Thom Hartmann for BuzzFlash: Is It Time to Stop Letting Republicans Run Governments?

May 12th 2020

Ronald Reagan - Caricature (DonkeyHotey)

By Thom Hartmann

We have now reached the peak of Reaganism stupidity. Reagan said the government wouldn’t solve our problems, but that it was the cause of our problems and Republicans took that to heart. Therefore, Trump’s government did not plan for the pandemic, because government can’t solve problems. Trump’s government didn’t plan for testing, because republicans believe government can’t solve problems. A half dozen cases of coronavirus in Wuhan, China have led the Chinese government to, this week, test 11 million people in seven days, but we can’t test an entire American city because the Republicans know that government can’t solve problems.

We have healthcare workers and hospital workers dying and spreading infection among their families because their hospitals are overwhelmed and they don’t have PPE, because Trump’s government never planned to help them out because Republicans know that American government can’t solve problems. While the unemployment rates in northern Europe have not gone above 6% as their governments’ provide direct relief to employers and working people, we are looking at Great Depression levels of unemployment that will devastate the lives of a generation of Americans because Donald Trump and Republicans know that the American government can’t solve problems.

We have pulled out of an international program to develop vaccines because Trump and Republicans know our government can’t solve problems. With 5% of the world’s population we have about a third of the worlds coronavirus cases and deaths: Apparently Reagan was at least half right. America can’t solve problems, when Republicans are in charge.

Thom Hartmann is a talk-show host and the author of The Hidden History of the War on Voting and more than 30 other books in print. His most recent project is a science podcast called The Science Revolution. He is a writing fellow at the Independent Media Institute.