How about a little Compassion?

Does the GOP care about anyone else besides those people who fill their election coffers? I really have to wonder. The GOP controlled House just passed the Farm Bill without extending food stamps. The Senate had passed their own bill 66-27 which apparently included extending food stamps. Now the House passed its own 216-208, throwing poor people under the proverbial bus, promising to get back to it some other time.

Yeah, like any of us believe that…

Then I read that the legislature in North Carolina attached an anti-abortion amendment to a motorcycle safety bill. Cue the hilarity on Twitter. We need a rule that prohibits amendments unless they actually have something to do with the existing bill. Women had fun with this one. Except it’s no laughing matter. Abortion is a constitutionally protected procedure in this country and the GOP needs to stop trying to circumvent that. It’s only going to get thrown out in court anyway. The only positive side is women see these people for who they are. Except we already do know and need no further reminder of how little we mean to them.

The GOP used to like the idea of immigration reform. But now that it seems it won’t increase their voter rolls, they aren’t interested anymore. I guess they only like reform when it serves them. Otherwise…not interested. Until you mention the border fence and a certain Arizona Senator gets the vapors.

It’s not about fences. It’s about relationships and elevating people out of poverty and the choice to live wherever you want. Immigrants just want a better life. To fail, year after year, to figure out a way to make that happen that isn’t burdensome is just shameful. We have a tendency to create us versus them scenarios which only prevents any real solutions from being found. It feels like the GOP is more focused on exclusion rather than on inclusion.

Compassion is what’s missing. Apparently they can’t see past their own beliefs and consider another view. Just because abortion is law, a woman doesn’t have to choose to  have one. It’s about choice and understanding that it’s a private matter that the government needs to stay out of. It’s ridiculous that it ever needed codifying anyway.

Caring that your neighbor has enough to eat should be a given, but evidently the GOP disagrees with that as well. Some lawmakers have taken the food stamp challenge and discovered what it’s like to live that way. It’s not fun. One went out of his way to say it was easy peasy. What a liar. And then there was the comment that food stamp recipients buy crab legs with their cards. To that I say, so? Maybe they were on sale. Trust me, grocery store checkers are vigilant about what can be paid for with food stamps and what can’t. I stood in line so long one day that I had to put back the frozen food I was buying because it was melting.

Millions of undocumented immigrants live and work in our  country. They raise families and live in fear that they’ll be found out. Shady employers take advantage and pay them next to nothing. This is an outrage that, by refusing to get serious about immigration reform, the GOP preserves instead of fixes. Not to mention, it’s illegal.

The President had to do his own version of the DREAM Act because again, Congress can’t do its job. But it’s not enough. Kids here because of their parents’ choices should be given a path to citizenship if they want one. Their future shouldn’t hinge on lawmakers who have too much vested interest in the outcome. 

How cold it must be in their world, caring only about the next election. How about caring about us? Does it always have to be about the 1% getting richer and your re-election? How about that old Love Thy Neighbor idea? It does work, you know…