MY LAST LETTER

April 30, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: My last letter

I woke this morning with a momentous decision. This will be the last letter that I write to you. Well, let me not say the last. An occasion may yet arise when I feel the need to pass on an opinion or comment in some way on your actions in Congress or your political campaign. But I have decided to reorient my sense of civic responsibility. Instead of writing to you and posting on “The Rohrabacher Letters,” I will be posting on a new blog, “Rooting for Dr. Hans.”

I met Dr. Hans Keirstead at a meet-and-greet last night. After weeks of indecision I realized I had found my candidate. He is superbly educated, extraordinarily well-informed on a wide range of issues, and articulate in expressing positions that I share. He is also a man of obvious compassion. I intend to support him in every way I can in his effort to take your seat in Congress.

My decision is based only in part on the fact that you have responded to not a single one of letters—today’s is the 264^th. I recognize that you are busy, and that we differ on virtually every issue. Still, I am a constituent, and it would have taken little time and effort on your part to acknowledge, or have your staff acknowledge my concerns. Where I come from (England) that would be called “good manners.”

So, no. My decision is based on my desire to shift into a positive mode in my sense of civic duty. In the coming election, particularly, I believe it important for Democrats to avoid the Trump- and Republican-bashing that offers such a huge temptation. I think we should allow you all to persist along your chosen path of self-destruction. There are so many critical challenges to which Democrats can formulate sound and practicable solutions that we would do well to offer those positive ideas to voters, to replace the failed policies of the past.

So this will be goodbye, for now. I was getting a bit bored, anyway, frankly. It will be a nice relief to release myself from what had become an obligation rather than a pleasure.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

SCIENCE

April 30, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Science

I note that the House of Representatives rejected your four amendments to the annual FAA reauthorization bill, seeking to protect Orange County residents from the noise pollution from aircraft taking off and landing at the John Wayne airport.

I wrote about this last week. While the cause is a worthy one if taken in isolation, it is minor when compared with the bigger picture. “The House chose the efficiency of airplanes over your quality of life,” you complained to readers on your Facebook page. And rightly so. Their vote opts for by far the lesser of two evils. It is environmental folly to require aircraft to fly higher and wider around our local airport, using more fuel and increasing carbon emission pollution, in order to spare us (I include myself among those who dislike the noise) some relatively speaking small discomfort and annoyance.

In a planetary emergency like the one we’re facing, we need to consider the quality of life of all the world’s inhabitants, including our fellow-travelers in the animal kingdom. We’re all in this together. We all need to breathe clean air. We need clean water, and a stable climate. It’s not simply a concern for a handful of, well, mostly quite comfortable human beings, thank you, in this wealthy enclave of Southern California. That is, of course, if you believe the science, which apparently many of your colleagues don’t.

How about you, Congressman. Do you believe the science? Just wondering…

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

THE SWAMP

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: The swamp

Here’s what Mick Mulvaney, head of the Office of Management and Budget and temporary director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, had to say the other day to an audience of 1,300 bankers and lending officials: “We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress. If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”

Which sheds some light on the fact that you have never once responded to a single one of the more than 250 letters I have sent you. I never gave you money. I’m guessing that, like Mulvaney, you talk only to those who do.

The stench from Trump’s swamp—the one he promised to drain—grows more noxious by the day. Far from draining it, he has created one so deep and malodorous, it outstinks any in the history of this suffering country.

And what, may I ask, are you doing about it, Congressman? I have not heard a single peep of protest or outrage from you. Time to get out the air freshener (aerosol! Ugh!) and start spraying.

Best,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

POLLUTION

April 25, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Okay, but…

I read your tweet yesterday about working to “mitigate the increase of jet engine noise over our neighborhoods” and thought to myself, “Okay, but…”

The “okay” is that it’s certainly a good thing to reduce noise pollution—over our neighborhoods and elsewhere. It’s a good thing to reduce every kind of pollution that impinges on our quality of life, whether air, or noise, or light, or indeed any other form. Life in contemporary America is hard enough. We have too many sources of stress, which result in all kinds of uncivil behavior. The human species survived, evolved, even—if you happen to believe in evolution, as I do and apparently a large number of Americans do not—on a planet that did not have these particular health hazards, so our bodies and minds are ill-prepared to accommodate to them.

So there is a “but.” There is, in my view, more than a taste of “not in my back yard” provincialism to your pronouncement that I find questionable. All very well to cater to the mild discomfort of our generally wealthy and materially comfortable communities; but this should not be accompanied by neglect of the huge problems of pollution that affect the entire planet. While you, in comfortable Orange County, complain about the noise of the jet planes that carry us in relative luxury and with amazing speed on our trips throughout the planet, there are literally millions of human beings who are forced to suffer the consequences of our national embrace of fossil fuels and our failure to accept responsibility for our contribution to world-wide pollution.

While you complain about the noise of take-off and landing, you do nothing about the pollution that is distributed liberally in the earth’s atmosphere in between.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

NIMBY

April 17, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,
101 Main Street #380
Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: NIMBY

I just came across your appalling statement from 23 March titled “Homeless Shelter Nonsense.” You write as “a parent who owns a modest home in an Orange County neighborhood,” protesting against “County homeless compounds setting up shop in our local communities” and calling this humanitarian action “a travesty.”

First, on purely moral grounds, whatever happened to Christian charity—or, for myself, Buddhist compassion? You call it “an outrage” to be “assuming responsibility for homeless people and taking care of their basic needs”—this, in one of the wealthiest communities in the entire country? The outrage, Congressman, is your outrage.

Next, is it not your job to represent all the people of your district, not merely the Republican or the rich ones? Not merely those fortunate enough to live in comfort, like yourself and your family? These people whom you so despise are also your constituents, Congressman. You “represent” them. My turn to be outraged, by your dismissal of their needs.

I find it difficult to believe that any responsible human being could have written such a screed, let alone one elected to the privilege of serving the people of our district.

Again, without too much respect this morning,



Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

TIME TO LEAVE?

April 17, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Time to leave?

The number of Republican congressional representatives who have decided to leave rather than face stiff reelection odds in the fall continues to mount. Thus far, there are nearly 50 of them making that considered decision. Which leads me to ask:

How about it, Congressman?  Is it time to rethink your previously announced decision not to leave? Or do you still think your surf-riding skills will make it possible for you to ride the predicted Blue Tsunami? (For which, by the way, along with many other Democrats, I am not holding my breath. We also have serious work to do).

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

MUM'S THE WORD

April 17, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Volte face

In case you’re unfamiliar with that precise French expression, it means—according to Wikipedia’s definition—“an abrupt and complete reversal of attitude, opinion, or position.”  It’s about the only thing your Trump is any good at, witness today’s news in the New York Times, that he has reversed his administration’s latest decision on sanctions to be leveled against Russia.

We are surprised and shocked, of course. One comment noted in the Times article is that the rest of the world has difficulty knowing whether to laugh or cry. Russia, the same person noted, has no difficulty laughing.

Does it not bother you that the United States has become a laughing stock to the rest of the world? What are you planning to do or say about this, as a US Congressman? Still nothing?

Shame on you, sir, for your silence.

Not so respectfully today,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.