“Hold tight to your anger, don’t fall to your fears.”
— Bruce Springsteen,
“Wrecking Ball”
It never should have come to this.
The first responders who, on a September morning 18 years ago, rushed into toxic clouds that once had been the World Trade Center never should have been put through bureaucratic hell.
Sick and dying because they answered the call for courage, they never should have been forced to drag themselves repeatedly down to Washington to lobby Congress for medical care and compensation. Comedian Jon Stewart never should’ve had to use his celebrity to help shame lawmakers into giving them what they deserved.
It never should have come to this.
But it did.
On Tuesday, it finally paid off as the Senate voted, 97 to 2, to finance the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund for the next 70 years.
It was a good day, a day that merited the standing ovation that rocked the quiet of the Senate chamber and the hugs and cheers that followed.
But still, it should not have taken so long. The fact that it did speaks volumes about how broken is American politics.
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