November Can't Come Soon Enough

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

My congressman, Republican Jason Smith of southeast Missouri, sent out his weekly email newsletter this morning.   He led with what seemed to be an assurance that happy days are here again.  Smith, an energetic Trump bootlicker, gushered us into the New Year with claims that "many families will start seeing relief immediately that shows up where it matters most:  their paychecks and their tax returns."

Maybe some of that massive tax cut for billionaires that Jason and his Republican buddies in Congress passed last year on orders from Donald Trump will reach down into some of the households in Missouri's 8th congressional district.  Maybe.  But will it be anywhere nearly enough to offset the skyrocketing prices of groceries - or to meet the rising costs of healthcare?  And will it make up for healthcare premium benefits that Jason and the Republicans took away from Americans with that same tax cut bill?

Get thee to a grocery store, Jason!   Or visit the ER of a struggling rural hospital (and there are still quite a few in your district - though some are closing).  Watch the choices real people are forced to make as they struggle for survival.  Feel their pain - and then bloviate about how great things are!

Jason Smith is no ordinary congressman.  He is, as he reminds constituents ad nauseum in his weekly email newsletter, the mighty Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the primary tax-writing committee in Congress.  This year's "big, beautiful" tax cut that he is so proud of, comes in large part through the work of his committee.  Jason wants us to understand that, and to remember in November that he helped to put a few extra dollars in our pockets.  But let's remember it in January, too, while we're grocery shopping or trying to find a few bargains at the Dollar Store.  That's where that pittance of a savings on taxes will go.  And God help those who suffer an unexpected illness or a serious injury in the New Year, because the price of healthcare is headed for the stratosphere, almost literally on an Elon Musk rocket!

If Jason Smith ever held a town hall we could ask him about those expenses in life that he regularly forgets to mention in his newsletter.   But with Jason's strong preference for one-way communication, he fails to hear or appreciate the cumulative concern and pain of his constituents.  Maybe he will hear us in November.

Congressman Smith seems to be, at heart, a good old boy, a likable guy, somewhat on the order of Gomer Pyle but without the charisma, and he probably would make an exceptional neighbor.   But as someone entrusted with writing our nation's tax laws, he seems far more focused on taking care of the oligarchs than he is in meeting the needs of his neighbors back home.

When we elect a Democratic majority Congress next November, Jason Smith will lose his pedestal as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.   That will provide him with an opportunity to become reacquainted with his roots and readjust his priorities.  It will be good for him, and it will definitely be good for the rest of us!

November can't come soon enough!