(Thread) Why the GOP hates Social Security
Short answer: SS comes from the government, which they hate because government issues regulations that cut into their “personal liberty."
Other short answer: Sadopopulism
Short answer: SS comes from the government, which they hate because government issues regulations that cut into their “personal liberty."
Other short answer: Sadopopulism
1/ The wealthy GOP oligarchs (and would-be oligarchs) also hate social security because it helps get rid of income inequality and oligarchy requires income inequality.
That's why oligarchs issue regulations that harm their supporters. For more, see 👇
That's why oligarchs issue regulations that harm their supporters. For more, see 👇
2/ For a full answer, we go back to the 1920s, before social security. There was also a lot less federal government.
(FDR brought us social security. We got medicare in 1965 while LBJ was president. Under LBJ, we also got the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights.)
(FDR brought us social security. We got medicare in 1965 while LBJ was president. Under LBJ, we also got the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights.)
3/ When FDR took office in 1933, the US was in the throes of the Great Depression. Income inequality was like today, but with big differences. There was:
🔹no social security
🔹no 40 hour workweek
🔹no minimum wage
Workers who were injured were left to starve.
You get the idea.
🔹no social security
🔹no 40 hour workweek
🔹no minimum wage
Workers who were injured were left to starve.
You get the idea.
4/ After a lifetime of subsistence wages, workers (and wounded soldiers who returned from war) died in poverty.
Labor was cheap so the wealthy lived like kings.
There were no laws against price fixing and insider trading, so people got rich by cheating and market manipulation.
Labor was cheap so the wealthy lived like kings.
There were no laws against price fixing and insider trading, so people got rich by cheating and market manipulation.
5/ There wasn’t much government. The wild west, for example, really was wild.
Rule breakers had a place to go where they could grab land, and cheat, and do whatever they wanted.
About 45 years after the frontier closed, the federal government began a period of rapid expansion.
Rule breakers had a place to go where they could grab land, and cheat, and do whatever they wanted.
About 45 years after the frontier closed, the federal government began a period of rapid expansion.
6/ FDR introduced the New Deal (including Social Security).
He also did things like bring electricity to rural areas in Mississippi.
He also created agencies which promulgated regulations that prevented people from getting rich by manipulating markets and fixing prices.
He also did things like bring electricity to rural areas in Mississippi.
He also created agencies which promulgated regulations that prevented people from getting rich by manipulating markets and fixing prices.
7/ FDR was generally popular with labor.
It was the factory, business owners, and people who had inherited their wealth who hated him.
FDR’s critics denounced the New Deal as a piece of anti-American communism.
In fact, they didn’t like it because it cut into their profits.
It was the factory, business owners, and people who had inherited their wealth who hated him.
FDR’s critics denounced the New Deal as a piece of anti-American communism.
In fact, they didn’t like it because it cut into their profits.
8/ Since the 1930s, the federal government expanded further.
For example, the states were not about to desegregate schools unless someone forced them to do it.
That someone was the federal government.
The feds forcing the states to desegregate created more government-hate.
For example, the states were not about to desegregate schools unless someone forced them to do it.
That someone was the federal government.
The feds forcing the states to desegregate created more government-hate.
9/ The federal government also outlawed money laundering, which basically cut into Trump’s income.
See:
The GOP has now morphed into a reactionary party.
“Again” in “MAGA” signals reactionist politics.
See:
The GOP has now morphed into a reactionary party.
“Again” in “MAGA” signals reactionist politics.
10/ Political psychologists Capelos and Katsanidou define reactionism as “a forceful desire to return to the past.”
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
Underlying reactionism is “anger, fear, nostalgic hope, betrayal, and perceived injustice.”
They long to return to the "good old days."
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
Underlying reactionism is “anger, fear, nostalgic hope, betrayal, and perceived injustice.”
They long to return to the "good old days."
11/ In fact, bygone America offered much liberty—for white men.
🔹On the frontier, they could grab land!
🔹Before modern rape and sexual harassment laws, they could grab women!
🔹Before all those federal agencies, they could launder money and manipulate markets.
🔹On the frontier, they could grab land!
🔹Before modern rape and sexual harassment laws, they could grab women!
🔹Before all those federal agencies, they could launder money and manipulate markets.
12/🎵Those were the days🎵
To return to the good old days, they need to destroy all of the laws and agencies put in place since the New Deal and Civil Rights movement.
GOP leaders had to persuade working people to agree to cut social security and programs that benefited them.
To return to the good old days, they need to destroy all of the laws and agencies put in place since the New Deal and Civil Rights movement.
GOP leaders had to persuade working people to agree to cut social security and programs that benefited them.
13/ Anyone here old enough to remember when Reagan talked about "Welfare Queens?"
The idea was that women had babies so they could collect welfare as a way to get out of working.
Guess what color skin this mythic creature had?
The idea was that women had babies so they could collect welfare as a way to get out of working.
Guess what color skin this mythic creature had?
14/ Aside, I read about the welfare queens propaganda program in a law school class on feminist jurisprudence.
I'm forgetting the name of the scholar, but she did work on how that propaganda tapped into racial prejudices.
I'm forgetting the name of the scholar, but she did work on how that propaganda tapped into racial prejudices.
15/ Trump’s base knows that they benefit from social security and medicaid.
So they’re perfectly willing to throw out the baby (social security) with the bath water (government) if it means returning to the good old days when [white men] could grab whatever they wanted.
So they’re perfectly willing to throw out the baby (social security) with the bath water (government) if it means returning to the good old days when [white men] could grab whatever they wanted.
Correction in Tweet #9.
Laws against money laundering POTENTIALLY cut into Trump's income.
He ignored the laws, so he kept getting rich by taking money stolen from the people of Russia, but he hated the laws.
That's why he wants to dismantle the government.
Laws against money laundering POTENTIALLY cut into Trump's income.
He ignored the laws, so he kept getting rich by taking money stolen from the people of Russia, but he hated the laws.
That's why he wants to dismantle the government.
It took me 15 tweets to say this.
Here is this thread as a blog post: terikanefield-blog.com/why-the-gop-ha…
What's pure evil is the for decades, Republican leadership has been stoking and seeking to benefit financially from stoking this kind of racial prejudice.
It happened during slavery, too. Poor whites voted for slavery although actually it hurt them. . .
It happened during slavery, too. Poor whites voted for slavery although actually it hurt them. . .
. . . by forcing them to compete with free labor, and creating an oligarchy with themselves at the mercy of oligarchs who actually despised them (a few wealthy slaveowners ruled the South, and because of advantages in the electoral college, dominated national politics.)
Yes, I should have been clearer about this:
The only way social security "comes from" the federal government is that it was created by federal legislation and is managed by a federal agency.
Coming full circle, these agencies . . .
The only way social security "comes from" the federal government is that it was created by federal legislation and is managed by a federal agency.
Coming full circle, these agencies . . .
. . . that enforce federal legislation are what Trumpsters call the "deep state." To administer social programs, we need agencies. These agencies are then vilified as "big government" and bureaucracy as a way to persuade low-information voters to hate the hand that feeds them.
Precisely. The people who want to dismantle all government are people who
🔹want to cheat
🔹have been conned by people who want to cheat into thinking that they benefit more from having no government than having protective legislation.
🔹want to cheat
🔹have been conned by people who want to cheat into thinking that they benefit more from having no government than having protective legislation.
