Scroogian Insensitivity

When did the Republican Party and the conservative movement cease to care whether they came across as heartless bastards?

Just this week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor suggested that Congress won't pay for relief for tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri unless the budget is cut elsewhere. On Monday, May 23, Cantor linked any aid to the area to offsetting budget cuts, stating "if there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental." Even Tom "The Hammer" DeLay favored disaster funding as House Majority Leader, supporting disaster relief -- amid his own party's criticism -- for Hurricane Katrina victims without offsetting budget cuts. DeLay stated, “It is right to borrow to pay for it.” I guess things have changed among GOP leaders between 2005 and 2011.

At least equally outrageous was a statement in the Kansas legislature by Rep. Pete DeGraaf (R-Mulvane). The Kansas House passed a bill banning abortion coverage in insurance companies' general health insurance policies. DeGraaf answered a fellow pro-life representative's question whether women would buy abortion-only policies in a shocking way, saying "I have a spare tire on my car." DeGraaf's crude entreaty for women to plan ahead for rape, incest, or any other unwanted pregnancy reportedly drew a few groans from fellow lawmakers.

Our culture -- at least our political culture -- is in a season of vilification from the right. Unemployed are not victims of the Great Recession but lazy bums that won't get a job; some businesses that are starting to hire have bought it and put "unemployed need not apply" on their help wanted ads. Government employees suffer similar disdain even though they are actually working. Women are accused of having abortions merely to fit into prom dresses. Some Hispanic Americans try to pass themselves as Native American due to the irrational anti-immigration sentiment currently gripping us.

Certainly we haven't been free of such positions in the past. What we haven't seen before is the matter-of-fact defamation of ordinary people or groups that would make Scrooge proud. To a Joplin resident, Cantor's remarks probably sound pretty similar to "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"