Beginning shortly after Barrack Obama’s inauguration in 2008, a billionaire-funded “populist” strategy merged a swath of working-class grievances with logic that didn’t cohere back then and has only gotten messier since. What has grown into a massive movement could all be pointed back to a singular moment when a man at a South Carolina town hall, during a debate about the Affordable Care Act, commanded his representative to, “Keep your government hands off my Medicare!”
While ridiculed for its apparent illiteracy (good sir, did you not know Medicare is a government program) the man’s sentiment would soon find a power base in MAGA, and with it a home amongst the most powerful people in the world. Everything from “drain the swamp” to the Department of Government Efficiency to the people who follow Trump blindly owe a debt to the man’s “get your government out of my government” attitude.
The Squeaky Wheel reached the man and asked if he has updated his position in the years since. His answer was resolute: “Keep your government hands off my Medicare.” A more intricate conversation followed, touching on America’s future in a multipolar world, citizen apathy towards politics, and, yes, private market health care. But his medical benefits, which he insists are a fundamental right, should not be manipulated for this 21st Century game of thrones. “I’m an American,” he said, “no, more than that – I’m a human being! There are some things I cannot live without, whether you recognize that or not.”
The Squeaky Wheel agreed with him; medical benefits are a human right. However, just as we were about to find common ground, unfortunately, the man continued. “And while we’re here!” the man added, “keep your Islam away from my Abrahamic faith, keep your woke public media off my PBS Ken Burns, and keep your trans folks out of my bathroom and stuck in my computer screen where they belong!” Republican strategists are taking note for midterms.