Tony's Kansas City
Compare and contrast: Blunt starts his term on the same note as similar tyrants.
It is often noted that the Nazi’s began their reign of terror by striking out at the mentally challenged citizens of Germany. The T-4 Euthanasia Program targeted mentally and physically challenged adults and children. Through the course of the program it is believed that more than 200,000 people were killed. Propaganda supporting the program emphasized the fact that mentally and physically challenged people were a drain on the resources of the German people. Similarly, newly elected Governor Matt Blunt proposes to end ‘The First Steps’ program serving Missouri’s children with special needs. Blunt also uses cost saving rhetoric to justify this move.
Sadly, it’s clear that the voters in Missouri didn’t know what they were in for when they voted for Gov. Blunt based on his father’s credentials. The mean spirited campaign launched by Blunt appealed to the darker nature of Missouri’s red state roots. Rural Missouri turned out in full force to back the handsome kid with the famous last name. In return, Blunt has pushed forth cuts to social programs and measures against unions. Clearly, the voters in Missouri would rather cut their own economic throat then risk the chance that homosexuals would be allowed to marry. Nobody ever accused poor people of being smart. The mostly middle and lower income voters in rural Missouri have endorsed a Governor that clearly doesn’t have their best interests in mind.
However, it’s unfair to say that Governor Blunt is completely uncaring. Recently, it has been discovered that he has a close relationship with his lobbyist brother. Just as Matt Blunt rode his father’s coattails into office, it should be no surprise that he would play his brother’s keeper and share the benefits of power with his sibling. It’s unclear if Missouri voters casting their ballots in support of “family values” understood that they were really only adding value to the Blunt family name.
Like the citizens of Germany, Missouri voters have brought an evil regime to power and will most likely regret the day they cast their vote for in favor of lofty ideals rather than real world solutions to the state’s problems. Blunt’s good looks and confident smile cast a spell over voters in much the same way that row after row of strapping soldiers blinded Germans to the horrible realities of war. As the parents of special needs children are forced to beg the Governor for alms, it’s clear that Blunt’s promise to tighten the state’s budget won’t be paid by the Republicans in the State Legislature but by the parents who face even further financial hardship in order to care for their children.
And, yes, it has become a cliché as of late to compare Republican leadership to the ultimate evil of the Nazi Party but it’s worth noting that the comparison is really one of Missouri voters and German voters who brought about the Nazis to power. In both instances, there was an overwhelming endorsement of policies and people that sought to solve the problems of their state by disenfranchising a specific segment of society. Voters get the government they deserve. Middle and low-income voters who cast their ballots for Blunt must now be aware that they have done the equivalent of shooting themselves in the foot.
Still, there may be some who find the comparison dramatic or even offensive. No children have been killed, and no one (other than Mexicans dealing with tougher immigration laws) has yet to be put on a train and sent away. But the fact that Governor Blunt would sacrifice the miniscule funding to help Missouri’s children with special needs is a perfect example of his slimy tactics and phony political allusions to morality in state office. The Governor proposes a cut in funding for the ‘First Steps’ program because it is a politically expedient move. While the families deeply affected by these cuts will face a tremendous burden, thankfully there are not many of them. The rest of the state will continue with their lives, unaffected by the slash and burn strategy used by their governor; that is, until one of their benefits is under fire. Much like the people of Nazi Germany, voters in the Show-me State will cowardly sit back and watch one group of people after another face the wrath of an ideology gone unchecked until that ideology ultimately ends with even its most ardent supporters in ruin
Is this scenario too dramatic? Probably, but the stakes for Missouri’s working poor have never been higher. If the state’s budget must be balanced at all costs, let’s start with the corporate welfare that has backed nearly every construction project in Kansas City. Sacrificing assistance to the most disadvantaged children in the state is not the proper place to pinch pennies. If there is such a thing as “compassionate conservatism” now is the time to prove it.