The Other Side #65 before its too late
Filing is open, Congress and the State Legislature are in session and the sausage is being made. Now is the time for every citizen to pay attention to what is happening. Bills that are introduced now, if passed into law, will go into effect in August. Who and what will be on the ballot in August are going to be determined now. Try to overlook the scandals, and investigations because they will go away, but the laws and who will be passing laws next year are being determined now. It is important that every citizen get involved and help make our State a better place to live and work. It is easy to be distracted by the sex and international espionage while your congressman cuts your social security, or gives a huge contract to one of his donors. Here in Missouri, the Secretary of State and the GOP are playing games with the ballot initiative to overturn Right-to-work. It is a referendum to overturn the bill, but Aschroft gets to write the ballot language, so you will have to vote “no” to overturn the law. It’s an old trick and no surprise to me. Even though 60% of the polled citizens oppose Right-to-work, the Republicans continue to chose their billionaire donors over their constituents. Rep. Holly Rehder (R-148) has introduced a bill to move the issue to August to further confuse infrequent labor voters and to reduce the impact of labor in November. The proposed budget will cut higher education funding, puts no money into roads, denies healthcare for all, while cutting taxes on corporations and the rich, further reducing revenues for essential services and infrastructure. With little regard for the facts or historic evidence, the GOP continues to hold onto failed economic policies that attack workers and the middle class. It is time to take the bull by the horns and elect progressive legislators that will improve our basic governmental services that are essential to quality life. Transportation, education, communication, and healthcare are the basic components to quality life. Without any one of these we will not be able to compete with other states or countries that do. We are falling further and further behind progressive States like Minnesota, and California. We cannot build a successful society without funding these services and you can’t build them without revenue and cutting taxes cuts revenue. It’s really that simple. If your legislator supports cutting taxes, they are wrong for Missouri and should be replaced. Filing closes on March 27, after that it will be too late.