Mitch’s Spelling Bee
Kit O’Connor, Frankfort, KY
I’ve been thinking a lot about games lately. Maybe it’s coronavirus boredom, or maybe it’s because I like to have fun. Regardless, games are on my mind. So is education since I’ve been musing on the push to open schools. One game that I’m mulling over from my days as a student is the spelling bee.
I’m thinking of hosting a Mitch McConnell themed spelling bee. Every word would be related to Mitch in some way. Words like corporation. So help me out here. What word comes to mind when you think about Mr. McConnell?
It would be an old school spelling bee. The first words would be the easier words to spell like power or money. Then we’d progress to some slightly harder to spell words like corruption or liable. And in grand fashion, we’d ramp up the final rounds for the participants left standing. We’d use words like my favorite: hypocrisy. There are so many… Sycophant. Complicit. Inextricably.
My favorite definition of sycophant comes from dictionary.com. It means a fawning parasite. And to be complicit means that you are helping to do wrong in some way. To be inextricably linked means it’s impossible to separate yourself from something.
I can use them in a sentence for you. Mitch McConnell is a sycophant who could use his powerful position to create change for the better but is instead inextricably linked to over 150,000 coronavirus deaths and an unimaginable number of evictions and is 100% complicit in this travesty.
One doesn’t have to be a democrat or a republican to know that the coronavirus response has been mishandled in the United States and because of that, there are over 155,000 (and counting) dead Americans- parents, siblings, grandparents, children. Human beings. The senate majority leader is complicit in these deaths. His sycophancy is inextricably linked to the administration that has made such disastrous decisions. As senate majority leader, Senator McConnell had an opportunity to hold them accountable and at every step he has abdicated this responsibility.
The devastation is more than the deaths of thousands. The coronavirus pandemic has devastated incomes. Folks who lost jobs had been receiving an extra $600.00 a week on top of their regular unemployment in an attempt to help them get through this disaster. It has helped prevent a significant number of Americans from sliding into poverty. But the payments ended this week, as did a moratorium on evictions.
As the New York Times recently opined: “The economy is in dire shape. Millions of Americans are about to lose federal aid. The Senate is going on vacation.” Instead of passing legislation to help people struggling to feed their children and keep a roof over their heads, Mitch McConnell sent the senate home. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/mitch-mcconnell-coronavirus-economy.html?referringSource=articleShare
As people have no food and lose their housing, Mitch is inextricably linked to their loss. Here in his own home state of Kentucky, coronavirus has left more than 200,000 people out of work. As many as 48 percent of renters in our Commonwealth risk eviction. He is complicit. He knew this day was coming. With deadlines looming, he refused to take action. He said there wasn’t enough of a sense of urgency. And while he blames the democrats for this inaction, the House Democrats were able to pass the HEROES Act, a 3 trillion dollar aid bill more than two months ago. https://ky.aflcio.org/news/misadventures-moscow-mitch-kdp-kentuckians-suffer-mcconnell-spends and https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/27/how-the-eviction-crisis-will-impact-each-state.html
As the New York Times says, responsibility for the current debacle rests specifically and squarely on the shoulders of the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, and the other 52 Senate Republicans whom he leads.
I truly wish this were simply a game, but it isn’t. It’s about people’s lives, their hopes and dreams, and that of their children. I might enjoy thinking about spelling bees and poking fun at my senator, but the truth is that we are living in a scary time and I’m not sure we have the leadership to see us through it. And Mitch McConnell is part of that inept leadership. He is a sycophant. He is inextricably tied to the poor decisions that got us here, and he is complicit in our pain. Kentucky. Mitch McConnell must go on November 3rd.
Kit O’Connor is a founding member of the MMRC. They live in Frankfort, KY with their spouse, Nate Orshan. Kit is a lifelong activist, advocate and educator with a focus on human rights, particularly refugee and migrant rights and LGBTQ+ rights. Besides teaching high school, they enjoy public speaking and providing workshops about a range of issues from citizen lobbying to human rights messaging. You can Follow Kit on Twitter @ KitUnbridled
