Root Of Evil
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." - 1 Timothy 6:10.
Growing up I heard many different versions of this verse. But no matter how it was said, the meaning was the same. Money was the root of all evil. It does not get any simpler than that. And yet the GOP, the self-proclaimed defender of Christian values, has built their entire political platform on the idea that the pursuit of profit and wealth by any means necessary is a fundamental right that should not be infringed upon by the basic notions of compassion, charity, and being one's brother's keeper.
In a time when America is fighting a war on two fronts. When America's finest are being sent to fight, be maimed, and die in a "war on terror" that has no tangible and therefore no attainable goal. Those who benefit the most from the freedoms our soldiers defend, the top 2 percent of Americans, are the ones who believe they should sacrifice the least. And now that the tax cuts are about to expire a decision needs to be made. Do we extend them for the 98 percent of Americans who are hurting and allow the other 2 percent to sacrifice for the good of the country? The Democrats said yes. But the GOP thinks that the top 2 percent have not benefitted enough. So the deficit be damned.
The Bush tax cuts did little of what it was publicly stated to do. This was to create jobs. Unfortunately, two things that it did do was make the top 2 percent wealthier and allowed the deficit and the debt to grow to historic levels. This was passed and extended by a GOP congress who, although did a lot of talking about fiscal responsibility, actually did nothing but increased the size of government and increased government spending. Two issues that they constantly accuse the Democratic Party of doing. And so as 98 percent of Americans struggle to make ends meets, the GOP has held up tax relief for 98 percent of Americans so that their sugar daddies on Wall Street and corporate America could continue to accumulate wealth.
Then the Republican-dominated Supreme Court, in the recent case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, ruled that corporations have the same rights as individuals, that campaign financial donations are equal to free speech, and the sources of those funds do not have to be shown. With that ruling our representative democratic process was put in peril. Money from outside and foreign sources can now be used to affect our elections, and those who benefitted the most from the Bush tax cuts are now allowed to use as much of their accumulated wealth as they want to influence the political process in an attempt to insure that they are allowed to continue to gain more wealth so that they continue to shape legislation and regulations.
It's a vicious cycle that the politicians, mostly from the GOP, vow to perpetuate to insure that a government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations, and reduces the people to assets to be moved around as the corporations see fit, shall not perish from this earth.
Robert Betances
Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." - 1 Timothy 6:10.
Growing up I heard many different versions of this verse. But no matter how it was said, the meaning was the same. Money was the root of all evil. It does not get any simpler than that. And yet the GOP, the self-proclaimed defender of Christian values, has built their entire political platform on the idea that the pursuit of profit and wealth by any means necessary is a fundamental right that should not be infringed upon by the basic notions of compassion, charity, and being one's brother's keeper.
In a time when America is fighting a war on two fronts. When America's finest are being sent to fight, be maimed, and die in a "war on terror" that has no tangible and therefore no attainable goal. Those who benefit the most from the freedoms our soldiers defend, the top 2 percent of Americans, are the ones who believe they should sacrifice the least. And now that the tax cuts are about to expire a decision needs to be made. Do we extend them for the 98 percent of Americans who are hurting and allow the other 2 percent to sacrifice for the good of the country? The Democrats said yes. But the GOP thinks that the top 2 percent have not benefitted enough. So the deficit be damned.
The Bush tax cuts did little of what it was publicly stated to do. This was to create jobs. Unfortunately, two things that it did do was make the top 2 percent wealthier and allowed the deficit and the debt to grow to historic levels. This was passed and extended by a GOP congress who, although did a lot of talking about fiscal responsibility, actually did nothing but increased the size of government and increased government spending. Two issues that they constantly accuse the Democratic Party of doing. And so as 98 percent of Americans struggle to make ends meets, the GOP has held up tax relief for 98 percent of Americans so that their sugar daddies on Wall Street and corporate America could continue to accumulate wealth.
Then the Republican-dominated Supreme Court, in the recent case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, ruled that corporations have the same rights as individuals, that campaign financial donations are equal to free speech, and the sources of those funds do not have to be shown. With that ruling our representative democratic process was put in peril. Money from outside and foreign sources can now be used to affect our elections, and those who benefitted the most from the Bush tax cuts are now allowed to use as much of their accumulated wealth as they want to influence the political process in an attempt to insure that they are allowed to continue to gain more wealth so that they continue to shape legislation and regulations.
It's a vicious cycle that the politicians, mostly from the GOP, vow to perpetuate to insure that a government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations, and reduces the people to assets to be moved around as the corporations see fit, shall not perish from this earth.
Robert Betances
Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
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