THE FUTURE CAN BE OURS

W. John Williamson

DEMOCRAT

Congressional District 6

480-607-9726

Dear Friend,

As the new year approaches and the present year goes out, you may have
thought about what 2015 will hold for Democrats. Although the Republicans
will be in the majority in both the House and Senate, I think that
President Obama will find a constructive way to work with them and get
some meaningful things done. It’s up to the Republicans now to show
whether they can work with others or not. They have been very good at
saying no to a lot of things, but that’s not the way to lead a country.

People will be enrolling in the Affordable Care Act health insurance
offerings. There will be more people insured under its auspices than ever
before. I continue to support Obamacare in every way.

I also continue to support the establishment of a Cyberdefense Institute
in our Valley, specifically to be located at the Sky Song ASU Research
Park in Scottsdale. Recent events involving such companies as Sony, Home
Depot, Chase Bank, the Maricopa County Community College system, Target
and more have shown that America is still naive about the dangers of
hackers and needs to wake up and take steps to protect itself. This will
require not only political but also intellectual effort. Just watching
Monday Night Football is not going to make it happen. Cybersecurity is an
intellectual thing and our education system–both public and
private–must be up to it.

As a Christmas present from my daughter, I received the novel FOUNDATION
by Isaac Asimov. No doubt some of you have read this novel already. I had
read his book I, ROBOT earlier this year. At the beginning of FOUNDATION,
published in 1951, the main character, Gaal Dornick, travels in a
spaceship through hyperspace to the planet Trantor. This planet has a
population of 40 billion people. Most of these folks live under metal that
covers the planet or a mile or so beneath the surface area.

Not normally a pessimist, I could see that this plot is not that
far-fetched and that Asimov was way ahead of his time. And it led me to
think more than ever that, while competition in politics is not
necessarily bad, there needs to be more cooperation and reasonable
compromise. We don’t have forever to solve such problems as global
warming and the melting of our polar ice-caps. As I say, I don’t normally
think in these terms. I like to take each day in the buoyant spirit of the
characters in James Joyce’s ULYSSES, one day in the life of its main
character, Stephen Daedalus. One day at a time with hope at the end of
each.

It is my hope that 2015 will be a year in which the Republicans in
Congress will try, with the Democrats, to put things together and not just
attempt to tear things apart. I would also hope the same for our state
government: that the Republicans make an effort to fund our public
education system adequately and not just do everything they can to fund
private schools for the privileged at the expense of kids from our inner
cities. I’d like to see Republicans take a more magnanimous approach and
not just seek to divert public monies for the sake of private interests.
The Affordable Care Act is a great public program that helps those in
medical need: not just those in lower-income groups, but also many in the
middle and upper classes as well. The selfish interests that oppose it
oppose the well-being of our society itself, and must be resisted.

Looking on the positive side, I still subscribe to the joyful view of
human life that the writings of the Irishman James Joyce promote. And the
view of humankind that the great writer from the American South, William
Faulkner, put forth in his Nobel Prize for Literature acceptance speech in
1950, in which he said: “I believe that man will not merely endure: he
will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an
inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of
compassion and sacrifice and endurance….The poet’s voice need not merely
be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him
endure and prevail.” That’s my credo for 2015.

Thanks for your time, and Happy New Year!

Sincerely,
John

W. John Williamson

Scottsdale, Arizona