Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas Philip “Tip” O’Neill Jr. once said, “All politics is local.” This Massachusetts Democrat’s wise perspective rings as true today as it did nearly a quarter-century ago. What goes on today in that “other Washington” — the one on the East Coast — touches us here in the Twin Harbors on the Left Coast.

So to make some sense of President Donald J. Trump’s administration in particular and the Republican Party’s perspectives in general, we can all reap yuuuuge benefits from explanations from our Republican neighbors, those closest to us, who are in the know and committed to the right’s conservative agenda.

Thanks to digital age wonders it’s never been easier for the free flow of information between those governing and those governed. So it’s mystifying that the Trump administration is determined to control, and even substantially limit, our access to publicly owned (as in government) documents. The EPA’s website has taken down much of that agency’s scientific research about climate change, making it handy for deniers of climate change. This is research paid for and thus owned by us lowly taxpayers. State Rep. Jim Walsh of the 19th District, please help us understand your party’s rush to silence science.

Republicans now are promoting legislation to bar federal agencies from tracking and mapping racial discrimination in public housing. Is this somehow related to the Trump family’s history of racial discrimination in housing? Mr. Walsh, as chairman of the Grays Harbor Republican Party and state representative help us understand how withdrawal of this important information benefits us. And please tell us why the internet list of visitors to the White House has been shut down. Is it not appropriate for peasants to know the identity of visitors to their president’s office? Mr. Walsh, is your party betting its future on uninformed and ignorant voters?

Also, your party’s proposed wall along our southern border is projected to cost at least $2.6 billion. With those same dollars our federal government could increase by nearly 900 percent annual spending on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts — all deleted from your party’s proposed budget. Mr. Walsh, are you comfortable with these priorities?

For decades Republicans have planted their party’s flag firmly on the so-called high ground of moral superiority. Our Republican friends like to believe they alone own family values and pure patriotism expressed in unflinching and unquestioning love of country. Republicans now call it “America first.” And that party is never shy about claiming ownership of a direct pipeline to higher ecclesiastical authority. Republicans would have us believe that GOP stands for God’s Own Party.

But recent history suggests the GOP is experiencing a tsunami-size shift in its tectonic plates. Its moral fiber appears to be coming unglued. Pacific County’s Republican Party Chairman Aaragon Markwell is a great resource for all of us when seeking answers to these important moral issues. His daytime job is pastor at the First Baptist Church in South Bend.

Rev. Markwell, please help us understand how Donald J. Trump, as the titular head of your sacred party, fits with the GOP’s claim to moral superiority. President Trump cheated on his first wife. He cheated on his second wife. And while married to his third and current spouse bragged openly about joyfully groping women. Some of us are concerned that Mr. Trump should never be alone on Liberty Island for fear he might grope the genitals of our beloved Lady Liberty, also known as the Statue of Liberty. The Trump-Gingrich duo proudly claims six wives. Hmmmm. Pastor Aaragon, please speak to how your party’s family values can be reconciled with these disgusting realities. And please note they are not “alternative facts.”

In a memorable 1967 speech, Martin Luther King said, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar.” He explained, “It comes to see that an edifice, a structure, which produces beggars, needs restructuring.” Rev. Markwell, do you see in King’s statement a meaningful challenge to your party’s proposed budget to eliminate Meals on Wheels? Please help us understand.

While campaigning Donald Trump gained significant points by “charming” his followers with blunt candor, giving short shrift to “politically correct” discourse. It’s from this proven perspective that I ask Third District U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler to explain how she justifies voting — when she took time to vote — to repeal Obamacare more than 60 times in lockstep with her Republican colleagues in the U.S. House. Every vote against Obamacare was a vote to reduce and even deny no less than 20 million Americans’ medical benefits. All the while those same 20 million, and millions more, were providing hundreds of thousands of tax dollars for free medical services to Ms. Herrera Beutler’s “differently-abled” child. Ms. Herrera Beutler, please help us understand your logic. How do you reconcile this ugly conflict between your family’s “privileged” medical services while voting repeatedly to deny care to your constituents? However, we do note with appreciation your recent “no” vote for Trumpcare. Thank you.

As a starter, Ms. Herrera Beutler, why not follow Warren Buffett’s suggestion that you and all your congressional co-conspirators surrender your current taxpayer supported, posh health care system, and instead participate in the same health care system as your unfortunate constituents? Alternatively you might consider providing all of us with a health care package identical to yours.

The wise old sage from Omaha further suggests that all congressional retirement funds be transferred to the Social Security system immediately with all future congressional retirement dollars flowing into the Social Security system. Under Buffett’s plan you and your colleagues would be on par with the folks back home whom you pledge to selflessly serve. Please help us, Ms. Herrera Beutler, sort out all these conflicts — keeping in mind “all politics is local.”

Dave Gauger lives in Raymond and owns Gauger Media Service, a company that helps broker the sale of newspapers. He formerly owned the Raymond Herald and other newspapers, and radio stations.