Antone's Nightclub
Breaking the Golden Rule
RECEIVED Tue., March 28, 2023
Dear Editor,
I listened with amazement as a minister opened a recent session of the Texas Legislature. He prayed for divine protection so the legislators may serve God and those they represent.
I was in the gallery facing Republican representatives who bowed their heads before proceeding to continue doing the opposite of what Jesus demanded in his Sermon on the Mount: “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.”
I sat there knowing that these very legislators have denied life-saving healthcare to more than a million Texans by refusing to accept Medicaid.
Despite years of mass shootings, they have refused to tighten gun restrictions, even after school children were slaughtered in Uvalde.
Disregarding the bedrock American principle of free and fair elections, they have, through gerrymandering and intimidation, made it harder to vote for those they estimate will not vote the right way.
These outcomes cannot be what they wish for themselves.
To borrow from Charles Darwin, “If the misery of [others] be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
I listened with amazement as a minister opened a recent session of the Texas Legislature. He prayed for divine protection so the legislators may serve God and those they represent.
I was in the gallery facing Republican representatives who bowed their heads before proceeding to continue doing the opposite of what Jesus demanded in his Sermon on the Mount: “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.”
I sat there knowing that these very legislators have denied life-saving healthcare to more than a million Texans by refusing to accept Medicaid.
Despite years of mass shootings, they have refused to tighten gun restrictions, even after school children were slaughtered in Uvalde.
Disregarding the bedrock American principle of free and fair elections, they have, through gerrymandering and intimidation, made it harder to vote for those they estimate will not vote the right way.
These outcomes cannot be what they wish for themselves.
To borrow from Charles Darwin, “If the misery of [others] be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
Barbara Chiarello