Paul's Perambulations a personal blog

Spoke again directly with my U.S. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon today (and also four months ago – see below) in a noon zoom appointment arranged by Friends Committee on National Legislation. There were ten of us, and focus was on Build Back Better bill (HR 5376) now in Congress, particularly focusing on the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit components. I spoke about how Villanova is working toward becoming more diverse, and these programs could be an essential part of making Villanova affordable for low-income students even after receiving considerable scholarship aid. We had a half hour of her time from Washington before she had to leave for a vote. Glad I was able to speak at this, considering that I’m not well at the moment after some major dental surgery. Note that while I still identify as a pacifist revolutionary working toward the necessary major changes in our government structure, I can also recognize a need in these difficult times for some reformism just to hold things together until that major change can occur.

July 17 post: Had an appointment with my Congressperson, Mary Gay Scanlon, day-before-yesterday as part of a small group arranged by WILPF and PeaceAction.  My five-minute “ask” was for her to support (1) the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and (2) to use President Biden’s infrastructure plan as the opportunity to convert military companies toward productive work for this country(they already have the skills and experience for this). I particularly referenced what I had heard from engineers employed at Boeing Vertol (voters in her district) in this regard. I don’t want to put good people out of work – I want good people to be doing good work for this country. She appeared to listen attentively and take some notes, and responded with a fairly extended reply about the importance of the proposed infrastructure program and engineers contribution to it. When she finished, I made sure to repeat that I was asking her support for using this occasion as a unique opportunity to escape our dependence on a military economy by substituting infrastructure contracts for those companies that otherwise would be getting military contracts – to keep skilled good folks employed by reducing military expenditures and replacing them with these new contracts that actually contribute to the welfare of this country.