General Discussion

First of all, not a single Republican voted for the ARPA. Not one. Despite that fact there was never any talk that I'm aware of about steering the funds towards blue states or Biden voters. Does anyone think that if this were done now by Republicans that these funds would not be distributed via loyalty test? It seems unthinkable, but that is a very real possibility in today's political environment. As we've learned, every accusation is an admission with the MAGA crowd, and fearing there were "strings attached" to the ARPA money tells us exactly what they would do.

Democrats truly want to help all Americans while Republicans seem to want only to punish all Americans--including themselves--except for billionaire Americans and corporations because all that is holy and good apparently flows through the almighty dollar.

Secondly, it was $10.2 million. Not $10.2 billion or any other outrageous figure. If you identify a need but you don't like the proposed funding source you don't just say, "forget that need we identified. We would rather just go without." No, you find funding from a source you don't hate. There are plenty of them. Exxon pulls in $4 million per hour and has its world headquarters only 286 miles to the east in Houston. Did anyone ask them if a lifesaving warning system to protect a Christian girl's camp would be something they might want to put their name on?

But Republicans decided that it was far better to put kids' lives in danger rather than use the available funding handed to them by Democrats--because that would be taking dirty communist money--or to find an alternate funding source. Apparently the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of school children. That's freedom in MAGA America.

Coincidentally, the behemoth $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package certainly contributed to the stubborn inflation that ultimately had a huge impact on the 2024 election. While it did so much good and helped fuel a strong economic recovery and "soft landing," too many Americans were unable to see the 'we didn't have a recession' forest for the 'I'm paying too much for eggs' trees.... No good deed....