I can’t help but wonder what would happen if Jesus came to Earth and talked to the Republican lawmakers like Bob Latta, who voted for President Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill.” Jesus, a champion of the poor, would be told the bill will cause millions of people who already have very hard lives to lose access to medical care, food assistance, and housing while the wealthiest among us receive even more tax cuts. Someone would also have to tell Jesus, since he himself was a migrant person of color, how the bill includes billions of dollars for masked law enforcement officers to deport harmless Latin American immigrants doing essential labor, many of whom fled their home countries because of the poverty cause by the American military intervening to advance our corporate and financial interests.
If Jesus then asked what was happening in broader American society, he would be told that we already have the greatest wealth inequality in the developed world. He would be told that over half of Americans are barely surviving while living paycheck to paycheck with less than $500 in total savings. He would be told that millions of Americans struggle to afford life-saving medical care in a society where there is so much stress that many of us are chronically ill. He would be told that funding for mass incarceration, militarized police forces, corporate welfare, and private schools is prioritized over housing access, living wages, education for children from lower income families, childcare, pre-school, the climate crisis, and vacation time.
Ultimately, when this so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” is signed into law, we will see billions of dollars in wealth transferred to the wealthiest among us, the same people who for the past sixty years have already received more of our tax money than the poor, working, and middle classes. Yes, that’s the great grift of the corporate and financial elite, they actually receive more benefits from our tax money than everyone else despite spreading propaganda through their media about the poor always “taking” from the government. It’s the greatest [insert expletive] story ever told. Hopefully someone starts writing a new one. God help us all if Jesus came back and saw all the damage being done by some of his supposed followers.
Jordan Wilfong
Bowling Green
