Time for a Change

Image with data from the American Enterprise Institute article, The Economic Costs of the War: THB September Update.
Five years ago we chose Davie County as the place my wife and I wanted as our last home. It is a comfortable spot for us since I grew up in Lewisville in the fifties. The move to Davie County was a good decision, but I would hope the county could start voting in its own economic interest. Davie County has a history of voting for Republicans and since Ronald Reagan, Republicans have a history of cutting taxes for the rich and corporations. It is estimated that since 1980, $79 Trillion has been transferred from the average worker to highest earners. The highest marginal tax rates have fallen from 90% to 40% since the fifties but the vast majority of the super rich pay nothing in taxes. Like most Americans I have paid my fair share of taxes. Our president calls this the golden age of America. His family and cronies seem to be the only ones grabbing all the gold. We have never had a president who enriched himself and his family so much. His net worth has increased by almost $3 billion since winning the 2024 presidential election. That a lot of money to the roughly 65% of Davie County households that make less than $100,000 a year. It is even more money to 3,000 children in the county with no health insurance and the over 5,000 residents who are food insecure. Studies show it would cost $3,068,000 annually to feed those hungry residents (4,631 are on SNAP and get $306 monthly). Each Patriot missile costs over $3.7M. It is estimated that we have used 1,500 Patriot missiles in the Iran war. Just the money for one would have fed our Davie County hungry for a year. Republican administrations in spite of declaring their opposition to forever wars seem to easily fall in love with the idea once elected just as they quickly forget promises to keep costs down for Americans. When we moved here in 2021, we got a 2.7% mortgage rate. Today the rate touched 7.2%. On a $300K mortgage that is an additional $800 in interest per month or an extra $295K over the 30 year life of the loan. That is not the only additional cost we face as anyone who has been to a grocery store for food especially hamburger will tell you. It has been estimated that as of September 21, the average family has already faced an additional $1,026 in fuel costs due to the war. They will also have to shoulder $342 in federal war spending plus $425 to cover interest on that federal spending. That’s a financial burden of over $1,800 per family when you add in $11 for fertilizer cost increases. Additionally, we have angered our best friend, Canada, and alienated all our allies for a war that made things worse. It is time to show the Republican party the door while some of Washington, DC is still standing.