A representative democracy is supposed to reflect the will of the people it represents. Isn’t it? In a government of the people, by the people and for the people, it would seem that the “people” are supposed to be the most important and central focus of said government, and that most people in America believe this nation is built upon the platitudes of freedom, justice and equality for ALL. And yet…these days government feels more like a Plutocracy, ruled by the wealthy elite, catering to their needs and interests. The President’s Cabinet is made up of a class of billionaires and Wall Street executives. The new budget he has proposed, as well as the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, promises to massively cut domestic and social programs that help the poor, disenfranchised, elderly, marginalized and disabled in order to transfer more wealth and more benefits to the top 2% of the wealthiest Americans. The newest battle cry from the GOP majority in Washington, who seem to be drunk with power and as giddy as a bunch of adolescent teens, and just as misguided and shortsighted, has promised to line the pockets of big business, health insurance executives, and the billionaire cronies and lobbyists lining the halls of Congress and the White House. The Washington power brokers who are inextricably bound together in deconstructing this government from one that helps the common citizen, as would seem to be the role of government, to one that is transformed into an historic corporate welfare model serving only the interests of those now in power, while utterly excluding the people they were elected to serve.
The average per capita income in the U.S. is less than $30, 000 per year. Collectively, the wealth of the current President’s Cabinet, thus far, is about five times greater than President Obama’s Cabinet and about 34 times greater than the one George W. Bush led at the end of his presidency. The net worth of the Cabinet of (45), to this point, is at least $13.1 billion, or more than the annual gross domestic product of about 70 small countries. And the President still has 4 more positions to fill. This is NOT what the common American thought they were voting for when they voted to “Make America Great Again.” The people gathered at the table of decision-making these days are mostly White, mostly males, and ALL of them are extremely wealthy —Extremely Wealthy. Our President spends most of his weekends at a private golf club, where none of those “common” Americans, who voted for him, could even afford to have a meal let alone play a round of golf. The government that’s installed in the Peoples’ House in no way represents The People.
If the “regular” folks, who voted for the 45th POTUS in November, haven’t yet realized that they’ve been duped, bamboozled and outright lied to, that moment is just over the horizon; they are about to get a spring awakening like never before. If the proposed budget actually gets passed through Congress, if the GOP and the President are successful in repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), the poor, the elderly, women and children – no matter what race, ethnicity or religious affiliation they may be – are going to lose BIG. The disparity in income and quality of life is going to explode exponentially. It’s going to be devastating. The betrayal of ordinary people who trusted in the man who has shown himself to be an uncontrollable liar, and an unapologetic capitalist, for whom money, power and FAME are above all things and all people, including those to whom he made promises that he never intended to keep, will be victimized by the choice they made to just get “Change.” Change is all they will get from the deal.