| December 6, 2022 -- As the legislators of our Order, I rely upon your calmness in deliberation, your forbearance toward those who may differ from you, and your charity toward their motives, influence and guided by the spirit of fraternity. This passage is from the opening of the Sixth Degree which calls us all to work at the State Grange Sessions. I have been asked to serve as chairman of the State Legislative Committee for a year and I welcome all the old members and new members to this committee. We will be getting the Legislative handbook updated for the 2023 Legislative Year.
I thank Alma Graham for leading us for the past four years and hope that we will make her proud for what we are about to encounter.
The 2022 elections are over and whether your guy won or lost, it is time to get to work and united to meet the needs of the citizens, both state and national, with truthful and honest negotiations, to meet the needs of all, not just the rich or donors.
Inflation has hit the world, yet we demand that the Governor or President solve this problem. The Covid-19 Pandemic threw us for a loop. It took two years to get a hold of the event. Yet Fuel prices and Food Prices have put a strain on the consumer. Yet is it the fault of the Government or the major corporations who took tax cuts and bought back stocks and give themselves raises. What if they invested in their employees, with raises, affordable healthcare, and improvements to the facilities? We have seen it before in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Investing in the working class brings wealth to the nation. We have seen that the aid during the pandemic helped the economy. Yet a call out of 25 day supply of diesel fuel before election raised the price by $1.00 per gallon, along with heating fuel and natural gas. One week after the election the same cry is out on the news, so we wait to see what the price does. Yet we blame the President. Food prices has risen yet the farmer is taking a price cut because they can’t feed and avian flu has hit the poultry farms since August. Yet the bottleneck is in the Slaughter Houses, because there are only 5 companies that slaughter beef, pork, and poultry, yet they have slowed the production lines so the supply chain has reduced, increasing the price for the slaughter houses.
We always hear from billionaires of how to stabilize inflation, yet they always want to cut services to the elderly and low income households, yet want to give corporations free money to do the task they should do like drill oil and natural gas on leases they already have, or make things in America which was the battle cry we heard six years ago.
We as Grangers always have been charitable to everyone, we treat everyone as an equal, so let’s bring to this Christmas season the gift of listening, talking, and sharing with our fellow citizens.
|
