SILENCE

November 28, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Silence

You may have noticed—though perhaps not!—that I have been silent for a while. Chalk it up to Thanksgiving and its subsequent weekend, plus my participation on a panel at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art last night. We were talking about chicanismo and Chicano art, and the huge contribution Mexican Americans have made to our culture, particularly here in Southern California. How many of your constituents, I wonder, are now of Latin descent? A good proportion, I would guess. It’s getting to be more and more important for politicians like yourself to listen to their voices and their needs.

The US Congress, I can’t help but note, is obsessed not only with the current spate of sex scandals but also with the hasty passage of the by now infamous, misnamed, and universally unpopular Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. I have written to you about this bill a number of times before. It is clear that its various provisions—from penalizing graduate students and teachers to rewarding the already rich with the elimination of the estate tax—will serve only to increase the already untenable wealth gap in this country. The Senate’s cowardly addition of yet another attempt to undermine the Affordable Care Act adds insult to injury.

I’m not entirely familiar with the procedure from this point on, but I’m presuming the bill will need another, perhaps final vote from the House. I urge you to consult with both reason and conscience, and vote NO.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.