I’m talking about: —the toll on life from the marketing of weapons of mass killing used against school children —the taking away of the right of a woman to have or not have a child —the flagrant corruption of ordinary Americans by misleading them to believe the 2020 election was stolen —the weakening of democratic institutions —the war against science, against facts, truth —the rise of intolerance and fear and hatred of others —the epidemics of opioid addiction and overdose, obesity, high incidence of childhood deaths in car crashes and from suicide —the failure of our higher educational system to educate without impoverishing youth —and the outrageous disparity in the goods of life between the rich and the well-off and most in us in the middle class and people who need decent jobs, health care, child care, and affordable housing. And I am fully aware that business is the lifeblood of our communities and that appropriate development and sound infrastructure is also essential to our well being. ​Then there are the problems without borders: —the world’s climate is changing and affecting every living thing and every non-living thing —a world-wide energy crisis fueled by a Russian dictator’s criminal war —a global public health crisis claiming more than a million lives alone in this country, and more pandemics to come —global economic disruption with broken-down supply chains and lost trade partnerships, with resulting inflation and even worse, hunger and the specter of starvation.  ​We are challenged, very seriously. And we must make the correct diagnosis before we can treat the patient. Humanity everywhere is experiencing multiple crises, facing seemingly intractable problems. It will take courage, intelligence, and mostly, extraordinary willpower to face the intersecting local and global crises, and withstand them with a minimum of human suffering. And we cannot face them with anger, resentment, or whining, nor by misinformation and self-deception. We must face them in a spirit that knows we are engaged in twenty-first century life together with everyone around us, with everyone residing in our towns, in our nation, and with everyone on the planet.  Let us be clear-eyed and let our better natures lead us. It’s time that we in America face reality.  It’s time for each one of us to commit to work sensibly and tackle these problems one at a time so that our lives, and those of our children and grandchildren, may be less difficult than it appears they will be if we do nothing now.  It’s not about being great, it’s about being good. And to be good means to think of others. This is actually the best means to assure our own happiness and serve our own best interests.  That will be my gold standard as your representative in the 34th District.