change issues to become a clerk processing oil royalty checks when he refused to resign, as many others did under pressure.”
- “Helped, and continues to help, China expand its economic and political power at the expense of Americans through mishandling trade policy.”
It’s Even Worse Than You Think is the other side of the story told in the Wolff book. Instead of exploring who Trump is and what his allies say about him, David’s new book explains what the administration is doing to damage our government and your income, health and safety.
You can order a copy of It’s Even Worse Than You Think at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Powell’s, or you can buy it at your local bookstore. (I am not benefiting from this AD but I am recommending the purchase of this book.)
Gronda Morin 
Dear Mz. Gronda,
Excellent article! IMO the truth will come out eventually, the only question is, will it be in history books in the future (after this nation implodes from the evil that has overtaken its citizens), or will it be shown at the polls as the citizens work together to right the ship to prevent it from sinking…
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Dear Crustyolemothman,
The beginning of the end for republicans acting with total irresponsibility and incompetently will be when they lose their majority status in the US Congress and elsewhere this coming November 2018 when the Dems take over. The problem is 10 months can be like a lifetime in these circumstances.
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, all Americans need to pay serious attention to how the US has fallen in global rankings in approval and trust. Only 30% approve of America placing us behind China. 74% do not have faith in this President.
The pulling out of deals, making decisions without buy-in and denigrating comments to other countries, religions and races by this President has made America far less safe than before. Trump makes everything issue a zero-sum game where someone must win and someone must lose, a model which has bern shown to fall short of achieving growth and security. What he fails to realize is helping all do well makes us safer. Keith
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Dear Keith,
I couldn’t agree more. This view of other countries towards the USA is putting the US national security interests at risk.He is a clear and present danger to this country’s well being.
This is probably why the Secretary of State Tillerson is staying on in his role. Frankly, he would not be replaced by someone better.
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, I read today next to the Newsweek piece which cites this global survey data, that 61% of Reoublicans are satisfied with the direction the country is headed. I can look at this three ways. There are 39% of Republicans paying more attention, there are a number who have left the party and are now independent and the 61% are unaware of the global perception of the President, which in fact, is making us less safe as a country and will water down our growth.
I was watching a respected economist use this phrase the other day. This year’s economic numbers may continue to do well, but “of course we are borrowing from our future debt problems.” She added that will hurt us in the future, plus if an event causes the market to go south, we expended a key tool to restart it with the tax cut when the market was doing pretty well.
Keith
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Dear Keith,
The additional problem with the republicans usage of “trickle Down” economics in designing tax cuts bills started in 1981 with President Reagan. People forget that President Reagan had to raise taxes to fix the fall out from the 1st trickle down tax cut bill.
In the USA, income inequality, (gap between the rich and everyone else), has been growing markedly, by every major statistical measure, for about 30 years.
Since 1979, the before-tax incomes of the top 1 percent of America’s households have increased more than four times faster than bottom 20 percent incomes.
Wages in the USA, after taking inflation into account, have been stagnating for more than three decades. Typical American workers and the nation’s lowest-wage workers have seen little or no growth in their real weekly wages.
Do you know that one of the major contributors to this income inequality is because of these trickle down tax cuts plans by republicans? The other is the republicans’ success in Union busting.
This 2017 tax cuts bill is bad legislation on so many levels.
Hugs, Gronda
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Agreed on all your points.
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