To The Editor:
I want to thank Mr. Leo Cohen for his My View commentary, “Republican Arrogance” (Valley Reporter, February 16, 2017). I agree 1,000 percent with all the examples of Republican arrogance that Mr. Cohen laid out.
He is correct about Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, a failure in most everything he attempted except to rile up hatred and work himself into being the voice behind a megalomaniac seeking to be the new führer. He, Trump, and their friend, Putin, are the most dangerous people in the world right now.
Mr. Cohen asks, “How did the Republican party ever happen to America?” There are several answers to accompany the one he gave of Nixon’s southern strategy that turned the racist Dixiecrats of the South, infuriated over civil rights, into Republicans. A much bigger reason is the eternal flow of luscious campaign dollars pumped into Republican coffers (and Democrats to a lesser extent) by right-wing billionaires and our corporations. In essence, they have bought the GOP to do what they want it to do for them.
The repeal of Obamacare is a perfect example. Obamacare’s demise will save the billionaires and corporations that hide their messaging and money behind various front groups like the Americans for Prosperity (a Koch brothers funded group), the Cato Institute, the Ethan Allen Institute (Vermont’s version) or the Heritage Foundation, to name a few at random, billions of dollars in taxes. That it will take away the health insurance of millions of Americans is of little concern to the GOP and their bosses. The Republican yearning to destroy Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is the GOP doing the work that they were paid to do for the same reasons.
Mr. Cohen asks, “Can you think of any other reason why these Republicans are so incredibly arrogant?”
This is the answer.
Walter Carpenter
Montpelier, Vermont
Walter Carpenter works in the Mad River Valley.
