Alaska was supposed to be a destination for people who believed like I did. It was supposed to be a place where people applied simple, down-home, common sense approaches to fixing problems. I was under the impression that Alaska was indeed the place where men and women were equally of an attitude that all the politically correct dung that is piled upon the American people day after day...year after year...was not regarded as the last word in an argument, but the beginning of an important debate on what really matters to the social construct of the country.
I was right...sort of.
While Alaskans, by and large, are exactly how I was led to believe, the bulk of the people who are in the political realm are a direct extension of the Washington DC arm of the Establishmentariat. Case in point: the Kavanaugh hearings for the Supreme Court and our esteemed senator, Lisa Murkowski.
While she is shielded in her offices in Washington and Juneau from 99% of the Alaskan public, she is quite comfortable in thwarting your wishes by voting down a man who has had nothing but a stellar career as a judge. When this is all over and the smoke clears, Murkowski will enjoy the lauds of an activist press for the better part of a year. She will be the darling of the Left and will smirk at the rest of us for believing for an instant that we had any hope of persuading her to do the right thing. Senator Murkowski refuses to look past this obviously transparent attempt to destroy a conservative candidate for the highest court in the land...to vote "yes" on a man who has passed seven ---- yes, seven ---- FBI background checks without ever a whimper of this story, and confirm someone who richly deserves a chance to serve the American people in a very sincere and significant way.
Instead, we get more of the same: a politician in the mold of all others who has decided that the most important decisions are better left to people who care more for substance than the title of senator. I have voiced my disappointment to Lisa Murkowski in a direct email to the senator's staff.
"How sad that your constituents' wishes mean nothing to you. You regard a few malcontents who live and work in Juneau and can spend 24/7 at the front doors of your office as the "voice of the people" instead of using a little bit of common sense to realize that Alaskans don't have the time, nor the luxury, to leave their regular jobs and spend all day protesting your positions. Too often, people like me...conservative Christians...are disregarded or simply thrown aside by people like you who believe it's more important to put on airs about who you are and what you represent. I really wonder about your ultimate goals when you decide that the bulk of the Alaskan people and their ideology do not matter. Believe me, if I could have come to Juneau with my entire family of seven to lobby on behalf of our wishes, I would have. As it is, we struggle day to day to get by and hope that the people for whom we are voting will stand on their principles and ethics and do the right thing. For you, a supposedly Republican senator, to allow a bunch of people to bully you through a blatantly transparent attempt to influence you to railroad a very good man and his family, this is a shameful display of lapdog politics where the sycophants of the mainstream media tend to demonstrate where their real loyalties are. If you wanted fame with the Left, you should never have run as a Republican and took all of your constituents for fools. It's a shameful action and one that you should never tout as a "victory." You allowed a vile and despicable group of people to destroy the reputation and career of a man who did nothing to you or your family. Come next election day, you will not have my vote and I will work considerably harder to ensure that Ketchikan, a place that you once called home, is aware of your decision to put the favor of the Left over the values of the people who trusted you. Laugh derisively while you can at our fecklessness to affect a vote that doesn't favor you. I think this is your defining moment that has revealed who you really are and what you think about the "unwashed masses" of Alaska. Thanks for your transparency. It will assist the rest of us in knowing where Lisa Murkowski goes from here. Enjoy your upcoming boatloads of fawning interviews on CNN and MSNBC and the purring sounds from the Maureen Dowds and George Wills of the world. The many hard-working families in Alaska will still disregard those and treat them for what they are: fake news."
While I am more than aware that this will do absolutely nothing to sway the senator to alter her perspective because, quite frankly, this is not merely a disease that infests the state-level, but one that also strikes the local levels, I felt compelled to speak my mind and know that I at least had the opportunity to make my opinion known to someone who can actually affect the country.
Unfortunately, this problem that is currently displayed by one of our senators is one that is immensely apparent in the officials at the local level as well. We have our own form of cronyism and supposed parliamentary procedure that favors only those with connections to the people with power. Here in Ketchikan, we have a disgraceful attempt to remove a sitting school board official for the simple matter that he has an "R" after his name. He has been targeted precisely because of his political affiliation, not due to his inability to do the job. In fact, because he happens to stand up for the people and the spending of their hard-earned taxes, the teacher's union is attempting to have him recalled. This is a spineless move on the part of these people who would much rather get rid of the opposition than to debate the merit of the motion.
If you are outraged by these types of procedures, you're not alone. There are many in this country who believe exactly the same way. Hopefully, we can overcome this attempt to throw away procedure and protocol in support of suppression and the silencing of opposing views to move forward beyond this pettiness and regain wisdom and greater understanding.