Alaska's federal delegation needs to stand up for the rule of law
Retired University of Alaska Anchorage economist Gunnar Knapp says it better than I ever have in a great column published by the Anchorage Daily News—the main job of Alaska’s Congressional delegation at the moment is not the time-honored practice of getting as much money as possible and promoting resource development.
He wrote this before the news broke about Tom Homan and the $50,000 bag of cash or the accidental message from Donald Trump ordering his attorney general to prosecute Trump’s political enemies.
Knapp writes:
“The illegal, corrupt, and incompetent actions of this administration threaten the lives, prosperity and freedom of Alaskans. Alaskans will die if the mRNA vaccine, which could save us from the next pandemic, is never developed. We will be less safe — and at greater risk of war — if we continue to trash our long-time alliances and show Putin, Xi and other dictators that we won’t stand up to their aggression. Our Alaska economy will suffer as Trump’s illegal, impulsive and stupid tariffs raise our prices — and our critical export markets retaliate with tariffs of their own. Our Alaska industries will suffer if increasingly blatant corruption makes contributing to the president’s inauguration and flattering his ego the most important factors in whether they get tariff exemptions and regulatory relief — or get shut down. We will never get a natural gas pipeline — or any long-term foreign investment — if other countries realize that their investments set them up for economic blackmail by a U.S. president who can’t be trusted.”
Knapp writes that Murkowski is part of an exclusive group in national politics, one that Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich do not belong to.
“She has had more courage to stand up to him than most of her colleagues. I hope she will recognize that standing up to Trump — and for the powers of Congress — is now the most important thing she can do for Alaska. Anything she can do in Congress for Alaska — starting with any funding or legislation for Alaska — will be meaningless if the president can ignore the budgets and legislation passed by Congress.”
“As for Sen. Sullivan and Rep. Begich, it’s far past time for you to start standing up for the Constitution you swore to uphold by standing up to this president’s blatantly unconstitutional actions.”
Sullivan and Begich are both are running for reelection and while the threat to the nation from Trump should be clear, they won’t even start to listen unless more Alaskans demand that they do so.