Glenn Melancon/Contributing writer
Fox News just agreed to pay $787.5 million for lying about Dominion voting machines. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton offered to use $3.3 million of tax dollars to settle a whistleblower case. Donald Trump paid nearly $300,000 to cover up his extramarital affairs.
It must be nice to have millions of dollars to pay for bad behavior. My momma always said, “Lazy people work the hardest.” I’d like to add, “Believing conservative propaganda is expensive.”
These conservative lies stretch way back. During the Great Depression Herbert Hoover promised economic growth with a balanced federal budget. He watched as unemployment rose and businesses failed.
Both the American people and Franklin D. Roosevelt put conservative propaganda aside in 1932. Not only did the New Deal put America back on track, but FDR also successfully lead America against NAZI Germany and Imperial Japan.
After the Second World War liberal policies built the largest middle class the world had ever seen. The GI Bill helped veterans buy houses and go to college. The Federal Government invested tax dollars in highway construction, aviation manufacturing and computer innovation.
Laws protected Union membership and set high minimum wages. Wage growth and steady work lead to increased consumer spending. This strong demand drove private investments into products from housing and automobiles to radios and televisions.
In 1980 Ronald Reagan exploited the energy crisis to demand tax cuts for wealthy investors. He wanted to reverse the New Deal. Reagan told voters that the tax cuts would trickle down to wages and generate government revenues.
We are still paying for this expensive lie. The worker’s share of income dropped. Reagan’s budgets created record deficits and debt. Public investments in schools, roads and bridges slowed.
When President Bill Clinton reversed these losses, conservative voters rebelled again. Clinton’s Vice President Al Gore wanted to use the Clinton surplus to pay down the debt and shore up Medicare and Social Security. George W. Bush demanded tax cuts for the wealthy again.
Not only did Bush’s tax cuts explode the deficit, but Bush lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction and started a foolish war in Iraq. That war lasted over seven years. Bush and the conservatives in Washington put it on our national credit card.
Today’s conservatives in Washington may be different men and when, but they are selling the same snake oil. They don’t have, and never had, a deficit reduction plan. They want to starve the United States of revenue and cut Veteran’s Benefits, Social Security and Medicare.
Conservatives have a long history of fiscally irresponsible behavior. It does not matter if it is paying hush money to a porn star or lying to start a war. Why would you trust them?