Our votes make statements about the common good. Who do we treat as fully American and what do we owe each other?
Answers to those questions provided by the candidates are clear. One side argues that favoring corporate profits benefits all and we can be denied health care because we cannot afford it or have pre-existing conditions. Over 137 million Americans lost their retirement savings in 2019 as they drowned in medical debts.
Others argue for a fair deal in which business successes should not come at the expense of their workers and no family should be one medical bill away from financial disaster.
Are we a nation that leaves the majority to struggle on their own or do we act together through government to help our fellow Americans? That is our choice on Nov. 3.
Does that characterization seem unfair? Consider three initiatives by the current administration. They are trying to deny 23 million Americans health insurance and allow insurers to deny coverage to 129 million seniors for pre-existing conditions by continuing efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
They are also attempting to reduce by one-third the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that is a vital supplier of food to families in need, many of whom work low wage jobs.
There are also moves to cut half a trillion dollars from Medicare, on which many seniors depend for health insurance, and gut Social Security by eliminating the payroll tax on which it is based. Attacks on clean water and workers’ overtime wages and tips are also parts of their program. Clearly the corporations who benefitted from massive tax cuts in 2017 are this administration’s true constituents.
Some tell me that cuts to basic services and protections are needed because of loafers who unfairly take advantage of responsible tax payers. They are right and I can name a few of those free-riders. One is a multi-millionaire and prominent politician who paid less in taxes ($750) in 2016 and 2017 than just about any working American. He is not alone.
The John Deere Corporation paid no taxes in 2018 when its reported global profits were 2.37 billion dollars. Sixty U.S. corporations that year used loopholes to avoid paying a total of 16 billion dollars in taxes, getting instead a combined refund of $4 billion.
The 2017 tax cuts were a windfall for them, leaving the rest of us to cover the 50% increase in the national debt caused by those cuts. Welfare cheats must be punished. Corporate freeloaders are a bigger danger to our economy and material wellbeing.
Please, when you vote, vote for all of us and not for the very privileged 1%. And after the election, regardless the outcome, let’s join together and track what our public servants are doing to promote the common good at the national (https://www.govtrack.us/) and state levels (https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/). The fight for a fair deal for all does not end with an election.
Ed Schortman
Gambier, Ohio
