To the editor:
“Thunder is good, thunder is impressive, but it is lightning that does the work.”- Mark Twain.
There’s not a better quote to summarize the good folks of our area. We are a resilient and hard-working bunch who can get through just about anything. And while we’re the lightning, our braggart U.S. Rep. Jason Smith brings nothing but thunder.
Despite his talk about how he’s helping our neighbors, he voted against the Affordable Insulin Act that would cap insulin to $35 a month and allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Senior Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Howell County is set in the highest diabetic rates per 100,000 in the district. That’s roughly about 2,500 people he voted against.
And how was he helping our neighbors when he voted “no” on the “Accessibility to Birth Control” bill? He certainly made a lot of noise about “reckless spending,” although I missed what was reckless about a bill that was making a form of healthcare accessible.
We live in the poorest district in the state and we’re at the bottom for healthcare, job security, food security, affordable housing, daycare accessibility and poverty.
Help from Build Back America and the Inflation Reduction Act can help revitalize our area, but our U.S. representative keeps saying we’re not worth the investment.
And his lack of support for veterans was deafening when he voted against the PACT Act. That vote was against the 3,340 men and women that served and who live in our county alone.
So why should he keep his job when he’s more worried about sounding impressive than doing the work?
We have a better option.
Randi McCallian has been listening to folks from across the district and coming up with ideas that can help struggling working families. She is living the neighbors-helping-neighbors philosophy that so many of us value deeply, with the hopes of passing that philosophy on to a much larger stage.
It’s time to fire Jason and get someone like Randi in that congressional seat, someone who will actually listen to rural voices instead of seeing how loud he can beg for corporate donors.
J. Stewart
Willow Springs
