Arizona Lawmaker’s Demand Of McCain Draws Praise

McCain looked sickly at his August 2017 Facebook "town hall" event

A demand by Arizona State Representative Bob Thorpe that Sen. John McCain start showing his constituents more respect continues to reverberate. Thorpe has received messages of appreciation from both his immediate constituents and Arizona residents across the state.

Thorpe’s oped appeared in The Hill on September 2, 2017 and was the subject of another article in Townhall.com on September 4. Since then, his article, ‘McCain needs to start showing my constituents more respect,’ has been shared over 2500 times on The Hill alone.

While The Hill’s hardcore ideologues fought anonymously back and forth in the comment section, mostly in response to Thorpe’s reference to President Trump’s pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Thorpe has heard from citizens with real identities.

For the most part, Thorpe’s constituents are sending him “blessings,” and referring to him as a much needed “fresh voice.”

In his piece, Thorpe was extremely critical of McCain for his broken promises. He wrote, “Congressmen who constantly grab headlines by attacking our Republican president and conservatives, and who are oblivious to the many campaign promises that got them elected, are destroying my constituents’ confidence in our Republican Party.”

“Radical, violent mobs seeking to destroy our history have been taking their toll on our republic,” continued Thorpe. “But so are the elected officials who encourage them, as well as those in our Republican Congress who don’t want to do the job we elected them to do, who instead spend their time defying the president and his agenda.”

In his piece, Thorpe challenged McCain and others for failing to secure the border. “The truth is that Congress has disregarded the rule of law for decades. Under tort law, Arizona’s unsecured border could be considered an “attractive nuisance,” encouraging children, workers and even families to venture north across the harsh desert, where they risk injury or death while making the perilous crossing.”

Thorpe noted that last year, while on a tour of Arizona’s southern border, he was “able to help rescue an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. Like so many others, he had been left to die in the heat of the desert by his exorbitantly-paid coyotes. “Did he or his human traffickers respect our rule of law? No, but he did receive compassionate care from us. He was turned over to federal authorities for needed medical attention, just as he should have been.”

“It’s a shame Congress has so far refused to secure the border. One of the reasons the American people soundly elected Trump was his promise to do so, as required by Section 4, Article 4 of the U.S. Constitution,” wrote Thorpe.

“But he is still facing opposition, mainly from the Senate. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) described the situation, saying, “Democrats are the opposition, but the Senate is the enemy.” Recent events certainly validate Gosar’s statement.”

Thorpe questioned why “during eight painful years of President Obama, the Republican Congress hardly ever behaved like the loyal opposition,” they are acting like obstructionists now that we have a Republican president?”

Thorpe’s constituents are asking the same question as well.

However, it was McCain’s “melodramatic reversal of his earlier votes” that raises the biggest concerns for Thorpe and his constituents. “McCain in July condemned the American people to continued suffering under unaffordable health insurance premiums and unattainable deductibles. Just like his promise to build the “danged fence,” his promise to repeal and replace the failing Obamacare appears to have only been hyperbolic campaign rhetoric.”

In May, the ADI reported that health insurance premiums “nearly tripled in Arizona between 2013 and 2017, the fourth-biggest increase among the 39 states that participated in healthcare.gov, according to new data from the Department of Health and Human Services.”

The increased premiums have forced many Arizonans out of the market altogether. For Thorpe’s constituents, who reside in mostly rural Arizona, Obamacare is neither affordable nor does it provide easy access to care.

“If Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and other congressmen and women want to keep their jobs, they need to start behaving like statesmen, keep their campaign promises, and work overtime on behalf of the American people,” concluded Thorpe.