It’s hard to turn to politics right now, because the multiple tornadoes in the DFW area last night left such devastation in their wake. But that’s not what drew my attention to Dallas this past week. Once again, in a major Texas city (El Paso’s population is 600,000 plus, folks; that “West Texas town” qualifies as a major metropolitan area on a world scale, not just Texas / US scales) we saw dueling Beto O’Rourke / Donald Trump campaign rallies.
Once more the differences are scalding. But this time I want to focus on the POSITIVE.
Yep. The former US Rep for El Paso, Texas is not pulling his punches. He’s telling it like it is.
He’s doing more than that, though. He’s showing what’s happening in this country, and warning us what we must do to make things better for not just Texans but all Americans:
He’s taking on the NRA.
The GOP would like you to believe it’s a “gun grab.” It’s not: it’s a buyback, the exact governmental action undertaken by the UK after Dunblane and New Zealand after the Christchurch murders. The NRA would like you to believe he’s wrong about this aspect of the government, but in point of fact, the Constitution doesn’t specifically name the kinds of weapons allowed under the 2nd Amendment. There’s nothing in there about having your own nukes, your own squad of heavy bombers, your own flotilla of destroyers or your own parade of tanks (even if your name is Donald John Trump and you do look at them as toys to show off rather than tools to save lives and enforce rational policies against rapacious authoritarians).
Since 1934, Jonny Two-bit Gangster can’t have a Thompson submachine gun on the streets unless he passes a stricter background check and puts up a stiffer license fee, so Beto’s not talking about abrogating anybody’s rights — even those of veterans and servicemembers and minors (21, though, needs to be the “legal adult age” nationwide, not piecemeal).
He’s taking on the notion that poor kids should be shamed at school instead of fed at school so they can learn.
He’s talking about how to fix the health care rationing system in this country (yeah, it is: rationed on the basis of whether you have enough money to get the care you need, or not).
He’s showing us how debilitating the cost of health care is for ordinary Americans:
And not just those needing the care, but those whose loved ones need care the insurance companies deem to expensive to cover:
Last but not least, he’s walking a mile in other people’s shoes as part of his campaign, listening to people, leaving no one behind — and doing it all without taking a dime from PACS. He’s funding this campaign with donations that average $23.
Send the man a little help to make that November debate stage if you think is people-powered, people-centric approach to the nation’s leadership is what we need.
betoorourke.com