Why does this have to be a binary extreme possible situation? Why is it so hard to understand or have empathy for a middle class family of four trying to get by and a significant increase of taxes can be detrimental to their lives? That's a situation where it definitely hurts them compared to a situation that may or may not ever hurt them at all.
While I agree with your sentiment I think it's still off a little. Unless that family of four plans on dying soon we should assume a few things. One, that the parent's absolutely care about their children's future. Second, that they're going to be a family after the election as well. What I mean by that is some things are going to change in my lifetime. They're sure as fuck going to change during the lifetime of a person who's currently still a child being raised by their family. The United States a 4 year old today will inherit when they're 35 will be vastly different than the one I'm in now at 35. And what I feel families, voters and people need to do is start looking at things less in the time frame of now and more at least along their expected life expectancy. I'm not saying that voters and citizens need to worry about what the country will be like in 200 years, who here can fathom that. I'm saying they need to think about not just the United States that they're working in now in their 20s or 30s but the United States they're going to retire in in their sixties or later. When looking out for children people should of course worry about the present, but yes, I think an adult that may be 40 years old and who plans on dying in 60 years should still be thinking far enough ahead to think about their child in their twilight years and what kind of country they'll be trying to retire in.
And it's there that this "think of this family of four" kind of rubs me the wrong way. On the surface it's totally true. You're not going to win anyone over by blowing smoke up their ass. Some people will "lose" under Bernie's or any UHC plan from any current or future candidate in reality. There's always winners and losers. Always. So many things are posited as givens, like raising the minimum wage. I guarantee you that while raising the minimum wage would be best for the country as a whole and is probably a great idea some people will lose. Some businesses will fold. Some will move to automation faster. Some will just trim staff. And who can guess how fast or slow a restructuring would occur? Can a restructuring even occur with automation looming overhead?
So no, no candidate can guarantee that you'll make the same amount of money or more under their plan. That's bullshit. What they're really attempting to control is how far someone can fall. How low their standard of living can go. And they're putting an artificial bottom there with things like minimum wage, UHC and the like.
Now back to the kids. A good parent should encourage them to save for retirement, for sure. This is common knowledge why is retirement the only forward thinking thing people do? Why are people quick to sacrifice the environment, healthcare and everything else around them that they'd need except cash for retirement? the dirty truth I'd tell the parent of a family of four is that your child's not guaranteed to make it. The social nets you support now does have a chance at benefitting your children. If I'm talking to every parent in the country I can guarantee that a lot of their children will need it. That many of their children, even with relevant degrees will not be able to find good work in the future. That your babies will enter a job market shrinking and more crowded as more and more people are displaced by globalization and automation.
I'd even go so far as to say that, even if global warming wasn't happening and automation wasn't coming and globalization wasn't a thing, lets say none of these forces existed in the current world, even then just with the current stagnant wage growth, the ever increasing cost of higher education and the rising costs of health care your children have a bleaker future than you did. So it's great if you're on track or all but assured to get your kids through school, now lets see your kids do that for their children.
The generations that follow us are going to have it fucking rough if we don't start doing some soul searching now and start reprioritizing and making some things fundamental rights now.
So while, yes, I think the message people send to people barely making it now that everything will for sure work out better for them immediately is bullshit, a good amount of people will be set back, and people do need to be more diplomatic or have more empathy and tact when discussing stuff like this, however I think they also need to do a better job explaining that, yeah, this is still in your interests because in reality, even if UHC, public college education and the like don't get passed some of you who're barely making it will not be making it in the future even if the government does nothing. Whether the government does something or not, businesses will continue to move towards automation, they'll continue to outsource and move jobs overseas and neither your jobs or your kids' jobs are set in stone.
Lets say the worst comes to pass for some people and they lose their house under this plan, or another like it, but years later they find out their kid has an expensive illness or college tuition's ballooned so much they can't afford it, under these types of plans the kids would still be alright, as a parent would you give up the house? I fucking would.
And another important thing that I feel, I don't know but I feel, is that I'd like to change the soul of this country. A country that doesn't allow it's citizens to live in abject poverty, die from a lack of health care or have no prospect of moving out from their current rung because they can't afford higher education is going to have different priorities than the country we all live in today and I think those attributes will be important in the future. What's happening in Flint is disgusting. Katrina was disgusting. But the current US of A doesn't give a shit because we need there to be heavy losers so that some of us may hopefully win big. Those who don't make it big are undeserving. And that's why shit like Katrina and Flint can even happen. I'd like to see the moral compass of the country changed and I think making all of us responsible for each other as a society instead of us just looking out for ourselves is one step in that direction.
