Populism and the Republicans

It has become customary for right-wing Republicans to assume the mantel of populism in their public pronouncements. Such people as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin have tapped-into the traditional resentment of less affluent, less educated, lower income people against those whom they perceive to be the elite, Eastern, intellectual liberals. The Republican senators in Congress are exploiting this anger in their opposition to the health care reform and other bills. Unfortunately for the rank-and-file Americans, this populist rhetoric is a cruel deception, and the Republicans are actually working against the interests of regular Joes.

The health care reform bill would dramatically lower the cost of health care for middle-class Americans, make it far more available to everybody, and guarantee them coverage no matter what their previous condition, current illness, or financial problems might be. It would immediately cut in-half the amount of the doughnut-hole for seniors on Medicare Part D and make medications far more affordable. It would cover all kinds of screening tests for a wide range of medical conditions. Despite this, and many other advantages for ordinary Americans, right-wing news people and Republican politicians have succeeded in encouraging many middle class Americans to cry-out against health care reform and against their own best interests.

The Republicans in Congress are not acting on behalf of ordinary Americans. They are acting on behalf of the fabulously wealthy health insurance industry which has contributed lavishly to their coffers, and on behalf of the fabulously wealthy American fat-cats who do not want to pay even the small amount of additional taxes they will incur for health care reform.

This pandering to working class resentment has been the program of the congressional Republicans for some time now. They complain loudly about the increases in taxes that health care reform will cause even though they know that the only rise in taxes will be for the wealthiest Americans. There will be no increase in taxes for middle class Americans. Congressional Republicans complain because their real constituency is not ordinary people, but rich people. It is wealthy companies and rich people that supply them with huge amounts of money, not ordinary people.

The Republicans scream about our country incurring deficits and burdening our children with debt even though the Congressional Budget Office says that the health care reform bill will actually lower the deficit. Republicans denounce the fact that the Democrats plan to allow the Bush tax cuts for the rich to expire. The additional taxes to be paid by the wealthiest Americans will help defray the deficits.

One particularly obnoxious bit of populist rhetoric has been the hypocritical claim of senate Republicans that the health care reform bill will be taking money away from Medicare. These politicians care nothing about Medicare. They have tried to abolish it and replace it with private insurance. They know that under the health care reform bill there will be no reduction in Medicare benefits. What they have tried to rescue is the extremely wasteful Medicare Advantage (MA) program, a private insurance program subsidized by the federal government. MA is very profitable for the private health insurance industry, and that is why the Republican senators sought to preserve the government subsidies. It had nothing to do with helping Medicare recipients. Those on MA will lose nothing if it folds. They will be able to go on regular Medicare and obtain the additional services provided by MA for less money than they are now paying for MA.

Republican politicians always clothe their hypocrisies in the garb of populism, but when they oppose climate legislation, unions, minimum wages, unemployment benefits, stock market regulation, and health care reform, it is not because of concern for ordinary people. It is, rather, solicitude for big business, oil companies, big Wall Street brokerages, and health insurance companies.