Does Glorida Steinem know what the Republicans really want?

On Friday, author and policical activist, Gloria Steinem appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher. Her insights into the goals of the Republican Party were insightful and perhaps frightening. Steinem suggests that the GOP, fueled by the recent surge in Tea Party conservatism, is all about selling-off the America piece by piece to corporations.

There is substantial evidence to support her views on the corporate takeover of America. What immediately comes to mind is Social Security. Under the Bush Administration, republicans tried to push through legislation that would have handed over Social Security to Wall Street, as they have done since the 1960’s. And their efforts continue to this day.

In October 2010, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Huffington Post, "Instead of helping seniors, Republicans, backed by their allies on Wall Street, are threatening to privatize and cut Social Security, just as they tried to do under President Bush."

Privatizing Social Security would give the corporations administering the fund the ability to subtract their fees from retirement accounts. According to US Government actuarial data, less than 1% of the money collected currently goes toward administration. If Wall Street took over the program, that number would rise because charging fees are how the corporations would generate their profits, thus reducing the benefits to program recipients. With privatization, every American worker that was paying into Social Security would be forced to pay commissions to the Wall Street firms that were handling the accounts.

The republicans are not likely to explain the details on how privatizing Social Security would really work. The financial collapse of 2008 left most Americans with a highly unfavorable view of Wall Street money management.

As Steinem pointed out, the programs that republicans want to take off the government books, were “bought and paid for by the American taxpayers.”

Giving taxpayer funded programs to Wall Street does not end with Social Security. Every piece of land or national park owned by the federal government that could be opened up to oil drilling or other corporate-profit use would be yet another affront on the rights of Americans to influence the future of their country.

If the republicans fulfilled their entire wish list for America, much of it would be turned over to, run, and owned by corporations.

With labor unions currently under attack in Wisconsin, Indiana, New Jersey and Ohio, and the rollback of safety regulations on the budget-cut table, it may not be long before America is reduced to an oligarchy, and the U.S. Constitution becomes nothing more than a worthless piece of paper.