Voting For Socialism

I OFTEN KEEP the volume on the flatscreen turned down, and read the news headlines while listening to National Public Radio. I loved the one that flowed across the screen early this morning: "Trump seems to understand that he can't run for third term." This is not necessarily a great comfort for several reasons. First, of course, is that, coming from Trump,it could be a lie, just like everything else he says. Also, the word "seems" arouses anxiety. What Trump "seems" to understand can be quite different from what he truly understands. But, as always in all thing Trumpian, the real problem isn't Trump himself, who is but the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but rather the problem is the highly organized wealthy powerful organization which fully supports him; the Republican party. And, it doesn't stop there. The real problem with Trump, in all his twisted policies, rhetoric, and criminal behavior, is that he is suppported rather than opposed by nearly forty percent of the American people, enough to elect him and keep him in power. The problem is not merely that Trump would prefer to be a dictator and to remain in office the rest of his life, the root problem is that there may be as many as seventy million Americans who feel the same way,and agree with him. The fascist movement in this country is more, much more than Trump. Consider the big appropriations bill which is stuck in Congress, and could possibly forever be, as teh government shutdown approaches the beginning of its second month. Those of us on Social Security are of course hoping that the shutdown ends before November 3, but if it doesn't, definitely before December 3. At some point, the payments will stop. I do not know in detail the exact contents of the bill, but I do know that it provides a great deal of money for the military and police, rampnig up the budget to pay for a massive militarization and policing of America's city streets, Trump style. Also, it cute Macicaid and Obamacare, which is why the Democrats refuse to support it, although they don't much like hyper funding Trump's "I.C.E." Gestapo either. It is not merely Trump and congressional Republicans who want to defund, or reduce funding for soem of the most important transfer payment programs in the U.S., including Social Security, Medicare,and Medicaid. So does a sizeable percentage of the population, including many if not most Republicans. Democrats are largely united in favor of preserving and strengthening those programs. It hard to even imagine America without Social Security,and the other two. My mother told me that In 1935, when was fifteen, and Social Security started, she and everyone else she knew was angry about it, convinced that she would turn eighteen, go to nursing school, then spend a forty yer career working har as aregistered nurse, which is exacctly what she did,all the while paying into the system, only to retire much later, and not live long enough to get her money back. I asked her whether she had voted for Roosevelt, and she said she had two answers for me: "No", and "Hell no". When she was ninety, and had been drawing andliving off of a nice healthy monthly Social Security check for twenty five years, I asked her: "so how idd that damned socialistic social seutiry from that damned socialist Roosevelt work out for you, mom?" She got my point. There are as many Republicans as Democrats who benefit from Roosevelt's socialism, and they vote. Any Republican wanting to get reelected might wish to remember this.