Richard Lugar, after six terms as a Republican senator -- known for his middle of the road rationality and his foreign policy finesse -- has been ousted by a Tea Party extremist backed by outside right-wing funding.
This opponent, Richard Mourdock, questions even the constitutionality of Social Security and Medicare. He is known for strident partisanship, as is the whole Republican Party.
The Republicans fought President Barack Obama's plan to keep interest rates low on federal student loans unless it was funded by taking public health funds from Obama's health care law.
They pushed 300,000 kids off school lunches to preserve military spending. They held hostage $261 million in funds for health care provisions, food stamps, unemployment insurance benefits and child tax credits, to offset automatic defense cuts.
Republicans have opposed three jobs bills to avoid raising taxes on millionaires. They have voted to protect tax breaks for oil companies instead of funding clean energy investment. They voted to block the Buffett Rule requiring people making more than $1 million a year to pay a fair share in taxes. They proposed the Blunt Amendment to allow employers or insurance companies not to cover any health care cost to which they have a "moral objection."
Well, here is where the ocean meets the shore. Remember the name Joel Tyner. He is running for Congress in the 19th District. He is a Democrat, a Dutchess County legislator for five terms and a man of conviction.
Tyner presents himself as a proactive problem solver. He is not tied to any entrenched political interests that so commonly become de facto _ but hidden _ constituencies. He does not take money from insurance companies or corporations.
Tax relief for the rich does not translate into more jobs. Spending for society does. Money should come from taxing in accordance with the ability to pay. The nourishment of a healthy community requires a fair continuity from rich to less-rich people, within a spectrum of neighborly connections and relations.
There needs to be a net of social connection that nourishes feelings of belonging, common interest and responsibility. That is what progressives seek to foster and protect proactively.
Conservatives, on the other hand, focus on protecting wealth and property rights, with less concern for those who have little or no property.
Tyner opposes the war in Afghanistan. Corporate personhood needs to be ended by constitutional amendment, and replaced by legislation supporting clean elections and campaign finance reform.
He would end the Bush tax cuts. He is pushing to block fracking and begin building up renewable energy. He elaborates on the use of solar energy, geothermal energy and raising the efficiency of conservation methods.
Tyner decries the demise of independent family farms, and clearly pulls the curtain back on entrenched and habitually subsidized monopolies of corporate agribusiness. These are what undercut family farming.
Putting more money to work repairing and enhancing our aging infrastructure also benefits both the public in general and lowers the unemployment rate.
The minimum wage should be raised to put more money into the hands of consuming wage earners. These are the ways to revitalize the economy. Progressive ways. Protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as school budgets and nursing home care from budget cuts is likewise essential.
But some programs stand out as long overdue and deeply essential. Chief among them is health care. Medicare for all, he points out, would benefit all, but save money, too. It would include support for women's health and reproductive rights.
I am going out on a limb here, however, because I have not yet heard his opponent in the Democratic primary for this new 19th Congressional District on June 26. He is Julian Schreibman. He is backed by his home-base Democrats in Ulster County. Schreibman sees himself up against powerful Republican interests and able to confront Tea Party types.
Tyner says he is ready to confront even the Democrats, whom he sees as in the thrall of wealthy interests and corporations, to the detriment of support for core social issues, such as Social Security and medical care. He does not deny that climate change is related to human activity, is pro-choice and pro-hunting.
Joel Tyner is an underdog is this race. He is open, accessible and a quick study, who is up on the issues. But he works from the bottom up more than by pulling strings behind the scenes. So give him a listen, and I think you will find him to be a person who will always be listening to us, as constituents.
William Masters can be reached at wmasters@thedailystar.com. The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of The Daily Star and its editorial board.
Columns
Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
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Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
I asked Cam Morris, head of Eastern Travel/Oneonta Bus Lines, how many years her company has been handling the Safety Patrol trip to Washington, D.C.
Continued ... - My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
- Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
- Selections from the virtual mailbag
- Recalling days of 'Doughnut King'
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Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
- Cary Brunswick
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We've become our own worst enemies
The past month has been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
Continued ... - Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
- Obama is going against his word on Social Security
- Reflecting on a Florida trip
- Those magnificent spies in their flying machines
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We've become our own worst enemies
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
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Records seizure is an insult to free press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
Continued ... - The evangelical view of same-sex marriage
- Manor's fate will be Otsego board's legacy
- A closer look at our economy - Part II
- Use fracking to fill budget gaps
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Records seizure is an insult to free press
- Lisa Miller
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A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
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- Mark Simonson
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General Clinton Canoe Regatta got a new home in 1972
Ever since 1963, when Charles Hinkley and a group of Tri-Town businessmen came up with the idea for what we know today as the General Clinton Canoe Regatta, people lined the shores of the Susquehanna to watch the canoeists as they made their 70-mile trek from Cooperstown to Bainbridge.
Continued ... - Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
- Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
- Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
- Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
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- Rick Brockway
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Kids have sparkle in their eyes
When I was in my teens, old Bill Naatz told me about a stream north of Lake George where a man had panned out enough gold to make his wife a wedding band. It was all rumors, but to his grandson and myself, it sounded like the makings of a great adventure.
- People make the outdoors even better
- Turkey season has ups and downs
- Spring air isn't always the freshest
- Adriondacks keep growing and growing
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Kids have sparkle in their eyes
- Sam Pollak
- William Masters
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Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
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Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
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Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
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Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
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Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
