It seems to me on many levels that the world as we know it is spinning out of control. In NH, our Republican-dominated legislature has voted to allow guns in the State House, has put forward bills that will take health education, foreign language and technology education out of the definition of an "adequate" education, has voted to take away state funding from public broadcasting, has voted to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, and put forward legislation today to repeal gay marriage. I completely disagree with all of this, and have contacted my local State Senator, but she is in a minority, and I don't have any confidence that these bills will be voted down.
Governor Lynch has put forward a budget which will take lots of money away from most all human services in this state. He also favors a constitutional amendment which will attempt to reduce state funding for education, even though he veils what it will actually do by saying that it will "allow the state to target aid" where it is needed. He spoke in glowing terms about de-institutionalizing people and returning them to their home communities. We saw this happen when they closed the state school back in the 1980s. Communities were ill-equipped to deal with the severely mentally ill folks then, and that hasn't changed. We are turning back the clock at least 25 years in many respects, mostly on the backs of the poor, the mentally ill, and women.
In the meantime, President Obama has presented a budget which will slash services to those who need them most. Aid to those who need heat will be slashed by 50%. He says that that aid was increased a few years ago when energy costs spiked. But now, prices are down. What planet is he living on? Has he seen prices at the gas pumps? Heating oil is heading to ever higher prices ($3.09 per gallon for the 147 gallons I received today) and for those who are unemployed, under-employed or just plain poor, the inability to pay for just about everything is becoming more acute.
Just what is his strategy as he tries to out-conservative the conservatives? How can he talk about cutting community block grants, "though it pains him to do it"? Why doesn't he act like a progressive for a change? I'm sure it's all political. The Republicans are already saying "He hasn't gone far enough." It's a huge cat and mouse game where he will make proposals that horrify his liberal base, only to have the Republicans try to then slash and burn even more, thus making his proposals look moderate. It all makes me sick. Let's seem some large cuts in the Pentagon's budget; let's see our troops come home; let's close some of our bases abroad. Let's adopt some of the measures suggested by the Deficit Commission and which might require all of us to sacrifice somewhat, not just the poor, the ill and the elderly.
Yesterday I called my new Republican Representative in Congress to implore him to vote against taking away funding for Planned Parenthood. I spoke to a nice young woman who dutifully took my message and even asked if I had anything else I was concerned about. I said "Yes, as a matter of fact. I would like to see him take a more moderate stance on budgetary matters, and not try to balance the budget on the backs of the poor, women, and the most vulnerable people in our society. And please, tell him not to pander to the Tea Party."
What can we do to try to rein in this slippery slide back to the 1950s? I'm feeling pretty helpless, and not a little bit hopeless at this point. We supposedly have a democracy ad given how frustrated I'm feeling, I wonder what it must be like to live in an authoritarian regime in the Middle East. At this point, I'm not sure there's a huge difference between them and us. It may be time for us to take to the streets. . . again.
