The GOP paraphrased: “If you are poor, just fucking die already”
Atrios is sure right about this:
The London apartment tower fire was a council (public) housing tower in a rich (and getting richer) part of London. Rich councils have been pushing out such things in various ways, both to get rid of the icky poors and to make real estate developers rich. They put some fancy dress on this one to make it prettier for the surrounding rich residents. It was flammable. The material is banned for this use even in our regulation free libertarian nirvana. They could have used the fire resistant version for 5 thousand pounds more, a rounding error on a project of that magnitude. They didn’t. Whether or not it was a major contributing factor in the fire, it could have been, and it shows the contempt for the poors. Their deaths just don’t matter.
In our little country, there is this notion that Both Sides (the archetypes of the two parties, anyway) want roughly the same things (peace, freedom and prosperity), but we just disagree about how to get there. I don’t think this was really ever true, but if it ever was it isn’t anymore. The health care debate shows that one side thinks that if you’re poor you should fucking die, the sooner the better, and the other side doesn’t. (Within Team D is actually where this imagined Both Sides debate is – whether the free market fairy should be harnessed to give most of us health care, or whether it’s time for full socialism. Elected Team R, except for maybe about 3 of them, thinks the poor should just fucking die already, whether in fires or untreated cancer).
Agreed, the Republicans would see you dead for a tax cut for their rich owners. They’ve already made an assortment of unguarded comments that essentially say the poor don’t deserve healthcare. One of many reasons why I laugh when a politician or pundit says we should talk to the other side, there is no “other side”, just the enemy.
Do you ever wonder what it is going to take for the “little people” who vote against their own interests to finally see the light? Once all of the details surface, will this event be that turning point or will we have to slog through more cataclysmic events like this before the change occurs?
Pete – That is a great question. The right wing propaganda machine has become so big and efficient that it is hard to imagine what it might take for people to see their situation more clearly.
The drive to maintain one’s status within a group is a very powerful emotional need. As powerful as the innate drive to seek out food and shelter. When your group identity is tied into your own subjugation, you are locked very tightly into a system of exploitation. We are at a time, perhaps the first time in history, where Americans are very devoted to their own exploitation.
To wit:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/national/rural-america/?utm_term=.0bc5cf27641a
It’s culture not economics. However, I think an economic argument can penetrate, but it needs to be radical. The Clinton/Carney version is a road to nowhere.
All the idiots know is that the GOP validates their bigotry and nothing else matters