http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/laura/us-capitol-big-bill-2025-s444.pngGovernment is about moving the money around and right depends on whose side you're on.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - I used to be politically indifferent. My political resume was limited to high school Student Council and what I absorbed from Schoolhouse Rock. I figured politics was just for loud guys in ties arguing on TV. That changed the day I married a man who devoted his life to public service—and showed me what government is actually supposed to do.

He explained something I’d never really thought about: the government doesn’t make money. It takes in taxes—and then decides how to spend them. That’s it. That’s the whole game. And those choices reveal everything. Who do we tax? Who do we help? Who gets a lifeline and who gets left to drown?

Well, here we are, under Trump’s second term, and the answers couldn’t be clearer. Republicans are choosing billionaires over veterans. Wall Street over working families. Private jets over school lunches. And they’re calling it patriotism.

Today, they’re voting on Trump’s latest monstrosity—the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.” It’s a $3.3 trillion wrecking ball dressed up like a gift. A grenade lobbed directly at the people struggling the most. And somehow, they’re cheering.

I wasn’t always this political. But watching what’s being done to everyday Americans—what’s being justified in the name of “freedom”—woke me up. And if it hasn’t done the same to you, I hate to say it, but you might be asleep at the wheel.

My husband once told me that government’s real job is reallocating resources. Taxes don’t shift all that much overall—but who’s in charge determines who benefits. Under compassionate leadership, those dollars go toward helping people: healthcare, education, food, housing. You know, the basics for a decent life.

But under Trump and the GOP? It’s a firehose aimed straight at the top. Billionaires are cashing in while safety nets are being set on fire. Medicaid? Slashed. SNAP? Gutted. Housing aid, energy assistance, preventative healthcare? Axed. This bill doesn’t just chip away at the social contract—it feeds it into a woodchipper.

And what do we get instead? Billions more for border militarization, detention centers, and mass deportation quotas. Cuts to green energy, handouts to oil companies, and yet another round of corporate tax loopholes big enough to steer a yacht through—assuming you can afford one. It even risks speeding up the insolvency of Medicare and Social Security—because, apparently, fiscal responsibility only applies when someone’s poor.

Let’s stop pretending this is about conservative principles. It’s not. Republicans aren’t conserving anything—they’re dismantling. They don’t want smaller government. They want a brutal one. One that punishes the vulnerable and rewards the wealthy. This isn’t reform. It’s a hostile takeover by people who believe suffering is a moral failure—unless you’re rich, in which case it’s a tax deduction.

Look at the difference when Democrats are in charge. People get help. Children eat. Students get relief. Families catch a break. But when Republicans take the wheel? It’s slash-and-burn time. They strip healthcare, cut school meals, and then smile while forgiving millions in PPP loans for their country club buddies. With this bill, they’ve made their priorities crystal clear: feed the rich, starve the rest.

I watched my husband dedicate his life to service. Real service—not stock photos and flag pins. He believed government should work for everyone—not just CEOs, lobbyists, and the donor class. But everything he stood for is being bulldozed. They say we can’t afford insulin or affordable housing, but we’ve got billions for oil subsidies and border walls. If that’s not a collapse of values, I don’t know what is.

And here’s the really ugly truth: This isn’t a policy disagreement. It’s class warfare. We’ve normalized cruelty. Kids go hungry and we blame their parents. Veterans sleep in the cold and we call them lazy. Immigrants beg for safety and we scream “invasion.” Meanwhile, billionaires build rocket ships and buy football teams. And Republicans? They grin, they vote yes, and they pop champagne.

We don’t have a budget crisis in America—we have a moral one. Republicans are fighting tooth and nail for billionaires, corporations, oil tycoons, ICE, private prisons, and defense contractors. And they’re more than willing to throw the rest of us—seniors, students, the sick, the poor, immigrants, teachers, working families—under the damn bus.

And the worst part? They’re not even ashamed. They’re proud. They call it “beautiful.” But it’s not.

It’s brutal. It’s deliberate. And it’s damn well time we stop sugarcoating it.