GOP goal: Defund, degrade and privatize

While you are watching the three-ring campaign circus, you are being distracted by the real threat to Americans.

It is no secret that the goal of the GOP is to dismantle Social Security, Medicare and public education. Not only does Social Security lift millions of retirees out of poverty, but in 2014, 3 million American kids received Social Security benefits and another 10 million disabled workers were covered as well.

In late July, the House Appropriations Committee cut President Obama's proposed budget for the Social Security Administration by $1.2 billion. The Social Security Administration is already operating with less staff. Consequently, wait times for calls to the SSA to apply for benefits has increased. The cuts will force workers to take a two-week furlough, crippling the ability to function. This is part of the Republican strategy to degrade the quality of government services, then use that degradation to argue for privatization. Privatization's goal is to put Social Security into the hands of wealthy opportunists who can give less benefits at will.

The Republican Party is the biggest lobbying group for corporations and the wealthy with this "business model": defund, degrade in the court of public opinion, and privatize, the dream of the conservatives.

There's unprecedented attacks on Medicare and public education too. If the "fiscally conservative" members of Congress can convince everyone that a system isn't working, then they can destroy it. Same thing is happening with public education. Defund, degrade and privatize then create charter schools. Private schools are nothing more than to take our taxpayer money and give it to the wealthy opportunists.

A vote for an extreme candidate will destroy what the majority of Americans want and need.

Joni Lindgren

Elgin