The visit from Virginia’s two Democrat Senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, at Roanoke’s Smith Park and their announcement of $2.5 million in federal funds to replace the Greenway bridge to help prevent future flooding was a happy moment for Roanoke City officials. Mayor Sherman Lea Sr. and the members of the City Council surrounded the two senators joyfully.
While Mayor Lea was introducing the two as “the best senators in the country,” I was thinking about the hardships of Americans including inflation and the crises that the nation faces domestically and internationally. For example, the Ukraine-Russia war, U.S-China tensions, and the weak role of the United States in the Arabic Gulf region as China recently became a mediator between Saudi Arabia and Iran, after seven years of a bitter relationship, to sign an agreement. This was considered a slap in the face to Biden’s administration.
However, while Lea was praising Roanoke City as the first time “All America Hall of Fame” winner, on Monday evening, two boys and a woman were shot in Roanoke’s Hurt Park area.
However, as he introduced Senator Warner, Mayor Lea was completely correct about his introduction, which was, “Mark Warner is a businessman and a politician.” A businessman who places his interests ahead of Americans and a politician who politicizes every situation to manipulate the public.
The two senators, Warner and Kaine, continued praising Roanoke and pretending as if the $2.5 million dollar check is a favor given from their pockets. Obviously, their political agenda has long been revealed and as is the case with the rest of the Democrats in the nation, to provide and assist today, there will be a hit and a payback tomorrow.
The problems that the U.S is facing are much deeper than they appear. The continuing Ukraine-Russia war with unknown consequences and results has been stretched. We should not forget when President Biden in the beginning of the war said that Americans will pay high gas prices for “as long as it takes” to support Ukraine. Obviously, in addition to high gas prices, Americans are paying high prices for all the other necessities too.
However, there are more concerns about America; we are facing a threat from some powerful countries. Clearly, the so-called “BRICS countries” (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) now have their own currency and are attempting to use it to replace the U.S dollar which might affect the most powerful currency in the world. Dr. Zongyuan Zoe, fellow for the Council on Foreign Relations, spoke about the attempt to “de-dollarize” (source: DC News Now).
It is a great threat and our senators in Virginia have no answers on how to protect the value of the nation’s currency. I asked Senator Warner two questions. First, what is the impact of the Ukraine-Russia war on America and our involvement which has been damaging our economy, and I believe that we are in a no-end war. Senator Warner responded that since we don’t have soldiers fighting in Ukraine, it is not our war!
Second, I asked him how our government, including him as a powerful figure in the Senate, would prevent the new BRICS currency from damaging the U.S dollar if those countries begin to use it, but he responded that the American dollar still has value! Further, he referred me to his press secretary but she didn’t have any answers regarding such an important matter either.
In conclusion, our Virginia Senators Warner and Kaine were speaking from a full stomach and attempting to take me away from our difficult reality to a Utopian society. However, I was not convinced to buy their political product.
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Serwan Zangana supported Operation Iraqi Freedom as a U.S Army translator before coming to the U.S from Kurdistan, Iraq in 1997 to seek political asylum. He was granted asylum status and years later proudly became a U.S citizen. He currently serves as a correction officer in Roanoke.
