Conservatives in the United States are opposed to student loan forgiveness for one simple reason - they like seeing other people suffer.
After reading and listening to the arguments where they are vehemently opposed to forgiving student debt I think the rhetoric can be boiled down to “People must suffer.” with the variation of “If I had it bad so must you.”
The idea that other people must suffer in the same way that you did is a common one from the conservatives. I think it is because they are a hive minded sort. Conservatives are all about being one; one religion, one skin color, one ideology, one hive mind. If there is any diversity then that is a direct challenge to a conservative persons’ personal worth.
For example, a conservative person chooses a certain action because it is what the hive mind has told them is the Right Thing To Do and in the hive mind there is only One Way To Be Right. If that conservative person then sees another person doing the same thing in a different way, let's say marriage, then the conservative person cannot both accept themselves as being A Good Person Doing The Right Thing and for the other person who approaches marriage differently as also being a Good Person. The consevative now has to see that other person as a Bad Person.
Conservatives have no room in their ideology for diversity. There is only the black and white world of Right Way and Wrong Way. There is only ‘I’m doing things the right way so that makes me a good person and everyone else who is different from me is doing it the wrong way and that makes them a bad person.”
Back to student loans. The conservative hive mind has set forth the idea that it is bad to have the loans forgiven. Then the evidence needs to be cherry picked to fit that idea. Which starts with all of those folks who have paid back their loans, and had a hard time doing so, as justification that everyone else must also go through the same pain. If I suffered in paying back my student loans then it is an affront and an insult to me if you have it easier.
I’m not making this up. A popular conservative pundit from Fox ‘news’ literally said that her mother waitressed into her 70’s to pay back her daughter's student loans, which were a hell of a lot cheaper back then than they are today since college tuition has gone up 169% since the 80’s, and that everyone else must go through the same experience, or else your insulting her mother.
What I love about being liberal is that liberals want to make the world a better place for our children.
What I can’t stand about conservatives is that they want to pass the pain along to our children.
Between being lied to about why student loans are an endless payback system, lied to about why college tuition is so high, and lied to about why it’s impossible to raise wages - then being told that you have to suffer because someone else suffered - I just don’t understand why conservatives choose to be conservative.
Liberals are out there doing the real work of fixing the broken system. The Department of Education got the go ahead once Biden was in office to start implementing student loan reform. Reform they were prevented from implementing under the Donald Duck Admin. Student loan reform under Biden includes
Preventing private companies that service the loans from directing borrowers into deferments and plans that are designed to increase the interest.
Correcting the harm done by the private companies by reviewing the accounts of borrowers, and if you were illegally steered into deferments and programs designed to increase your debt then that debt is FORGIVEN. Imagine that, correcting the harm.
The waiver which allows for more payments to qualify for IDR and PSLF.
Forgiving debt for those who were scammed. I know, I know, conservatives love to feel superior which includes if you got scammed then you deserved it. But Liberals are interested in protecting people which means if you got scammed then the scammers get held accountable and the victims get assistance.
The pause on student repayment with each month that passes being an eligible payment toward forgiveness.
Student loan repayment has been on pause for over two years now. What has happened in that time? Did the economy collapse? Did people become lazy? Has the sky fallen? According to conservatives if all of these borrowers don’t pay back then that and worse is what is supposed to happen. In reality, those with student loan debt have had their credit scores increase because they have been able to use the student loan repayment money on other debt. The economy is that much stronger because those who are not currently paying back their student loans have more cash to spend on living. As for people becoming lazy and the sky falling - well that’s just conservative go-to scare tactics that never pans out.
Conservatives once again are working against their fellow American because they love to see others in pain. When someone tells you that student loans can’t be forgiven I can already tell you that they only care about pain and spreading as much of it as possible.
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