CONSEQUENCES OF DIVISIVE POLITICS

I watched the State of the Union Address and was appalled by the rudeness of some members of congress.  I’ve read political analysts who lament the divisiveness that has invaded the culture of Washington where we have two parties who cannot work together for the greater good of the Union. And many couldn’t even muster politeness for Obama’s speech. How sad!

The consequences are grave for we the people. It bothers me that three of my grandsons are now old enough to vote and they have no background to realize things were not always gridlock.

It bothers me that the Republican leadership from day one swore to destroy Obama’s presidency. He tried to be the great compromiser and got vilified by his own party.

On Wednesday Barbara Boxer handed over the gavel — and the chairmanship of the Environment and Public Works Committee — to Republican Senator James Inhofe, who has called global warming “the greatest hoax.” Private groups and governments from great nations are desperately trying to turn around climate change, and Inhofe and others, non-scientists, of course, deny that climate change is a fact and a threat.

On January 19th, the Bridger Pipeline,running oil from Canada to Baker Montana where it meets the Butte pipeline, had a leak into the Yellowstone river near Glendive, Montana.  The  system gathers crude from Bakken producers in eastern Montana and North Dakota. The company cannot yet say when the line will reopen or what caused the leak.

Since the new Republican Congress was sworn in, they’ve challenged the President on the Keystone XL Pipeline, when we are no longer dependent on imported oil and we have oil surpluses with the solar farms and electrification of autos. And gas prices are so low, Jim reported to me that he paid just under $2 a gallon in Arizona.

The new Republican congress attacked women’s healthcare, Social Security, Wall Street reform and they are pushing back against net neutrality.  Republicans are circulating bills––some disguised as “bi-partisan.” These bills are proposing fake net neutrality to confuse the issue––the bills were written by members of Congress bought and paid for by Big Cable.

They won’t stop working to decimate Obamacare and Wall Street reform. They won’t stop trying to give new tax breaks to oil companies, or to millionaires and billionaires. (That recent bank written 1.1 million compromise on the Dodd-Frank bill putting us in the same position for another meltdown.)

This isn’t Democracy as I’ve known it. Am I just imagining a non-productive, low wage, poorly educated population, an imprisoned black population, and charter schools that teach a false history?  Am I just imagining that our country is moving backward, getting poorer and more violent and militant? Am I wrong about the growing ranks of the jobless and homeless with no opportunity to retire with a pension or at least, social security? What have they done to the middle class?

It will be a hard long slog to change things, slowly, at the state level, bit by bit. Or convince Republicans that their agenda isn’t right for our country. Can you help?