Yet again, Texas is hit with normally heavy amounts of snow. My job has shut its doors again today which means I have the perfect opportunity to get on my liberal soapbox about what all this snow means to me. How can snow be political? Well, consider that in the US today, there are basically two main factions, the rich and the rest of us. Many of “us” worship the rich, we want to be them, so we belong to their political party. This same party was smart enough to leverage religion to further its agenda and bring in more followers. This part is the group of the rich, wanna be rich and religious.
On the other hand, you have those with a more liberal (in Texas thats pronounced Leeeeberal ) bent. These people think that we should all strive to be better as a whole race; the distribution of wealth should be a little more even. They believe that good healthcare and shelter should be a right. We should take care of our planet since it is the only one we get. Finally, churches should not have a say in secular social contracts.
I hear you asking…but what about the snow? The way we treat out planet, burning fossil fuels at a high rate, causes the environment to become unbalanced. While this can cause and overall rise in the temp of the entire planet, it can also cause unusually cold conditions in others. The more “conservative” group are climate change deniers since it is generally bad for business (aka the rich). These type are also generally christian in the US and most of those have an Armageddon view of the world. It will all end, so why bother taking care of it now.
The snow also brings very tough conditions for those less fortunate, especially those without a home at all. I watched a story yesterday of a man who was sleeping in a dumpster to stay warm and was almost killed when the trash truck came to pick it up. We was treated, at a high cost no doubt to the hospital, but sent out in a patients gown. It’s not the hospitals responsibility to make sure the person they just treated stays healthy. That’s bad for business. So, what do we do with so many without homes? I mean, it not my fault they are homeless, right? Why should I be forced to pay higher taxes to make sure EVERYONE has decent healthcare (like our elected officials who generally could afford to buy it privately) and a roof over their head? These are humans and we are watching idiots drive sports cars in the snow.
Finally, one of the ways to fix much of this are churches. It is a strange world where churches can be polling places for voting, be exempt from taxes and be politically active, yet don’t have to give back to the community where they are in equal measure. So, how about making it mandatory that if a church is to be tax exempt, it should be required to open its doors to make sure no one has to sleep in the cold or rain or suffer under the Texas heat. They should also not be able to enforce any candidates for political office or serve as polling places in secular elections.
Think about the warm and dry place you are right now. Enjoy every sip of your warm beverage, but be mindful of your fellow travelers. They are people too and but for some twist of fate, it might have been you.