A2 Reformism:

brief
  1. Homonationalism: Recently elected AZ Democratic Senator Krysten Sinema is praised as the first openly bisexual woman in Congress but in her policy papers on Israel, utilizes the plight of Israeli children under the threat of terrorism to justify the settler colonial project in Israel and genocide of Palestinians. This not only furthers reproductive futurism but also homonationalism, indicating that reformist attempts will only be captured by the social order to advance the interests of the state and justify genocide.

2.Deportations: CBS News 11/12/18: Progressive Democrats back off abolishing ICE in first meeting since the midterm elections, according to statements by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Several senators who introduced the bill to abolish ice retracted their statements.

  1. Policy: NPR: Nancy Pelosi issues statement hours after midterm elections hours stating that democrats have a responsibility to work with Republicans on all policy issues going forward, extending an olive branch to the GOP and mirroring statements issued by Trump after the election. This only legitimates the racist, white supremacist factions as policymakers and only allows the exposure of more incendiary rhetoric that leads to hate crimes, bombings and white terror.

  2. Social Security:

  • No structural FW for Social Security: Even if policies worked in the past, the bureaucratic and political framework for social security has been dismantled now. Dean Spade, prof at Seattle University: US government has almost entirely withdrawn from providing a variety of welfare services writ large, dismantled in the 1980s under the Reagan administration.- Social Security is racist:- Social Security is transphobic:- Social Security collapse inevitable: - Insufficient Funds: Current contributions to SS and Medicare are insufficient to provide benefits without a deficit and the majority of past surplus funding has run out or will by 2025 according to the Tax Foundation. Needs an immediate infusion for 3.5 trillion USD just to keep operating at that point means no solvency. Even if you infuse money now, you only increase debt which makes it harder to pay off SS over long term over cause massive inflation triggering a recession. - Inverted population pyramid: U.S census 2010: Life expectancy is up and fertility rates are down in United States, which means less young people and more old people, means less contributions from workers to pay for SS for retirees- Medical costs increasing rapidly, CATO: Medicare costs rose 3x the rate of GDP growth per capita every year since 1982, and elderly more likely to need care, magnifying demographic effect.