Editor,
This Thursday, March 23, Republicons are voting to take away our healthcare and will replace it with the “I Don’t Care and Die Quickly” plan.
At the same time, Trump has put out his budget that might make you want to die quickly. Every program that makes our lives bearable and pleasurable is being deleted and replaced with war and money for the Trumps. Melania gets $183 million a year for security so she doesn’t have to live with Trump; his children blew through $50,000 security in the first month for their business trips, and of course, Trump himself leaves the White House every Friday afternoon for his for profit hotel. That costs us $3.5 million to ferry him back and forth to Mar-a-Lago each weekend. The people of Palm Beach absorb $60,000 for each of his visits because of local security and lost business.
In his first budget, Trump calls for $54 billion more military spending to be added to our current $582.7 billion annual budget. His chief strategist, Steve Bannon, wants to build ships “for the coming war with China in the South China Sea.” Never mind that the world has moved to drones. And, of course, there’s $2.5 billion for a 30 ft. high wall between Mexico and the U.S. Remember when Mexico was going to pay for that wall? Well, they’re not and we are.
To pay for all these military expenditures, 80 agencies and programs will either be eliminated or drastically cut. Here’s some of what will go away. School lunches and after school programs for children, Meals on Wheels for homebound seniors, PBS and NPR, the Arts and Humanities, weather satellites, climate research, job training for displaced workers, legal aid, EPA, clean power, Energy Star, national forests, WIC, SNAP, low income heating assistance, National Institute of Health, low income college aid grants also known as PELL grants. These are only some of the ways our lives will be more difficult.
Our government was established to “promote the general welfare” of all citizens. Social programs have been embedded in our nation from the beginning. Public schools were set up in 1870 throughout the country because we need an informed electorate to have a healthy democracy. Soon, only the wealthy will be able to be educated, fed, housed and have healthcare. Where does that leave the rest of us? Dying quickly after a short and brutish life.
Sheri Hanson