The opinion of this writer is not the opinion of the Ridgeview News nor do we agree with the content. We do however honor freedom of speech. Feel free to comment.
If you mention “democracy,” right-wing critics jump to object that we live in a constitutional republic, not a democracy. It’s a big talking point.
In fact, the United States, strictly speaking, is a “democratic republic” with a constitution. Democracy plays an important part.
Republics are governed by representatives. We democratically elect our representatives who should do three things for us: take our needs to Washington, speak on our behalf, and bring solutions home.
Right now, West Virginia has two MAGA Republican representatives in the House of Representatives who fail to represent and fail to advocate. (MAGA Republicans are Republicans who follow Trump.)
Representatives Alex Mooney and Carol Miller both got Trump’s support in their elections. Their campaigns consisted of being Trump loyalists.
Calhoun County has been represented by both of them.
Calhoun is a poor county in the state’s center in the western foothills of the Appalachians. We have such a small (and diminishing) population that we can easily be flipped from federal congressional district to district, wherever 6,176 people are needed to equalize numbers.
West Virgnia lost a congress person in the 2020 census. We are now down to two. Alex Mooney represented our county in 2020, but in 2022 we were flipped to the first (or southern) district represented by Carol Miller.
Because our two local news sources, daily online and a weekly print paper, do not attend much to national news, most of us learned this by chance. No one knew or much cared.
The federal government often seems very far away from a poor rural WV county.
Our representatives should be the vital connection between a rural county and the federal government in Washington, learning our needs and working to improve life here.
If our federal government were to have a substantial impact in the county, what could it do? We certainly have needs that are too large to cover ourselves – and apparently also too large for the state to fix: 1 – extending water lines 2 – providing fast and reliable internet and 3 – lowering the cost of medicine.
In 2021, the Democratic Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act providing $50 billion for water infrastructure and a minimum of $100 million to each state for broadband development. Mooney and Miller both voted NO.
The Affordable Insulin Now Act capped the price of insulin at $35/month. Mooney and Miller voted NO.
The Inflation Reduction Act gave the government the ability to negotiate Medicare drug prices. Mooney and Miller voted NO.
Mooney and Miller’s own legislative successes are meager. A bill to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint commemorative coins for the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary became law. Miller also sponsored a successful bill clarifying that federal education funds can be used for training in hunting and other shooting sports. That’s it.
Our two Republican representatives are part of the dwindling Republican majority in the House of Representatives, the most dysfunctional and least effective in modern history. When the Democrats in the House had a 5-seat majority, theypassed 85 bills in their first year. The current Republican-led House has passed 22.
From the beginning, this Republican House has been riven by Republicaninfighting. During a period of worldwide upheaval, ultra-conservative Republicans, including Miller and Mooney, shut down the House, ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy, then couldn’t agree to replace him. For 3 weeks, the House did no business.
MAGA Republicans refuse to pass funding bills, creating continuous threats of government shutdown. MAGA Republicans oppose funding for Ukraine defense, aiding Putin’s war efforts.
MAGAs claim that America is no longer great. That sounds pretty puny when you realize that it’s MAGA Republicans throwing sand in the gears of government and then complaining that it isn’t working.
So often, people ask why West Virginians vote against their own interests and elect representatives who are working for Trump instead of West Virginia. People who ask that question presume they know what West Virginia wants.
During the 2020 and 2022 elections, there were many pro-Trump signs and flagsall over central West Virginia. That’s particularly impressive when you realize that people buy the signs themselves. (Democrats should take note. We need more signs in rural areas.)
Two Trump signs in our neighborhood spoke volumes. One, the size of a small billboard, said “F* Biden” and “F*” was spelled out. (What did parents tell their kids who were just learning to read?) The second sign said “F* Your Feelings” and, again, “F*” was spelled out.
You must assume that people mean what they say. Trump supporters are telling uswhat they consider their paramount interest to be: F* Biden. And if that bothers you, F* you too.
We live in a democratic republic. We get the representatives the majority chooses. Thus, we currently have Representatives Mooney and Miller who are working diligently to F* Biden, doing the work they were sent to Washington to do.
If, however, you care more about our government working to help people than about F*ing anyone, vote for Democrats. If you care more about water infrastructure, internet, and drug prices, vote for Democrats. If you care about keeping Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security strong, vote for Democrats.
F*ing things up is easy. Governing well is hard.
It is always a great pleasure to see how hard at work you are on the issues Diedre, but again, unfortunately, the smoke blurs the truth in your article . Granted, there is a lot to unpack here. We could both write volumes on each provision, so I appreciate you just highlighting a few.
First off, you suggest that MAGA are Republicans that follow Trump, that is true. But it is more than that. We do consider Trump to be the head of the MAGA movement. MAGA is the conservative part of the Republican party. There are many things we stand for—closing the borders to illegal immigration, having a fair and balanced economy, being pro active and pro life, for standing for only two genders and we are against biological males competing in competitive sports activities against biological females, , teaching a woke and CRT agenda to our children instead of basic life skills, etc, etc, etc,
You talk of Carol Miller and Alex Mooney. I am not that well versed on Mooney, but for Carol Miller, as well as Capito they might as well be Democrats, because that is who they vote with. Rinos both. It is true Trump backed Miller. But he mistakenly backed several others who turned out to be turncoats to the party. He was a businessman turned politician. He now understands the reach the deep state. He will remedy that.
You mention the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Already over the budgeted 1.2 trillion dollar budget it was given. Again, minor point but your talking points are a bit off. There was approximately 50 billion budgeted for not water infrastructure as you claim, but for water storage and the support of safe drinking water. Big difference. And the broadband was capped at 65 billion . As far as the Affordable Insulin Now Act, again. Taking credit for something that was already in please. In Nov. 2020 Trump starts Americas Most Favored Nations Model for not just Insulin, but all medications price reductions. It began Jan. 2021 weeks before Biden took office. That is the fact of the matter.
The Reasons that most Republicans were against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was because obvious intent. If you scrutinize the bill, only 11% of the money was targeted for real infrastructure, What about the other 89%? That is why the bill was nicknamed the Elect Democrats of 2022/2024 Act. It put up a façade of sorts to appear as real help. According to the GAO and some other watchdog groups, of the money earmarked of the bills, only about 36 % of the money can actually be accounted for. Some projects have started and are in progress, but where is the rest of the money and project status? We are told it is there somewhere, we just can’t locate it at the moment. Hmmn.
This is the same reason why Mike Johnson is under fire. Instead of forcing action at the border, which it now polls that the majority of people want action taken on, he gave the Dems another lifeline. By spending more money to do nothing. With the sex trafficking, slave trade and fentanyl pouring in illegally across our borders, as well as the known terrorists and mostly military aged males entering, the blood of those actions now rests on Johnsons head as well as those who agreed to the extension.
You also mentioned the signs that people put up. Particularly the F*Biden and others. As a lawyer is that not their constitutional right? Like burning the American flag, or draft cards in the day etc? While I do not agree with any of the aforementioned, do we trample rights? What about Maxine Waters inciting crowds to physically and verbally harass Trump supporters and urging businesses not to serve them? Or Shumer publicly threatening Cavenaugh that he will reap the whirlwind as a result of his abortion stand ?
You worry about the message that a F* Biden sign sends to those learning to read. I agree. But if that bothers why, should not the fact that the schools are teaching kids as young as kindergarten that they may be the wrong gender and need surgery to fix it? Or in the middle schools giving books and homework assignments on how to properly perform oral sex and the value of drag queen story hour? If things like this, and these that I have mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg, then maybe you are MAGA.
When Trump won the Iowa Caucus, Rachel Maddow and MSNBC refused to televise his speech afterward. She said it would just be lies and that she and her media outlet would let us know if there was any thing we would need to know. She mistakenly assumes that the people are to stupid to make their own judgements. Were we watching MSNBC or a Chinese or Russian channel? I have always tried to be on the opposite end of those self righteous judgements. I believe in an old biblical truth. You will know the truth and The Truth shall set you free.