O P I N I ON

The SOAPBOX

Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.

One of the favorite things I used to do with my husband Marty was to fight over who would get to the Harper’s Index first. No sooner did the winner tear open to the page but he or she would then proceed to read it out loud to the other. For those of you who are not familiar with the index it is described this way in 2009:

First published in March 1984, Harper’s Magazine’s monthly Index is, in the words of editor Roger Hodge, “a statistical poem.” Each month, the Index presents a single page of meticulously researched statistics and figures — sometimes linked thematically to one another, sometimes standing on their own.

I offer you a statistical poem for NH.

Should losing have consequences?

US state legislative chamber control by party prior to 2020 general election:

Democrats: 39

Republicans: 59

Power sharing: 1

Party control after the 2020 general election:

Democrats: 37

Republicans: 61

Power sharing: 1

Net change for Democrats nationwide in 2020: -2

New Hampshire state legislative chamber control prior to 2020 general election:

Democrats: 2

Republicans: 0

After the 2020 general election:

Democrats: 0

Republicans: 2

Net change for the Democrats in NH in 2020: -2

The year that the political party in control of the NH legislature will redistrict the state for the next decade -2022

The Year the current NH Democratic Chairman was elected to the post: 2007

The year the 60-year-old NH Democratic Party Chair faced a 32-year-old challenger for reelection: 2021

How Senator Maggie Hassan threw undocumented workers under the bus to play a starring role in GOP Senator Tom Cotton’s political theater

(on background:)

Total undocumented immigrants in America: +/- 11million

Percentage of US farmworkers who are undocumented immigrants: +/-75%

Percentage of US farmland owned by white people: 98%

Percentage of US farmworkers who are Hispanic: 83%

Total state and local taxes paid by undocumented immigrants per year — $11.64 billion

Undocumented workers as a proportion of total US workforce in 2017: 1 in 22

Undocumented immigrants’ 2016 contribution to:

Social Security trust fund: $13 billion

Medicare: $3 billion

Federal benefits for which undocumented immigrants are eligible: 0

Fraction of undocumented workers in essential/frontline jobs: 2/3

Percentage of undocumented who have lived in the US for more than 10yrs: 71%

Maggie joins the Cotton Theater Company

The number of provisions in Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill that would provide any financial support for undocumented immigrants: 0

Tally of US Senators who voted on US Senator Tom Cotton’s (R) amendment to Biden’s $1.9 Trillion COVID relief package that would deny (nonexistent) COVID relief to undocumented workers: 58-42

The number of Democratic US senators who joined all the GOP US Senators in support for Cotton’s undocumented worker amendment: 8

The number of US Senators from NH that voted for the undocumented worker amendment with Senator Cotton: 1

The number who voted against: 1

The year NH US Senator Jeanne Shaheen who voted against the Cotton amendment was re-elected 2020

The year NH US Senator Maggie Hassan who voted for the Cotton amendment is up for re-election 2022

Beg to differ? Agree to disagree? Thoughtful prose on topics of general interest are welcome here, no matter your point of view. Send submissions to carolrobidoux@manchesterinklink.com, subject line: The Soapbox.

Arnie Arnesen describes herself as a politician in recovery and is the host of the attitude with Arnie Arnesen on wnhnfm.org. Her show is heard daily across the US on the Pacifica Network