YouCut (my opinion out)

House Minority Whip Leader Eric Cantor recently released a video on YouTube introducing the latest Republican-crafted form of economic distortion: YouCut.

The online initiative allows concerned citizens to vote via YouTube or their cell phone on what kind of spending cuts Washington should pursue. According to Cantor, Uncle Sam is in need of a serious “diet” and it’s up to the American people to help.

What Cantor fails to mention, however, is that such a misleading and troublesome initiative will only further de-democratize the current economy of our country by operating under ruthless prioritization and morally-driven fabrications.

To start with, the entire program assumes that there are areas in dire need of less funding, which is, in fact, very true. However, I seriously doubt either the Democrats or Republicans in Congress would actually tackle the economic pockets into which most of our tax money and government spending fall each year (aid to Israel, war funding and military spending, and other areas of economic hegemony and global dominance). In all honesty, if we actually tackled the questionable facets of our political economy that receive more money than our healthcare or education systems, perhaps a need to reduce spending would be welcoming.

Alas, Cantor mentions no attempt to pursue these kinds of issues. Instead, we can imagine this initiative as a way to justify less spending on the very areas mentioned above that both require more funding to benefit the American community and lack it greatly already: our health, our education, housing reform and other basic rights that are desperately and devastatingly falling apart. From teacher cuts in some of our most popular states (New Jersey and California, to name some) to a stagnant unemployment rate, there seems to be no concern for the domestic issues plaguing the American public.

The saddest part about this entire project, however, is its forged image as a democratic process (something not quite new for America). People get to text and send in their ideas - it’s as if Congress is actually listening and representing! But when a system is created to cater to a specific demographic that already remains disillusioned by capitalism, racism, and patriarchal forces of domination, this so-called democratic idea will only be used by those who possess a desire to cut funding for community needs like education in the first place.

This is clearly designed to work in favor of our dependently selfish members of Congress who dictate decision-making processes based on what benefits "free" market ideologies and discredits socialized or community-oriented versions of political thought.

YouCut. YouTube. YouLie.

To see Cantor's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ9j6ghgbW0&feature=topvideos