Throw the rascals out

It’s easy to be distracted from the other real threat in D.C. by the big gorilla in the Whitehouse and the little gorilla imitators that mimic him, a bizarre array of characters strutting about, puffing out their chests, in pathetic attempts to assert their dominance. That threat lurks in the shadows and tries to remain hidden under its rock, the Capitol dome. It’s easy to overlook the fact that the Republican majority cowering under the Dome bears much responsibility for the horror and terror unfolding across the nation and throughout the world.

Cowardice, hypocrisy, complicity: the primary traits of any Republican member of Congress today. Take our 8th District representative.

Is it true he was once a police officer? Don’t police officers take an oath to uphold and follow the law? Didn’t he take another oath when sworn into Congress to uphold and follow the law? Then isn’t he doubly sworn to follow the law? Or have these oaths (so many oaths) lost their meaning in his mind? Generally lacking in word and deed throughout his tenure, his failure to speak up and act now in the face of lawless cruel attacks on his constituents and fellow Minnesota citizens perpetrated by presidential decree tells us everything we need to know about Mr. Stauber: he is a coward and hypocrite with no respect for law, nor for you.

If you think he is for the working ‘man’, consider this. His current legislative contribution, one of the only of his tenure, passed by the House, opens the BWCA to commercial mining. Environmental studies show mining in the BWCA will pollute the entire region.

Damage to the natural environment will be irreversible. This legislation will not only destroy one of the only wilderness areas left in the country, it will decimate the entire regional economy. Just think for a moment about the idea of placing one industry above all others in an area and believing that is a sustainable approach to economic development. It is not.

What happened in other one-industry regions?

Think West Virginia and the “Rust Belt”, now among the most impoverished parts of the country. That’s what Mr. Stauber -not an economist-not a scientist-not a businessman- not a miner- is promoting. He’s no friend of working people.

Multiply, Mr. Stauber by 218, and you have a bunch of malignant know-nothings who want to hide under their Capitol rock and quietly wreak havoc on their constituents. Let’s take away things- food, housing, energy options, healthcare. Let’s pollute their communities. Let’s increase the war-mongering budget from $1 Trillion to $1.5 Trillion, and spend $175 Billion under the guise of immigration enforcement to create a secret paramilitary police force to attack Americans we don’t like. And, just incidentally, let’s cut our own taxes and those of our wealthy donors.

So, if you are tired of old Pete and his ilk, there are a few months to organize. Go to your caucus on February 3.

And stay involved. Throw the rascals out.

David Browne Grand Rapids, MN