McConnell has no qualms about putting his party’s interest before nation’s well-being

At America’s dawning, Thomas Jefferson expressed his fear for her future “Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless…from the conclusion of this [Revolutionary] war we shall be going down hill.” Jefferson continued to suggest the people might “forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money…” Kentucky now boasts a politician who resolutely embodies Jefferson’s fear, Mitch McConnell. Mitch takes care of the very rich and their special interests and they take care of him. He also has no qualms about putting his party’s interest before the well-being of the nation. During the Obama administration, he blocked, infrastructure proposals he probably would have supported if advanced by a Republican and earned the nickname Senator Gridlock.

Like many in Congress, McConnell has become wealthy while in office, but it’s his preoccupation with other people’s money that is a greater worry. His passion for “tax relief” for millionaires and billionaires (both estate and income taxes) helps drive the stark inequalities of wealth in the US. His self-serving belief that money is a form of “free speech” protected by the First Amendment combined with the controversial 5-4 Supreme Court decision in “Citizens United” has gutted regulatory control of campaign spending and skyrocketed the cost of running for office. If McConnell received all his donations in units of free speech instead of dollars maybe he’d get the picture. Now, dollars from the very wealthy are practically essential for candidates. Not surprisingly, recent research shows many proposals with broad popular support fare poorly in Congress compared with causes favored by the affluent and big money has a virtual veto over legislation they do not like. America is now more a plutocracy, a government run by the wealthy, than a democracy. In his book, “Plutocracy in America,” distinguished UK historian, Ronald Formisano, amply documents how government favoring the wealthy injures the poor and middle class.

McConnell has championed Kentucky’s sagging coal industry and falsely blamed its market-driven decline on environmental regulation. Trump zapped the regulations, but not the decline. McConnell seems missing-in-action, however, as coal corporations rush to bankruptcy, or sell assets to companies primed for bankruptcy, in order to offload their pension obligations to thousands of miners.

The senator does have accomplishments. Many are promoted on his website. You’d think federal grants were only awarded to Kentucky agencies because of his advocacy rather than on the merits of their applications (maybe they were). He’s also ready to take credit for all the benefits Kentucky received from the Covid-19 relief bill. Though the bill represents bipartisan effort by members of the House and Senate, he brazenly refers to it as the “McConnell CARES bill.” From my perspective, his greatest achievement was shaping the tobacco settlement that helped Kentucky growers as the tobacco market collapsed. But McConnell also had remained the top advocate for big tobacco corporations well after the health and death risks of tobacco were obvious.

I’ve spent most of my professional life working as a child psychologist for children and families in Kentucky. I was invited by several Kentucky governors to help on advisory committees or task forces. I frequently wrote Senator McConnell about legislation that could help Kentucky families. I got form letter assurances that he would keep my concerns in mind but virtually no action.

Several years ago, I mobilized myself to post my last letter to McConnell. Knowing anyone who wants to make a good faith effort can ascertain the frightening reality of global warming, I urged him to take the dangers seriously and stated that I would consider his failure to do so “an assault on my children and grandchildren.” His assault continues, on my family and yours.

Let’s give Mitch the gift of retirement this November. He’ll be able to slow down, reflect, and maybe get in touch with his better angels.

T. Kerby Neill is a retired child psychologist, community volunteer, and board member of the Central Kentucky Council for Peace and Justice.