I sat in the Senate gallery tonight watching and listening to the debate on the tax heist. The gallery stank. It stank of corruption where Republicans spoke like a corporation disguised as a political party. The stink did not eminate from the senate gallery which had about 60 people. I looked them over. Most faces were grim or pained. But don’t talk to your neighbor because the capitol police were all over us like teachers at a concert auditorium.
I was ready to scream. I looked around to see if there might be others ready to speak truth to power. I saw a number of people who looked like they were waiting for a good opportunity..amidst this endless debate. When should I speak? Where are the voices of sanity. Senator Warren spoke. And what a breathe of fresh air. She called this tax bill a heist on the treasury, a heist on the American people perpetrated by billionaires and campaign donors.
But unfortunately the fresh wind fell still because she stopped, and a the Republican senator from Alaska pontificated about the “liberation of the Artic Refuge” to the exploitations of oil companies. The stench returned. The stench of death. Opening up the Artic refuge to oil is slow motion suicide for the very coastal communities they claim to be helping. The stench of rotten tropes of our persecuted corporations spilled from his mouth with such sincerity. The pompous declarations came forth as he claimed to be the premier deficit hawk anywhere while claiming that growth was the only way to pay for the hurricane, wild fire and military demands.
Listening now at home to the vote, I hear people yelling and interrupting to kill the bill and to save health care. Maybe I should have stayed and yelled too. I am writing this blog instead. I can smell the odor from Arlington. But I can smell the fresh air from voices in the gallery and the Democratic Senators.