Legislation moving from the House to the Senate includes further expansion of the school voucher program, attacking health care via reproductive rights, outright discrimination toward gay and transgender communities, and eliminating any attempt at encouraging renewable energy, energy efficiency, and reducing carbon emissions, not to mention the common sense bill to reduce gun violence or blocking raising tipped workers’ wages.
To quote InDepthNH reporter Garry Rayno, “the culture wars have come to New Hampshire,” and says “much of what has been passed in the last three years is unpopular, some very unpopular with the general public if you read the polls.”
Party registration here is nearly evenly split among Democratic, Republican and undeclared voters, but a small group of New Hampshire residents who associate with the Free State Movement and other anti-government and anti-tax organizations have managed to move our state ever closer to a “Libertarian Shangri-La” to quote Rayno.
Those of us who believe that our service in the legislature, as school teachers, health care workers, law enforcement officers, or town, city and state officials is important and needed, will keep working hard to fight this tide of fundamentally changing the institutions and norms that we’ve lived by for our lifetimes.
I agree when Mr. Rayno says the media is complicit in stoking the rancor and division within our state and country today. When I hear this complaint I simply ask if one can be more specific. In other words, what media, which media, is there a source that one believes is creating this chaos and unrest? The misinformation, disinformation and outright lies that catch our collective attention is alarming, and I try to remind my friends and family members that we must process this “media” problem by understanding that our sources of information today are driven by commercial interests who just want to sell something to us. I want people to understand that the content is commercially driven, designed to grab our attention.
I understand we aren’t going to agree with each other on myriad issues but when a difference of opinion hurts our fellow citizens, makes us less safe, and creates a lack of faith and trust in established and cherished institutions we as individuals must work harder to gather the facts and form educated opinions. This is hard work and it’s not acceptable to relegate our thinking into soundbites that falsely and conveniently rationalize the divisiveness in our society.
A link to Mr. Rayno’s recent piece in InDepthNH is below and I believe it’s a must read. I thank him for his ability to articulate what is happening in NH today.