Ayn Rand Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Hypocrisy, thou art Republican
I realize that politics and hypocrisy go together like strippers and professional athletes. And I can accept a minor level of hypocrisy as a baseline. After all, many politicians have Napoleon complexes and are deeply and intensely insecure despite their bluster and tough-talking. This sort of hypocrisy isn’t the exclusive property of Democrats OR Republicans. It’s part of the human condition.
But when some Republicans began whining about President Joe Biden forgiving a portion of student loans, you could’ve been forgiven for thinking that Joe Biden had transgressed a basic American moral code. Yet if one does even the most basic research, it’s easy to discover that many of these same outraged Republicans got Payment Protection Plan (PPP) loans from the government during the pandemic. These loans were (GASP!!!) forgiven once their conditions were met because those were the terms. The fact remains, though, that the government forgave PPP loans.
So why do so many Republicans have their panties in a wad over forgiven student loans? Especially after the federal government had just forgiven their PPP loans? I mean, doesn’t that seem just a wee bit hypocritical?
Et tu, Brute?
Congressman Vern Buchanan had over $2.3 million in PPP loans forgiven. Did that stop him from going nuclear on the White House for forgiving student loans? Does the Pope $#!% in the woods?
Ah, but those sacrifices! It’s a wonder he survived his travails and made it to Congress! Ah, the scars he must bear. Or not.
Hmm…”those already suffering due to the weight of Biden’s failed economic policies?” Perhaps I’m missing something important here, but the Biden Administration has created far more jobs in less than two years than Donald Trump did during his four-year Reign of Error.
And I wasn’t aware that Trump ever gave a damn about anyone save for the already wealthy. So it wasn’t if his tax cuts ever made their way down to Joe and Ethel Sixpack in any appreciable amount.
And the propaganda that Joe Biden has financed the IRS so they can “go after” the American people is so full of longhorn dung that it’s difficult even to know where to begin. The IRS has been understaffed for years, which has made it difficult for the agency to enforce tax law on the already wealthy.
Anyone who’s already paying their fair share and following the law has nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, Rep. Kern’s crappy scare tactics are meant to convince low-information Fox News addicts that “the guv’mint” is coming for them when nothing could be farther from the truth.
The one question I’d ask all these Republicans pretending to be in a holy righteous rage is why they have no problem with bailing out businesses, but they balk when it comes to helping people. The federal government subsidizes all sorts of businesses for all kinds of reasons, some of which make no sense at all.
Does the government need to be subsidizing Big Oil? An industry that makes more money than God in even a below-average year? Yet billions of our tax dollars find their way onto Big Oil’s balance sheets for reasons only the hands being greased know for sure.
The federal government subsidizes businesses of all shapes, sizes, and interests without so much as a second thought- but the idea of supporting individual Americans is somehow beyond the pale.
“It will create dependence.”
“It will destroy the incentive to work.”
“Them damned Libruls destroy everything good about AmeriKKKa.”
“If we give them handouts, they’ll no longer want to work for anything.”
And how often do Republicans apply those same criteria to the businesses subsidized by the federal government? And whose donations fill their campaign coffers?
Not surprisingly, the leader of the GOP Asshole Caucus felt moved to weigh in with his snarky, arrogant, and wholly unnecessary opinion:
The fact is that most American want to work. They want to achieve. They aren’t looking to be on the dole. The reality is that, for many Americans, the cost of a college education (or beyond) is onerous. Too many will get into unimaginable debt, thinking that when they reach their goal, they’ll make enough to pay the debt down- a scenario that often doesn’t materialize. Unfortunately, interest is forever, and some people will be paying student loans into their golden years.
Getting an education shouldn’t be limited to those with means. The truth is that America- all of us- benefit from an educated populace. Education shouldn’t be a privilege. It should be the baseline, the minimum expectation of a society with aspirations of extraordinary things.
When I was in college (Macalester College, Class of ‘82), room, board, and tuition ran slightly over $12,000 a year- which was a lot at that time. With scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study, a lower-middle-class student such as myself could manage. Barely. It wasn’t easy, but I made it work, if only just.
Today, that same year at Macalester runs something like $60,000 (I don’t have the exact numbers, but I’m close). There’s no way I could go there today if I was going into my freshman year. I’d have to take out thousands in loans and effectively mortgage my future to get the same education I did 40 years ago. And I’d spend the rest of my productive years paying off my college loans.
Back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, you could make things work with a minimum-wage job. There’s no way one could come close to doing that today. Sadly, we live in a different and far more expensive world. Today’s generation shouldn’t have to begin their careers saddled with untold thousands in education debt.
Education should be a right available to all, not a privilege available only to those with means. Making this world more just and equitable begins with making education accessible to all, regardless of skin color, ethnicity, social status, or economic wealth.
Of course, when that becomes a reality, I suspect Republicans will find a reason to object loudly and voice numerous righteous objections. And I’ll be here to ridicule their hypocrisy, just as I am now.
Some things never change, eh?
One thought about the "3 credits short" photo: Nothing says "I love the flag" than wearing it like shorts and wiping your a$$ on it.
I paid off my student loans 3 times, one for each degree. The last one (I actually do have a Ph.D.; no three credits short there!) was by pure dumb luck. There was a savings account through the previous job I'd worked that I'd completely forgotten about. Otherwise, I've no idea what I'd be doing right now. At the time, you could not collect social security if you had outstanding student loan debt. (That changed somewhere along the way, I believe.)
In any event, even though I do not personally profit from it, I am wildly happy with Biden's move. It just makes sense from a basic economic standpoint. Paying off that debt leaves people in the lower half of the economy with more disposable income which is always a good thing.