I never really counted on a groundhog to tell me when it’s going to be spring. It might be the fact that we live further north, but in my 61 years, I can only remember one time when farmers were scratching around in the middle of March. If you do want a critter to give you an indication of spring, I’d look for the first dead skunk on the road. In a winter like this, it might be a smell I’d actually welcome.
Speaking of stink, I don’t think there’s any worse smell than what’s coming from the Republicans in the state legislature. They just can’t seem to find enough people to punish. Whether you’re trans or gay, just know they don’t want you in North Dakota, maybe even the country. If you’re a woman, they don’t want you to be able to make tough decisions regarding your health and body. And they certainly don’t care that you need affordable childcare just to get into the workforce. And if you’re working your ass off just to make ends meet, but you can’t afford hot lunch for your second grader, good luck. They don’t care about the embarrassment your kid might feel when they get a cheese sandwich, while every other kid in line gets a hot meal. And they definitely don’t see the irony in all the free meals they’re getting from lobbyists.
So the question is, who are these Republicans? What makes them hate so many people? I don’t have the answer to that. I truly don’t know, but what I do know is that North Dakota shouldn’t have them in Bismarck. And for that, I think I have the answer. We need to form a coalition to take away their health insurance and monthly per diem. In case you think I’m being a hypocrite, just know I never took the insurance as a legislator.
Our legislators work 80 days or less in a legislative session that takes place every two years. They do work some days during the interim, but they get paid a monthly salary and expenses for that. So for less than three months in a 24-month period, they receive full family medical insurance courtesy of the tax payers in North Dakota.
Why, you ask? Because they can. They make the laws and one of those laws is to make sure they get this perk. They just hope you don’t find out about it and ask questions.
Let’s take it away. Let’s start an initiated measure that ensures North Dakota legislators don’t get free health insurance for three months of work every two years. We can protect the full-time public employees in the measure to make sure they don’t get punished. We can make sure the state saves millions of dollars per biennium. And we’ll tell them they don’t get more free lunches while some of our students go hungry.
What do you say, would you sign and circulate that petition?
I’m betting on a yes.
Good riding with you,
Joel
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