Pocketbooks will fatten just enough to get scammers on the congressional Right re-elected
It couldn’t be more transparent, that the middle class has been bought off with token tax relief in the Republican tax bill, while billionaires and corporations continue to top up their coffers with still bigger tax breaks.
But the transparency doesn’t mean much, since the cynical middle class has had to resign itself to getting Something rather than Nothing for the last few decades. They’re inured to it. Now a few crumbs tossed to ordinary folks will suffice to keep Republican politicians in the House afloat for at least another year. That’s because elections usually turn on pocketbook issues, and if by November the average taxpayer has received $1,500 worth of reductions in withholding, then s/he will settle for the status quo. (Even a status quo with Trump at the helm, as long as he does not actually start a major war.) Put that together with gerrymandering, and seeing that the House Republicans would have to lose 46 seats to lose majority, I imagine they will hold it. Especially because there are bound to be more rounds of attempting to repeal the ACA—even though McConnell is now loathe to touch it in the Senate—which will rally the conservative base.
Continue reading “Will Work for Crumbs: Why Republicans May Hold the House”