Elections do Have Consequences
A recent letter from a writer in Dublin claimed that last year’s elections gave Donald Trump a mandate and reminded us that elections have consequences. With more than 55% of the vote, Franklin Roosevelt had a mandate to change the country when he took office. With less than 50% of the vote, Trump cannot legitimately claim to have any mandate at all.
Elections do have consequences, as the last 10 months have shown. Here are some examples stemming from last year’s election:
• With the acquiescence of the Republican Congress, the administration routinely, illegally withholds funds appropriated by Congress –– harming the economy and costing jobs.
• The “One Big Beautiful Bill” made large tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations permanent, while (again) providing lesser temporary relief for the remainder of Americans.
• The tax cuts are partially funded by cutting benefits, such as those for health care and food assistance, and saddle the country with further large deficits. (The current shutdown gives us an early picture of the consequences of this beautiful bill.)
• Tariffs increase the cost of goods for all of us, disproportionately affect the retired and working class with an indirect tax on imported items, and are not intertwined with a coherent strategy to create jobs.
• Unilateral cuts to wind and solar power projects cost jobs, cede these growth industries to our competitors, and strengthen the hold that Trump’s oil friends have on the energy industry and our economy.
The overall policy that emerges is one that benefits an elite, wealthy ruling class at the expense of the working classes and the retired elderly. Republican lawmakers, perhaps secure in their gerrymandered districts, believe (or don’t care whether) their constituents notice who is meant to benefit from this government’s actions.