The felines of the Senate – Diario de Noticias de Navarra

Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema continue to oppose support for the social measures proposed by the Biden administration.

NOTAcid in Scotland in 1904, Tommy Douglas was a theological student and under the influence of Stanley Knowles became an “egalitarian radical.” Terminados sus estudios, se presentó como líder de la recién creada Federación Cooperativa de la Commonwealth en las elecciones de la Cámara de los Comunes de Canadá in 1935. Ganó 47 de los 53 escaños del distrito de Saskatchewan: primera gran victoria electoral de la socialdemocracia en North America.

During the 1944 election, he first told the story of Mouseland (Land of Mice) which he had learned from his friend Clarence Gillis. A cutting-edge political fable and an elegant example of social criticism: “This is the story of a place called Mouseland. Mouseland was a place where all mice lived and played, born and died. They lived like you and me. They even had a Parliament. And every four years, they held elections. They used to go to the polls and vote. Some of them even urged them to vote. And they also managed to grow themselves off the top of the cliff for the next four years. At any rate. than you and me. And whenever there was an election, the mice would go to the polls and elect a government. A government made up of big black cats.

Now, if it seems odd to you that mice elected a government made up of cats, take a look at Canada’s history of the past 90 years and you will see that they weren’t dumber than us.

good laws for cats But I’m not saying anything against cats. They were good guys. They have led the government with dignity. They have passed good laws, that is, good laws for cats. But laws that were good for cats weren’t for mice. One of the laws stipulated that the holes in mousetraps had to be large enough for a cat to stick its claw through them. They were all good laws. For cats. But oh, they were really tough on mice. And life was getting harder and harder.

When the mice couldn’t take it anymore, they decided something had to be done. So they flocked to the polls. They chased away the black cats. And they chose white cats. And it is that the white cats had made a big campaign. They proclaimed, “All Mouseland needs is more vision. They said, ‘Mouseland’s problem is these round mousetrap holes. If you vote for us, we will put square holes. And they did. And the square holes were twice the size of the round holes, and now cats could put two claws in them. And life has become more difficult than ever. And when they couldn’t take it anymore, they would chase the white cats and put the black ones back. Then they returned to the white cats. Then the black cats. They even tried a government made up of half black cats and half white cats. And they called it a coalition. They even elected a government made up of spotted cats: they were cats that made the noise of a mouse, but ate like cats.

You see, my friends, the color of the cats wasn’t the problem. The problem was, they were cats! And since they were cats, they naturally took care of cats rather than mice. And at that moment a little mouse appeared who had an idea. My friends, beware of little fellow thinkers. And he said to the other mice, “Listen friends, why do we keep electing a government made up of cats? Why don’t we elect a government made up of mice? “Oh,” they said, “he’s a Bolshevik!” Lock him up! And they put him in jail.

But I want to remind all of you that you can lock up a mouse or a person, but you can’t lock up an idea. Tommy Douglas, Canada’s respected social democratic leader and founder of its healthcare system, is now revered as the ‘first Canadian’ but in his day was seen as ‘a radical’ and ‘an enemy of the establishment’. Changing the perception of the benefits of social legislation has taken a hundred years of history. “Enemy of the virtues of the capitalist system” is now considered to be common sense. I am talking about the welfare state.

But it happened in Canada. Here in the United States, Senator Joe Manchin, a sane and moderate man, has said he is ready to support “a plan that fights inflation, is fiscally responsible and creates jobs.” This is why he did not hesitate to support the annual budget of 1,000,000,000 dollars for “defense”. And it is that, as in Mouseland, also in the United States, a few cats are the owners of the arms industries in which the mice work. And it will be the felines who will pocket the grants. After months of negotiations, the Senate passed a $ 1,000,000,000 infrastructure bill for 2021-2031, including Manchin’s vote. The law “will strengthen the main physical infrastructure of the country” because it includes some 110,000 million for roads and bridges, 73,000 million for the modernization of the electricity network, 66,000 million for trains and 65,000 million for the broadband expansion. The Congressional Budget Office has indicated that this law will add $ 256 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade. No moderates have heard of it and the cats will pocket the grants.

The ten-year $ 1,750,000,000 social infrastructure package would provide a large number of citizens with access to medical care, shelter, free education, food and health care. elderly. It would also provide some $ 555 billion in tax relief to promote clean energy. But that’s not a moderate idea as much of the cost would be covered by raising taxes for people who earn more than $ 10 million a year and large corporations, who would face a 15% minimum tax to avoid. to claim so many deductions that they still do not pay taxes.

impact on the economy Manchin said he would not support this bill “without understanding the impact it has on the economy and federal debt … It is time for our elected officials in Washington to stop playing games,” he declared, after having voted in favor of spending a trillion a year on weapons without asking a question. And it is that Manchin is a cat. The median income in the United States is $ 42,000 per year. But in Congress, there are 382 millionaires. Half of the members of the House of Representatives and more than half of the Senate are millionaires. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi increased her fortune from $ 41 million in 2004 to nearly $ 115 million in 2021. A financial genius when you consider that her base salary is $ 223,500. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell increased his net worth from $ 3 million to over 34 million during the same period with a salary of $ 193,400. Manchin? Between 2011 and 2020, the coal companies entered between 4.9 and 5.1 million dollars. The problem is, they’re cats. And when a cat speaks, it says “meow”.