Sedona AZ (October 31, 2015) – The following is a letter to the SedonaEye.com editor:

Editor:

AZ U.S. Congressman Paul Gosar

Our Congressman Paul Gosar’s vitriolic condemnation of the Congressional Budget Deal is a striking act of isolationism. The bill passed precisely because the majority in Congress could no longer put up with the antics of Mr. Gosar’s Shutdown Caucus.

I for one agree with him that the federal budget is virtually running amok. It is a terrible problem that can be solved only by both parties in Congress working together to find a solution, or at least an approach that seriously begins to deal with it.

That means compromising, which Mr. Gosar seems unable to do.

According to a long series of polls, some 50% of Americans approve of the job that President Obama has been doing, while only 9% of Americans approve of the job which Congress has been doing. Mr. Gosar and his Shutdown Caucus have surely contributed to that.

Mr. Gosar approaches difficult issues in black and white. He is so entrenched in his own perspective that he even disrespects other members of Congress, as he demands that everything be done his way or else he would close down the government, even if it means that thousands of working Americans would be furloughed and lose their income. The result is that he is rendered ineffective in contributing to solutions.

US House of Representatives

Cunningly, he has co-sponsored a couple of bills as a mask to pretending that he is able to work across the aisle.

But his uncompromising approach to issues such as the budget, human services, immigration, taxation, global climate disruption, the Export-Import Bank, and so many other issues makes him a champion of the radical Shutdown Caucus which has succeeded in making the House absolutely unworkable.

He is so unrelentingly passionate that he even voted against the overwhelming choice of his own party to prevent Paul Ryan from becoming Speaker of the House.

His “country be damned unless I get my way” attitude is a major contributor to the nation’s distrust in the ability of Congress to get anything done.

I regret that he has taken such inflexible positions, because ultimately it hurts all of us. Voters send candidates to Congress not to stand as pillars of steel against any reasonable solutions to problems, but to be intelligent participants in the give-and-take process of maximizing the good of the country, even if it means not getting everything one wants.

But I have to give him credit regarding the vast complications of the federal deficit. If only he could learn to play nice and help Congress cobble together a solution, which in the end would likely displease all of us.

Raymond Spatti
Payson, AZ 85541

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