I admit it. I’ve been having a lot of trouble understanding this family values thing. I knew it had something to do with gun ownership and undermining environmental regulations, of course. But its larger meaning had alluded me until this past week, when the family value-loving House of Representatives finally made the term’s meaning crystal clear to us all.
To fund government subsidies for student loans, House Republicans could either have come up with the money from eliminating some tax breaks for oil companies or eliminating a program that allows poor women to get breast cancer tests. And they opted to eliminate the latter.
The Republican dominated House also had to choose between cutting funding for the military or for food stamps. And opted for a food stamp trimming.
So subsidies for oil companies making near-record profits are more important that breast cancer screening. And another few tanks are more important than food for children, the prime beneficiaries of food stamp programs. Gotcha. Now I understand “family values.”
But I’m still trying to work through the relationship between the term “conservative” as used these days and some past meanings of the term. Herbert Hoover, before becoming President, was generally acknowledged to be one of the greatest humanitarians in history. This was due to his magnificent management of post-World I food programs in Western Europe and Russia.
Hoover, the proto-typical conservative, feed millions abroad. These days, though, “conservatives” in this country seem to have it out for food stamps that feed our own children.
Odd. Seems I have to think this one through a bit more.