The little boy was thirsty and asked his mother for a drink of water. “Go to the sink! Turn on the tap yourself” she said. “But, I don’t want to drink that water, it smells! and it is red!” the boy replied. He has a point, the mother thought, so she went to find the Brita filter, so that at least some of the color and smell would be removed. Of course, it didn't really help, as the very same water that the family was forced to drink was also used for showers and to cook with. You see, this family lived in Flint, Michigan. For months and months the community was forced to drink something that was barely qualified to be called water. Raw light sewage was a better term. And while local and state authorities had known about the situation for months and made sure their own people didn’t have to drink the tap water, the people that lived in the community did. Imagine that, Americans travel all over the world helping third world countries develop clean water sources and yet there are entire communities in the United States that don’t have clean water.
The story about water in Flint, as Vox reports, has been going on for months. Eight months to be exact. But it isn’t just about having an unclean source of water. It is also about the idea that certain people thought that it was a problem, just not for them. Vox explains — “… the Department of Environmental Quality, which was notified about the budget department's decision to buy bottled water (and noted that "certain departments" seemed concerned about the water quality notice), was still insisting that the contaminated water was perfectly safe to drink.” In fact, in a letter sent to Gov. Rick Snyder on February 1, 2015, it was written — “It's not like an eminent [sic] threat to public health.” Vox then writes that — “The letter then went on to suggest that city officials were exaggerating the threat so they could get more money out of the state for infrastructure improvements.” So, there you have it. A simple and easily verifiable problem was dismissed as money grab from underlings. But this isn’t the only town that has this problem.
A local news organization, WKBN, reported that — "Letters from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to the Village of Sebring show problems with lead in the village’s water supply, dating back to at least November of 2015. Sebring water customers weren’t officially notified by the village until this week, however.” The website goes on to note that — “When asked about the EPA letters, Village Manager Richard Giroux initially denied that he had received them. A letter, written from the Ohio EPA to Giroux, state that tests from the June through September 2015 monitoring period showed that the village’s water exceeded the lead action level. That letter was dated December 3, 2015.” Logically, if there has been at least two incidents regarding a poisoned water supply that have made the news, there has to be more unreported cases out there.
Speaking of unreported news items, Donald Trump made headlines this past week when he announced he was not going to take part in a debate on Fox news. Pundits immediately jumped on him and depending upon whom was telling the story, he was either a coward or a brilliant tactician. However, his campaign manager came forward to reveal the untold story. Brietbart reported that — “Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager for 2016 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, exposed a blatant conflict of interest that the Fox News Channel has been hiding for months. He showed how Fox News has been hiding the fact that Fox News Channel Vice President Bill Sammon has a daughter working for the campaign of the Washington establishment-backed Sen. Marco Rubio.” Of course, it isn’t a crime to have a working relationship with a relative. However, that fact should be disclosed and any hint of impropriety should be removed. Especially when it comes to politics. But that is not how it played out.
Seemingly admitting guilt and taking a defensive position, Breitbart reported that — “A Rubio spokesman responded by standing up for Brooke Sammon and questioning Breitbart News’s integrity. In an email he said — “It’s no secret Breitbart traffics in conspiracy theories, but this accusation is a whole new level of crazy. Brooke is a star of our campaign and her integrity and professionalism is second to none. If you’re worried about someone’s integrity, you should do some serious self examination.” So, there you have it. Apparently the establishment’s position n this matter is simply — “Nothing to see here and by the way, you are a stupid head”.
Breitbart didn’t drop the matter though and asked a pair of follow-up questions, which as of now, remain unanswered. “One question Conant won’t answer centers specifically on whether Brooke Sammon has ever in any way communicated with her father about the Rubio campaign –including regarding debate matters. The other question Conant won’t answer is why, if “Breitbart traffics in conspiracy theories,” Sen. Rubio’s campaign provides Breitbart News with exclusives like the one earlier on Wednesday about his new ad targeting Evangelical voters.
Maybe this is why there is a growing divide in America. Everything seems to be rigged in someone’s favour. Be it personal connections, little government or big government. As proof of this widening gulf, CBS recently ran a story called — “Americans hate the U.S. government more than ever.” According to a new survey from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, “Americans' satisfaction level in dealing with federal agencies — everything from Treasury to Homeland Security — has fallen for a third consecutive year, reaching an eight-year low.”
So, what do you think dear listeners-“Is there an ever widening gulf between the people and the American government?”
