Wellstone’s Voice Sadly Missed in a Spineless Congress
Five years ago this week, the plane carrying Paul Wellstone and his wife Sheila, their daughter Marcia, and campaign workers crashed on the Iron Range. I can�t help but wonder how the past five years might have been different in Washington if Paul were still there representing the principles he so proudly upheld.
While Washington has long been influenced by special interests, pundits, and political winds, Paul Wellstone was rarely, if ever, influenced by them. He drew his political direction and spiritual strength from the average people he knew and met as a teacher, a community organizer and ultimately, as a senator.
I was with him one time when the representative of a large corporation requested special consideration on an issue likely to come before the Senate. Wellstone listened politely, but told him he wasn�t sure it was in the public interest. As he often said, the big corporations have plenty of senators and congressmen that represent them just fine in Washingon. Paul saw himself as the senator who stood up and fought for the rest of us.
One longtime DFLer, Jack Nelson-Pallemeyer, who is currently running to take back Wellstone�s seat, likes to say that Wellstone had a bad back but a strong political spine. Indeed, there have been few senators in Washington who were more willing to buck the political tides than Paul Wellstone. He demonstrated that more clearly than ever when he voted against giving President Bush authorization to go to war in Iraq� just days before the election. It was the last significant vote of his career and, fittingly, it was the clearest possible demonstration of unequaled political courage. He was the only U.S. Senator seeking re-election that year to vote no to the Iraq war� and he did so at a time when President Bush was still riding high in the polls in the wake of Sept. 11. Wellstone knew his vote might cost him votes in a close election, but he also knew that staying true to himself and his conscience was more important than that.
How different he was from most of the current crop of Democrats in Washington, who seem to view political power as an end in itself, rather than a means to the ultimate goal of building a better America. Paul Wellstone understood that power was hollow unless lawmakers were willing to use it for good.
Despite Democratic majorities in Congress, we see a political agenda that is still largely set by the Bush White House, with Democrats offering only the meekest resistance to the administration�s unprecedented secrecy and abuses of power. The Democrats calculate the politics and plead helplessness as the U.S. occupation of Iraq now threatens to drag on for years, if not decades to come. Paul Wellstone never settled for helplessness, and I can�t help but think that the arguments might be different in Washington if Paul were still there.
You don�t find many politicians like Paul Wellstone, in part because he never really started out to be one. His passion was teaching, and his lesson was one of empowerment. He knew that powerful interests would undermine the public good, unless average people knew how to organize to challenge that power� and that�s what he worked to teach, both in the classroom and through hands-on training. For him, being senator wasn�t about ego or money, it was about continuing his mission of empowering average people. Ultimately, Wellstone�s message was an intensely hopeful one.
I think for many who appreciated Wellstone, much of their hope disappeared on that awful day five years ago. But his legacy isn�t gone. It lives on in organizations like Wellstone Action, which provide political organizing skills to people around the country. The political organizing camps sponsored by Wellstone Action have produced many alumni who have gone on win political office, run campaigns, or achieve real progress by organizing in their own communities.
Even five years after his death, Wellstone is still an inspiration to many who believe America can again be a place that truly values liberty and justice for all.
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© 2007 The Timberjay Newspapers
Paul Wellstone is sadly missed, and his death brings up questions which can never be answered. He was clearly a popular and effective spokesman for the progressives in the party. How convenient it was that he went down in a mysterious plane crash, the site of which was so quickly cleaned up and explained away to no ones satisfaction.
The only other candidate picking up the ball for Sen Wellstone is Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who has been so successfully marginalized in the corporate selection of the Democratic “frontrunners.” He takes no money or special favors from Corporate lobbyists, and like Wellstone, has stood firm on his opposition to the ghastly War and now occupation of Iraq. Has stands up for impeachment, national health care, a department of peace,getting rid of Nafta, rolling back tax cuts for the rich, and restoring sanity in government, among a long list of other things.
Support Dennis Kucinich, he’s our only Hope!
Was it not the machinations of the Democratic party that somehow helped propel both Paul Wellstone and Dennis Kucinich to Congress? Is there anything wrong with using the same party to elevate some more who might be like them?
ekay1946: “The only other candidate picking up the ball for Sen Wellstone is Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who has been so successfully marginalized in the corporate selection of the Democratic ‘frontrunners.’ Support Dennis Kucinich, he’s our only Hope!”
Thank you for saving my fingers some typing, ekay!
Folks, we are nearing the 11th hour. We either pull together and spread the word about Dennis Kucinich STRONGLY AND LOUDLY or we end up with bullshit-as-usual. Are you willing to stand by and let H. Clinton be the next President?! Any other corporate shills?!
Paul Wellstone WAS a great and Progressive leader, but, Friends, the reality is that accolades of his passing WILL NOT change the destructive direction of our country in the Present. Dennis Kucinich is alive and well; albeit “PREMATURELY BURIED” by the Mainstream Media.
A third party IS NOT the answer at this frightening time in our history!
A vote for a third party is a WASTED VOTE at this frightening time in our history!
Another Corporate, millionaire president IS NOT ACCEPTABLE at this frightening time in our history!
In the name of Paul Wellstone, PLEASE help us Kucinich supporters get the word out for a true Patriot and Hero of “We The People”. This REALLY IS the 11th hour!!!
Dear ones - the key to Paul Wellstone was that he was more than just another progressive - he had a PERSONALITY, people LOVED to listen to him, he was ELECTABLE…Sadly, my friends, Kucinich will never be elected despite his equally valid progressive ideas. THAT is the true tragedy of losing Wellstone…he was a charming, non-weirdo, non-geeky, articulate, principled wonk. “Stand up and keep fighting!”
America needs more than one guy to clean up the mess we are in today. We need a completely new government. We need a new foreign policy. We need a medical care system that can care for everyone. But most of all, we need corporate America out of the government. Uncle Buck is fleecing Uncle Sam. And America is dying because of it.
Hoa binh
“President Bush asked for full support for our military and for full support of homeland defense and I have given him that because I think it’s the right thing to do.”
- Paul Wellstone, July 2002
“During his last term in office, Wellstone voted for wars in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, the Defense of Marriage Act, the USA Patriot Act, economic sanctions against Iraq, increases in the military budget, and Congressional resolutions exonerating Israel of any blame for violence in the Middle East. He failed to speak out against Bush’s theft of the election or to support his African American Congressional colleagues’ call for an investigation. He stopped being an outspoken advocate of single-payer health care. He was publicly critical of Ralph Nader’s Presidential candidacy.
Even his much-praised opposition to the looming war with Iraq was not based on principle. His public statements about the issue indicated that, rather than seeing the United States as the major threat to world peace as most progressives do, Wellstone shared his Congressional colleagues’ view that Iraq was a significant threat that needed to be dealt with (i.e., attacked) militarily, just not unilaterally or unconstitutionally.”
-Jeff Melton
Indiana Green Party Congresional Candidate, 2002
So, why should we not expect Wellstone, if he were alive, and especially if he were still Minnesota’s senator, to have evolved on any different a path than any other Democrat…
Until we have the perfect direct participatory democracy/anarchy in which nobody is allowed to represent anyone except himself, compromise happens.
Wellstone was not perfect, but he was arguably such a place of initial compromise. He was able to bridge the middle-class and the working-class, mainstream and leftstream.
There are different issues: getting the country to move back to the center and down (populist, grassroots), as opposed to right and up (authoritarian). This is a moving exercise, and it has its own methodologies which are distinct from any appeal to stationary ideological purity. Wellstone raised expectations of what government is about, genuinely energized people, and would have probably only stood to gain momentum had he not been killed.
In that regard, it’s not limited to Wellstone himself, but the effect he had on supporters. Rather than destroy their morale (King George II) or turn them into total cynics (Pelosi), Wellstone raised our expectations.
“Was it not the machinations of the Democratic party that somehow helped propel both Paul Wellstone and Dennis Kucinich to Congress? Is there anything wrong with using the same party to elevate some more who might be like them?”
That’s just it - neither Hillary or Obama are even close. You can keep acting as if this isn’t true, but facts are facts. Screw “might be like them” - that tired old shit has been said by the DNC for a long time now, and all it has gotten the world is more in turmoil. You may be willing to be conned, Daniel - but I’m not, and a lot of other people aren’t, either.
Spooks can kill a thousand ways and nobody will know it was murder.
All the bushcon fiends have to do to get the Dems to buckle, is to remind them of what happened to Senator Wellstone. The crazy bastards have an agenda, and no two bit progressive with notions of returning power to the “people” is going to get in their way.
Et tu Brutas?
I too suspect that it was an assassination. It’s pretty much the norm to have people who cause problems for the NWO/CFR types whacked. Damn dirty shame.
thats why they killed him
Knock off the assassination nonsense, or at least find some shred of proof. Lots of politicians travel in small planes, and several have lost their lives as a result. Combine a small plane with bad weather and I have no difficulty believing it was an accident. The real question is what we do after it.
There are more Wellstones out there, challenging weak-kneed and Republican-lite incumbents, running against opponents backed by big money. Support them, don’t blow them off. Go take over your local Democratic Party, which doesn’t usually require much more than showing up and raising your hand when they need someone to do something.
It is time to support Kucinch. He is courageous like Wellstone. We know he is the only true progressive candidate. This is not the time to make excusues why we should not be behind him 100%.
In most cases, a vote for the Democrats is a wasted vote.
If you do not believe in this war, and if you don’t believe in a government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations, why on earth would you want to vote for a pro-war and pro-corporate candidate who is going to do the exact opposite of what you want your elected representative to be doing? That is a truly wasted vote.
The Democrats are constantly trying to run this same con on the people. The core of their problem is that the policies that the Democrats support are not the policies that the American people support. We see this across a wide range of issues from the war in Iraq to health care reform. Polling numbers show large majorities of the American people opposed to the positions taken by the Democrats.
Some 70% of the American people oppose the war in Iraq. A similar large majority of the American people think our health care system is broken and when asked fairly they support a single payer system. Yet the Democrats are firmly committed to continuing this war and every major Democrat health care plan is more of an Insurance company\HMO protection act than anything that would give us the health care system we want.
So, we hear this constant noise from the Democrats about how there is no alternative other than continuing to vote for their candidates that oppose what we want. We hear the constant screeching that we must not even consider any alternative to their pro-war, pro-corporate candidates. We hear these constant claims that the only way to reform is to try to work within the rigged and crooked system that is the Democratic party. And we hear these constant calls that point to the few decent Democrats there have been in the last couple of decades and which then try to fool us into thinking that all Democrats are like Paul Wellstone.
Face it people. The Democratic Party does not represent you nor your interests. These are the people who’ve been collaborating with the Republicans for the last 20 years too destroy all that we’ve built and considered good about this country. These are the people who when they were in power gave us NAFTA and the WTO and the tax breaks that help the corporations send our jobs overseas. These are the people who constantly support the insurance companies and the HMOs and big pharma over the health care needs of the American people. These are the people who voted to authorize these wars and who have voted year after year after year to fully fund these wars. These are the people who voted for the Clinton era anti-terror bills and the Patriot Act and making the Patriot Act permanent and the massive expansion of unconstitutional warrantless spying on the American people. These are the people who wrote the Telecom act of 1996 that gave us both the extreme media concentrations we see today and at the very same time required the telecoms to put into place the technology that enables Bush’s NSA spying.
If you support these policies, then voting Democrat is certainly not a wasted vote. But if you don’t support these policies, voting Democrat is certainly a complete waste of your vote. Please Stop voting Democrat!!!!
And come to Denver next year in the millions to tell the Democrats what you think of them selling us out time after time and year after year on issue after issue. Tell them loudly and strongly in voices millions strong surrounding their convention! Then lets defeat the whole damn lot of them and get some people into Congress and the White House that truly represent us.
“several have lost their lives as a result”
Its just pure coincidence that they all happen to be Democratic candidates in races that threatened to take away Republican control of the Senate. Move along folks, nothing to see here.
I have to say I agree with everyone else that already said it, that’s exactly why “they” killed him.
The democratic party as a whole certainly does not speak for us, but one member of the party, Dennis Kucinich does. And if he is part of the party, then there is hope. He has his reasons, and his actions - voting for the policies that make a difference, when nobody else will - speak louder than anything. He is hope for America. And he’s the way progressives can get their foot in the door, so we can begin to improve the policies that are destroying us [and the world].
It’s not that they’re spineless so much as they’re paid to lose.
I’m not saying I have a shred of proof. But there was motive, capability, a key tipping of balance in the Senate, a demonstrated foreign policy M.O. which has absolutely no reservations about large-scale killing for material gain, the weird coincidence with Carnahan while running against Ashcroft, etc. I’d say you’ve got just about everything except evidence.
restive (10/26 3:07p),
It’s hard for me to imagine why you wouldn’t want the Democrats to elevate more candidates to Congress who are LIKE Dennis Kucinich, something I’d certainly hope for and was here suggesting. Perhaps you’re so busy being sure to blast anything I say that your sense of sense is taking little vacations.
One of them is not noticing that there is another person posting here at CD under the name “Daniel”, one who probably wonders why you sound so unhinged at him.
Daniel David
COMarc: Are you EVER going to come out of your tunnel vision party hatred based on nothing but group condemnation instead of individual performance and issues? Are you SURE you aren’t a recruiter for the Republican party???
Uh oh…don’t look now folks, but the Democratic Party hit-men have infiltrated Common Dreams.
What’s astounding is how they never learn. They’re too damned oafish to realized that bludgeoning folks doesn’t work. D’oh!
I happen to share the views of COMarc and I do not consider myself a Democratic hitman. So now we can’t discuss the betrayel of our once ” for the peeople party’s” principles? iammyself, you sound like the right wingnuts who will book no criticism. Short of cleaning house and taking back the party of the people, it is clear now that despite all our attempts to influence our reps in Washington ( with a few exceptions), they are not interested in representing us or our concerns. If we believe in represenative govt, we have no choice but to work hard to defeat those enemies of citizen representation, and replace them with those who still believe in service to others. The Democrats deserve our rejection—they do not give a flying fig about what we want them to do.
“I happen to share the views of COMarc and I do not consider myself a Democratic hitman. So now we can’t discuss the betrayel of our once ” for the peeople party’s” principles? iammyself, you sound like the right wingnuts who will book no criticism.”
Um…no…see, the hit-men are working for the DNC and are here to bludgeon the rest of us into seeing it their way, the Party’s way. My bad for not making it clear. I must’ve inhaled whatever it is these DNC apologists are smoking.
I am no fan of the current DNC and do not believe the lie that the only good work to be done is from within.
Does that make me sound like a right wingnut? Me, an ex-delegate for Jerry Brown? An ex-Democrat? An ex-Nader supporter? An expat in a political world?
I don’t think so.
It could be an accident, but I doubt it. It fits the pattern of CIA hits on progressive people in other countries. They like to make it look like an accident. Small planes are their favorite target. In that sense, they have learned from the hit on JFK. They are learning and evolving and becomeing smarter and more crafty. They have better technology now than they had in the 1950s. Are we? Do we?
Marshall Helmberger: Even five years after his death, Wellstone is still an inspiration to many who believe America can again be a place that truly values liberty and justice for all.
That was beautifully written.
ekay:How convenient it was that he went down in a mysterious plane crash, the site of which was so quickly cleaned up and explained away to no ones satisfaction.
I was just about to ask about that - there has been no news coverage on that at all.
celebrity: A vote for a third party is a WASTED VOTE at this frightening time in our history!
If Canada thought that way, we would never have had Universal Health Care.
There was an older Common Dreams article called “Paul Wellstone Lives!”
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1025-09.htm
The following is the Statement by Gary Doer, Premier of Manitoba on Paul Wellstone’s passing:
“I am deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila, their daughter Marcia, the senator’s staff and the pilots, and extend my deepest condolences to their family and friends.
“As a highly respected senator, Paul Wellstone believed in a society that is built on co-operation, and he worked tirelessly toward this end.
“I will always remember Senator Wellstone for his work and record of standing up for the values of Minnesota families. He was a man of principle and passion who was respected by all.”
While I appreciate that people are aching from the loss of a true, effective progressive like Wellstone even five years on, I think that too much reminiscing is not always a good thing. He’s gone and people have to move on and come to the realization that other voices like his have to be found and nurtured. The current situation is awful and demoralizing in America, its true but pining for Wellstone won’t fix the problems. Its tempting to say that he was murdered and who knows, maybe he was but too much conspiracy theorizing isn’t healthy either. There’s no doubt that the Repubs are reprehensible and dangerous but they’ve got a tame media, do they really need to kill anyone when they can render them silent with the Hannity/O’Reilly/Coulter types?
If we forget about the Paul Wellstones and Tommy Douglas’s of the world, then the corporatist vision for the world seems both inevitable and unavoidable.
We need to both remember Paul Wellstone and honour his memory by not giving up hope.
Daniel David,
Feel free to stop obfuscating what I’m saying anytime. On second thought, I’m just going to ignore you, since you seem determined to use everything I say to shill for the Democratic Party, rather than have a conversation about why things are broken - something that you, as a party loyalist, should be interested in. Is it possible that your party is so weakly constructed at this point that you have to defend it at every turn, as opposed to actually being interested in listening to the critiques being offered up by myself and others? In any case, I’m done.
Prolly the same FAA certified mechanic that made sure JFK jr wasn’t around to claim the presdentcy from Dubya.
Ya, I know, it couldn’t be possible….
JFK RFK MLK etc.
Don’t put anything past this administration.
Wellstone might have been assassinated but I wouldn’t automatically blame Republicans (though Bush has had no problem killing thousands of Americans in this illegal war, why would he stop at Wellstone?) Wellstone was causing a lot of problems to Democrats too, especially the ones running the party today. I wouldn’t put anything past them.
The truth is, Wellstone, like Kucinich, was in the wrong party. Democrats had absolutely no credibility 5 years ago and they certainly have no credibility now. A vote for a Democrat is a vote for George Bush, as the last election so clearly proved. VOTE THIRD PARTY NOW.
tetti-tatti says: The truth is, Wellstone, like Kucinich, was in the wrong party.
Probably.
On the other hand, the Democrats don’t really have a party platform - otherwise they wouldn’t be anti-gun in the north and pro-gun in the South.
In otherwords, if Wellstone and Kucinich had a better chance running as Republicans than Democrats in their ridings it would be a means for them to get elected.
What I hate about the Presidency is that it is all or none. If the President was the leader of the party which elected the most Congresspersons then Kucinich could run for president and end up an ordinary Congressperson if he loses.
Why isn’t the President the Congressperson who leads the party with the most seats?
Forgetting the Paul Wellstone’s in the history of our government is exactly what the neo-cons would love for us to do. They are doing a smashup job of forgetting exactly what our founding fathers invisioned for this country. Rewriting history to their liking reeks of Orwellian nightmares. Remember Paul Wellstone and all of the others who have tried to adhere with astute resolution to those ideas and ideals of the founders. And, remember those who are following in Paul’s footsteps. They are few and far between.
A vote for Democrats is a vote for Bush.
That’s a great slogan.
Sen Wellstone’s untimely death was clearly suspect and if planned not lacking motive,but without any proof purely conjecture. Now those speculating about how things may have been different were he still in Senate or wishing him alive, wake up!! Preserving the memory of the man,giving him tribute and respect is one thing but wishing it wasn’t so,is not only childish but a complete waste of time. One has to bear in mind that although the senator opposed the war in Iraq, he signed off on war with Afganistan approved the sanctioning of Iraq and last but in no way least passed the Patriot act. I am in no way am trying to discredit Sen Wellstone, he was and still is the best that the Senate has had to offer in the last decade. The line between republican and democrat is barely discernable these days, their policies differ little,the time for doggedly affiliating oneself to one party or the other has to change to affiliating oneself to the individual that make the most sense.I find it hard to believe that having discovered every reason given to wage war on Iraq has been false that Congress and Senate still remain silent, and worse still we are now being fed the same line in regards to Iran and again without any proof yet the retoric coming from the President is being echoed by Sen Clinton, if change is what you desire one look at Hilarys history will tell you that big business and the lobbyists have her loyalty not the people, sadly this appears to be the norm in Washington. If I’ve made sense to anyone reading this, apart from Kucinich the only Democrat running that appears not to have sold out, there is funny enough one Republican running who makes a lot of sense, has always voted against the war and blatently hasn’t sold out is a Congressman Ron Paul but don’t take my word for it check him out yourselves on youtube or google video, if you hadn’t heard of him before the mainstream media have blacked him out as they have the war in Iraq
bandjmom said about Sen. Wellstone: “…he was a charming, non-weirdo, non-geeky, articulate, principled wonk.” (and electable). Which is why he probably was assassinated, as was probably Mel Carnahan two years before that. However, they learned their lesson with Carnahan and didn’t leave his widow to take Paul’s place. Do you really think these totally heartless and greedy bastards care one wit about killing a small planeload of people? Hell, no. They are about to take what’s left of our freedom from the rest of us, and will roll over anyone in their way. I not only fear for Dennis, I fear for Cindy Sheehan, Greg Palast, and anyone else speaking truth to power now.
We are headed for an abyss. There is little that can be done to wake up the vast majority before we fall over the edge. I was called “paranoid” last week by a young coworker who is an Iraq vet. If he is representative of others like him, we are in deep trouble with a generation that is swallowing all the right wings bullshit whole. I fear this is more representative than not of most people. It takes more interest and work to see the truth than most are willing to do.
I think the best strategy right now is for those of us who know the truth to come together in “community”, and make a stand in small groups wherever we can find sustainable living situations.
i do much to support Dennis, but i am very disappointed that he does not use the internet more aggressively. he does not for example use either the maillist or IRC formats. i’m puzzled by this. bad advice from molish advisors?
vaudree,
I asked Paul about joining the Greens once, and got a great letter in reply. The letter is carefully stored away in my Wellstone memorabilia box, but the upshot theme he hinted at is his voting record. Not perfect to be sure, but look carefully at it. Would it have mattered what party he was in? It would probably be the same record. So I say judge by their legislative records, not party affiliation. If Wellstone was a Republican, he’d have still gotten my vote.
I’ll say this, at one Green Party meeting I went to someone said, “There’s a reason Paul’s campaign color was Green.”
Paul Bramscher,
Thanks for your story about Wellstone. Regardless of what my personal beliefs are about political parties, what I do believe is that individuals in the system can make at least some difference, just as Wellstone did - if they are willing to stand up for progressive principles and have a frigging backbone.
I wish the folks who seem to think that being a politician in the Democratic Party is somehow an indication of something above and beyond the track record of said politician would heed what you’re saying, rather than marching off blindly to the lesser of two cliffs. As a social anarchist, it would be laughable to watch play out the ultimate futility of electoral politics far better than I could on my own — that is, if it wasn’t so tragic and the lives of millions of people weren’t at stake.
All we need now is for the Republic to have a Popular Front financed by Stalin, a vilified left in the process of being jailed or murdered, and Franco (played by Rudy Giuliani, of course) waiting in the wings to become president-for-life, and we’ll be all set to replay one of the more tragic moments of WWII all over again. In fact, if the PF is represented by the DNC, Stalin is played by corporate interests (Rupert Murdoch?), and the left is the left, that’s pretty much what they do have in store for us.
Not to mourn overly much, though. This rather said state of affairs is all the more reason to get to work building a movement, and enough already with compromises and despair. The solution to our problems? Millions of Wellstones. How to get there? Show the same compassion, tenacity and commitment that Paul showed, and let our actions set the example. Each one teach one, a step at a time. That’s the way forward, and I can think of no better way to honor Paul’s memory.
Paul Bramscher says: Would it have mattered what party he was in? It would probably be the same record.
That is one of the difference between the Canadian and American system is that, in Wellstone’s case it did not matter.
In Canada, parties have convention where they vote on platform and even the party leader is subordinate to it.
It doesn’t matter what Meech Lake is for this conversation - let’s just call it an example of an issue. There was a Convention and the deligates voted to support Meech Lake so the Party leader had to support it even though she was personally against it. Luckily for this particular party leader, there was another Convention a couple years later and the Party reversed itself on this issue.
There is a certain amount of leeway, but if you run on behalf of a party, you agree to be bound by what the party convention decides. That is not the case in the US.
Thus, even if Wellstone and Kucinich think more like Greens, they can run as Democrats or Republicans (which ever is most likely to land them a seat in Congress).
Note that the Canadian Greens are not all that Green or much to the left.
If you like Kucinich or Wellstone, you party in Canada is the NDP.
For those in this discussion who believe that Sen. Wellstone’s death was an accident, please go to Google TV, search “Wellstone assassination” and listen to Jim Fetzer’s lecture. The weather was not severe at all in the north of Minnisota, seven miles visibility, and the aircraft he was flying in was extremely high-tech with two experienced pilots. Once again, a disaster with a highly improbable official explanation has great political consequences. Connect the dots, folks, and come to terms with the sort of country we have come to live in.
I don’t expect people with no spine and no guts to stand up but they shouldn’t be in congress.