Views from the Commons - HalWrightNewtown.info

In an age where political dysfunction is so rampant that obstruction and doing nothing is so often the rule, it was a pleasure to see in my own backyard something new and wonderful created that pleased everyone: the Scudder Falls shared-use path. I dream for more such creations in the future.

Recently, I took a walk across the new Scudder Falls shared-use path and saw smiles on every walker, runner and bicyclist I passed. I saw new views of our beautiful Delaware River as I lingered on the bridge, admiring both the engineering accomplishment and the surrounding natural beauty. In a few days I was on the bridge again and saw even more smiles.A vie

A view of the Scudder Falls shared-use path from the Pennsylvania side, June 2022

I am sure though that after a while, the novelty will wear off and people will consider this once new path as part of the expected landscape and grow to assume that, of course, it was always here and unimaginable that once we were without it.

But reflecting on America’s past, we see that what has made our country great were people of vision who did not simply see the way things are, but had the courage and wisdom to dream visions of what could be.

Once America had no transcontinental railroads, no interstate highways, and no airports. But wise Americans of all political parties saw a vision of how an America could be built so that it could be better for all. And so bridges were built to these new things which people soon could not conceive that they once did not exist.

Once America had no funded kindergarten through 12th grade education for children, no laws preventing young children from working in factories, no such thing as a weekend or a 40 hour work week, and only poverty and illness awaiting most of the elderly in their “golden years.” But wise Americans saw a vision of how an America could be built so that all children would be guaranteed an education, workers had the leisure of a weekend and evening, and the elderly had a healthy and secure retirement. The bridges of universal grade-school education, the 40 hour work week, Social Security and Medicare were built and people soon could not conceive that they once did not exist

Before us now are more visions of how to build back an America that will be better for all. There are plans proposed for even more education for our young children via universal pre-K, plans to lift millions of children out of poverty through the child tax credit, plans to help hard-working families with childcare and eldercare costs, plans to make medicine and healthcare more affordable for all, and plans to support energy systems that will help preserve our life-sustaining planet.

There are again those who wish to keep things the way they are and fail to see how much better America would be if we invest in building those bridges to a better future for all. But I hope that those who dream will prevail, as they have in the past, so that all Americans will one day soon find it inconceivable that these bridges once did not exist.

On my second walk across the bridge I saw a family of four bicycling, each with smiles on their faces. The parents were happy to see their children experiencing what a few days before had never existed. They saw them riding across that bridge to a happier, better future thanks to the wisdom of leaders who dreamed for a better America and did not simply and foolishly say no.

Please. Take that ride across that beautiful bridge, together, with all your fellow-Americans, to a better future for all.

The Delaware River, facing North, viewed from the Scudder Falls shared-use path

December 13, 2021
The New Age of the Robber Barons
by Steve Cickay

While the ultrarich amuse themselves with rides into space, millions lack the basic necessities of life.

Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson spend millions developing space tourism for the rich, blasting themselves and rich customers into brief joyrides into space. This wasteful extravagance is yet another reminder that income inequality has reached new heights of obscenity. And the media covers this ostentatious vulgarity with such starry-eyed sycophancy.

Millions of people on Earth lack the basics of food, housing and medical care. We race blindly to our species' extinction due to human-induced climate change. We are in the middle of a pandemic that has killed millions of people and billions are still unvaccinated.

Here in the United States, millions who could be vaccinated for free refuse to do so in great part due to the Republican Party’s self-serving politicization and anti-science ideology. And here in Pennsylvania we shamelessly have had a poverty minimum wage of $7.25 an hour for over 10 years.

What does this say about us as a society and its moral focus?

The billionaires’ focus is rather on spending their mountains of cash to give rich people more jollies. And the mega-corporations continue to not even pay any federal taxes. Thank goodness President Biden is trying to make the rich pay their fair share, but of course he has to fight the Republicans tooth and nail for this no-brainer.

So, enjoy the television visions of rich people having fun in space while you workers, without billions of dollars, contend with trying to afford health care, child care, and pre-K and college education for your children and will soon be struggling to survive from the adverse, often deadly, effects of climate change.

President Biden is also fighting to help you on these issues with his Build Back Better program, but of course he has to fight the Republicans for this as well.

Billionaires have a ticket to ride on the backs of their workers, who have no hope of getting off the ground without activism and reform.

Steve Cickay is a resident of Newtown. A version of this article was published in the Bucks County Courier Times.

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