By and large Americans are not a cruel people. We look after our neighbors. We support local charities. We smile at passersby and tell them to have a nice day.

So, if we’re not a cruel people why do we elect cruel leaders?

The cruelty of this administration seems to know no bounds. The brutality of ICE agents rounding up day laborers and zip tying children. The bombing of ships in the Caribbean claiming without evidence that they are drug dealers. The cruelty of forcing people to work without pay. Continuing to hold back nourishment from many elderly and poor people who have been denied their SNAP benefits. The cruelty even borders on the petty. They’ve gone so far as to instruct the State Department to deny Visa’s to fat people.

The actions of this administration are just downright cruel.

The government shutdown went on way too long. One of the selling points President Trump touted before the election was that he was this great deal maker. So where was the art of the deal Mr. President?

For that matter where is your plan to lower health care premiums for millions of Americans? You promised us you’d have a plan in two weeks. That was in 2015. We’re still waiting.

Or is your plan to bankrupt millions of Americans with medical debt? Is your plan to have emergency rooms overrun with people who avoided going to the doctor until they got so sick, they had to visit those understaffed medical facilities? Is your plan to watch as poor and middle-class people who can’t afford their health insurance prematurely die?

You can sit on your golden toilet and blame the Democrats all you want, but the buck stops with you President Trump.

Congressman Don Bacon was my guest last week on the Becka’s Talking podcast. You can watch the podcast on YouTube, listen to it on all the audio streaming platforms, or check out the Becka’s Talking link at www.WOWT.com.

During the interview the Congressman talked about a bipartisan plan he proposed to end the shutdown. It would put a cap on Obamacare benefits and extend the subsidies for two more years. The Senate Democrats modified his plan and put it on the Senate floor last week. The Republican Senators dismissed the compromise out of hand calling it a nonstarter.

Bacon’s plan was not something he devised just the other day. He didn’t just pull it out of thin air. He told me his bipartisan plan was being discussed behind the scenes on Capitol Hill for months prior to the shutdown. This shutdown could have been avoided if we didn’t

have an administration that seems to enjoy the suffering and inconvenience of so many Americans.

Lower courts ruled that SNAP benefits need to be paid in full. The Trump administration has fought this all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Justices have given the Trump administration a temporary victory by allowing them to stop administering the nutritional help one in eight Americans need for the time being.

That’s just cruel.

But the cruelty isn’t only on the federal side of government. Our own state, you know the one with the motto “Nebraska Nice” isn’t all that nice when it comes to sick people either.

I’ve written extensively on how Governor Pillen, Attorney General Hilgers, Senator Ricketts, and members of the Unicameral have gone out of their way to prevent sick people from getting the relief they could get from Medical Marijuana.

Add that to cruelty of the Cornhusker Clink.

Governor Pillen has admitted that the facility will not hold violent criminals. It won’t be the worst of the worst, but it will hold many workers that are being separated from their families just because Congress can’t come up with a sensible immigration law.

More and more cruelty from our elected officials.

When Joe Biden came to town to give a speech to the Democrats, Mayor Ewing showed up with a MAHA hat. He said that MAHA stood for Make America Humane again.

Reopening the government only solves the problem of getting government workers paid. And there’s no guarantee the government will stay open for very long. We still have to fix the healthcare and immigration problems.

By and large Americans are not a cruel people. We prove that every day with charitable donations and kind gestures to our neighbors. We can’t allow ourselves to follow the lead of the people we elected. We can’t let the Stephen Miller and Tucker Carlson wing of the Republican party get away with their cruelty.

We need to Make America Humane Again.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.