Virtual Fridays Without Fitzpatrick (VFWF) 46
In Response To Christmas, 2021
The Spirit of Christmas
Congressman Fitzpatrick:
Today is Christmas, and as I did not see a weekly newsletter from you during this holiday week, I will be brief and appropriately, mostly non-political.
I want to wish you a Merry Christmas.
But I also want you to reflect on the spirit of Christmas.
You are financially secure with a six figure salary and no spouse or children to support. So you are doing quite well, much better than many of your constituents.
My belief is that the spirit of Christmas is a reminder to many that we should strive to show compassion, love and empathy to those who are less fortunate than us. That we should feed the hungry and heal the sick. That we should take care of our aging elders. That we should, as the Christmas story goes, welcome the poor and hungry immigrants coming to our land with newborn infants. That we should not be so concerned with acquiring power or wealth for ourselves, but be focused on building a community that is better for all. That to me should be the spirit of Christmas which should then inspire us throughout the year as a guide to our daily actions.
There has been much focus the past few days on one Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and his recent statement that he would not support the current version of President Biden’s Build Back Better legislation. But strangely, there has not been much attention paid to the fact that over 200 Republicans in the House (including you) and all 50 Republicans in the Senate are emphatically against this legislation. And I want to understand why this is so.
The Build Back Better plan lifts millions of children out of poverty, expands access to healthcare and medicine (especially to the elderly), and helps struggling families who, unlike you, do not earn six figure salaries, but have daily struggles to pay for childcare and often elder care for their aging parents. It is a bill filled with remarkable love and compassion for millions of struggling fellow-Americans. To me, it is the embodiment of much of what the Christmas spirit is all about.
If only a few of your Republican colleagues would support that legislation, the lives of so many Americans would be filled with great Christmas cheer.
But you and your Party refuse to do so. (And sadly, because of this Republican non-support, millions of children will immediately fall back into poverty levels this January.)
And I ask why.
There are many in need in our community and in our country. And many dream that the spirit of Christmas not simply descend upon them one day a year with empty platitudes and still unmet needs, but hope that its spirit lives on in our leaders and our community throughout the year so that their lives and the lives of their children and parents will not be plagued by hunger, illness, and despair for yet another long year.
A new year will soon be upon us and brings an opportunity for change. I therefore hope that your future work as a Congressman will be guided, not by political ideology or with selfish aims of maintaining power, position or wealth, but by this true spirit of Christmas.
Merry Christmas.