I grow so weary of do-nothing Congress

I grow so weary of the do-nothing Congress it makes me sick. In my lifetime I have never seen such callousness and non-caring for the less fortunate as demonstrated by the Tea Party controlled Congress. I hardly know what to say anymore.

Where did these people come from? I’ve never seen such selfishness. They justify their attitude with blatant distortions of the truth. They lie about healthcare, unemployment insurance, food stamps, and just about

all forms of help for the poor to justify their me-first attitude. They willingly cut benefits for those who have just come from the battlefields where many of their comrades paid the ultimate price. “God help them” is about all I can say.

For many years I wasn’t raised in a wealthy environment. My mother was a single parent and could barely afford groceries; food stamps would have been a God -send to her. She eventually sent us to live with my grandparents when she couldn’t find an apartment that was available or affordable to single mothers with children.

She worked for half of what her male co-workers got paid. Today’s laws would have helped some. They would have been a blessing from God, when she was getting paid 50 cents an hour. We still have a long way to go

before women are treated equally.

Thanks to unions, many workers now get benefits such as healthcare, sick leave, paid vacations, and workers-comp, which would have been a God-send to my mother.

If today’s Republicans had their way, they would send all these things back to God, since they believe this kind of help perpetuates takers. They think they know better than God. Unemployment Insurance is a prime

example. They believe receiving unemployment checks just perpetuates unemployment. They seem to think all people are like them and don’t really want to work. Members of congress work very little while getting huge checks from the government. The Tea Party is always pointing a finger at the president for taking too much time off, but the president works at least three or four times more hours than a Tea Party member of Congress.

Next week I going to have a colonoscopy. This procedure has saved many lives by catching cancerous polyps at an early stage. I couldn’t afford it without Medicare. Many lives have been saved because we have Medicare. Medicare is just another socialist program according to the conservatives who opposed it and have worked for its repeal since it was adopted. The Affordable Care Act will mean many who have not reached Medicare age will have insurance to cover life saving procedures. As it was with Medicare the Republicans call it socialist medicine and clamor for its repeal. They have totally misrepresented this law to the public. But, for many the ACA is a God-send.

As I said, I grow weary. But just when I think I have nothing new to add along comes the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie. You might say he was sent from heaven for us political punsters. It’s yet to be proven, but many, including me, think he deliberately shut down lanes on the George Washington Bridge, causing a massive traffic jam, just to teach those who did not support him for Governor a lesson. That would be vindictive to say the least. It would also be stupid, to the nth degree.

At first he joked about the accusation. “ Yeah, that was me out there placing the cones,” he said. Hell, he looks like a cone. He’s not joking anymore; he’s firing those who no doubt were just following orders and

saying things like, “Mistakes were clearly made.” Yeah, you got caught, you dummy.

This ill-tempered man wants to be president. What happens if he wins? Does he shut down the Golden Gate Bridge or the Oakland Bay Bridge? There are enough bridges in liberal parts of the country to keep him busy for years. They’re probably not enough cones. The people of San Francisco most surely would not vote for him, so they would have it coming, right? Maybe he’ll start shutting down airports in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, you reckon?

Maybe he’ll get real creative and sign into law more ways to prevent minorities and seniors from voting. You know what I am talking about. They’re the kind of laws State House Republicans, led by Tea Party members, have managed to pass in many red states. He’ll claim it is necessary to prevent voter fraud, the same lie told by the Tea Party folks. They tell lie after lie. I grow so weary.

Glen McAdoo, a Fallon resident, can be contacted at glynn@phonewave.net.