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I thought I was dreaming: A Republican senator was advocating against actions that would "... hit the poorest among us the hardest." I had a flood of emotions as I thought, "Finally, we're going to put politics aside and stop using the poor as a political football." All of this seemed like progress -- until I heard the context of the quote. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah was actively pursuing tax cuts for the wealthy Americans as if it was going to help those on the margins of society. What a guy!
Sometimes what politicians say before they have to backtrack is the most revealing, like Gov. Mitt Romney and his 47 percent comment or Rep. Paul Ryan calling vulnerable Americans "takers." Lee's comments not only speak to the real character of his party, but to their real political agenda: the most radical redistribution of wealth we've ever seen, taking from the poor and giving to the super-rich.
While they're using rhetoric to sound like part of the faith community, they're working in Congress to demand more cuts to the programs that help the poor, the vulnerable, the elderly and young children. People of faith need to send a clear message to Congress: Let the Bush tax cuts expire and support programs that help the vulnerable, while cutting back on Pentagon funding that even they don't want.
Instead of asking the wealthy to pay their fair share, Republicans want to gut programs that help lower- and middle-class America, programs that keep us on the road to economic recovery. Study after study show the Republican plan for economic recovery just doesn't work, but the far-right machine will take these failed policies, dress them up in church garments and call them "our shared values." People of faith need to call their members of Congress and let them know that economic recovery shouldn't be put on the back of those hurting the most.
Contact your representative today, and let them know you are a person of faith in support of letting the Bush tax cuts expire. You can find contact information for your individual members here: house.gov/representatives/find.
