Something Happened

Once upon a time, I thought Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was more or less a decent fellow, but something's gone horribly wrong. And I don't think it's all about my own political evolution - it seems pretty obvious that something short-circuited in that guy's head.

Grassley became one of the main peddlers of the Death Panel bullshit back when ACA was being debated.

He chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and effectively blocked the Garland appointment simply by following Mitch McConnell's lead and announcing that he'd spend almost a year ignoring it.

Now we can add this one to the hi-lites:

The Hill:

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he favors repealing the estate tax, which the Senate tax reform bill does not do, saying it "recognizes the people that are investing," The Des Moines Register reported Saturday.

“I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies," Grassley told the newspaper.


It fits the pattern though. Faux Conservatives have preached the gospel of deprivation for decades.  Mostly it translates for the rubes this way: "As long as those undeserving poor people (aka Black Folks, mostly) get less than me, I'm willing to make the sacrifice."

But there's something that's coming through louder and more clearly lately, and it grows out of that core belief that struggle makes you stronger.

We've become conditioned to believe great people are always made to suffer. We project that onto these upper crust individuals to the point where we simply assume a Donald Trump (eg) has suffered as well. Suffering makes you great. Trump is great. So Trump must have suffered. We don't see an Aristocracy of Inherited Entitlement at work here because that's not how we grow up understanding the American ideal.

The unintended lesson is that great people have been made to suffer, so it's the suffering itself that makes you great. 

With that in mind, some folks end up going out of their way looking for "leaders" who promise them more suffering, thinking it gives them a shot at becoming great (ie: rich and powerful), when all that's really going on is that they'll get another chance to empty their pockets in exchange for feeling superior to all those moochers who just want free stuff.

"I've worked hard all my life - I ain't got jack shit, but by god I earned it"