A Bipartisan Happy Birthday to America
From me and your Republican representative in Congress.
Thank you all for the amazing response to my last newsletter. Thanks especially to all of you new paid subscribers. I rose to #21 rising in U.S. Politics on Substack, just ahead of Dan Rather and a couple places behind Rick Wilson. As promised, at the end of this piece are some links to recommended reading and / or viewing.
Happy Independence Day! Doesn’t it feel great to have told kings and tyrants to shove it for two and a half centuries? We the People have got this. No big, fat kings for us. We’ve got ourselves a representative democracy, baby. Power to the people! Long live the Republic for which we stand! Let’s eat, drink, and play with pyrotechnics.
(All of my first responder and healthcare friends and relatives beg you to handle your fireworks responsibly. Hand surgeons already have plenty to do. No one needs to see your dominant hand turned to a bloody fleur-de-lis. Do not poke your eye out with your own detached finger.)
In the spirit of our pluralistic nation’s birthday, I am giving a Republican Congressperson some room to send you a good-faith greeting and Congressional update:
Thank you, Trygve. I want you to know that if you are ever denied service by a VA provider because of your political affiliation, I will have one of my staffers write a strongly-worded sticky note and text a photo of it to that provider or to someone employed or formerly employed by the VA.
My fellow Americans, I come to you today in the spirit of Trumpian truth and compassion to wish you all the very best. I know there are naysayers out there claiming that the legislation we just passed as our birthday gift to the U.S.A. does some ugly things, but that is impossible. “Beautiful” is right there in the name of the bill, so it can no more contain an ugly provision than a post on Truth Social can contain misinformation. It is One. Big. BEAUTIFUL. Bill. That is the truth. One: it is a single bill. Big: it contains many, many things that you might not even notice until after the midterm elections (which is a total coincidence). Beautiful: it is so beautiful that many of my biggest donors should not be left alone with it.
That was a joke. If a big donor or a member of the House Republican Conference spends a lot of time in the bathroom with this bill, it is only because they are very thoroughly washing their hands. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, after all, unless you’re talking about woke-mind-virus conspiracies like vaccines, which will turn your children into Oompa Loompas, and global warming, which no one ever heard of before Greta Thunberg, who I believe will soon be an Oompa Loompa. She already resembles a character out of a Roald Dahl novel. Which reminds me: you can help make America great by preventing your kids from reading Roald Dahl novels or other books about poor people. Anyone caught reading Richard Wright’s Black Boy will be snatched off the street by chubby, masked Proud Boys and deported to Oompa Loompa Land.
That was a joke, sort of. Oompa Loompas, by the way, have the sexiest skin tone in the known universe.
Have a great Fourth of July, everyone. Wear at least one American flag made into clothing and fly another one with Donald Trump’s glorious, naturally colored face superimposed on it. That way you won’t be snatched from a parade or picnic and sent to a cage in the Florida Everglades.
That was a joke, sort of. But also try not to be brown. I am not kidding.
Now go celebrate! I look forward to not seeing you at a future town hall event.
It’s a holiday, so you might not have a lot of time for reading. If you want an expert evaluation of the economic effects of the One Big Beautiful Bill and how it is an example of poor thinking, check out Kathryn Anne Edwards last six videos on Instagram (top of page, reverse chronological order). They can also be found on her TikTok profile.
Takeaways:
It will add 3 trillion to 3.5 trillion dollars to the national debt over the next ten years.
Incurring that debt to finance 4.5 trillion dollars in tax cuts is a bad investment.
Offsetting tax cuts with 1 trillion to 1.5 trillion in cuts to SNAP and Medicaid will hurt the economy and the tax cuts won’t grow the economy.
Because the bill is so large, it contains many small things that you would reject if presented with them separately
We could be paying down the debt, which would make us better able to absorb an economic downturn.
Ironically, just before reading your post I received an actual message from Zach Nunn:
Hi Ray,
On this day 249 years ago, our founders made a bold declaration: that all people are created equal and entitled to live free.
Image
That promise has been kept alive not by words, but by service. From the farms of Iowa to battlefields overseas, generations of Americans have stood up to defend our liberty. As a Colonel in the Air Force and your voice in Congress, I’ve sworn to uphold those principles, and I carry that duty with me every single day.
*************** AN OPEN POST RESPONSE **************
Well Zach, you, your party and your corrupt, habitual lying, insurrectionist, draft dodging leader and his white supremacist staff don't seem to agree with our founders. It's one thing to support Trump's pathetic policies, it is something else to insult our intelligence that you have done shit to keep this promise alive. Actually, doing nothing to keep the promise alive would be far better than what you are actually doing--destroying the promise of equality.
I don't need someone to tell me he is upholding the principles of equality and freedom when he just voted to give ICE a trillion dollars to beat and disappear brown and black skinned people who have been in this country for more than a decade, including US Citizens. The deportations are frequently as retaliation for their free speech.
And Alligator Alcatraz? What is that all about? That just tells me you and your MAGA cult not only disdain your duty to the Constitution, freedom and equality, you also think your cruelty and abuse of trust is funny. Abusing people of color is a big joke to you.
I do agree with you about one thing. Generations of Americans have stood up to defend our liberty. YOU are NOT one of them. For example, 8,000 people in YOUR district stood outside the State Capitol to vehemently protest your actions.
To clarify, you claim to be my voice in Congress. You aren't. Unfortunately, you are my elected representative. I don't know what "duty" you think you are fulfilling, but there is a difference between a Trump lap dog and somebody representing Iowans in Congress. Don't insult our intelligence by being the former and pretending to be the latter.
And don't forget your pets! They are very unhappy about fireworks (in spite of the cute image posted here.) Also, people from war zones are very unhappy about fireworks. They trigger PTSD. You can watch the NYC fireworks on TV and have a nice drink at the same time, while doing laundry! Cheers! (And don't forget: I'll be 80 on Monday! Fireworks are permitted then!)