An Angry Toddler with a Loaded Gun

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There are several common ways to get a beverage, or any liquid, out of a container.   It might, for example be poured or dumped out, pumped out, lifted to the lips and genteelly sipped or gulped out,  or left in the sun to evaporate, or sprayed out, or, as is very common especially with beverages, it might be sucked out through a straw.  

The process of removing liquid from a container can be very complicated, so it should not be surprising when a politician, imposes his will, and makes a complicated situation even worse.

Much of the world has moved away from plastic drink straws over the past several years to those made of paper, and they have done so for environmentally sound reasons.  Plastic straws don't decompose and they may lay along roadways and litter landscapes for years - and years.  As they accumulate on our lands and in our waters, they are unsightly debris that pose a constant danger to wildlife.   Scientists and environmentalists criticize plastic straws as extreme waste being generated for minimal convenience, and hence support the logical alternative of paper straws which are biodegradable.  

But Donald Trump is a man who feels threatened and put upon by anyone with a social conscience.  He is opposed to things like paper straws, LED lighting - and don't even get him started on low-flush toilets!  The current President is out to "own the libs" as part of his appeal to his under-educated, low-income voter base, and he vilifies science and environmental measures in order to gin up enthusiasm from those who see him as some sort of anti-government Don Quixote. 

The US federal government is the country's largest purchaser of drink straws, and under President Biden an initiative was started to require the US government to purchase only paper straws for use by its employees and at its facilities.  When Trump came into office, he quickly issued an executive order saying the government would purchase only plastic straws, and he has a committee at work to end the use of paper straws nationwide.

I'm (obviously) not a fan of plastic straws.  I live on a scenic country lane where people who regard Donald Trump as a messianic figure, delight in pitching their trash out of their car windows so they don't have to deal with it when the get home.  Plastic straws abound.

Last year I drove across much of southern Canada, a country which has banned plastic straws.  Usually on break stops if I ordered a drink, I would have to request a straw - and the straws were always paper.  Also steel straws  could be found for sale in many locations.   There is a world beyond plastic, and it works quite well, thank you very much.

But Donald Trump is not part of that world.  His move against paper straws has no scientific or environmental justification, it is just his pettiness, petulance, and ugliness running wild.  Donald Trump is an angry toddler with a loaded gun.

I hope that I am smarter and nicer than him when I'm his age.