And the Beat Goes On

That is today's humstle. I don't spend a whole lot of time thinking of either Sonny Or Cher but the song still has some relevance.

So, Shaun McCutcheon can give as much money as he wishes directly to political candidates. And he can give as much as he wants to any and all candidates whom he feels shares his beliefs and agenda  SCOTUS, by a vote of 5-4 ruled that limits on contributions were unconstitutional and "burdened" his First Amendment rights to free speech.

Paul Ryan's annual "Road to Prosperity" show is on Capitol Hill for the 4th year running. Early analysis shows it to be more draconian than previous budget proposals. I'll stay out of the deep weeds but some of the highlights are allegedly lower taxes for the wealthy, cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Job Retraining programs. What it does not address is and end or reduction in subsidies for Energy Producers, Cuts in the Military budget as a balance to other reductions, any addressing of the carried interest rates that private investors, equity managers or hedge fund operators pay in relation to the rest of us.

This will set up the annual "dog whistle war" between the 1% and the 99%. It doesn't take a genius to see that if Shaun McCuthcheon and all the other Shauns out there want to give disproportionate amounts of money to politicians who will continue to vote for the Ryan budget, which is a continuation of "trickle down" economics initiatives that have haunted this country for more than 30 years, social and economic security (not even equality) are just a joke. And a dream that will not be realized any time soon- or so it would appear.

So, as the ACA has seemingly exceeded enrollment projections, these new challenges will replace the anger over "sick"care in this country. Deeply conservatives state and local legislatures will hack away at pensions, women's rights and perhaps the worst of all, the right to vote in this country. Along with this,  deniers (liars) will block any research to wean us off fossil fuels and put us on a pathway to developing cleaner energy sources. So POTUS and VPOTUSdid a victory lap in the Rose Garden yesterday; as the President asked a reasonable question, "WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE OPPOSED TO PEOPLE HAVING HEALTH CARE? 

And, so, The Beat Goes On.