I have three brothers-in-law who live in Georgia. One just recently moved there from Reno, Nevada, my home town. It hasn’t taken him long for him to become a loyal redneck. He agrees with Trump’s policies of turning away all Hispanics from our border and separating families. He calls me a liberal and that makes me proud. I use my brain and ‘I care.’

Today he posted a picture of homeless Americans and asked; ‘where are their protestors?’ His insinuation was that no one cares about the estimated 554,000 homeless men, women, and children who are citizens of the United States.

He obviously does not read my blog. I have written dozens of articles criticizing our government for ignoring a problem which has a solution. We liberals have always been appalled at this number. We are also angry that there are over 46 million Americans living in poverty. We express our extreme displeasure that income inequality is so widespread that between our nation’s homeless, those living below the poverty line, and low-income Americans who are one paycheck away from becoming homeless compose one-half of our nation’s population.

So, how can this be solved? Let’s begin with the facts; (my brother-in-law will hate this, facts are not his friend). Trump has removed multiple social programs which would help more than one-half of all Americans. Programs which offered food, clothing, housing, and education have been greatly under-funded or eliminated. Republicans have lobbied for eliminating all social programs and use that money to give even more tax reductions to the wealthy and corporations for nearly three decades.

Only one thing can end homelessness and poverty in America and that’s money. The military and the wealthy have the ears of Republicans who have no concern for one-half of our nations citizens. We can help more than 150 million Americans rise from the depths of our economy and enjoy the privileges afforded primarily to the wealthy today.

With 540 billionaires, and 10.8 million millionaires enjoying their lives of luxury and privilege by taking advantage of our biased laws, this situation is unforgivable.

Our military wastes 50 cents of every dollar they receive. The wealthy and corporations will never create jobs. The gifts Republicans have given them are being used to buy back stocks and increase their money in offshore accounts.

Reducing corporate taxes will add trillions to the national debt. There are no real conservatives in the GOP; they become silent when the have a president who is spending more taxpayer dollars to continue his life of luxury than any other president in our nation’s history.

I know none of this will change my brother-in-law’s mind. Remember, he is a white man living in Georgia.

Please tell others about my blog; they deserve to know the truth. Thank you.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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