Last week witnessed several unusual stories that threw an unflattering light on how 21st century American democracy is prone to substitute symbolism for solutions. With Colorado primaries imminent, it’s worthwhile to examine the dysfunction that has replaced responsive public policy. President Joe Biden is asking Congress to suspend federal gas taxes for 90 days in an effort to ameliorate the economic impacts of inflation. Gov. Jared Polis, who tested the receptiveness of legislators with a proposal for a similar state rollback, said he dared anyone to oppose Biden’s initiative. Let me raise my hand again, as I did during the legislative session.

I hope the Governor has had a chance to peruse the editorial written by the staff at the Boston Globe titled, “Suspending the gas tax is a gimmick.” Citing the assessment of former President Barack Obama, the Globe notes that, “…the gimmick comes at a price: The purpose of the gas tax is to fund transportation projects, and suspending tax collections will cost about $10 billion, according to the White House. Undermining public infrastructure finances to solve a short-term crisis doesn’t make sense.” This is pretty much the same argument I proffered last winter regarding Colorado, only expressed more succinctly.

A majority of legislators, including rural Republicans who are well aware that any future budget cuts will almost surely eliminate their projects first, sent a clear reply to the Governor’s “saving voters money crowd” to just “forget about it!” So, don’t hold your breath for a special session. Nevertheless, Congress is expected to endorse Biden’s proposal. That may be the only bi-partisanship we are likely to see in an election year.

A photo of the 96-year-old Jimmy Carter, sporting a spectacular black eye, but still working on a Habitat for Humanity home provided proof you don’t have to devise a cosmic solution to develop affordable housing — you can simply volunteer to help build one home at a time. For half a century, Carter has been the poster boy for Habitat’s projects. After leaving the phone company in the 1980s, I devoted several weeks each summer pre-wiring west Denver homes. A family cousin-in-law and single mom helped construct her home in Grand Junction through Habitat. She has never missed a single mortgage payment.

Last week I also stumbled across a collection of Harry Truman’s 1948 speeches delivered during his whistle-stop, rear-platform of the train heartland appearances. It included remarks he offered in Denver on Sept. 20, 1948. Just like many Democrats this year have begun to dodge appearances with Joe Biden, fearing his tumbling approval ratings might well take the entire party ticket down with him, Truman waged what a biographer called, “the Loneliest Campaign.” But it’s not hard to see why crowds enthusiastically hollered, “Give ‘em hell, Harry!” It’s doubtful a Presidential candidate today could get away with the smackdowns that peppered Truman’s rhetoric. He neither minced words nor disguised his animosity for the “do-nothing” 80th Congress.

Affordable housing for returning World War II veterans was on the front-burner of political debate. “We all know that the housing situation in this country is a national disgrace. It is almost unbelievable that we should have made so little progress in providing decent housing conditions for millions of American families,” Truman, I suspect, was bellowing to his crowd. He went on to ask, “Why did the Republicans kill the (housing) bill? The answer is plain. They wanted to leave housing under the control of the profiteers. There is a lot of money to be made out of providing houses for the people — if private interests are allowed to exact exorbitant profits from the people.” It’s evident he wasn’t chasing the home-builder or real estate vote. If Biden were to start speaking as directly and belligerently, the mainstream media that Republicans so revile would suffer apoplexy.

John Parvensky, who has helmed the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless since 1985, just announced his retirement. Through 37 years he nurtured his organization from four employees and a hundred-thousand-dollar budget to 750 employees and a $100 million non-profit juggernaut. Alas, homelessness has grown steadily worse during his tenure. Time and space do not permit an analysis of the shortcomings of Colorado’s homeless policy. Just as Denver mayors repeatedly promise to prevent the duplication of 911 responses from both the fire department and Denver Health’s EMT services without success, homeless strategies have failed for lack of insight.

Jamelle Bouie recently lamented in The New York Times that Democratic reliance on a Congressional gerontocracy, well into their dotage, disconnects them from their younger cohorts. “Millions of (these) Democratic voters can see and feel that American politics has changed in profound ways… and they want their leaders to act, and react, accordingly,” he argues. The hell with courtesy, civility and compromise — Donald Trump pays no price for his nastiness.

Miller Hudson is a public affairs consultant and a former Colorado legislator.