The news can leave you depressed and politics can send your blood pressure through the roof — which is why most people tune out both. (If you’re reading this, you’re probably an exception.)
We can rarely avoid the endless campaign ads on TV and radio, so every election season, we get inundated with politics whether we like it or not. But for the rest of the year, many of us ignore what goes on in the statehouse or Congress or just about any elected office. It’s how many of us protect our peace.
However, ignoring what’s going on in politics and what politicians are doing is how we’ve ended up with lawmakers who spend more time on identity and grievance politics than on governing.
Politicians talk a big game during campaign season. They promise pristine roads and financial stability and new jobs and protection for families and children. And then they get into office and do none of the above. The focus never quite shifts from being a politician to being a lawmaker. Instead, officials spend their time pursuing policies that make good sound bites and help rile up their base during the next campaign.
There is perhaps no better example of this than the current session of the West Virginia Legislature.
Early this month, we highlighted two road bills that could make a huge difference for our state: SB 569, to let municipalities fix state roads and be reimbursed by the Division of Highways, and SB 419/HB 4730, to modify the road funding formula to take into account not just road miles, but also county population growth and road usage. None of these bills have been touched since introduction.
The same is true of the budget bill — neither the House nor Senate versions of the budget have been touched since being introduced. The regular session ends in less than two weeks and it seems the Legislature hasn’t even started working on the state’s budget.
So-called pro-life, pro-family, pro-“protect the children” legislators haven’t passed Raylee’s Law, which would prevent abusive parents from homeschooling their children; child or child care tax credits; insurance coverage for infertility treatments; child support at conception; prohibitions on sex offenders joining boards of education; or other policies that will actually protect and support children and families.
Instead, lawmakers have wasted precious time and resources pushing unpopular, impractical and irrelevant legislation, including a swath of anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans bills. That’s not to mention the proposals to send thousands of dollars and dozens of National Guardsmen to Texas, or the resolution — and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s request — to remove President Biden from the ballot. Legislators have spent hours debating raw milk, criminal penalties for libraries and museums over “obscene” material, displaying “In God We Trust” in schools and a variety of other “solutions” in search of problems.
Meanwhile, they neglect to work on legislation that would actually benefit West Virginians. This is why it’s so important to pay attention not just to what politicians say on the campaign trail, but what they do while in office.
