All Politics is Personal
Just because you aren’t interested I politics, that doesn’t mean it isn’t interested in you
I began writing this post while I was still in Tennessee with my father. Since my brain capacity has gone into hiding until my battery is fully recharged, and time is running out on this issue, I will post this today and send out an update in the near future.
Fancy Terrible
If you have had access to any form of news source over the past week, you know there is a lot of terrible stuff happening. To quote Dorothy Parker, “This wasn't just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with raisins in it.”
There are military forces, disguised as ICE, being used against American citizens, war in Ukraine, now the threat of war in the Middle East. I’ve had limited access to real news – despite the fact that my father loves to blare Faux News at a high decibel level throughout the day. (Thank goodness I brough my noise-canceling headphones with me.) I’ve still had exposure to these happenings via the newsfeed on my phone.
Some of the things I’ve heard coming from his television make me shake my head at the fictional interpretation of factual events, but I’ve learned to avoid the arguments involved in trying to help him see the truth. Occasionally, he will blurt out a headline and ask me what I think. I usually respond with the same statement.
“Some people will say anything to get attention.”
Kind of like that little kid in class who told tall tales at recess. Now he’s on TV. At least I can put on my headphones and listen to a podcast while I clean the house.
I’m going to let other people who are far more educated on topics like the Posse Comitatus Act and Middle East conflict speak on behalf of those issues. Today, I’m staying in my lane and talking about two topics I know well, the underprivileged and the disabled, both of which will be irreparably harmed by the “Big Beautiful Bill” currently before the Senate.
The president’s latest round of tax cuts for the rich will be funded, in part, by taking money from the poorest 30 percent of American households
Per an article in the Rolling Stone dated June 12, 2025:
According to a CBO report released on Thursday, over the next ten years around 80 percent of the benefits provided by Republicans’ budget bill will go to the richest ten percent of American households — and households in the lowest 30 percent of incomes are projected to collectively lose billions.
The poorest 10 percent of American households would see their income decrease by about $1,600 per year in annual income, while households with mid-range incomes would only net a few hundred dollars.
The Trump tax bill would be a massive wealth transfer to the already wealthy. It will also strip millions of low-income Americans of their health care coverage through Medicaid over the next decade and make it more difficult for poor families to access the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food aid.
Reviewing the CBO report, Brendan Duke of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities wrote that the Trump tax bill will make the bottom 30 percent “worse off” while disproportionately benefiting the top 10 percent of households. “This is not shared sacrifice — it’s a fiscal transfer from the bottom to the top,” he wrote.
I just spent a month in the poorest county in Tennessee, and I can tell you these people are hurting. Families are living in tiny trailers without air conditioning in triple-digit heat. Some don’t have running water, living with a well and an outhouse. Many homes are in such disrepair that they would be condemned if they were located where I live, and probably where you live as well.
The small hospital in his county shut down a few years ago after the Tennessee governor refused to accept money from the Medicaid expansion dollars in the ACA. If federal Medicaid funding is cut even further, it’s likely that the small hospital in the next county could close its doors as well, leaving people with the nearest Emergency Room two counties away, nearly an hour’s drive in an emergency situation.
SNAP is a Lifeline. Without food assistance, people will starve. This is a modern Holodomor on American soil.
Every day revolved around getting my father to eat. This required me to shop for his favorite foods and keep the refrigerator stocked with things he might desire. Because his little mountain town is so remote, food must be trucked into the local grocery store. The little store is forced to increase their prices to cover these costs, leading to food that is significantly more expensive than what I pay for food where I live.
Edit to add that Tennessee also charges tax on groceries unlike Michigan that only charges 6% tax on prepared food items. Tennessee charges 4% on food ingredients and 7% on prepared foods - including bakery items and smoked meats. But the county also charges 2.75% tax, bringing the tax charges up to 6.75% or 9.75% respectively.
In addition to the increased price, healthy food choices are limited. I eat a fairly “clean” diet of whole foods and fresh veggies. I couldn’t find most of the things I eat in the local grocery store. Some of those items were available at the Food Lion in the next county, 30 minutes away. That’s an hour round trip to get groceries. For people who don’t have a car or can’t afford the gas to make the drive, that’s not a real option.
Without SNAP, people won’t be able to buy groceries. Kids will go to bed hungry. Many residents of the town already hunt, fish, or farm to feed their families, but there are still groceries that can only be found at the store. That’s where SNAP fills the gap.
How Can You Stop the Culling of Fellow Americans?
This is a blatant attempt at stripping the most vulnerable among our population of food and medical care. Without these two things, people will die.
You can help stop the passage of this budget bill packed with poison pills.
Call your state’s two senators and cite the CBO report. Tell them you are demanding they vote “NO” on the Big Ugly Bill.
If you get voicemail, leave a message. If you have time, keep calling until you get a human.
E-mail both senators after you call them. Flood their inboxes.
Send them a postcard or letter. Flood their mailboxes.
If we work together to protect each other, to protect the most vulnerable among us, we can succeed and survive.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead has been quoted as saying that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur that had been broken and then healed.
“A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts,” Mead said.
While we may disagree on some points you raise regarding the Iran bombing and Trumps handling of the military/war negotiations, I think we can all agree that the poor need to be given access to medical care and affordable food.
I copied this excerpt from an article that ran this morning regarding Trump’s bill. It passed the voting portion in the house (which I guess means they voted to vote on it?)
Anyway, this part might give you some comfort that there are conservatives who do care about these issues:
“The Medicaid provider tax rate was kept largely the same, except its implementation date was moved back a year. Also included as a sweetener for lawmakers like Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and others was a $25 billion rural hospital stabilization fund over the next five years.”
“Collins said that she would support the bill through the procedural hurdle, and noted that the rural hospital stabilization fund was a start, but whether she supports the bill on final passage remains to be seen.”
There are people fighting for the poor and underserved on both sides of the aisle. And I wish you and your father well.
Thank you for taking the time to write this. And yes, unfortunately, life is political. From the air we breathe, to the food we eat, to the person we marry. Politics can be life or death. Thank for the reminder to contact our representatives.