There is so much distraction going on now, the latest, renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America. Really? The distractions are timed to push real concerns to the background. The real issues are boring or complicated. It’s easier to just focus on the distraction of the week.
But for everyday Americans, there are some very real concerns. The cost of living is trending up, interest rates are poised to go up, health care costs are rising, gas prices are high. I notice this every time I fill my gas tank, every visit to the HyVee. This is happening in real time with no end in sight.
Yet we are building new ballrooms we don’t need and are planning a giant monument in Washington DC. We have spent tens of billions of dollars fighting a doomed war to a stalemate. We’ve burned through billions of dollars of missiles that we will now spend billions of dollars to replace. But programs and services that help millions of Americans are being cut in the name of efficiency, or cutting waste.
The Trump administration has shown us it does not care about the millions of children who are without health care, the millions who can no longer afford health care, those who are food insecure, businesses struggling with tariff costs, farmers dealing with higher costs, everyone dealing with higher gas prices.
Republican changes to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will impact millions of children who will lose coverage. Why do children in the USA need to meet certain qualifications or guidelines to receive health care? These are children, shouldn’t they just have health care? The changes in the Big Beautiful Bill cut funding for CHIPS that serves 37 million children in the USA. Already, millions fewer children are covered, and those numbers will rise. Why can’t we afford to cover children’s health care?
I’m always shocked when I hear politicians and others call Democrats communists or socialist. Most Democrats believe in supporting those less fortunate, with services like SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare. Those are social programs that we all pay for to help people live better lives. I challenge those who speak ill of social programs and call Democrats communist or socialist to give up your Social Security, your Medicare, your pension, your farm programs, the Medicaid that is paying for your motherin- law’s nursing home care. Those are social programs, socialist programs, and they make our lives better.
We’re told we can’t afford those social programs. But we can. We just need to decide that paying for things like health care, Social Security and Medicaid is important. Let’s elect people who actually want to make the lives of everyday Americans more affordable, not those who support endless wars, tech billionaires and ballrooms.
Richard Chamberlain Colchester, Illinois
