A favorite talking point for Republicans in the past was their desire to "starve the beast", the beast being Big Government. The rationale was if only liberal boondoggles could be reined in there would be money for the kind of spending Republicans favored such as tax cuts for high-income earners and big business entities and military spending. Beneficiaries of these policies would, no doubt, reward them with campaign donations and votes - in essence the gift that keeps on giving! The list of what Republicans consider "liberal boondoggles" is long and includes education, health care, infrastructure, welfare for the poor, nutrition programs for children and foreign aid except for dictators of all stripes, to name a few. Not said out loud for obvious reasons and more difficult to achieve was the goal of cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and repealing the Affordable Care Act. Having succeeded to a large extent, they are finding that the appetite of the Beast they like is insatiable and are looking for other ways of feeding it. The combination of the upcoming election and the pandemic and the resulting popularity of mail-in voting has presented the perfect opportunity. Republicans have made no secret of their dislike of the Postal Service and the President said publicly that if voting by mail caught on, "no Republican would ever get elected". It did not take a genius to come up with a plan to hog-tie the Postal Service and raise doubts about voting by mail. This plan, as diabolical as it is easy to implement, could all but guarantee permanent control of the executive and legislative branches for Republicans. The problem is most people like the Postal Service and want to be able to vote by mail to minimize exposure to Covid-19. Not to mention the fact that people also like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the Affordable Care Act (thank you, John McCain!). Do not for a moment think Republicans would let public opinion interfere with an otherwise perfect plan. Voters in general and middle-of-the-roaders in particular must spare no effort to prevent this from happening. We must familiarize ourselves with voting procedures in our states and localities, ensure we are properly registered and be sure to exercise our right and perform our duty to vote this November. If you want to vote by mail, be sure this is possible in your state and apply for the mail-in ballot well in time. Lastly, be sure to stay on top of the issue and be prepared for the inevitable October surprise. The Beast threatening us will not be tamed but must be dealt a decisive blow.
- drrama7