SPECTRUM: June madness in full swing

June in Alaska is always mad.

This year is no different. Every kind of occasion and activity is on tap. Outdoor adventures, fairs and festivals are in full swing. Friends and family are showing up, catching up and venturing on. People marry in June in a spectrum of venues and dress with nary a nod to Martha Stewart or conventional mores. Endless convoys of tour buses clog up the roads and the liquor stores. Little wonder then that a lot of us are walking around sleep-deprived and a bit dazed. But who would have it any other way?

The depressing note, of course, is our idiotic Alaska Congressional delegation—duly elected—which is busy voting for massive tax cuts for the rich at the expense of health care for the poor. If there is a hell for cold-hearted tools then they will surely end up there. With the acquiescence and support of the Thief-In-Chief, the Republican Congress is forcing millions of the less fortunate, including poor children and the elderly, to needlessly suffer and die from non-covered conditions, exclusions and other legalistic traps, for decades to come.

(Shout out here to everyone who confronts our worthless U.S. Senators on the health care issue, up front and in person. Watching Senator Sullivan cringe, scowl and prevaricate—his version of pretending to listen—is an object lesson in why it matters that principled people comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.)

Our delegation has zero moral courage and hence feels zero shame over their bended-knee submission to the dictates of the privileged, the ensconced and the wealthy. No matter what they say or do to cultivate some kind of positive public impression, the only fact that matter is how they vote. Consistently and deliberately, time and again, they vote to perpetuate social and economic injustice.

Still, the bright side of June madness lies in us making the most of our lives and caring for each other no matter how badly our leaders behave. In that lies our strength and no small measure of joy. We are alive and kicking. Maybe we can get some sleep in October.