Last year I wrote a newspaper op-ed called “String Theory,” about our state government’s habit of turning away federal funds—Tennesseans’ own tax dollars, intended to help Tennesseans in need—because of the “strings” attached.
I suggested “strings” meant having to help people our Republican leaders didn’t want to help.
Gov. Lee used the “strings” excuse to reject $9 million a year for HIV prevention and treatment. In so doing he diverted funds from Planned Parenthood in Tennessee (which provides reproductive health care and screenings, not abortions). He also wanted to shift the primary focus from sexually active gay men and people who use IV drugs (509 cases a year), to first responders, moms and babies, and sex-trafficking victims (9 cases a year).
When the media found out, he began making disbursements. One of the first went to Tim Tebow’s Florida-based charity for sex-trafficking victims. (See a pattern here?)
Lee opted Tennesseans out early from the federal pandemic relief program, which extended unemployment benefits for slackers who drink Starbucks people who had lost their jobs during Covid or were struggling to figure out how to return to work safely, often without childcare. But Medicaid expansion, a provision of the ACA (Obamacare), didn’t neatly fit the pattern.
So far our Republican leaders have rejected more than $20 billion in federal funds they could have used to get health insurance to hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans. These are mostly working people, not a group Republicans typically vilify. Forty states have expanded Medicaid. It’s an economic no-brainer. All 10 holdouts are red states, mostly in the South. I couldn’t figure it out.
Long after my op-ed was published, I thought I’d found the answer when I read The Power Worshippers, about the politicization of evangelical Christianity. According to that book, many evangelicals believe that churches, not the government, should be the vehicle for serving people in need. (Tennessee has a lot of churches. And a lot of people in need.)
Then I attended a luncheon where Democratic State Rep. John Ray Clemmons was asked to explain the Medicaid expansion puzzle. Was this another “strings” situation? He shrugged. The only reason he’d heard from a Republican was something about Obama.
I guess I’ll save the amateur psychoanalysis for my Aussie. She’s a more complex creature.
Hello young lady I met you today and after reading your website, I won’t be able to support you as we have different political ideas but that has nothing to do with the fact I like you you seem like a fine person. Great thing about America we just got a learn to get along.
Hi Jim,
Thank you for your message, and for taking the time to speak with me! Allison
Hello Allison,
It was a pleasure meeting you today when you stopped by our home. When you talked about Tennessee turning away Federal Funds, I did more research. You are a lovely lady, however, I will not be casting my vote for you. We just have different perspectives. I do believe when the federal government hands out funds, there are ‘strings’. I want the federal government out of our lives as much as possible.
I admire your determination and grit. I wish you all the best!
Hi Lisa,
It was a pleasure meeting you too! I think good governance gives people a reasonable opportunity to overcome major obstacles (e.g., illness, trauma, disaster, death of the breadwinner) and succeed in life. Allowing them to sink, rather than throwing them a lifeline, is more expensive in the end. Without VA and Social Security survivor benefits, my mother, sister, and I wouldn’t have been able to stay afloat. I’ve seen what a game changer federal help can be. So I do come at things from that perspective. There are a lot of struggling people in Tennessee. Anyway, I appreciate your kind message and the respectful conversation! Allison