This time it was a concern about Medicare. Seems that birthday #65 will be coming this year and there will be the opportunity for Medicare. But there was concern. After all the lies and crap concerning any kind government involvement in health care, he was concerned that Medicare would be just horrible.

We discussed it. I assured him he would be fine, that he already knew lots and lots of folks on Medicare and they were all fine. His fears for the moment were eased.

But I will bet they will return. With Fox acting as basically the lead propaganda machine for the right and the takeover of the House and many state governorships and legislatures you can bet the fear will be sown on a very fertile field. My relative stated he could not trust the government. I replied that what good some in government try to do, others are destroying, thus causing his anxiety.

So now after 30 years of assault on good government programs, and especially the past 10 years, many good citizens are so confused they simply do not know which way to turn. And they can’t cut through the crap because they hear or see mostly one side.

Yesterday as I passed a news box I saw a headline that “Medicaid (in Iowa) Has Severe Shortfall” or something very similar. Does it? Or is it a manufactured crisis that can be used to cut benefits? Our home grown Republicans have learned well from their national counterparts. Create a crisis, have the press give it wall to wall coverage, use it to cut or implement programs that “fix” the problem.

Where else do we see this today? Well, let us take Social Security for example. First Republicans created a crisis by cutting taxes for the rich and starting two unending wars. They also added a dash of unfunded mandates such as the Medicare drug program or the No Child Left Behind.  This drained the treasury.

So guess what? We must cut spending! Not programs that the rich depend on, but programs for the poor, elderly and feeble. Despite the fact that Social Security is a self-funded program that is currently sustainable until 2037, it has been designated as the target. With a load of propaganda I am sure we will soon see older folks reviled as a drain on society and a bunch of leeches.

But even if Social Security is cut, the money goes not for debt relief, but for more programs or tax cuts that redistribute money to the rich.

And for all this we need a scapegoat. On the national level it will be the older people and unions. On the state level look for it to be government employees, especially those that that had the audacity to join unions. I look for state after state to come after public unions. And I look for Iowa to be one of the leaders, since Iowa is a right to work state and Branstad has political debts to pay.