Senator Gaston: You Can’t Hold The Keys To The Entire Government And Then Blame Someone Else When The Car Crashes

In his latest OIB commentary State Senator Herron Gaston declares Republicans control the White House, House of Representatives, Senate (and Supreme Court). And then they blame the party without power for the government shutdown.

Let’s get something straight: You can’t hold the keys to the entire government and then blame someone else when the car crashes.

Right now, the Republican Party controls the House, the Senate, and the White House — and yet, somehow, they want to point fingers at the Democrats for a government shutdown? Make it make sense. We see through the spin. We are not stupid, and we’re not drinking the Kool-Aid.

This isn’t about political games anymore. Real people are being hurt. Federal workers are missing paychecks. Small businesses that rely on government contracts are left hanging. Families are struggling. While the party in power is bailing out billionaires and big corporations, Main Street is being abandoned.

Let’s call it what it is: a manufactured crisis. One that stems from a cynical strategy to “shrink government down to the size of a bathtub” — or more accurately, to gut the programs and services that millions of Americans rely on. But what they’re creating isn’t a smaller government. It’s a bloodbath. And everyday Americans are bleeding.

This isn’t governance. It’s hostage-taking.

By tying basic functions of government — like funding public services and paying our troops — to ideological wish lists and political stunts, Republicans have strung a noose around the necks of working and middle class families, and might I suggest, from all sides of the political aisles—and driven them to their knees. Nobody is exempt from this nonsensical chaos.

And what kind of leadership is this, where the head of the party — the President — says he “hates” his opponents? That’s not just unbecoming of a leader. That’s dangerous, un-American, and divisive rhetoric. When the Commander-in-Chief says he “hates” fellow Americans simply because they disagree with him, he lowers the tone of our entire national discourse. It’s low class. It’s low vibrational. And it’s beneath the office he holds. Nobody should think it’s okay to hate anyone. We are all human beings. What happened to the old proverb: “ nobody is better than you, but you’re better than nobody.” As I always say- we are nothing more than a microscopic spec of dust on a telescope universe. We all will give account of how we choose to treat each other, especially the poor and the marginalized.

Let me be clear: Whether Republican or Democrat, we are all Americans. We may hold different views, but we are not enemies. Our politics should never lead us to turn on one another. We don’t have to agree on everything — but we do need to agree on the basics: food on the table, roofs over heads, dignity in work, and respect for each other’s humanity.

Other countries are watching. Our children are watching. What example are we setting?

A government shutdown is not just a lapse in policy. It’s a moral failure. It says to the people who rely on this government — veterans, teachers, single mothers, the elderly, the sick — that they are expendable. That their lives are bargaining chips.

We need to be better. We need to demand more from our leaders. And we need to stop letting those in power dodge accountability. We can never forget the phrase “We the People” which is enshrined in our constitution. Hence, without the people, meaning (ALL PEOPLE) there is no government.

This isn’t about party. This isn’t about politics. This is about people. And standing on basic human principles