Moonlit_Angel
Blue Crack Addict
All this to say that I think many low and middle class Americans see their situation as only temporary. That with hard work and a little luck they, too, will soon join the ranks of the uber-rich. It's why I think they'll vote against their own interests because they believe that these policies will help them move into a higher income bracket. They don't think that the system is rigged against them, despite evidence to the contrary.
Heh, my family got disabused of that notion a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago. My parents did, and do, work hard. Very hard. I've worked hard. And yet we're not even remotely close to middle class, let alone anything above that. And my parents have worked at jobs that screwed them over while rewarding people who didn't work anywhere near as hard, and while selling out to corporate big wigs as well.
Course, in my family's case, we've never even wanted to be part of the uber-rich anyway. All my family's ever wanted was to be able to afford to go to the doctor without going bankrupt. We want to live in a nice little house (nothing fancy, either, a modest little one or two story place would do). We want to be able to pay our bills without having to live paycheck to paycheck, or, as we did in the past, having to decide between basic necessities.
That's it. That's literally all we've ever asked for. If we ever found ourselves with millions of dollars we'd wind up giving away much of it anyway, 'cause we wouldn't know what to do with all the money that'd be left over after we'd taken care of necessities. I think way too many people either think they HAVE to focus on getting super rich to feel they've "made it" in this world, or too many rich people think everyone naturally wants to live their kind of lifestyle.
I just wonder how many times these policies have to fail before it finally sinks in for people that trickle down economics DOES. NOT. WORK. What on earth is it going to take to wake people up?
The magic phrase “tax cuts” was said, so therefore it must be true that all those not-really-disabled people won’t be able to buy TVs with my money anymore! At least this has always been the view of the people who turned out to be Trump supporters that I’ve known.
Yep, and that is an attitude that desperately needs to die so fast. I am so incredibly beyond sick and tired of people judging those who rely on government aid to help them through tough times. Every time I hear somebody gripe about that, I want so badly, SO BADLY, to take them with me back in time to live the life my family was living between November 2009 and April 2010, when my dad was deathly ill and we had virtually no money. I want to take them back to live with me during the times in my childhood when my family was living in motels because we were so financially strapped, and needed to budget out what we could and could not afford.
Those people wouldn't last a day, if that, in my family's shoes. I guarantee you. But maybe being forced to experience that would make them finally shut the hell up and understand what it's really like. It's nowhere near the free-for-all party they like to think it is.
Frankly, while I know some people have scammed the system, I honestly don't even know how the hell they manage to do that. My family had to go through endless amounts of red tape to get any sort of financial and medical help when my dad was sick. And he was literally bedridden.
I've seen people talk about how charity is better than the government in these sorts of situations, too, and that just further proves they don't really get it. Yes, charity is wonderful. Charity is welcome. Charity should absolutely be encouraged whenever possible. My family benefited from charity help, too, during tough times.
But what people who suggest that don't realize or think about is that charity can only go so far for so long, too. Some people's struggles are going to last them a good, long while, and unless people are willing to spend their lives donating money to a specific person or cause, the people who need help are going to need something more stable and certain to fall back on if needed as well. It shouldn't be just one or the other, and I don't get why people think it has to be that way. It should be a concerted effort by individuals, private organizations, and the government to help make things better for people who need help.
The media and the Democrats need to keep harping on about just how badly this tax bill will screw people over up through to next year's midterms (and beyond, for that matter). The diehard Trump supporters may not listen, no, but if they go on about this enough to where it gets independents and Democratic voters motivated to get out to the polls and vote out these idiots, then hey, all the better.
If the Democrats did manage to regain control of Congress next year, and if we get a Democrat in office in 2020, would there be ways for them to undo this tax bill as a result? Or would that be easier said than done at this point?