Month: December 2024

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on December 23, 2024. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are about to seek major cuts in Medicaid to pay for deep cuts to the taxes of the ultra-rich and wealthy corporations. We often talk, with pride, about our American civilization as a high mark of the West. Yet what makes for civilization? Human history is full of great and powerful kingdoms and empires led by, and mostly serving the good of, kings, emperors, and monarchs. They weren’t civilized by our standards. The aim of most of those grandees was not to help those they ruled but to take from them to enrich and elevate themselves. What makes the United States different and truly civilized is that we have attempted to create a government by and for the people, one in which the powerful are constrained by the people to serve the people. And… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on December 4, 2024. By Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center While our organization does not endorse candidates, we do have our favorite elected officials. Bob Casey has always been on that list—so we are sad to lose him as our senior senator. I want to say a few words about why the Senator has been a truly wonderful representative of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Senator Casey has been a progressive champion of so many issues on which Pennsylvania Policy Center and our allies have worked. Unlike many legislators, he truly understands the importance of working with advocacy groups. He gets that building up our profile and influence enables us to help him accomplish his legislative goals. That, plus his commitment to progressive public policy, is why he is the legislator on whom we’ve most relied, whether it was around a relatively small… Continue reading