When I was a young child, my mother cautioned me, “Show me your friends and I’ll show you who you are.”
My mother always has believed the type of intimates you choose reflects upon your own persona and, that “Res ipsa loquitur” (English translation: “The thing speaks for itself”).
My mother studied Latin in high school.
Our current President created the position of White House Chief Strategist and, not requiring Senate confirmation, appointed Steve Bannon to serve in that title.
As executive chairman of Breitbart News, Bannon oversaw such headlines as: “The solution to online ‘harassment’ is simple: women should log off (7-5-16),” “Would you rather your child had feminism or cancer? (2-19-16),” and, “There’s no hiring bias against women in tech, they just suck at interviews (7-1-16).”
Such headlines make one wonder what opinions Bannon has of women. Res ipsa loquitur?
During the CPAC Conference (Maryland, 2/17), Bannon promoted the “…deconstruction of the administrative state.”
Bannon said, “If you look at these cabinet appointees, they were selected for a reason, and that is the deconstruction.” Res ipsa loquitur?
It sure seems the deconstruction of the administrative state has begun. Efforts to tear down the federal government and turn over almost everything to profit-making, corporations and, possibly, leave some residue to the states, appear to be beyond just looming on the horizon.
Our current President has appointed billionaire Betsy Devos as secretary of education, an apparent supporter of privatizing public education energized to create programs and pass laws requiring the use of public funds to pay for private school tuition in the form of vouchers.
There is no obvious evidence that DeVos has been an educator. There is no obvious evidence that DeVos is expert in pedagogy, curriculum, or school governance.
It appears, DeVos has no relevant credentials or experience for a job setting standards and controlling dollars for the nation’s public schools — other than being a billionaire who may help redirect public funds to pay private companies to run voucher-paid-for schools.
Deconstruction of the administrative state? Res ipsa loquitur?
Our current President has appointed Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency….a person who has a long record of suing the EPA and undermining environmental regulations (e.g., it’s been reported Pruitt has sued the EPA 13 times). Our President seems determined to reduce and/or remove safety regulations meant to protect American children and adults from the carcinogenic effects of industrial pollution to our air, land, and waterways (e.g., think NYS’s Love Canal disaster). When our government removes safety regulations that protect Americans’ health, but profit private industries by lowering their costs of having to enact protective measures, our safer administrative state becomes chiseled away. Another deconstruction of the administrative state? Res ipsa loquitur?
Mick Mulvaney, our President’s pick for director of the Office of Management and Budget, said recently, “…we’re not going to spend [money] on programs that cannot show that they actually deliver the promises that we’ve made to people.”
Mulvaney appeared to be suggesting the Meals on Wheels program that helps the elderly, including veterans, is ineffective.
Should the elderly and veterans, who cannot walk out of their houses, starve?
Is this another deconstruction of the administrative state? Another Res ipsa loquitur?
The recent, proposed AHCA was a travesty and an affront to every rational American. For any member of our Congress to suggest that taxpayers would benefit from ‘access’ and ‘choices’ with a government-granted paltry voucher of $4,000 to apply to health insurance plans that could cost upwards of $25,000 per year…with about $20,000 out-of-pocket costs…is an insult to a taxpayer’s intelligence. Another deconstruction of the administrative state? Another Res ipsa loquitur?
An equally ridiculous, suggested proposal from Secretary Tom Price (Department of Health and Human Services) relates to privatizing Medicare, giving paltry vouchers to the elderly to purchase health insurance in the free market, a.k.a., big, for-profit corporations; thereby, burdening the elderly with the lion’s share cost of premiums.
Again, a government-granted voucher of $4,000 to apply to a health insurance plan costing over $20,000 would make maintaining health insurance impossible for most elderly folks.
Many of our current Administration’s recent actions have reminded me of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
When Jacob Marley’s Ghost visits Scrooge early in the tale, Scrooge praises him with the words, “…you were always a good man of business, Jacob.”
Outraged, Marley’s Ghost exclaims, “Business!…..Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business.”
Well, now we have a President who is a man of business.
Will our President’s deconstruction of the administrative state demonstrate charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence?
I believe that President Ronald Reagan ascribed to the aforementioned generosities and, I voted for him twice.
Our great founding father, Thomas Jefferson, once stated, “The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors.” Would our current President express the same, morally-principled sentiments?
Or, when referencing the weakest in our society who might die from a lack of adequate medical care, a lack of adequate food, or a lack of protective corporate regulations, will our current Administration remind us of Scrooge’s other words, “If they would….. die…….. they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
Res ipsa loquitur?
Kathy Rittel
East Williston
