Using Health Care Debt and Gun Homicides to Depress Upward Mobility and Freedom.

If only Democrats would start every town hall and candidate's debate with this: "Why are we continuing to play along with the right-wing game of distraction, intentionally ignoring all the problems reality keeps throwing at us."

For decades Republicans have declared President Lyndan Johnson's War on Poverty a failure, conveniently blaming what they know is not controllable, human nature. The Heritage Foundation framed it this way in 2014, ignoring the ravages of capitalism, purposely exempting that from any attempted reforms:

The culprit is, in part, the welfare system itself, which discourages work and penalizes marriage. When the War on Poverty began, 7 percent of American children were born outside marriage. Today the number is 41 percent. The collapse of marriage is the main cause of child poverty today. The welfare state is self-perpetuating.

#1-The Myth of "Working Hard and Getting Ahead" crumbles under Health Care Debt: Many of us do work hard and get ahead, but for how long? That hard-earned income disappears with our first medical problem, blocking upward mobility for the working class. 

Not surprisingly, Republican states that supposedly have all the "right answers" are the biggest cause of poverty and downward mobility (click images to enlarge). "The debt is also deepening racial disparities:"

Here's NPR's breakdown of the Kaiser Foundation's new survey. "Sick and struggling to pay, 100 million people in the U.S. live with medical debt:"

#2-The Surreal Defense of Mass School Shootings and the Arming of Teachers: This sick notion is now considered normal, part of a free society?:

Republicans again target what they know is unchangeable, human nature, and push for more guns and less training, arming teachers. It gives schools more "tools" to work with. Wait for it...

Teachers in Ohio have been allowed to carry guns in schools so long as they complete 700 hours of mandatory training, the same required of police recruits. Lawmakers argued that made it nearly impossible to arm teachers, so they drastically cut that training requirement down to 24 hours.

Whether it's in schools, public places, or just another mindless road rage incident, how does making people afraid of being randomly shot and killed make American "free" Yet it does for so many conservative voters. Here's the story about turning teachers into armed security guards:

No new gun laws targeting guns. None, and convincing many this is as good as it gets.