I was surprised on election night that Donald Trump actually made it into the white house. Horrified actually. He is the type of person that makes my hand itch with the desire to punch him in the face every he opens his mouth. He is everything I detest. He is thoughtless, inconsiderate and lacks compassion for the human condition. He's a bored billionaire with a dimwitted trophy wife that wanted to add 'and the president of the united states' to his Wikipedia page. To be perfectly honest , I think it is embarrassing to have a president that was once a trashy reality tv star. All that said... He is now the duly and legally elected leader of America. I have a lot of faith in this country and its people. I am unwilling to label all the folks who voted for him as racist, sexist, homophobes. But I do want to know why so many would choose someone that is so obviously unqualified for the job. Someone who is so far outside the establishment. ... Why? As has become my habit over the last 30 years when I am faced with a conflict, I always look to home first. I always turn inward and examine what I am doing that contributes to the problem. I examine my own culpability. So, that is what I am trying to do now. I'm bringing it home.
Its very easy for us, up here in our beautiful pacific nw, to judge others for the choice that was made. We are oh so enlightened. We are so accepting and tolerant of diversity.... as long as the diversity is in a category that we like. But if you want to see the tolerance and compassion go out the window just put a poor person in the room (any color, gender, sexual orientation). We have no tolerance for poverty or those who live in it or near it. Unfortunately having a job, any job, is no longer a ticket out of poverty. We have no respect for people in the service industry. Which , by the way, makes up the majority of jobs in WA state. I can not tell you how many times I have heard he or she is 'just' a server, mechanic, housekeeper etc, as if having a lower wage job makes some one a lower class person. With the emphasis on class. We may not discount the person of color next to us or the lgbt person(s) but the person handing you your change at the drive through window is invisible. Its ok to bulldoze their home and put up luxury apartments or condos . Cuz they can 'go some where else' (sound familiar?) If they cant afford to live where they work well, they can get a better job. Yep, we have our own brand of bigotry and intolerance up here. We can say that we voted the right way and didn't contribute to the left losing in the federal election but, we did. Not yesterday but quietly over the last few years we have allowed some reprehensible things to happen in our state in the name of obscene profit. Before we can wag a finger at the rest of the country for desperately trying to achieve change in their circumstances, we need to fix our own problems...... Or 4 years from now the wave of anger that took the white house will be a tsunami that we cant escape.
We in Washington State on the right, on the left and in the middle are a pretty enlightened bunch. We regularly buck the feds in a big way when we know what is right for our people. We have passed a lot of legislation for individual rights. We are good that way. And then we pat ourselves on the back and take a nap. Over the last 4 years while we were enjoying our celebratory snooze I5 has become lined with homeless encampments, many of whom were priced out of their homes by runaway rent increases. While we voted to increase the minimum wage in our state, we did nothing to stop skyrocketing housing prices. We still allow landlords to raise rents by astronomical numbers that they choose, at the time they choose to do it. Those tents, contrary to popular belief, are not all housing drug addicts. Many are housing working people whose incomes simply couldn't keep up with the cost of egregious rent increases. I have a friend who gave me permission to use her circumstances here. She has a good job working for a very respectable institution. She gets a 2 to 3 % cost of living raise every year. Her rent over the last five years has increased 12% a year. The next rent increase of 12% will put her into critical failure. Please don't respond with 'move', 'get a better job', 'get a better education', 'make better choices' She has two degrees and has held her current position for several years. She already lives in a tiny studio apartment. She is one of the luckier ones because her housing costs are not increasing by 30, 50 or 100 percent a year . She is one of thousands that our state is failing. That we are failing.
Then lets talk about the drug addicts in the homeless camps and opioid addiction in our state. There is this idea that all drug addicts are strung out meth heads or needle littering heroine junkies that CHOSE to be addicts, that chose the lifestyle. The sad fact is that enormous numbers of people in Washington state are addicted to pharmacological opioids. This can be laid on the doorstep of big pharma. They made a huge political push about 15 years ago to loosen the regulations on class 3 drugs so they could more widely distribute them. Then they created an entire industry around them called 'pain management'. Today , getting a prescription for an extremely addictive pain killer is easier than getting a prescription for antibiotics. In the name of profit we have allowed big pharma to unleash a demon in our state. When the problems associated with addiction become evident we blame the addict who in the beginning was, most likely, simply a patient , an individual who trusted their health care provider. We let this happen by letting profit come first.
We all know that our health care system is a nightmare. It is completely out of control. The access to health care in our state is based on how much money you can pay insurance and health care providers. Health care in our state is only available to those who can pay. Those who can pay are coddled and swaddled in the loving arms of the medical industry ,their every need anticipated and met . Those who cant pay or those who cant pay as much? ... well, they can pretty much 'f*&k off and die. We need to create a single payer system in this state that bypasses the for profit, traded on wall street, insurance companies. We need a system that puts every penny paid into taking care of our people, not putting money into shareholder pockets. We need to push back at very greedy pharmaceutical companies that have raised prices astronomically on essential lifesaving drugs like insulin and asthma inhalers. If this means turning to Canadian or Mexican pharmaceutical suppliers , then so be it. Everything else in America is produced in other countries to cut costs, there is no reason why we cant take our business across the border.
Better jobs. We have enough service position jobs. We have enough high paying tech jobs. What we don't have are enough mid level manufacturing/production jobs that pay a living wage.
We need to stop runaway development and foreign real estate investors from pushing more and more of our people into poverty. We need to stop the medical industry from pushing more and more of our people into poverty. We need to stop our cities, counties and state from putting 'tax revenue' before the quality of life of our people and pushing more and more of them into poverty. We need to take social responsibility for where we live. We can not keep pushing out an entire segment of our population and we can not continue to allow policies that increase that population. . We have work to do. Rioting in the streets and posting on social media about how unhappy we are with the newly (and let me add again LEGALLY) elected administration is pointless. Standing up and doing the right thing where we live is the only available action to us that can bring a positive outcome to all this divisiveness.
We cant do anything about who was elected POTUS for at least 4 years. That gives us 4 years to change how ALL of the people of Washington State are treated. 4 years to insure a good quality of life for all of our people. 4 years to set an example for the rest of the country to follow. 4 years to abolish the messed up class system that has divided us all. Four years to even out the egregious income disparity that is growing daily. 4 years to set an example for the rest of the country to follow.
Can we do it? Yes. It wouldn't be the first time in the history of Washington State that we smiled sweetly, gave the feds the finger and did the right thing. The very first time we did it was in 1856. The last time we did it was 2012. In the last 163 years we have defied the feds on 12 occasions that I know about. In each case other states followed our example. And they will again if we do the right thing.
(Inane little chicken reports will return next blog)
Its very easy for us, up here in our beautiful pacific nw, to judge others for the choice that was made. We are oh so enlightened. We are so accepting and tolerant of diversity.... as long as the diversity is in a category that we like. But if you want to see the tolerance and compassion go out the window just put a poor person in the room (any color, gender, sexual orientation). We have no tolerance for poverty or those who live in it or near it. Unfortunately having a job, any job, is no longer a ticket out of poverty. We have no respect for people in the service industry. Which , by the way, makes up the majority of jobs in WA state. I can not tell you how many times I have heard he or she is 'just' a server, mechanic, housekeeper etc, as if having a lower wage job makes some one a lower class person. With the emphasis on class. We may not discount the person of color next to us or the lgbt person(s) but the person handing you your change at the drive through window is invisible. Its ok to bulldoze their home and put up luxury apartments or condos . Cuz they can 'go some where else' (sound familiar?) If they cant afford to live where they work well, they can get a better job. Yep, we have our own brand of bigotry and intolerance up here. We can say that we voted the right way and didn't contribute to the left losing in the federal election but, we did. Not yesterday but quietly over the last few years we have allowed some reprehensible things to happen in our state in the name of obscene profit. Before we can wag a finger at the rest of the country for desperately trying to achieve change in their circumstances, we need to fix our own problems...... Or 4 years from now the wave of anger that took the white house will be a tsunami that we cant escape.
We in Washington State on the right, on the left and in the middle are a pretty enlightened bunch. We regularly buck the feds in a big way when we know what is right for our people. We have passed a lot of legislation for individual rights. We are good that way. And then we pat ourselves on the back and take a nap. Over the last 4 years while we were enjoying our celebratory snooze I5 has become lined with homeless encampments, many of whom were priced out of their homes by runaway rent increases. While we voted to increase the minimum wage in our state, we did nothing to stop skyrocketing housing prices. We still allow landlords to raise rents by astronomical numbers that they choose, at the time they choose to do it. Those tents, contrary to popular belief, are not all housing drug addicts. Many are housing working people whose incomes simply couldn't keep up with the cost of egregious rent increases. I have a friend who gave me permission to use her circumstances here. She has a good job working for a very respectable institution. She gets a 2 to 3 % cost of living raise every year. Her rent over the last five years has increased 12% a year. The next rent increase of 12% will put her into critical failure. Please don't respond with 'move', 'get a better job', 'get a better education', 'make better choices' She has two degrees and has held her current position for several years. She already lives in a tiny studio apartment. She is one of the luckier ones because her housing costs are not increasing by 30, 50 or 100 percent a year . She is one of thousands that our state is failing. That we are failing.
Then lets talk about the drug addicts in the homeless camps and opioid addiction in our state. There is this idea that all drug addicts are strung out meth heads or needle littering heroine junkies that CHOSE to be addicts, that chose the lifestyle. The sad fact is that enormous numbers of people in Washington state are addicted to pharmacological opioids. This can be laid on the doorstep of big pharma. They made a huge political push about 15 years ago to loosen the regulations on class 3 drugs so they could more widely distribute them. Then they created an entire industry around them called 'pain management'. Today , getting a prescription for an extremely addictive pain killer is easier than getting a prescription for antibiotics. In the name of profit we have allowed big pharma to unleash a demon in our state. When the problems associated with addiction become evident we blame the addict who in the beginning was, most likely, simply a patient , an individual who trusted their health care provider. We let this happen by letting profit come first.
We all know that our health care system is a nightmare. It is completely out of control. The access to health care in our state is based on how much money you can pay insurance and health care providers. Health care in our state is only available to those who can pay. Those who can pay are coddled and swaddled in the loving arms of the medical industry ,their every need anticipated and met . Those who cant pay or those who cant pay as much? ... well, they can pretty much 'f*&k off and die. We need to create a single payer system in this state that bypasses the for profit, traded on wall street, insurance companies. We need a system that puts every penny paid into taking care of our people, not putting money into shareholder pockets. We need to push back at very greedy pharmaceutical companies that have raised prices astronomically on essential lifesaving drugs like insulin and asthma inhalers. If this means turning to Canadian or Mexican pharmaceutical suppliers , then so be it. Everything else in America is produced in other countries to cut costs, there is no reason why we cant take our business across the border.
Better jobs. We have enough service position jobs. We have enough high paying tech jobs. What we don't have are enough mid level manufacturing/production jobs that pay a living wage.
We need to stop runaway development and foreign real estate investors from pushing more and more of our people into poverty. We need to stop the medical industry from pushing more and more of our people into poverty. We need to stop our cities, counties and state from putting 'tax revenue' before the quality of life of our people and pushing more and more of them into poverty. We need to take social responsibility for where we live. We can not keep pushing out an entire segment of our population and we can not continue to allow policies that increase that population. . We have work to do. Rioting in the streets and posting on social media about how unhappy we are with the newly (and let me add again LEGALLY) elected administration is pointless. Standing up and doing the right thing where we live is the only available action to us that can bring a positive outcome to all this divisiveness.
We cant do anything about who was elected POTUS for at least 4 years. That gives us 4 years to change how ALL of the people of Washington State are treated. 4 years to insure a good quality of life for all of our people. 4 years to set an example for the rest of the country to follow. 4 years to abolish the messed up class system that has divided us all. Four years to even out the egregious income disparity that is growing daily. 4 years to set an example for the rest of the country to follow.
Can we do it? Yes. It wouldn't be the first time in the history of Washington State that we smiled sweetly, gave the feds the finger and did the right thing. The very first time we did it was in 1856. The last time we did it was 2012. In the last 163 years we have defied the feds on 12 occasions that I know about. In each case other states followed our example. And they will again if we do the right thing.
(Inane little chicken reports will return next blog)
