Come Monday, 2017 was the year that was…. But what is 2018 to be?
Who are we? In this time of nanoseconds and instant communication, it may seem strange that we are writing our history. I suppose we could just break down the recent tax reform bill to see what our history seems to be. Have we become a nation that fops over the uber-rich and falls before the golden calf (or bull)? What a gift to them! The wealthiest nation in the world wants to make the wealthiest 1% even wealthier… You pay to play, unless you are of the uber-golden royalty. I guess just their presence amongst us sprinkles us with golden fairy dust.
But back to the tax reform bill – opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the drooling fossil fuel magnates. 50 years ago President Eisenhower set aside these lands that the native Gwich’in people call the sacred land where life begins. But hey…the oil companies are going to pay $100 million a year to mine the refuge… Remember – pay as you go. Our national lands are going to become profitable business enterprises. That’s incoming revenue , baby… Of course, $ 100 million is not enough for one day’s interest on that $ 1.5 trillion debt to give them their gifts of plenty.
And so what if the American citizens of Puerto Rico are surprised to realize they are now a foreign country…. And that Lady in the Harbor is going to have to start paying rent for the oil in her torch… In fact, she is sitting on a fortune for the naming rights of the year. Cynical? I wish I were. But this is the history we are writing now unless we change the script.
ARNIE ARNESEN, host of The Attitude on WNHN 94.7FM in Concord NH, a daily one hour talk show that focuses on policy, politics and people that make a difference in our lives and rarely get discussed and is a regular commentator on WGBH radio, WGIR a commercial radio station in Manchester NH and WKBK a commercial radio station in Keene NH. Arnie is a former fellow of the Harvard Institute of Politics, and a former member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Arnie, that outspoken, cantankerous, political intellectual will discuss the state of our affairs as she sees them. Arnie’s radio show is not called “The Attitude” for nothing! Tune into From a Woman’s POV Thursday at 10 am.
Again, thanks for your support!
Happy New Year!
Mary and Arlene
Be the change you want to see
