The Stories That Fuel Steve Holland's Passion

The ground rule, they have told me, for writing a post on this blog is that I am not supposed to be writing about "why I am running for Congress." Tough rule. When you are a candidate for office, you want to make as many inroads as you can. But I will do the best I can.

I want to tell you two quick stories. I have always liked stories, but what Southerner doesn't. And I guess it is the reason that Mississippi has produced all the wonderful writers. One of these stories has a bad ending, the other one a better ending.

When Katrina hit, like so many thousands of others, I went down to view the devastation. And I went to check on an old friend. When I found him, his house was devastated and we sat back and surveyed everything. How to describe the devastation: the crumbling bricks, the downed trees, the buckled roads. For those of you who saw it first hand, you know what I am talking about.

As we were standing there, trying to make sense of things, trying to process the immensity of this natural disaster, I began to notice a smell. We thought that perhaps it was a small animal, and so we began scavenge through the brick and the rubble, moving around what we could, and then we made a terrible discovery: the corpse of a senior citizen, the neighbor of my friend. It was the coda to the terrible symphony that had played itself out during those terrible August days. So not only did my friend have to deal with the shock of losing his home, and his business, but his personal grief was compounded by this terrible discovery.

I tell you this little story as awful and gruesome as it is, to point out the reality of the utter despair and desolation that was visited upon the coast. Later, and in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, I was in a session of the House and we were visited by numerous representatives from the coast, almost all of them begging for help from the state government. A number of these folks were Republican in orientation and had for years supported a political philosophy of "starving the beast," of cutting government services. After listening to the pleas for help, I could no longer hold my tongue and I told them in as polite a way as I could that you could not starve the beast, and then when you need help expect the government to be able to function. That's why I fought for the Katrina benefits advocated by the Mississippi House of Representatives.

The other story involves a neighbor friend of mine, a mentally retarded man who was suffering from cancer. During the medicaid crisis, he was told by his doctor that he was going to cut off his chemotherapy. Let that sink in for just a moment. In these the United States of America, a mentally retarded man was gong to, in effect, be sentenced to death because, in effect, he was powerless, poor and mentally retarded. At that moment, in a fit of anger, I called the doctor's office and let it be known that this was not going to be happening. And if it did, there would be some kind of consequences. His chemo was not stopped.

I tell you these stories not so much to toot my own horn, because the fact is, any feeling human being would have responded similarly. I tell you these stories to point out the fact that there is a place for proper government intervention in society. That politics HAS consequences.

For 25 years now, the Republicans have attacked the government; they have starved the beast. As a result, we have a degrading infrastructure and the middle class has been losing out. And it has to stop. Sadly, the previous office holder of the First Congressional Seat has been part and parcel to this political philosophy.

It is worth remembering that for decades, the First Congressional Seat was held by Jamie Whitten. Jamie Whitten didn't try to starve the beast. He knew that there was a proper place for government and he believed in constituent service, making sure that the folks back home had a voice in Washington and that their needs were taken care of as much as possible.

That is what is shaping up in this election, the differing philosophies between the political parties. Because elections have consequences.

--Steve Holland

Steve Holland's Website