Bernie Sanders slams “immoral and unsustainable” wealth inequality while calling to end “oligarchy.” Since the start of the 21st century, this group’s wealth has expanded nine times, aided by Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts followed by his 2025 tax cuts that mostly benefit the rich. While Trump/Republican cuts to ACA subsidies and Medicare $500 billion and Medicaid one trillion will result in about 16 million hard-working citizens losing their healthcare according to the CBO. President Joe Biden warned on his way out the door, saying there is a growing “oligarchy” that “threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead”.
Wealthier households gain the most under Trump’s new rules due to the expanded deductions like the $40,000 cap on state and local tax write-offs. Business owners, investors, and high-income earners benefit from preferential tax treatment on investment income and mortgage interest.
Thomas Jefferson believed that when government falls into the hands of rich and wealthy corporations as our government has, it will lead to an “elective despotism,” where the interests of the rich overshadow those of the common people as we are now shockingly experiencing today.
Warning: The stakes are nothing less than the future of American democracy. If we the people fail to rise to this challenge, MAGA Republicans won’t just win the next election; they’ll win the power to define who counts as an American, whose stories matter, and who has the right to belong in America.
Dr. Richard A. French, Glendale, Calif.