<p><strong>To the editor:</strong></p><p>Jasper surgeon Dr. Richard Moss’s column: “A freshman senator’s leftward lean” not only screamed sour grapes toward Sen. Mike Braun, but furthermore epitomized what is so essentially wrong with U.S. politics at the moment.</p><p>Dr. Moss is agitated because upon arriving in our nations’ capitol, Braun saw opportunities to participate on projects that would contribute to the overall common good for this nation and had the gall to work not only with non-ultra conservatives but, gasp, Democrats as well.</p><p>This nation is being ruined by a very small minority of extremist groups with extremist ideologies — on both the left and the right. They make it impossible for anything constructive to get done for this nation by throwing foul little hissy fits and threatening elected officials who dare to step outside the confines of designated party lines, or don’t automatically cow-tow to their singular focused demands.</p><p>And using a folksy rallying cry along the lines of: He were a Jasper boy we sent up there and he done us conservatives wrong, did nothing to dismiss Dr. Moss’s vile blatant racist attitude and race-baiting rhetoric, but perhaps he takes his lead from Mike Pence’s tried and true tactic of saying all the vile things you want as long as you put a nice folksy tone on it and declare yourself a good God-fearing Christian.</p><p>Rather than supporting legislators for trying to tackle our real problems — and they don’t come any more real than the impact of climate change — Dr. Moss and others denigrate politicians for trying to do some good.</p><p>Add to this the Trump factor, where all societal norms and expectations for civility, truth and decency are dismissed as long as it might persuade someone to their side, and we have exactly what we are faced with now, a nation suffering unnecessarily during a killer pandemic and so divided that we are unable to come together even to save our own lives, let alone our nation.</p><p>If Mr. Braun thinks it’s worth crossing the aisle in Washington D.C. to try find solutions for absolute real and serious problems that we either solve or perish under, then let’s be thankful he defeated Dr. Moss so handily. And let’s also hope for his patient’s sake, Dr. Moss has a slightly more deft touch in his surgery than he has at trying to carve up a politician who disappointed him.</p><p><p><strong>Lisa Voiles</strong></p><p><p><strong>Whiteland</strong></p>
