Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared that President Biden’s proposal to raise taxes on millionaires was a nonstarter. McConnell further stated that the White House budget request “offers the clearest reminder that the Biden administration’s far left values are fundamentally disconnected from what American families actually need.” Republican House Representative and Freedom Caucus leader Scott Perry wants tougher work requirements for those (slackers!) on welfare (where a family of 4 earns less than $4,626 a month). Other House Republican conservatives want to cut funding of federal agencies on healthcare, education, labor and science. Conservative Republicans dismiss any proposal to help families pull themselves out of poverty as disconnected to what American families need. The callousness and tone-deafness of these comments and demands are more indicative of a disconnect between these wealthy, white conservative Republicans, and the rest of us. It should be noted that Mitch McConnell’s monthly income is $900,000. Scott Perry’s 2022 reported annual income was $1,091,188. Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy’s monthly income is a cool million. They are rich. They are male. They are white. They do not like the poor. Let them eat cake! But deprive them of support to gain financial security, to have access to health care, to receive an education because that (according to McConnell) is not what American families actually need. It is unconscionable that Republicans view any Democratic effort to offer a hand up as a hand out. These Republicans, smug and comfy, buffered in their wealthy cocoons, are woefully out of touch. They have no conception of the challenges and difficulties of those in financial hardship; those who live paycheck to paycheck, those who choose whether to pay the electric bill or put food on the table. The impoverished deserve to be so, and should remain so. Are there no poor houses? How has it come to this? How are we, supposedly the most wealthy country in the world, so impoverished of compassion, of tolerance, of a willingness to spread and share the wealth, of the ability to truly love our neighbor? McConnell, Perry and Republican House conservatives are wrong. If we continue down this road, there is no more perfect union. We risk fragmenting as a country and a society. That is a cost that none of us should be willing to pay.