While Republican voters may think that they are in the same boat as Republican politicians, they are not. One of the biggest differences between the two is that most Republican politicians are rich as heck, while,.. well, take a look at your income if you’re a Republican voter.
You may think this doesn’t matter, since it is Republicans’ shared beliefs and ideologies that unite them. Yes, it is, but those beliefs and ideologies overwhelmingly benefit the rich, and the rich only.
This is true on numerous fronts, but I’m just tackling one issue related to this today, perhaps the #1 issue. That issue is the unspoken belief in Republican policy that corporations love you.
Republican policy is strongly focused on letting corporations do whatever they want. They are strongly focused on giving more to corporations and giving less to citizens. The thought being that corporations will do more with that money to improve the lives of citizens than we would do ourselves, or that taking money from corporations (to cover the social costs of their pollution, for example) will hurt citizens more than it will help them.
But the truth of the matter is, corporations do NOT love us. They might do good things for us, might offer us products or services we need or love, but, most of the time, they are focused on one thing, and one thing only — making money. That is their task, by law! That is what they live for. As such, if it costs less to pollute, to indirectly kill thousands or tens of thousands of people through their pollution, corporations will take that route.
The net cost to citizens, to society, is higher, but the net cost to the corporation is lower.
The #1 thing that stops corporations from taking that lower-cost route is government regulation. In other words, government steps in and says, “Look, you can’t pollute like this and kill people like this just because it’s cheaper. Therefore, we are setting this rule ensuring that you don’t pollute ‘too much’.”
Republican politicians, who are largely in the pockets of Big Industry, say that such rules are unfair, too costly, unconstitutional, etc. It’s all B.S. They say these things because they harm their constituents, Big Industry. But they convince voters that these things are true. All the while, the voters themselves are hurt — they hurt themselves by buying into these lies (lies that billionaires are, quite frankly, pretty darn good at selling).
Big Industry sits on huge piles of cash. It gives its top executives bonuses that make our salaries look like chump change. If Big Industry is forced to pollute less, that doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to raise the price of its goods or services. And even if it does so, what is more sensible — pay more for a product or pay that same extra amount in healthcare costs (and suffer the health consequences of poor governmental oversight)?
Corporations love the profit they earn customers (and from cutting corners), but they don’t love you.
Republican politicians’ #1 goal seems to be limiting government oversight of industry. Look into the policies they promote, and those they oppose. This hurts common Americans, Republicans and Democrats alike. It hurts the United States as a whole. The only ones it helps are a small minority of super rich and those they give special treats to.
Here are a couple wonderful cartoons to succinctly finish this piece with a bit of humor:
The take-home point: if you’re not a member of the super rich, you’re probably getting screwed by Republican politicians. If you’re a Republican voter, you might want to look into the whole idea that loosening regulations on Big Industry helps you (hint: it helps you about as much as allergies and asthma help you).
So American industry is bad because it’s goal is to make money? Well then go to where industry is not focused on making money and you should be very happy! Start with China, Cuba, or North Korea! Don’t let the door hit you in the ass and say hello to all the people who are risking their lives to leave those countries everyday. By the way, we all know how good the non-capitalist industries in China, the Soviet Union, and North Korea treat the environment. It’s good there are people like you out there to solve all the world’s problems while you are still young enough to know everything. Go smoke another joint.
Never smoked a joint in my life, thanks.
Yep, good examples of places where corporations are allowed to pollute at the cost of citizen health. Thankfully, we had citizens and politicians willing to keep that from happening. Hope that continues to be the case!
Corporations are not evil for wanting to make money, in my opinion. But they have no built-in concern for the pollution they create. Thus, someone needs to keep an eye on that. 😀