The propaganda theory of
“the big lie” is that if you tell a lie big enough often enough, people will
begin to believe it, and the Republicans are masters of this tactic. The
Republican Party has been selling the American public a bill of goods and
unfortunately the public is falling for the scam. They want the average
American to think that they are going to protect their interests and that the
Democrats will ruin them. This is
a classic “big lie” if ever there was one.
Their “argument” is based on
the following subsidiary lies, which fall predominantly into two categories …
the economy and health care/Obamacare:
Lies About the Economy
Lie #1: The financial crisis
and joblessness is the fault of big government, of government regulation.
Fact: The financial crisis was caused by rich
investment bankers and mortgage brokers trying to find a way to make a fast
buck at the expense of ordinary Americans or small-fry investors. It happened
because people in the financial industry are greedy and cannot be allowed to
regulate themselves.
Lie #2: The financial crisis
continues because of the failure of the Obama stimulus package and the increasing
government deficit.
Fact: The Obama stimulus package, while not
creating many new jobs, resulted in preventing the elimination of millions of
jobs, especially state and local jobs.
This kept the country out of a second Great Depression.
Fact: Once the stimulus funds were spent,
Republican-led efforts to slash the budget in order to cut the deficit have
made the jobless crisis far worse by reducing support for state and local
governments, causing increased unemployment in that area that the stimulus had
prevented and stalling the recovery.
Fact: The deficit, while large and
undesirable, is more of prac†ical concern to investors in government bonds, and
interestingly rather than fleeing from US bonds, investors continue to flock to
them as a safe haven in this volatile global financial market.
Lie #3: The key to getting
the American public back to work is cutting taxes for the rich and
corporations, as well as cutting the deficit.
Fact: Cutting taxes for the rich only helps
the rich get richer. There is no
trickle down effect, as was proven during the Reagan years. Reducing corporate taxes only
results in corporations and their investors making more money; it does not
encourage investment and job creation unless the tax cuts are specifically tied
to that effort. Corporations are into doing more with less labor; they have no
interest in job creation or giving raises. It’s not that they don’t have the money … they are sitting
on $1.74 trillion … yes trillion … dollars of cash.
Fact:
Income inequality between the very rich and the rest of us is worse now than at
any time in US history. And income
stagnation for the average American is a real crisis.
Fact: Cutting the deficit by cutting funding
for all sorts of programs and support for state and local governments will only
make the job situation even worse by increasing layoffs at all levels, as it
has already done.
Lie #4: The answer is not the government;
government is the problem.
Fact: The crisis was caused by market forces
working in a for-all-practical-purposes unregulated atmosphere. Its only guide was greed. Even Alan Greenspan has admitted that
his theory that the market would be self-regulating was an error. The answer to protecting the American
public from this type of thing happening again is regulation of the financial
sector that has teeth in it. The
Republicans are dead set against such regulation. The Democrats support it.
Fact:
We got out of the Great Depression through massive government spending
including the WWII effort. In a
financial crisis, the private sector has no interest in investing. Their only concern is protecting or
growing their profits. Thus they
find ways to do less with more, which is great for their shareholders, but bad
for the American worker. We need
more government stimulus, hang the impact on the deficit, in order to get the
unemployed back to work.
The Lies About Health
Care/Obamacare
Lie #5: Obamacare will get
between you and your doctor and reduce the quality of your medical care.
Fact:
There is nothing whatsoever in Obamacare that would do this. It is built on the existing private
insurance system. It is not a “government takeover” in any sense, which
Medicare actually was, although interestingly everyone loves that.
Lie #6: Obamacare will force individuals to get
health insurance. The implication of this is that individuals who cannot afford
health insurance will be forced to buy it or suffer a penalty.
Fact:
One of the main drives behind the enactment of Obamacare was to provide health
insurance to the millions of Americans who don’t have it as part of their jobs
and who can’t afford to buy it. It
does this by subsidizing health insurance for those who can’t afford it. The
individual mandate will provide health insurance and proper medical care to
millions of Americans who currently can’t afford access.
Fact:
Republicans have for the last 20 years urged the individual mandate as part of
any health care reform. It was
central to the bill that Governor Romney supported in Massachusetts. Now they
are against it solely because it’s a Democrat-passed program.
Lie #7: Obamacare will
ration health care.
Fact:
There is nothing in Obamcare that would ration health care. There are measures
in the law that encourage the medical profession to apply their group knowledge
more consistently so that everyone gets the best care and money is not wasted
on unnecessary or counterproductive procedures.
Fact: Contrary to the statements of
Republican talk show hosts and some Congressmen, there is no “death panel” in
Obamacare. What the law does encourage is for doctors to talk about end of life
issues with their patients so that the patients’ desires regarding various
levels of medical effort will be known and respected.
Bottom line … Republican politicians
and radio talk show hosts have presented a Big Lie to the American public. And
by saying it over and over again, and by the Democrats not effectively
countering the lie, a large segment of the American public has come to believe
the lie. But in fact, Republicans are only concerned with protecting the
interests of the rich and corporations; they have no concern for the average
American. It is instead Democrats who are fighting to protect the well-being of
the average American.
There is no question that
government is not the entire solution … the private sector and individuals have
a major role to play … but government is certainly a necessary part of the
solution.
