I was driving to work on the afternoon of November 30th, and an interview I heard on NPR’s All Things Considered nearly caused me to swerve off the interstate into a concrete barrier, such was the level of my outrage. Robert Siegel, one of my personal journalistic heroes, was interviewing Charles Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa, who is on the Senate Finance Committee, about the proposed Republican tax overhaul.
I strongly encourage you to go back and listen to this interview here, because it should still be available as of this reading, and it’s absolutely dumbfounding.
At around minute 2, they were discussing estate taxes. Mr. Seigel stated that only 80 people in the entire country would face any estate taxes in 2017, so why is it so important to raise the ceiling on these taxes, “when a couple already can pass on an estate of up to 11 million dollars, tax free?” Good freakin’ question, Robert!
Senator Grassley replied, “I suppose to show appreciation for people that have lived frugally early in their life, delayed spending, so they could save. It seems to me there ought to be some incentive and reward for those who work and save and invest in America, as opposed to those who, uh, just live from day to day…I’m giving you a philosophical reason for recognizing savings versus those who want to live high on the hog and not save anything or invest in a commodity.”
Because, yeah, we all know that those 80 ultra-rich )(*^%^& are investing in America. Come on. They don’t give a shit about us. That’s why they’re so rich in the first place.
Did you know that’s what you’ve been doing, dear reader? Living high on the hog and not working hard? Me neither. When I was living in a tent and working at the age of 10, I had been living high on the hog and I didn’t even know it! Silly me. But for my own laziness and stupidity, I could have been a millionaire.
And that attitude, in a nutshell, is EXACTLY why none of us should vote Republican. Because I can only see one of two possible scenarios that can be true. Either Senator Grassley is so removed from reality that he actually believes what is spewing forth from his pie hole, or he KNOWS it for the bold-faced lie that it is, and his moral compass is so unbelievably bent that he’s willing to perpetuate that lie.
Either way, why would anyone vote for this man to represent us? Why? Why? Gaaaaaaaaah!
Thanks for listening. Knowing I could rant on my blog is the only reason I’m not being scraped up off a concrete wall even as we speak.
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