InDepthNH.org (https://indepthnh.org/series/distant-dome/page/2)
Garry Rayno
America’s traditional institutions, the foundation for the greatest political experiment in history, are under attack from the social safety net to food regulations, and from the court system to environmental protection.
Take for example prison reform that sought to address the inmates who refused to take any of the rehabilitation programs while in prison and were back on the streets after their sentences ended.
Something that never occurred before has happened not once but multiple times over the last decade: the erosion of individual rights once guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution and the New Hampshire Constitution.
However, some of the people made incredibly rich under the old system of cheap labor and stealing resources as the Koch industry did oil from Indian lands, wanted to keep fighting the Civil War as the federal courts ordered integrated schools.
The adage often heard in the halls of the State House when medical services are at issue is “all patients should be able to access the care they need, when and where they need it.”
Too many people interested in power instead of governing don’t want a truly informed public. Instead, they want enough of the public spoon fed “alternative facts,” conspiracy theories, and outright lies to ensure they retain power although they have views that are both harmful to the majority of citizens and allow the tyranny of the minority to overturn the will of the majority.
After last year’s kumbaya session with its bipartisan budget, and congratulations all around, the 2024 session began ugly with the war on trans youth and stayed that way until almost the very end.
But both those hanging up their legislative pins and those who hope to return cannot be overjoyed about the financial picture for the state heading into the 2025 fiscal year that begins July 1.
You could call it hypocrisy instead of misinformation, but no one can deny the federal money flowing into the states due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the infrastructure act has been extraordinary over the past couple of years.
Today in New England the vast majority of electricity is generated by burning natural gas, while far less harmful than coal or oil, it is a fossil fuel and a global hot commodity, especially liquified natural gas which New England relies on to produce electricity in the winter when most of the natural gas supplies are allocated for home heating.