“Bottom line: what’s it going to cost?” That is the standard Republican response to any progressive proposal that would improve the lives of ordinary Americans. It is gospel for Republicans and it works. Flashing the dollar sign is as effective with conservatives as is the Cross with vampires. Spenders are evil, and all liberals are big spenders, right? Take the latest political cartoon by LISA which portrays liberalism as garbage. Republicans can now rely on a label to discredit liberals, not by the nature of any issue itself or even its cost, but merely for where its advocates are positioned on the political spectrum. So, let us ask: is the notion of a living wage simply garbage? Are family leave, universal healthcare, education access, immigration reform, a progressive tax code, government spending on infrastructure, rejecting the war culture (including the war on drugs) and so on; are all these initiatives garbage? If so, how would you label these typical Republican actions: voter suppression laws, women’s health restrictions, extreme gerrymandering, total obstruction of government functioning, blocking access to Medicaid, and on and on? And where Republicans call for jobs, jobs, jobs, without ever saying how; is that simply campaign garbage? Is there any expectation that LISA will lampoon those crowning achievements of republicanism?