In 2015, I was visiting Washington D.C. with family friends from Canada. When we stop in front of the capitol building my friend’s Dad said: “That is where everything happens, but nothing gets done.” Hearing this frustrated me, but it is true. Nothing substantial has happened in Washington in a while. On the other hand, how many times has the government been shut down in the last ten years? Three times to be exact.

Now I’m no political expert, but as a future voter and citizen of a country whose government has been shut down more frequently than it has enacted prominent legislation, there is a problem. One of the main sources of that problem is our Senator, Mitch McConnell.

Senator Mitch McConnell has been in the senate for 35 years. Over the past few years, he has elected ⅕ of all circuit courts of appeals judges in the nation as well as two Supreme Court justices. He has also delayed the vote for countless bills and shot down many others.

This has made the Republican Party stronger, but has it made Kentucky stronger? Has it healed the poverty cycle in Kentucky? Have the people in western and eastern Kentucky been given clean air and water? Has it improved the education in Kentucky? No, it hasn’t. I am not here to tell you which party you should support. I’m writing this opinion editorial because Kentucky needs to ditch Mitch.

My generation, in particular, needs to push McConnell out of office because it is our lives on the line. Climate change is one of the largest threats to our generation, yet McConnell has done next to nothing to combat it. McConnell recognizes the threat of climate change, but he doesn’t care, instead of drafting “green” legislation he has made legislation to stop progress on “green” legislation.

Kentucky also needs to ditch Mitch because he has done hardly anything for the communities in western and eastern Kentucky. He likes pretending he helps Kentuckians by passing bills to keep coal miners’ pensions, but that’s not enough. The problem with just ensuring they have pensions is not enough to combat the poverty cycle in Kentucky. This is also not enough to improve the lives of all Kentuckians, and it’s definitely not enough to dethrone King Coal.

The problem with King Coal is the people in Appalachia don’t have clean drinking water or clean air directly because of it, and people like Senator Mitch McConnell sell our lands to the highest bidder. McConnell likes to make Louisville and Democrats look like the bad guys, but that is just to divide us. In this division and strategic moves, McConnell has been able to stay in power for more than 30 years. While McConnell gains more and more power, the people in Kentucky lose theirs.

Spotted on the Hill today: At least several dozen climate protesters were arrested after storming Mitch McConnell’s office to advocate for the Green New Deal. 🎥 Anthony Adragna pic.twitter.com/FaRxuQ7ykc — POLITICO (@politico) February 25, 2019

I know Senator McConnell won’t read this because why would he. He didn’t respond to us (the Louisville Sunrise Movement) when we held a sit-in outside his office in KY. He didn’t respond to us when six Kentuckians and hundreds of other people sat in at his office back in February when we asked him to delay the vote on the Green New Deal. So this Op-Ed won’t make a difference to him, but I’m hoping it does to you.

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