Electing Republicans has Consequences

“When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force, my friends, is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Kat Cammack running to steal 
the Democrats popcorn and booze

As we sit watching the Republican controlled US House of Representatives flail about over the Speaker of the House vote, it's important to note that the Republican Party has no intention of legislating when they finally figure out the perfunctory first steps of Congress.

Understand the goal of the Republican Party is to "drown the US government in a bathtub".  They don't want to reform the US government they want to replace it.

Towards that goal of destroying the functioning administrative state is making it look like Democracy and the functionality of the institutions have failed.  We see this as today we entertain the 13th vote for Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy having failed to garner sufficient support in the previous 12 and having received less votes than Hakeem Jeffries in 11 of the 12 votes.  But, by grinding the gears of the administrative state to a halt, as they are right now, Republicans and Rightwingers can point and shout See Government Doesn't Work!

For decades the pliant Coprorate media has been content to go along with the two pillars of the Rightwing  Narrative about Government; 1) the Government et al is broken and doesn't function and can't help you, thus lumping in the Democratic Party which is trying to keep government working with the Republican saboteurs actively undermining the government and 2) the Republican Party is being held hostage by the extreme fringe and a few wacko members.  

In reality this framing, has allowed Republicans to gain outsized political power by depressing the vote and turning Generation X into too cool to vote cynics and allowed Republicans to vote en masse to enact their extremist ideology while having a few of the more outwardly outlandish members act as lightning rods absorbing the blame.  The truth is every Republican is a full-blown MAGA Fascist, the few who weren't;  like Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, Peter Meijer weren't liberal they just were steady Republicans voting the exact same way as every other Republican.

At the same time the Corporate Media was giving cover to the Republican Party by repeating the rightwing claims of BothSides are too blame and Dysfunction in Congress is the fault of All those Bozos when it's been clear since Ronnie Raygun, Cheatin' Newt Gingrich, the Stolen 2000 Presidential election, the Tea Baggers of 2010 and ultimate expression of Republican values Donald John Traitor Trump that Republicans are saboteurs purposefully undermining the United States in order that the government powers will fall into their hands.

And what does this current crop of MAGAT Republicans plan to do with Congressional Power?  Why #OwntheLibs of course.  By blowing up pictures of Hunter Biden's penis, helping Russia conquer Ukraine, arresting Dr. Fauci for Covid (which is simultaneously nothing more than a Cold while also being BioTerrorism from China), and blaming President Biden for Afghanistan.  Additionally, the Republicans are going to attack the following;

The FBI is infested with soft on crime swamp creatures who ignore BLM and arrest peaceful conservatives.  The FBI is insufficiently MAGA it needs to be replaced with a Trumpstapho or Trumpstazi.

The Biden IRS is hiring 87,000 agents to arrest small business owners for cheating on their taxes (which everyone does).  Of course, Traitor Tump requesting the IRS be used his political enemies is immaterial 

The Military is too woke and gay and couldn't beat Russia, even though Republicans wanted the Gay Woke US Military to aid Russia in conquering Ukraine.

There will be nothing substantially accomplished from the US House in 2023 or 2024 except for allowing the debt ceiling to collapse and then running with the Biden destroyed the economy at which point the Republicans will expect their co-conspirators in the compliant Corporate Media to run with the rightwing propaganda of blaming a Democratic President for financial destruction caused by Republican policies.

Because then the Republicans can steal the 2024 Presidential Election and get to work replacing the  Democratic Republic with their NeoConfederate Fascist Nation built upon oppression and intolerance and the subjugation of women, minorities, non-christians, and the rounding up and elimination of anyone who opposes MAGA Fascism.

Social Security a giant bundle of money the Republicans want to steal

As George W. Bush related, his greatest failure while in office was not stealing the Social Security Trust Fund for his Plutocratic Masters. If Bush had managed that Coup, Sean Hannity wouldn't have needed to get into a mulling, hissy fit of anger, on his radio show, at those "Lucky Duckies" proclaiming, 'Let Them Eat Rice and Beans!'

If Bush and the Republicans had managed to steal Social Security, the Poor people Sean Hannity so hates and despises would be dead and he could go back to claiming 9/11 happened while President Clinton was in office, TARP was signed by President Obama and Barack the Great didn't want to kill Osama Bin Laden.

The Republican Party has always hated SSI, because of what it represents; a chance for the oppressed to retire and live after they have finished decades of labor. Republicans would much rather you work yourself to death, thank you very much.

The release on April 23rd of the 2012 Annual Report by the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds (OASDI) made it clear Social Security isn't going to run out of money anytime soon. The assets in the Social Security Trust Fund total $2,700,000,000,000. ($2.7 Trillion dollars). In fact, Social Security is fully funded (i.e. 100% solvent) all the way through 2033.

And once we hit that year the Baby Boomer Bulge draining Social Security will have passed and the Nation will be dealing with the demographically much smaller Generation X.

But, damn Trillions of dollars just sitting there! That's a wet-dream for the thieving, perfidious and despicable Right-Wingers. The Rich! Want! That Fucking! Money! And Republicans would love to to swindle it from the Trust Fund and roll it into Wall Street from whence their Banking Buddies could apply some Synthetic Collateralized Debt Obligations and Naked Credit Default Swap and...



But, never forget that no matter what the Republican liars, Faux Drones, or conservative sycophants proclaim Social Security has been funded overwhelmingly by the Working and Middle Class. The Rich are not paying vast sums into Social Security because the OASDI payroll tax collection has been capped for decades and collects Zero dollars over the current top amount of $110,000.

As Kevin Drum noted in 2010,

In 1983, when we last reformed Social Security, we made an implicit deal between two groups of American taxpayers. Call them Groups A and B. For about 30 years, Group A would pay higher taxes than necessary, thus allowing Group B to reduce their tax rates. Then, for about 30 years after that, Group A would pay lower taxes than necessary and Group B would make up for this with higher tax rates.

This might have been a squirrelly deal to make. But it doesn't matter. It's the deal we made. And it's obviously unfair to change it halfway through.

So who is Group A? It's people who pay Social Security payroll taxes, which mostly means working and middle class taxpayers. And who is Group B? It's people who pay federal income taxes, which mostly means the well-off and the rich. For nearly 30 years, Group A has been overpaying payroll taxes, and that's allowed the government to lower income tax rates. The implicit promise of the 1983 deal is that sometime in the next few years, this is going to flip. Group A will begin underpaying payroll taxes, and the rich, who have reaped the benefits of their overpayment for 30 years, will make good on their half of the deal by paying higher income tax rates to make up the difference.

The physical embodiment of this deal is the Social Security trust fund. Group A overpaid and built up a pile of bonds in the trust fund. Those bonds are a promise by Group B to repay the money. That promise is going to start coming due in a few years, and it's hardly surprising that Group B isn't as excited about the deal now as it was in 1983. It's never as much fun paying off a loan as it is to spend the money in the first place.

But pay it off they must.

Generation We (The Millennials)

In The Generation We Manifesto The Millennials declare in 2016 when they Reach Full Power they will realize their Goal of changing and saving America from the awful damage done by the Baby Boomers. And while they are correct in so much that the Boomers have brought the Nation nearly to it's Doom, My Brethren The GenXers being smaller en masse realize they are caught between the Two Groups with no hope of receiving the support of either.

For Us GenXers it's the equivalent of being caught between the Nazis and the Soviets. Because that's who the Baby Boomers and Millennials are! But, hopefully, the GenXers being quintessentially American can play the same role America played during World War 2 by aiding the winning side and emerging stronger for it while the two evil groups battle for Supremacy.

MTV Gen X No More

MTV long ago ended being Music Television but now MTV has decided to further screw a Generation which knows it's screwed already.

MTV Networks president Van Toffler reiterated the network's devotion to millennials. "We're pushing Generation X out," Toffler said. "We're slaves to our different audiences, for MTV that's millennials, who are vastly different than Generation X; they're definitely less cynical."

Gen Xers made MTV watching Headbanger's Ball, Yo MTV Raps! and all the angst riddled Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Melvins and Alice in Chains videos.

However, Generation X , as a group is outnumbered by the gracelessly aging Boomers and the petulant Millennials. We're the Prince Charles of America. Always waiting and soon to be pushed aside for the next in line or is that too cynical?

Never forget the Boomers had to have the Big Block 454 107 octane gas guzzlers for crusin' the strip in their youth and then had to have the 5-Ton Mega-sized SUVs in their dotage. Now they have to have daily injections of botox in their faces and collagen in their asses which have spiked medical costs.

So, We Xers are going to face the full wrath of the Health Care Crisis and the Gasoline Crisis. Because the Millennials are going to out vote us and send us to Government Health Care 'Death Panels', fortunately they'll be sending us in three wheeled electric vehicles so maybe we'll be able to escape.