By: State Representative Linda Dean Campbell – October, 2013
First off, I wish to pay a sincere compliment to my Republican colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate – it is a privilege to work with you: your motives are honorable; you have the best interests of your constituents at heart; and, I often agree with you. I am also certain that you would never play the game of Russian Roulette with the general welfare of Massachusetts. The results speak for themselves. We are leading the country out of this recession, have the highest bond rating we have ever had, and are one of only four or five states in the nation with substantial reserves.
While the Republican Party nationally has long advocated for “less government,” most Republicans our generation fondly recall, like Eisenhower, Goldwater, Reagan, and George H. W. [The Elder] Bush were “true believers” in the United State’s Government. While most of those named wanted government to be smaller, more so, they wanted it to be effective and, after that, more efficient. I’m sad to tell my Republican friends that nationally their “Tea Party Russian Roulette” faction is running the table to the great detriment of their Party and for their country generally.
To Tea Party Republicans, please prayerfully consider that THIS NATION IS STILL AT WAR, we have our military in contact WITH OUR ENEMIES, still engaged in fighting the LONGEST WAR in American History, the one in Afghanistan. It is the war a president of your party started with Congressional approval, and whenever more money was needed to support our troops, the Democrat majority Congress provided it because to do otherwise would be derelict. And, what did our last President bring us? Eight years of very bad and ineffective government. I heard Vice President Dick Cheney estimate that the War in Iraq was going to cost us $60 Billion to wage – about three or four trillion off?
Please do not mistake me, our Armed Forces have been magnificent and they have unfortunately paid a very high personal price for “muddled” political wishful thinking that Jeffersonian Democracy was going to “break out like the measles” in Afghanistan, where the most important criteria for democracy – literacy – is absent; or in Iraq – a land of totalitarian governments since the dawn of history.
Those who shall be hurt in all this are the 99%. The middle class portion of us all will shrink some more, and the poorer among us will get poorer. It will affect our State budget in a very negative fashion and punish those states with fiscally responsible governments, like ours. Time flies, and so many of us trying to do the right thing and become self-sufficient in retirement and otherwise are just now breaking even from the last cliff-crisis imposed, as is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Speaker Boehner – Will you lead the House of Representatives in a manner that ensures the general welfare of America as a statesman? Or, is disarray and anarchy the small price we pay to absolutely ensure you remain Speaker awhile longer?
Linda Dean Campbell is a State Representative representing Methuen and Haverhill Massachusetts. You can contct her at office at 617-722-2305 or
Linda.Campbell@mahouse.gov