I was angry last night. Hurt. Dismayed. More than a little disgusted.
I’d read too much about the budget bill, which will encumber children and families, veterans, and the elderly who rely on government funds for food, housing, and healthcare, while enriching the wealthiest among us. The reduction in services is painful to digest, especially when juxtaposed with the bill’s proposed investments.
Just a few highlights that sent me reeling, captured in a PBS article:
“The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, which would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year…”
“11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps, also known as SNAP benefits…”
“A proposed new $35 co-payment could be charged to patients using Medicaid services…”
“$350 billion for Trump’s border and national security agenda, including $46 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and $45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds…”
“A $1,000 fee on those seeking asylum…”
“Would increase the nation’s debt limit by $5 trillion to allow continued borrowing to pay already accrued bills…”
I don’t understand how anyone could nod vigorously for policies that will cause American children to starve in the summer. Or kick people off their health insurance, which will bankrupt them at best and cause their deaths at worst. Or make student loans more expensive. It’s a lot for an empath to take in. In fact, I can’t take it in. I don’t want to.
Last night, while spinning in my rage, I posted a disturbing tweet by a known agitator who was celebrating the new Florida detention centers while simultaneously suggesting feeding human beings to alligators. WHAT?
I could say I was using the post to shake us awake – to show otherwise intelligent people just how low we can go and are going. Surely, folks on a professional platform who lead and work with people from all backgrounds would be turned off by such depravity? Surely, they would change their tunes?
But the truth is, I was venting. Other than toward emails and calls to my very problematic congressman, there was nowhere else for my fiery emotion to go. Ultimately, I deleted the post. Not because it was wrong, but because my motivation was.
When I post anything controversial, I struggle with whether I’m adding to the noise or cutting through it. I know I’m often either preaching to the choir or screaming into the void, and it’s hard to tell whether what I say here matters when the beliefs are so divided and the tensions so deep. We are devolving, and the toughest pill to swallow is that some wanted it this way. After all, when the majority of Americans are knocked to their knees, it’s easier to climb on their backs.
I use my voice here on issues important to me because silence is the enemy of progress. Because while some people will not be moved by anything I say, there’s always a group that remains unsure of what they think, and sometimes, it’s that one crazy idea that tips them toward more care, more compassion, more humanity, like alligators eating children as a control mechanism.
Just now, as I was finishing this edition, the news broke that the bill passed. Maybe—for some people—childhood hunger, homelessness, sickness unchecked and swamp-based cages with cots designed for human beings don’t constitute a bridge too far.
Maybe we are beyond the bridge.
Maybe we are the swamp.
Wha’s next?
Tara Jaye Frank
