N.H. Pol. Leadership “Kick the Can Down the Road”….While Granite State Seniors Silently Struggle

 An entire generation of Granite State Citizens that lived their entire life in the comfortable middle class being driven into Elderly Poverty while New Hampshire’s Political Class Kicks the Can Down the Road

This is the statement that best describes our current situation

Consciousness can best be summarized

What is seen cannot be unseen

What is known cannot be forgotten

Truths said cannot be suppressed

Cumulatively they become the reference point of our present reality

 …the only question that is left on the table

Do we possess the will to transform current circumstances?

The Hard Cold Facts--

Marie - 81 Years Old

Works  – four nights - 24 hours a week …receiving food assistance from the local food pantry – holding on by a prayer to stay in her double-wide

Craig – 83 Years Old

Works- five days -25 hours a week at the Big Box Store …..five plus months of his salary pays his Property Tax – it used to be only three months

Anna- 82 Years Old

Still working in the local school district….cannot retire and will hopefully continue into the distant future- struggling to stay in her home where she has lived for almost sixty years

Janet – 78 Years Old

Works five days a week – 30 plus hours….sold her home and moved into an In-Law Apartment with her daughter’s family – she’s one of the lucky ones

Frank- 84 Years Old

Works at a local Convenience Store under the table …paid every day in cash that he buys his groceries …he tells me that this money is the difference between eating well, paying his electric bill for his cable –he is also fortunate to be able to heat his small house with a pellet stove

Francis   – 79 Years Old

Cannot work and survives by not using the central heating system in her home during the Winter – told she has too much assets to qualify for fuel assistance….uses several small space heaters and her propane stove to make hot water to bath in her kitchen – wears a ski parker in her house all the time

Joe – 83 Years Old

Works full time in his son’s business as his meager SSI would meaning living in poverty …refuses to concede his lifestyle to that level of subsistence ..when he can no longer work he will sell his family homestead and move into a small bedroom with his son’s family….he considers himself very lucky to have such wonderful children

Charlotte -86 Years Old

Does not work and lives in Elderly Housing which is plagued by crime as drug dealers use that facility as an exchange point…she feels unsafe and only leaves her apartment in the middle of the day for a short time….she is a prisoner confined within her tiny apartment.

All true and in plain sight …..for All to Observe

..that is if you want to see ?

..that is if you actually care?

In my retirement I’ve enjoyed the luxury of being able to deep dive many issues that for a long time that have been on my mind

It is a great responsibility to possess the trust of so many people that have known you for decades

..understand what your leadership brand has represented and with a small amount of inquiry will reveal the personal details of their life

..as they know that you will not judge them and their secret remains with you

My family has given quiet assistance to those that will take it

..while for others will only accept our encouragement

….. been on my NH Leadership Search Tour since August 2023

In many ways it reminds me of Diogenes carrying his lantern in the light of the day looking for the just one honest man

..also famous to our Orthodoxy… Prince Vladimir looking for the True Faith, who sent his emissaries to Rome, Khazar and Constantinople

The Liturgy at Hagias Sophia carried them to celestial heights and thus Kievan Rus became the Champion of Orthodoxy as it was the true faith

In my quest ….met lots of current elected public officials, most of all the Gubernatorial Candidates and many many political insiders.

…what strikes me instantly is their absence of creative critical thought for in my role as Organizational Consultant – I’ve been surrounded by people for decades that just love thinking outside the box

Was my pleasure also to be actively engaged with NH Fair Funding Project in which we vigorously promoted several pieces of legislation this session

..the experience has been a revelatory education of what’s seriously not working under the Golden Dome in Concord

Nothing shocking in any manner

........but only further verification of my own psycho-social theories on the failing Leadership Class in American Society as the causality of all our current malaise

What is personally disturbing is how much the poor behavior of these elected officials upsets the activists and citizens that I’m partnering with.

Individuals (like me) that grew up marginalized in Anglo America have a very very low bar for all these elected officials

……..of which we are never disappointed!

The quality of my discussion has been challenging even within the wrapper of my  professional polite demeanor

The topics of Educational Funding, ConVal-Rand Cases, Rich Town- Poor Town Equity, Granite State Middle Class being pushed into Elderly Poverty

... all received as a wide eyed jumpstart

........as Third Rail Issues not to be discussed

What’s far more amusing is the immediate throw back attempt to qualify at me --

…who I am and by what authority do I ask these types of questions.

Well, when you are retired, educated, professional, independent who made all of their income outside of New Hampshire as there was no opportunity for people like us in the Granite State

—basically…. you owe these people nothing!

--- and your constituents that have been voting for you for thirty five years

…my deepest respect for the honor of serving them faithfully

So, let’s start with that as our baseline to this tale

All the Gubernatorial Candidates (I’ve personally met)  were charming seemingly well intentioned – excellent karma

I get it…this is a tough business—surely not for the meek

…but unfortunately all were unable to successfully answer my question..

In NH for the previous thirty years …this question has been

… the huge invisible elephant in the room

That few if any want to discuss

Yet economic circumstances are making it nearly impossible to ignore

The NHGOP Tribe follow the same prescriptive party line that invokes the New Hampshire Advantage, No Sale Taxes and nothing new that we all of us have not heard for the previous thirty years

While disappointing --- at least its intellectually honest

The Blue Team is more nuanced with lots of empathy by many who have no critical thinking resolution

…..but much sincere concern that this situation needs immediate remediation.

Other Blue Team members ..especially from the Rich Towns are far more insidious than even the NHGOP 

-- as their Liberal Elitism becomes snide and they are most condescending

As a former House Rep for ####p##  said yesterday on the Town Common at the Farmer’s Market

Yah Yah …you told me about this the last time we talked

…then basically lost eye contact with me – as to say she was all done conversing

Let’s unpack that ..??  

Since speaking last, had the situation in some manner improved?

..or this topic is something that her affluent constituents don’t have to worry about?

So, stop bothering me with your nonsense and just go away

Here is the conundrum that we collectively face

While the NHGOP Tribe and the Blue Hair Elites want to Kick the Can Down the Road

…on the other split screen, a human tragedy is unfolding in plain sight that impacts the neighbors in our community

The path forward is to keep putting this issue out into the public square as the more exposure it has the greater the consciousness it will build

Being the voice of those that cannot speak

We are not going away until this is resolved

Silence is Acceptance

Elections have consequences

After my Summer Respite

….looking forward to engaging all of you on the campaign trail

Good Luck