Progressive Opinion

alternet.org — Much has been written the past few months about the conservatives' assault on women's autonomy: the intrusive battery of new laws designed to forcibly insert the right-wing's political and religious agenda into the most intimate conversations between women and their doctors. What's less well understood is that this same effort is also a full frontal attack on the future of government-paid healthcare, and by larger extension, on Americans' trust in their public institutions, and our confidence in government's ability to solve problems the market can't handle.

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prospect.org — Later this morning, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan will unveil his latest budget plan, “The Path to Prosperity.” Like the “Roadmap” released last year—and passed by House Republicans—the Path to Prosperity fits neatly within Ryan’s self-described Randian ideology: It would slash social and entitlement spending and direct the savings to lower taxes on rich people and corporations. Despite this, as Matthew Yglesias points out, Ryan has a habit of portraying his policies as somehow beneficial to the broad majority of Americans. I plan to be in the audience for Ryan’s unveiling, but in the meantime, here are a few things to remember and look out for as Ryan tries to sell his program to the public.

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cepr.net — There is an old story about two men in a retirement home. The first declares, “the food in this place is poison.” His friend agrees and adds, “and the portions are so small.” This exchange perfectly captures the Republican approach to Medicare. The Republicans, led by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, have argued that Medicare threatens to bankrupt the country. They have pointed to cost projections showing the program more than doubling relative to the size of the economy over the next three decades. The Republicans say that the country cannot afford this expense and scream about huge debt burdens for our children. The Republicans’ concern might lead people to believe that they would support measures to contain Medicare costs. But if you thought that was the case, you would be wrong.

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news.newamericamedia.org — For the next 25 years, Social Security’s Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance trust funds are 100 percent solvent, and beyond that window, 90 percent solvent for two more decades. But to many people on both sides of the aisle in this election year, actuarial realities do not matter as much as even dubious political claims. Policymakers on the left and right discuss the need to “fix” Social Security. And some commentators are quick to brand any talk about the solid finances of Social Security as demagoguery.The political rhetoric not only runs counter to actuarial projections of the program, but it also contradicts public opinion. Why, then, the desire to cut benefits or raise the retirement age? Indeed, the fate of Social Security may hinge more on the fate and evolution of democracy in the United States, rather than the droll accounting of its economic projections.

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truthdig.com — In 2016, Mitt Romney has promised to cut $500 billion from the federal budget. One way he'll pay for it is “with the easiest cut of all: Obamacare, a trillion-dollar entitlement we don’t want and can’t afford.” So let’s say he repealed the Affordable Care Act in full. In 2016, that would cut spending by $110 billion, or a fifth of Romney’s promised total. But if you repeal the Affordable Care Act, you also repeal the measures it uses to pay for itself. In 2016, that means repealing $35 billion in tax increases and $65 billion in spending cuts — most of which are the Medicare cuts that Romney routinely attacks on the campaign. Subtract them from the spending and now Romney’s only saving $10 billion, or 1/50th of his promised total, by repealing the Affordable Care Act. This gets to a certain incoherence in the conservative case against Obama’s health-care reforms.

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motherjones.com — During a recent interview with Glenn Beck, Rick and Karen Santorum suggested that the Obama administration's health care reform law would harm people with disabilities, like their three-year-old daughter, Bella, who suffers from a rare and usually fatal genetic disorder. In fact, it was because of President Obama's health care overhaul, they said, that the former Pennsylvania senator decided to seek the presidency. "We have as you know a little angel, little Bella, special-needs little girl, and when Obamacare passed, that was it, that put the fire in my belly," Karen said. Rick added that Obama's Affordable Care Act is "all about the usefulness of the person to society, instead of the dignity of every human life and the opportunity for people who love and care for people to give them the best possibility to have the best possible life." Yet, even as the Santorums bash Obamacare, their own family story makes the case for the health care policies that they vigorously oppose.

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newdeal20.org — It seems the cat’s finally out of the bag these days: conservatives aren’t just concerned with saving the babies from abortions when it comes to reproductive rights. They are now outspoken about being against access to contraception — and some of them have even come out against non-procreative sex. Women’s rights activists have long warned that they were coming for our birth control; now it’s hard to deny they were right all along. One big clue this whole time has been a simple fact: if conservatives are so hell-bent on preventing abortions, one of the best things they can do is support family planning services and access to contraception. There’s another clue that this isn’t about saving the babies. It’s the blind eye conservatives have turned to the economic factors that are leading more women to turn to abortion.

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thenation.com — Aspirins and short skirts and contraception, oh my! The last few weeks have seen a slew of Republican gaffes concerning women’s sexuality. From Rick Santorum’s billionaire supporter Foster Friess’s waxing nostalgic about the good old days when women put aspirin "between their knees” in lieu of contraception to an online furor over whether the young conservative women at CPAC dressed too provocatively — the GOP has a major woman problem on their hands. Their fear of sex — of women’s sexuality in particular — has become a major media talking point, and a source of outrage among American women. But what I don’t understand is why anyone is surprised. Republicans have long based their agenda for women in a deep-rooted disdain for all things female. We’ve been down this road many, many times before.

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dailykos.com — Now that the Right has come completely out in the open about their "pro-life" stance being about birth control and controlling women's lives, the Left has a real opportunity to brand the Right on all of women's health as the true extremists they are. But for that to work, our side has to get it and be willing to give up any ideas of working with the other side to find a compromise. There is none. The Right will continue to chip away, compromise by compromise, until birth control is as hard to get as an abortion is. Our political leaders have to recognize that, and women's organizations have to be willing to hold those politicians' feet to the fire.

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washingtonpost.com — In his essay on President Obama’s first term, James Fallows writes, “A failure to win reelection places a ‘one-term loser’ asterisk on even genuine accomplishments. Ask George H. W. Bush, victor in the Gulf War; ask Jimmy Carter, architect of the Camp David agreement.” The most important fact of Obama’s reelection campaign is that, if he wins, the single most important accomplishment of his second term will be protecting the gains of his first term. If he wins, the Affordable Care Act becomes the law of the land. If he wins, Dodd-Frank becomes the law on Wall Street. If he loses, both policies are likely to be either rolled back or hollowed out. Bush’s victory in the Gulf War withstood Bill Clinton’s election, and the Camp David agreement was not undone by Ronald Reagan. In Obama’s case, however, a failure to win a second term will not just color his accomplishments. It will decide their fate.

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