Last week, Governor Haslam gave his State of the State address and painted the current state of Tennessee has being competitive and a great place for all Tennesseans. Governor Haslam, what you said and what are facts are starkly different.
While Tennessee offers a beautiful and diverse geography, with people from all over the world who call the state home, the realities of what Tennesseans face are dramatically different than what Governor Haslam boasted during his address.
Governor Haslam, how are Tennesseans supposed to afford to live in this great state when we have the highest percentage of minimum wage paying jobs in the nation– where minimum wage does not equal a living wage?
Governor Haslam, how are Tennesseans supposed to pursue their rights to life and liberty when 744,000 Tennesseans do not have access to health care?
Governor Haslam, how are Tennesseans supposed to afford to enjoy the beauty and culture of our great state, or the surround states and other nations, when we have over 1 Million Tennesseans living in poverty?
Governor Haslam, how are Tennesseans supposed to live without access to health care due to 10 hospital closures across the state due to the state’s Legislature’s inability to pass Insure Tennessee and expand Medicaid?
From the numbers I’ve seen, I say we’re living in a state of emergency and now is the time to act. Representative Micah Van Huss, TN House District 6 in Washington County, is more focused on protecting confederate monuments than he is concerned about protecting Tennesseans by focusing his efforts on improving the quality of life for the most vulnerable among us. And both Representative Micah Van Huss and Representative Matthew Hill, TN House District 7 in Washington County, have both come out against the proposed bill, HB1461, that would ban bump stocks in Tennessee. No Tennessean wants what happened in Las Vegas, Nevada to happen anywhere in our state. No one wants to see Tennesseans massacred by a device that turns a semi automatic weapon into an automatic weapon.
Special interest dollars are feeding our legislators talking points so that citizens’ voices are no longer heard or represented. They are failing to do their job by not represented the people in their district.
November 6, 2018 is coming and we have Democratic candidates ready to do battle throughout the campaign season and represent your voices and your issues after being elected. So mark your calendars and get ready to make some phone calls and knock on doors, because we can’t win this one without you!
This is a state of emergency and it’s time for Tennesseans to do what Tennesseans do best– volunteering to show up and support one another! We are the volunteer state for a reason! Because it is the collective ‘we’ that will work together to make our hometowns and our communities the places we want and need them to be.
Sincerely,
Kate Craig
Chair
Washington County Democratic Party
