DISASTER

31 August, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Disaster

What a terrible ordeal for those poor folks in Texas! The human suffering is unimaginable. So many who have lost their homes and everything they likely worked so hard to acquire, to equip and furnish them! So many who now have no place to return to, now the storm has seemingly begun to clear. (I hear it had moved to Louisiana, where it is causing still more destruction).

Those who clamor for less government must now admit that government help is indispensible in such emergencies—and will, indeed, be required for many years to come, to enable disaster victims to re-establish their lives. I suspect, however, that the right wing of your party will be demanding great spending cuts in other essential areas, in order to compensate for the massive costs of the hurricane named Harvey. I wonder what essential services will suffer? Education? Welfare for the aged or the needy?

Have you by chance read Al Franken’s excellent new book, “Giant of the Senate”? I’m reading it now. He’s a generous man, I think, filled with a great human spirit that manifests only in part in his humor. With all good will in the world—and Franken has plenty of it!—the book confirms my worst suspicions: that the Republicans in Congress are a heartless, highly partisan, obstructionist bunch of people, whose prime objectives are to cut taxes for the rich and drastically reduce essential services for everyone else. This is a disaster of another order, and one that is clearly man-made. (And sadly, I use the word "man" advisedly).

What do you say to this charge, Congressman? I’d love for you to be able to prove me wrong!

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.