Today I had the opportunity to hear various state elected Democrats talk a bit about their political struggles in the legislature. I was particularly interested in something that sounded really familiar as I was listening to some of these Democrats talk about Republicans.
It was widely agreed by these Democrats that the main goal of Republicans was to dismantle government and privatize everything. (A popular local refrain: Business knows better! If you disagree, you’re probably anti-business.)
Anyways . . . as the elected officials from the Democratic Party were talking about how the Republicans have no pro-active vision for what our children’s world will look like, the Democrats started talking about their major concerns when it comes to budgeting. I was completely struck by something. The Democrats were talking about how the Republican value was in the cut to the budget with the end goal of dismantling government. There was no regard from these Republicans for what the cut did for (or to) the state. The important thing was the cut. The values that most Democrats have regarding political and civil rights and social and economic justice are completely missing from the Republican tax cutting frenzy.
Sound familiar?
