I am leaving the Metro East for another part of the country. Some brief political exit comments follow.

I have lived in this area, close to St Louis but part of Illinois (thank god) for 11 years, due to my work in St Louis. During this time, the conservative Republican rule over Missouri has become quite pervasive. It is a mean-spirited, spiteful, nasty conservatism that I see from across the river. Health care is denied to our poorer friends; the mean-spirited Medicaid cut was both wasteful and nasty. University students are shafted in terms of state support; three years ago, University of Missouri support was cut by an identical amount of an out-of-state business tax cut. The idiotic term limits mean that truly unpleasant politicians like Cynthia Davis are allowed out in public far more than is safe for normal Americans. The Republicans are about to nominate a compassionate conservative, Roy Blunt, for Senate. He is such a family values man that he dumped his old wife and picked up a new shiny one to comfort him in his old age.

I call Missouri “Mississippi on the Mississippi”. Rather than emulating a successful progressive state like Illinois, Missouri is heading for the social climate of the former slave south. The business climate may be better, but who in their right mind would want to live in such a dismal swamp? When are Miseryans gonna wake up and dump these Republicans?

Paul Thompson

Belleville