Heather McGhee, president of the public policy group Demos, responded to a question on how to deal with “patriarchy and its benefits” by mentioning Republican tax reform and its reflection of “a hierarchy of human value” Morning Joe Tuesday.

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“How do we get us to this conversation about patriarchy and its benefits so that we can move beyond the individual cases to this broader systemic question?” first posed Eddie Glaude Jr., a professor at Princeton University.

McGhee responded by discussing the Republican tax plan, claiming that it reflects a societal problem.

“Good question. I think that we have a problem in this country, and I actually see it expressed as well in the Republican tax plan, this idea of a hierarchy of human value that some people are simply worth more than other people” responded Mcghee.

“And you see that with a tax bill that says that corporations who have record profits right now,” Mcghee continued. “Wealthy people who are richer than they’ve ever been deserve more of our country’s treasure than working class people who are struggling, the majority of whom are women and predominantly people of color.”

“And so in some ways what you’re talking about in terms of the patriarchy is really a deeper question of whose life matters, who is valued in this country and for too long it’s been a very, very narrow set of people,” McGhee continued. “I think that the entire country would benefit if we had a more expansive view of the human capacity in all of us, not just the people who have historically been at the top and who held the vast majority of America’s wealth.”

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