Before I turn many of you off thinking this is some bible-thumping tirade, far from it. Sure biblical scholars and theologians will point out that misquoting the bible is a devilish trick. The often repeated bible verse “money is the root of all evil” is rightfully corrected to “ the ‘LOVE’ of money is the root of all evil” by those secularly looking to appease their greed or evil. Politics has bastardized both readings into “the power of money is the root of all evil. In politics, it is a source of persuasion, bribery, and the exercise of cruelty. This is a story about Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) and how evil fights the good money can do.
Ms. Peltola recently defeated Sarah Palin in Alaska’s special election to fill the seat of the late Don Young until November. Representative Peltola is off to a rousing start introducing the Food Security for All Veterans Act. Her first bill passed through the House 375-49 and is now in the Senate awaiting passage. The gist of her legislation is the creation of an Office of Food Security within the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Washington, D.C.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (among others) released a study affirming that high rates of spouse unemployment, moving, and child care shortages are driving the growth rate of food insecurity among active-duty military families.
Veterans’ homelessness, suicide, and PTSD are exacerbated by hunger. The passage of this legislation seems like a no-brainer, but forty-nine Republicans voted against its passage. Most of the usual no votes were on the list of dissenters; Louie Gohmert, Jim Jordan, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Unfortunately, the list also contained several veterans, most notably Rep. Dan Crenshaw(R-TX). Mr. Crenshaw lost an eye in Afghanistan in 2012 on his third deployment, and one would think he would undoubtedly recognize the needs of his brethren. Before the vote, Crenshaw lamented the government’s “pandering” for veterans’ votes. “On a deeper level, I have always disliked it when politicians start pandering to veterans and telling us how bad we have it and that if we just vote for them, that they’ll fix all of our problems,”said Crenshaw. Much of the GOP opposition to the Democrats spending money is petty politics. Rep. Crenshaw showed evidence of this when in 2016, Donald Trump said, “We’re going to take care of our vets like you’ve never been taken care of before.” With no response from Crenshaw. Silence is golden, Rep. Crenshaw, not hypocrisy.
The GOP’s approach to spending money is generally based on two reasons: to secure the financial security of wealthy donors or as a moral power play. Spending money on tax cuts is rarely followed by words like our grandchildren’s future or deficits, but when the talk is about feeding children and veterans, housing the poor, or healthcare, ‘what about the children?’ is the familiar GOP refrain. It would be pure speculation to say Sarah Palin would not have introduced the same legislation as Rep. Peltola, but the chances are slim. Palin considers her politics a part of the Freedom Raucous; eh Caucus, and disruption, not legislation, is their goal.
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