Morehouse College in Atlanta hosts an annual gala event called Candle in the Dark. It recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves in their field of endeavor during their careers. Awardees come from a wide range of endeavors including business, medicine, sports, entertainment, education, public service and many more.
I'm a proud Morehouse graduate and Candle in the Dark recipient. But while a candle in the dark represents a flicker of hope, we all recognize that real accomplishment eventually brings real light. I thought about that during this year’s event, because unlike hard-working and talented Morehouse graduates, the Obama Administration never lets any real light come into any situation. The best they ever do is offer a flicker of hope that goes unfulfilled.
Just when workers think there is a flicker of hope for the availability of more jobs as a result of the Keystone pipeline approval, President Obama immediately dashes their hopes with a veto threat. A congressional override is still possible, but it will be difficult to achieve.
Another flicker of hope for workers is re-setting the typical work week back to 40 hours from the ObamaCare-imposed 30 hours a week, which has cost workers a lot of full-time jobs. Even though this is a fact, congressional Democrats don't care.
U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) would rather see people have government-forced health insurance than a job, as he opposed the bill to re-establish the 40-hour work week. On the floor of the House he said, “This bill will allow you to work 10 more hours without health care. Isn't that wonderful?"
Yes, Representative Hoyer! It would be wonderful to have a full-time job first, and if government gets out of the way, then workers can buy their own health insurance. In fact, more Americans had health insurance and they were happy with it until you, President Obama and congressional Democrats forced ObamaCare down our throats. No thanks for making things worse.
The newly elected Republican-controlled Congress has a list of targeted proposals to help workers, businesses and the economy in general. But the Democrats are determined to be the real obstructionists in D.C. Even worse, they care more about their political agenda than they care about the people.
Some of us have known this for a long time, and now maybe many more will see the light, even if it's just a candle in the dark.
Let the president and Congress know that we are not stupid, and that we are paying attention. We have made it easy for you to do so.
Let's start a firestorm of public pressure to do what's right for us, regardless of who you voted for. It's about us and not about them.
A candle won't do.
