Our next move to the suburbs?

When Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House he suggested that we should build more orphanages to warehouse children whose families couldn’t  care for them properly.  Never mind the documented abuses from time immemorial (think Oliver Twist, Catholic orphanages in Australia during WWII where children were regularly sexually abused by their caretakers, Eastern Europe during the Communist era where children were so neglected they were unable to form attachments with adoptive families.)   But Newt’s  idea  looks downright compassionate compared to the current crop of Republican brainstorms.

Now, Republican leaders like Eric “Empty Suit” Cantor are saying we can’t afford to provide aid to the victims of Hurricane Irene because we “don’t have the money” and will have to cut elsewhere.   And they keep using that tired and invalid comparison to your family’s budget.  (Let me remind you that your family cannot print money.)

Funny how the Republicans always seem to find money for the things that are important to them:  war, corporate welfare and tax breaks for the rich.  But their mean-spiritedness is sinking to new lows.  I’m just waiting for the candidate who’s going to suggest that we overturn child labor laws and bring back debtors’ prisons and poor houses for the old and destitute. But perhaps I’m giving them too much credit.  More likely they’d rather see the old, the sick and the poor out on the street.   (See my previous post “I Have a Nightmare”).

Most ironic is that these Republicans call themselves Christians. But hey, we’re number one!