Blessed are the corporations, as per MN Rep. Whelan

Before I devolve into a fit of barking lunacy at the sheer entitlement and unethicality of the subject of this post, I’ll say this: I just happened to come across this article today, and after I read it and subsequently watched the video to make sure it wasn’t fictitious or over-exaggerated, I went blank inside. It’s been a fairly boring, normal day (if you could call life under the Trump Regime ‘normal’), and I wasn’t already in a bad mood or anything.

Until I fully processed what I had heard. Then rage came roaring back in. Let me sum up. As reported by several agnostic/atheistic news sites, including Patheos (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/05/25/asked-about-offshore-tax-havens-mn-state-rep-tells-everyone-to-accept-jesus/), Representative Abigail Whelan, a member of Minnasota’s House of Reps, completely avoided a direct question from a Democratic colleague regarding her refusal to support an omnibus tax bill that would help close up loop holes for corporations using off-shore accounts as tax havens by saying this instead (italics utilized for my emphasis):

“…It might be because it’s late and I’m really tired, but I’m going to take this opportunity to just share with the body something I have been grappling with over the past several months, and that is, the games that we play here. And I just want you to know, Representative Thissen and the [Democratic] caucus – I forgive you. It is okay, because I have an eternal perspective about this. I have an eternal perspective and I want to share that with you and with the people listening at home, that at the end of the day, when we try to reach an agreement with divided government, we win some, we lose some, nobody is really happy, but you know what? Happiness and circumstances – not what it’s about. There is actual joy to be found in Jesus Christ. Jesus loves you all. If you would like to get to know him, [if] you’re listening at home, [or] here in this room, please email me, call me. Would love to talk to you about Jesus. He is the hope of this state and of this country.”

To Whelan, and all other sanctimonious “Christian” hypocrites gleefully working to devolve America into a real life dystopia inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale: fuck you. Fuck your cowardly tactic of hiding behind Jesus whenever someone calls you out on your bullshit. Fuck your smug delusional insistence that if only we all had more of (your interpretation of)Jesus in our lives, the country wouldn’t be the circling the drain as it is now.

This is the cold, hard truth: YOU are the fucking problem. White, Christian, entitled shitbags like you. Your sociopathic ideals about everyone being able to and responsible for pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps has been rendered nearly impossible by the very things you have weaseled into national legislation: you treat corporations with more respect than individual humans, you funnel money away from the people scrounging for scraps to the people who already have fucktons of cash using the proven lie that is trickledown economic theory as justification so that the oligarchs that have bought and paid for your election can remain in their high towers and you can rest easy knowing you won’t have to panic about finding a steady job unlike the peasants you were elected to represent.

You and all your brethren are a plague on the civilized world. You pervert the Constitution and the gospel of your so-called god with every word you utter and abusive law you ram through the system. You disgust me. I’d spit on you if I could get within a few feet of you.

 ….I’m slightly more calm now. But consider this, folks – could this POS have gotten away with this childish shirk of accountability if she said the same about Allah? Or Yahweh? That would have been news on a national scale, not just some blurb on websites that are already woke to the kinds of crap religious zealots in positions of power get away with.

It’s the same tired tactic that has become common place in Trump’s America – “I can’t answer this important question without incriminating or outing myself as an asshole, so I’ll ignore the question entirely and say something about Jesus/Benghazi/Obama.” This tactic existed long before modern politicians incorporated it into the core of their very being, yes, but it’s become especially pernicious and I am sick to death of it. I remain frustrated to the brink of madness with idiot-America’s incapability/refusal to recognize these wolves in sheep’s clothing for what they are – lying frauds. If you are a white Christian person who makes less than 125K a year, they don’t give a flying fuck about your wellbeing. They care that you’re indifferent and ignorant enough to fall for their bullshit and will say whatever it takes to convince you they aren’t stabbing you in the back after you cast a vote for them– whether it’s anti-Muslim/anti-immigrant rhetoric or anti-abortion propaganda or whatever stirs up your nostalgia for the “good ol’ days” when women were barefoot and pregnant and people of color kept their head down and their mouths shut.

We all have a blindspot of naivety about something, but the math just doesn’t fucking add up with these people. The less corporations pay in taxes, the more you the taxpayer have to pay to make up the difference. You want a country with paved roads, non-crumbling bridges/tunnels, well-funded police departments, safe schools for your kids with good programs that prepare them for the job market and college? THESE THINGS ARE ALL FUNDED BY FUCKING TAXES. If the brunt of the taxes are coming from individuals and families, that equals less money left in the pot to consume with. With less money to spend, businesses suffer, and have to lay people off to keep the doors open – which creates more dependence on the state (which is already improperly funded because corporations refuse to pay their fair share and the working class is strained because they contribute more than they can afford), and when the state tells the down-on-their-luck to fuck off and “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” (like in Maine where the scumbag Governor LePage has gutted safety net programs and poverty has intensified and homelessness has increased) you wind up with a wicked homeless problem, which breeds crime because people have to steal/deal drugs to survive – you see where this is going? You want a country with ample things to buy at the grocery store and lots of reasonably-priced choices about the kinds of consumer goods you can get your hands on, without the taint of knowing it was all provided by cheap sweat shop/illegal immigrant labor? MAKE THE FUCKING UBER RICH CORPORATIONS PAY MORE IN TAXES. Tie CEO pay to lowest-paid worker pay so the money that would be going in their pocket goes back into the company, which can be passed along in taxes, so people can have more money in their paychecks so they can in turn use their surplus cash to SPEND AND GROW THE FUCKING ECONOMY.

This strain of selfish assholery, where we are offended that our tax dollars are used to help people who are disabled, or going hungry, or are homeless because they have a mental illness and can’t hold down a job is UN-CHRISTIAN – plain and simple. Jesus preached constantly about charity and living humbly and helping those in need – it was his whole shtick! He also said “give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s!” – i.e. give the government what you owe! This notion that people who accept government assistance are by default moochers or lazy jerks is largely fictitious. Sure, people abuse the system, and parameters should be in place to prevent this from happening. But the response to occasional misuse should not result in the elimination government safety net programs entirely. The movement towards this – gutting food stamps and housing assistance and healthcare for the poor – is immoral and unethical.

A person who actually had a backbone and moral fiber wouldn’t be dodging legitimate inquiries about fiscal policy with responses about their love for Jesus. Abigail Whelan gives Christians a bad name; she is a shining example of everything that atheists and agnostics loathe about deeply religious political figures. This is why the Founding Father’s established separation of Church and State when they broke from England – to avoid tyranny masquerading as religious rhetoric. 

All I know is – when the government crumbles in on itself, the result of a coup from the militant Christian fundamentalists – I won’t really be surprised. I’ll also be shaking my head, watching the carnage from either the grave or Canada – because I refuse to relinquish my autonomy and my rights as a human being.

*kicks over soap box*