It’s always easy to point fingers at failure when we look at our deteriorating roads, homelessness, drug addiction and the problems we have in Alabama. We are fifth in the nation for poverty and next to the bottom in education. We have a failing healthcare system and rural hospital closings that have put our citizens in harm’s way. Why does this not change after an election? There is this old saying that insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Same elected leadership means the same problems.
Many Republicans like to blame Democrats for all of society’s ills but let’s be realistic. If you work a 40 hour work week with overtime pay, vacation pay, 401k, ERISA, the right to collective bargaining, then you can blame a Democrat. You can also blame a Democrat for your Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, civil rights, women’s right to vote, clean air, clean water, healthcare laws, public schools and much more.
President Joe Biden has taken a lot of flack for our economy although we have had the largest job growth in our history. We can’t blame a president for the high cost of gas when the petroleum prices are determined by market forces of supply and demand. The price we pay at the pump is determined by the cost of refining crude oil as well as distributing and marketing the gas, in addition to state and federal taxes, of which a president has no control.
What we can blame President Biden for is signing the Inflation Reduction Act to bring down the costs and reduce the deficit
to make sure billionaire tax cheats and billion dollar profit corporations pay their fair share in taxes. This bill also lowered the healthcare cost for millions of families and allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time. If you are diabetic, you may want to know that Robert Aderholt voted against lowering the cost of insulin. Does this help you?
We can also blame Biden for having a sacred obligation to our veterans in signing a bill to make sure our veterans impacted by toxic exposures receive comprehensive care and benefits that they deserve. The PACT Act is the largest bill to address our service members’ exposure to burn pits and other toxins. Aderholt voted against this bill.
The Violence Against Women Act was the law for 28 years until the Trump administration allowed it to expire. In March 2022, Biden signed a reauthorized bill for Violence Against Women Act through 2027. Aderholt voted against this bill and also to ban contraceptives. This should be no surprise if you follow Aderholt’s voting record because he has never voted on a bill to benefit women since he has been in office.
The American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law that helped save lives against COVID-19. The Child Tax Credit Act is now law that is the largest in history to help prevent child poverty.
An infrastructure law has been passed that will create thousands of jobs. This bill will fund the money to repair bridges and roads, upgrade ports and airports and expand broadband access.
Perhaps the most important thing Biden has succeeded in is strengthening the Affordable Care Act by expanding eligibility and extending the open enrollment period. This will benefit millions of Americans to have health insurance.
If you want to point a finger, then check out how your representatives are voting, and you will see who is working for you and who is not. We can only point fingers at ourselves for re-electing the problems that we had and making the mistake of voting for the party and not the candidate. We make mistakes by not becoming informed on what these elected officials are voting on and how it affects our families and communities. I’m not advocating for votes for my political party. I am asking you to become informed. Don’t point your finger until you know who is working against you.
Lynda Kirkpatrick
Marion County Democratic Party
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