WS Chronicle

By Dr. James B. Ewers Jr.

The House and the Senate are like cousins that don’t get along. They are like the Hatfield and the McCoy feud many years ago in the West Virginia and Kentucky area. They feuded and fought during the late 1800s. Well, these current United States’ legislators are trying to top them. The partisanship is at an all-time high … or low … depending upon how bad you think it is.

The current administration with Mr. T as the leader has created an environment of suspicion. This has led to lies, innuendo and alternative facts. At the beginning of his term, the House and the Senate were controlled by the Republicans. Even then, they couldn’t agree on healthcare and budgetary matters.

Senator Mitch McConnell, senate majority leader, and the current president have walked in lockstep when it comes to blocking any type of initiative that benefits working class Americans. Sadly, the people of Kentucky, McConnell’s home state, see him as the best candidate for the job. He has been a U.S. senator since 1985. The other senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, was elected in 2011.

Immigration is a major issue before the House and the Senate, and they see it very differently. The House wants to protect and the Senate wants to punish. It is my opinion that when people like McConnell hold absolute power, there will never be a humane and just immigration bill. In the meantime, immigrants and their families continue to suffer pain and even death.

Families are separated because hardhearted men and women in the Senate and the House will not pass fair legislation. It is time for Mitch McConnell to go. Many of us say send him back to Kentucky.

Amy McGrath, a retired Marine pilot, is running against Senator McConnell in 2020. This will be an uphill fight for Ms. McGrath. Mr. T won the sate of Kentucky by a wide margin in the last election. If you look at Kentucky right now, things aren’t looking good such that McGrath can win.

The gridlock that is taking place in the legislature can’t get any worse. It was only recently that the House passed a proposed spending bill. The bill, according to reports, should receive a pass from the Senate in the coming weeks.

The bill passed by the House of Representatives is for two years at a cost of $2.7 trillion. Of interest is the fact that only 65 of 197 House Republicans voted for it.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “I wanted it to be very clear, the unity of the Democrats, what we did there.” She added, “It would have been nice to have more votes on their side. It was hard to tell Democrats to vote for an agreement which is negotiated and is a compromise when it is so one-sided on the vote. But nonetheless, they supported what we did.”

Since the Senate will likely pass the bill, it will avoid any government shutdowns. In the view of some, this will be an improvement on what we have had to contend with in recent months and years.

Yet as Americans, we must ask ourselves, how much longer will this level of legislative acrimony continue? Both parties have dug in their heels to a point where compromise is just not an alternative. The only thing we can hope for is a change in the executive branch of government.

The current administration seemingly wants all the power all the time. The rules are his rules and the laws are his laws. Protocol and history aren’t a consideration when he does business. He calls Putin and Jong Un his friends. He toys with healthcare like a board game. He debunks traditional holidays like July 4^th and uses them for his personal adoration.

Many Americans on both sides of the political landscape are convinced that he has put fear into the hearts of Congress. He has them afraid to speak truth to power. As a result, our country is in a moral and political decline. We are in a nosedive and the tower can’t help us.

Is there hope for a better day? Yes, there is!

Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

James B. Ewers Jr., Ed.D., is a former tennis champion at Atkins High School and played college tennis at Johnson C. Smith University where he was all-conference for four years. He is a retired college administrator and can be reached at ewers.jr56@yahoo.com.