The body count from the tornado that devastated Joplin, Missouri Sunday is still rising, but that certainly doesn't mean that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor would miss a single beat before seizing yet another opportunity to hold a gun to the head of the American people to further his own agenda. Cantor announced Monday that Congress would not approve any emergency spending to help these people unless that money is first offset by spending reductions elsewhere.
This would be understandable if Cantor were simply a hidebound deficit hawk whose main priority was doing everything in his power to reduce our debt, but that's just not the case. In the last several months alone, he and fellow Republicans fought hammer and tong to preserve budget busting tax cuts for the richest Americans and billions of dollars in corporate welfare for the largest oil corporations, even though these companies are the most profitable in the history of the world. Cantor's actions have little to do with responsible leadership on deficit reduction and a great deal to do with his allegiance to the richest and most powerful people in the country, at the expense of average Americans whom he and other conservatives fraudulently claim to care about and represent.
If there's one fixed star in the modern Republican constellation, it's the mandate to fight for the greedy over the needy at every turn and at any cost. They're far more concerned with doing everything they can to increase the dominance of the economic elite over everyone else than they are with doing anything to help the overwhelming majority of Americans in any way shape or form. Their claims of being concerned about fiscal discipline ring laughably hollow because they exercise their righteous indignation so selectively and improperly. You can't be taken seriously as a fiscal watchdog if you don't object to someone blowing a gargantuan hole in the budget with the purchase of a new limousine, but you sound a deafening alarm if his chauffeur spends $20 on a new seat cover.
In the end, no thanks to Rep. Cantor, our country did what it always does, and the people of Joplin will get the aid they so desperately need. Nevertheless, as a proud Missourian by choice though by birth, I'm offended, and I see no reason to let Mr. Cantor off the hook even a little bit. When these poor people were down, Cantor couldn't resist the opportunity to swoop in and kick them as they lay prostrate and defenseless, just because he could exploit the suffering of these middle class Americans for his own purposes.
The most shameful and odious of Congressman Cantor's actions came after the aid money was approved. He actually had the nerve to tweet, "Our hearts are w/ victims of #Joplin tragedy. House #GOP ready to help & has found offsets for emergency $$$." I say to Eric Cantor let's get something straight right now. This solution wasn't found because of your efforts as the victims' friend; it was found despite your efforts as their enemy. You used human misery as a pawn in your game and now you want to bask in the glory of what some decent and compassionate legislators did for these people. Don't you dare tell me that your heart goes out to the victims. In this context, I see no evidence that you even have a heart.
