GOP agenda hurts the most vulnerable

I sometimes wonder what is happening to our state and country. Consider:

Privatizing Medicaid hurts the poorest, most vulnerable Iowans. Medicaid recipients don't have real choices in the for-profit system run by out-of-state corporations. Gov. Kim Reynolds refuses to consider returning to the state-operated fee-for-services system and the promised 'savings” have proved illusory. I want to live in a society where we take care of our most vulnerable citizens regardless of cost. That is a value Iowa Republicans have abjured.

Sen. Chuck Grassley wants to see former British spy Christopher Steele prosecuted for 'lying” to the FBI, even though Steele was simply gathering evidence about Donald Trump, and was so concerned about what he discovered that he voluntarily spoke to the bureau. Sen. Grassley is running partisan interference for a president who may have laundered funds for criminal gangs, who shows no inclination to protect the integrity of our elections from Russian interference, and who has demonstrated his manifest unfitness to be president. I would like to live in a society where all citizens live under the rule of law. That is a value national Republicans have rejected.

The 'big, bold agenda” Republicans promise is one where the tax burden is shifted onto the poorest four-fifths of the population, where public services are starved for funds while corporations reap financial benefits, public education is underfunded, and unions are busted.

The GOP should come clean and admit to us that it wishes to make this country a one-party oligarchy akin to Putin's Russia.

Jeff Klinzman

Coralville