Defund Bush’s private security

OPINION:

Reading about Cori Bush attempting to justify spending campaign/taxpayer money for her own private security while demanding to “defund the police” is a reminder of how out of touch she and others members of Congress are (“Cori Bush defends her private security while pushing defunding of police: ‘My job is to save lives,’” Web, Aug. 3).

Taxpayers like me did not realize that campaign money could be used for security. Is that not a misuse of public money? Campaign ads are necessary to expose the elitist attitude several congressional members embrace — while stating that community volunteers, like me, who can’t afford private security, have to spend days and nights trying to protect children and bystanders with fewer police. Why are their lives worth more than ours?  

The ads could demonstrate Bush’s lack of courage to reduce the crime waves plaguing so many cities, such as St. Louis, by ignoring any attempts at bipartisan policy development. Instead, Bush promotes a philosophy that has resulted in more violence and destruction. The campaigns ads should highlight that fact that Bush fears white supremacists but ignores the violence in her own community (and thinks social workers are somehow going to stop the senseless violence).

There are nearly endless campaign-ad options for depicting Bush her and her colleagues as the out-of-touch politicians they are. They would offer a great opportunity to reveal how Bush’s positions do nothing to improve the quality of lives for her voters.

I can only hope that any future campaign messages highlight to the people that the political narrative (“Defund the police”) is more important to Bush than effective policies. Her voters should be given the opportunity to seek new representation. 

 

GREG RALEIGH

Washington