As of now, 38 Republican congressmen have announced they are stepping down. And it’s not for lack of money; the Koch brothers alone are expected to spend $400 million in 2018 to support Republican candidates.
So why are legislators giving up such a plum job? I conclude they have become sickened by the sheer damage the GOP is bringing on the country and they can’t in good conscience continue, knowing it will be blamed on them.
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Global warming’s effects are being felt and real consequences are just a few years off, but the GOP line is to do nothing to avoid this world-destroying catastrophe — for money.
The GOP’s support of the National Rifle Association — for money and votes — is reaching the point of being the top concern for citizens. People are crying for GOP legislators to be voted out of office for allowing this horrendous carnage.
Challenges to gerrymandering and voter identification laws, two largely GOP tactics to suppress the Democratic vote, are coming to the fore in the courts.
The citizens have become aware that the GOP’s tax bill is a deficit-busting sop to the rich and corporations, driving inequality to horrendous heights.
And the opioid crisis has been linked to a law that eviscerated the power of the Food and Drug Administration to stop massive shipments of the drugs — again for money.
With all of this damage being caused by the GOP, it is understandable that many members of Congress would want to scatter.
Lee Knohl, Evanston
The new Sun-Times
Love the new look of the Sun-Times. Could you put the American flag back on the front page? Thank you.
Kurt and Heidi Svoboda, Brookfield
Baseball sure beats winter
Another wicked winter has passed our way and, as always, we took every falling snowflake personally. As natives of Chicago, we have learned to endure chilly winds and freezing temps and the tease of another spring every March.
But this year we also get the earliest arrival of baseball since Abner Doubleday sketched a diamond shape on parchment. Can you feel it? The same joy we experienced as kids on a neighborhood sandlot. If not, you’re simply not trying.
It’s the one time all year we are allowed to shed our adult pessimism and recapture a childhood dream of playing for the Cubs or the Sox. In these troubling times, how reassuring to hear the sound of “Play ball!”
Bob Ory, Elgin
