Race to the Bottom

If Attaturk ever moved to Canada, it wouldn't be because of an election result, it would be to obtain a social safety net.

Slowly but surely the GOP Federal Government uses the name Federalism, to pass the buck for lack of social services down to State and Local government. The United States, the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, is determined to bring back the late 19th century and a Hobbesian world for our poor.

Case in point. Tennessee.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Gov. Phil Bredesen announced Wednesday that the state plans to dissolve TennCare, cutting up to 430,000 people from the financially troubled supplemental Medicaid program barring a last-minute reprieve.

The governor held out some hope for saving the program, announcing that he will try for seven more days to work out an agreement with legal advocates who have won several court decisions about the level of health care the state must provide to the 1.3 million TennCare enrollees.

Bredesen ran for governor two years ago with a promise to fix TennCare, whose $7.8 billion price tag was projected to mushroom in coming years, or to end it.

"It pains me more than I can describe to take this path," Bredesen said during a news conference. "This is not what I planned for or what I dreamed about doing as governor."

TennCare provides health care coverage for the poor, uninsured and disabled, covering 1.3 million Tennesseans, or about 22 percent of the state population.

This is the meaning of "Faith-Based" Republicanism.

And naturally, the poor of Tennessee likely voted disproportionately to have their lives made more difficult.

In this country, the rich never get tired of screwing the poor, and then running an ad campaign on how great it is to be screwed.