Letter: GOP lawmakers feed their power addiction

It is said that power is corrupting. I would add that power also can become an addiction. As with any addiction, those afflicted will commonly do whatever it takes to maintain that addiction, whether it is stealing from one’s family, lying to friends and family, or practicing whatever deception is necessary to feed the addiction.

Further, I will argue that these behaviors which exemplify an addiction can be applied today to the actions of the GOP-dominated N.C. General Assembly — that they are stealing from state taxpayers, deceiving the voters and, in my opinion, breaking the law in order to maintain their power.

How many times since the GOP gained power in 2010 elections have I and many others said, “Well, with this action, be it denying Medicaid expansion, denying ACA funds, denying women’s rights, denying public education funds, denying General Assembly debate on the budget bill, denying voters’ rights, suppressing voters, stripping Gov. Cooper of the usual gubernatorial rights/authority, trying to stack the Boards of Elections, denying cities rights to govern themselves, spending state tax dollars to fund private, sometimes church-affiliated schools, trying to draw judicial districts where they are not needed, continuing their fight to maintain their egregiously gerrymandered districts, taxing the less well-off to benefit the corporations and rich — oh, my, there’s more, we all know that — surely things in North Carolina can’t get any worse, we can’t go back any further.”

Then, I’ll be damned, it gets worse. The most recent ploy to feed their addiction to power is that of spending state tax dollars to fund so-called pregnancy crisis centers that are in fact run by anti-choice groups that likely have church or religious affiliations, centers that do not offer family planning services, that do not offer other women’s health services. They are there only to convince women that abortion is not a good option.

Obviously, the GOP, to feed its addiction to power, is courting the anti-choice voters by ignoring the law regarding separation of church and state, thereby stealing the tax dollars of those of us who believe our dollars should go to legitimate family planning centers, that is, those centers that offer the full panoply of options to pregnant women as well as those who choose to not become pregnant, and those men and women who seek other health services such as cancer screening.

The legitimate centers do not have to offer abortion services; they simply act responsibly by advising women that it is an option. They, the GOP, are deceiving those voters they are courting and, worst of all, they are stealing services from those in need; they are acting unconstitutionally by no longer maintaining separation between the church and state. They will stoop as low as possible to feed their addictions.

I would be in favor of the state funding, using my tax dollars, a Politicians Anonymous, if there were actually politicians who would admit they have hit bottom and need help to rehabilitate to moral, ethical, compassionate human beings and patriotic Americans who believe in and support democracy. It might be hard initially to find sponsors, but probably AA and NA could help out until there are sufficient recovering politicians to help their own kind.

— Sandra Houts
Asheville