Of Course, One Could Say They Already Have a Name: Republicans
We need a catchy new name for Republicans. One that combines two of their characteristics. First, they are flagrant, unabashed plutocrats. They proved that by, for instance, their tax cut that is plunderingly top heavy.
The second characteristic is that they are faux populists. They have proven this over and over by policies like, there had been a regulation that required companies receiving federal contracts to be ones that did not have a pattern of violating employment laws or worker safety laws. Trump and the GOP overturned that.
So we need a name that combines plutocrats and phony populism. PluFoPop? Nah, too clumsy.
Their faux populism doesn’t just affect workers either. It also affects us as consumers. There had been a regulation that old folks homes couldn’t require forced arbitration clauses, which would prevent families of seniors from being able to sue if there was either mistreatment or malfeasance. Trump and the GOP overturned that.
Plutocratic-Faux-Populists? No, too many syllables. It has to be such a short, easy phrase that it could become commonly used, the way the term neocon caught on.
Forced arbitration is one of the favorite tools of industry to operate in ways outside the law or which would lead to expensive court cases and fines. It allows them to pay such a low cost for violating people that it’s profitable to just keep right on doing it.
Given that, you won’t be surprised to know that, as a gift to fellow plutocrats, Trump and the GOP have loosened rules on forced arbitration in all sorts of ways. So much so that the attorneys general of the states felt compelled to send a letter to Congress asking them to disallow forced arbitration in sexual harassment cases. How many attorneys general? All of them. Yep. Even from states thoroughly controlled by GOP and fond of enacting crazy, reactionary legislation, even they feel they have to push against the tendencies of this Congress and president.
We could shorten PluFoPop to PFP? No, then it loses all its meaning.
We need a name that will constantly remind people that the GOP is plutocratic and its populism is fake.
That they are plutocratic, and not just business friendly, shows up again and again in policies that are of little or no help for small business, but great for big business. In the course of creating their tax break, they tried to make the case that changes to pass-through business tax would be great for small business. But changes they offered didn’t really help pass-through businesses, except for ones that are very large and have huge profits which, in a progressive tax system, should rightly be taxed at a higher rate. In fact, the changes offered had the potential to raise taxes on many of the smallest businesses.
FoPluPop? Sounds like a digestive problem. FoPopicrat? Doesn’t convey the plutocrat part. How does this sound? PlutoFop. Maybe. It has potential. I’ll have to try it around some.
There might be a better name to be found. Maybe you have it. If you do, put it out there. Catchy names and phrases that carry a lot of meaning, and do so accurately, are a big help in the battle for truth. In any case, by their actions, Trump and the GOP have clarified who they are, and it ain’t populist, and it is lavishly favorable to the rich.
The issue of whether victims of sexual harassment can be freed from forced arbitration is under consideration.
Contact Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Call his office at 202-353-1555 or 202-514-2000. You can write Sessions at U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, D.C., 20530-0001.
Contact your representative and senators:
www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Tom Cantlon has the interesting challenge of being a left-leaning writer for the paper in a small, right-leaning Western town, in a right-leaning state. You will also find his work on RSN.org. He can be reached at comments at TomCantlon.com.