Crossroads

Last week, while our president tweeted that we could not stay in Puerto Rico “forever,” a planeload of union members from various AFL-CIO unions flew to the island in a relief effort.  In that group were 30 or so AFT nurses and doctors.  

The reports back our horrifying. 

People unable to get needed medicines, clean water, food, and shelter.

Our union sisters and brothers are clearing roads, providing medical care, restoring power and communications the best they can, but it is difficult at best.

The working conditions are difficult, with heat and humidity.

These unionists gave up their time, using vacation pay, to volunteer for this assignment.

A big thank you to them.

Back home in Connecticut, we still have no state budget.

Some “Democratic” legislators crossed the isle to help pass a republican budget that would gut collective bargaining for state employees and bankrupt the city of Hartford.

After the governor vetoed it, republicans asked for a special “override session” of the house.  Not one of the majority who voted for the budget would make a motion to call a second vote, not one.

Why does the president tweet storm against Puerto Rico?

Why do legislators want to gut collective bargaining?

Why do we refuse to give our inner cities (Detroit, Fall River, Hartford, etc) the help they need to stay solvent?

Why do we continue to see executive actions intended to destroy healthcare?

We bailed out Wall Street and the Big Banks.

We provide help to rebuild homes along the coast when they are destroyed by hurricanes.

We provide tax breaks for Big Corporations.

We allow loopholes like the Carried Interest Loophole for the Rich.

But we attack Puerto Rico, Hartford, healthcare and collective bargaining.

Why?

Could it be a class thing?

Could it be a race thing?

Saying we are at a crossroads is probably overused.

But just maybe we are.

It’s a crossroads of ethics.

We need to decide, are we all sisters and brothers, or are we not.

Are the children of the inner city, the children of Puerto Rico, are they MY children?

Are the rights of the rich more important than the rights of the workers?

Do only those who can afford healthcare deserve it?

Do we have an moral obligation to give back to society according to our means?

You see, there are enough resources in this world to share.

No one need go hungry, thirsty, without shelter, or without healthcare.

It’s about priorities.