This is what we voted for

Elections have consequences

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been inundated with calls from area organizations sounding the alarms about funding cuts to vital programs at the local, state and federal levels.

The Upper Sandusky and Wynford school districts have sent out public letters asking citizens to contact their state representatives and ask them not to make drastic funding cuts to public education that would potentially cost the districts millions of dollars annually.

The Upper Sandusky Public Library had its staff post on social media about proposed cuts to Ohio’s public library fund as well as unfunded mandates in the upcoming biennial budget bill that would seriously hamper the library’s ability to do its job.

The Wyandot County Health Department has seen drastic cuts to programs that prepare first responders for mass casualty events like tornadoes, chemical spills or worse.

Activists have sounded the alarm about the federal “One Big Beautiful Bill” that initially proposed $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid and additional cuts to SNAP benefits that would take food assistance away from 7 million people and also would negatively impact rural hospitals. Local hospitals in Galion and Bucyrus could face closure due to the bill’s changes to Medicaid charging at the state level.

And the only thing I can think of when I see these calls to action from all these organizations is, “We voted for this.”

I was reminded of something Upper Sandusky resident Craig Swartz said at last Monday’s special Upper Sandusky city council meeting, where council members were debating placing an increased income tax on the upcoming November ballot in part to help fund emergency services.

“The reason we’re here today is because the local government fund has been cut for years by the state government,” Swartz said. “... We keep voting in the very people that are cutting our throats.”

Swartz is right about the local government fund. I remember one of my first big interviews when I first got my job at The Daily Chief-Union was with Jon Husted, who was running for the Lt. Governor position under Mike DeWine (and Husted now is one of Ohio’s U.S. senators). I asked some local leaders about what was something important that impacted them at the local level that I could ask Husted about.

Every single one of them asked me if the state would continue making cuts to the local government fund, which was cutting funding to townships, municipalities and more and forcing them to have to pass tax increases on the local level to make up for the lost funding, just passing the buck to the local politicians and forcing them to take the hit for them.

The Wyandot County Board of Developmental Disabilities had had to pass a new levy that year because of state funding cuts. The Wyandot County Council on Aging had to pass a levy increase in 2019. Riverdale Local Schools have repeatedly attempted to get new funding but it has been rejected by voters and Upper Sandusky schools are desperately in need of new buildings.

It shouldn’t be like this. This didn’t need to happen.

Why are we, the citizens, having to do all the extra work calling and writing to our local, state and federal representatives to try to get them to stop passing legislation that will hurt us?

The state is making cuts to education and libraries, but it has no problem expanding its billion-dollar EdChoice voucher program or using $600 million to potentially fund a new football stadium for the Cleveland Browns. Our own Republican Attorney General Dave Yost has asked the governor to veto that provision (he didn’t).

Federally, the recent changes from the U.S. Senate over the past weekend actually increased cuts to Medicaid to potentially $930 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Analysis from the CBO stated 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law.

But meanwhile, they have no problem making the 2017 tax cuts — that overwhelmingly favored the richest citizens and corporations — permanent. Sen. Raphael Warnock called the bill “Robin Hood in reverse.”

The new bill also would increase the Department of Homeland Security’s budget, granting $185 billion for immigration enforcement — more than five times its current amount. The current ballooned budget from DHS has kept the government from declaring states of emergency in disaster-stricken parts of the country like Arkansas, which was denied FEMA requests after deadly tornadoes.

So at the end of the day, what would you rather have? Would you rather have health insurance and be able to eat, or should the billionaire be able to afford another yacht?

We shouldn’t have to take to the streets to get our elected officials to actually do their jobs, but time and time again, we vote for people who only answer to the wealthiest individuals and corporations. They are too cowardly to actually fight for the regular people. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” is deeply unpopular, but it likely will pass anyway. They don’t care.

One of the only Republican senators who is speaking out against the bill, Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, immediately had U.S. President Donald Trump announce Tillis was going to be primaried in his next election and Tillis has already announced he wouldn’t be running for office again. Even if he isn’t running for office again, at least Tillis has a semblance of a spine, something our current senators. Bernie Moreno and Husted have yet to demonstrate. They will be a rubber stamp for anything on Trump’s agenda, popularity be damned.

Elections have consequences, folks. Our lives would be a lot easier if we could just live them in peace and not have to worry about how the latest legislation will negatively impact us. How about next time we’re at the ballot box, we actually vote for people who would have made the right decisions in the first place?