Monthly Archives: October 2022

Aside

Libs and Cons…Part 3

The Republicans, thanks to Trump and the dirty and underhanded and lauded “evil political genius” Mitch McConnell, have gotten what they wanted.There were actually TWO goals they were focused on, and because we were all focused on the antics of an idiotic President, they got both of them.They vowed to overturn Roe, to send the decision about women’s bodily choice to the State legislatures, and have been rewarded, hopefully temporarily, by Republicans in as many as 46 states. Some states reacted with total bans on the procedure, some having exclusions for rape, incest, or life of the mother. For that, the Republicans can probably thank the religious communities for the fanatical support of such a reversal.  The puzzle for me remained, “How can supposedly religious people support the likes of a filthy, foul-mouthed liar, cheat, and philanderer like Donald Trump?” And then, just recently, a Republican woman stood up in front of a crowd and admitted, “I don’t care about anything else, I just want the Senate…that’s all…I just want control of the Senate”.

Ah, yes. The Senate. Why? Because if Mitch McConnell can control the Senate again, then he controls what things get bought up for votes. And he can control who gets priority seating when deciding on Judges. And under Donald Trump, they appointed 234 federal judges, including three to the U.S. Supreme Court. All of them have lifetime appointments. So in addition to the Supreme Court being politicized by the Republicans, so are the other judgeships in The Courts of Appeals, Common Pleas, Military, and so on.  And that is why, when McConnell was the Majority Leader in the Senate, he withheld all petitions for judges (among other things) and allowed a great many judgeships to remain vacant under Barack Obama, including the Supreme Court, a position which Trump filled with Neil Gorsuch, then added Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, two judges who lied during their confirmation hearings, swearing that they believed that Roe v Wade was “settled law” and would have no reason or desire to re-litigate it.  

When you are appointed to the highest court in the land, the Court that governments around the world hope to be able to emulate, and that appointment comes from the biggest proven liar ever witnessed, I guess the logic is that its ok to lie to the US Senate in order to get what it is you want. (Even though it is illegal!)

When you are told over and over that the election was fraudulent (a lie) and that “there will be hell to pay”, (Steve Bannon, Trump, RogerStone, General Mike Flynn and his brother, etc.) I guess that means that there is a call for revolution. The revolution that will remind the “others” that you are the “chosen”, and that will serve to cement that position, and you’d better be prepared for violence. 

When you are reminded again and again that everyone-not just caucasians-are demanding a voice in the governments of their towns, cities, states, or federal governments. They tell you those people are dangerous and will make you “slaves” to some imaginary socialist scheme, and you will be “replaced”. Maybe they will treat you the way they have been treated since arriving here as slaves or butchered for their land and resources, then I suppose it’s understandable that you feel righteous in your hate for them, and that you prepare to hurt them before they can hurt you. It doesn’t matter that it’s not true. What does truth have to do with any of it? 

Your “truth” is validated when the media tells you every night and most of every day that your whiteness makes you the best, that you are exceptional, but that there are “lesser” people just waiting at the gate if you even acknowledge their humanity, so you’d better be prepared to defend your “supremacy”. And you will do as your leader wants, whether it means storming the Capitol or shooting up a church for the “cause” of white supremacy. You vow to go to jail for your leader, even die for him, because he is the one who understands you, who loves you, who is proud of you, even when you do things you know are sinful, because he is the righteous messenger of god.   

Well, then, I suppose, in honor of that unlikely Southern progressive Democrat, Lyndon Johnson, you have let that leader and their sycophants pick your pockets as well as your brains, and what you ended up losing is your soul. And when you have no soul, you endanger us all. 

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October 31, 2022 · 6:00 pm
Aside

Libs and Cons…Part 2

The Republican Party has made no secret of their alignment with the conservative, Southern, Christian evangelical movement. They used to be the party of law & order, the “Party of Lincoln” that signed the Emancipation Proclamation. But then they realized that the “Southern Strategy” to appeal to the racism of Southern voters didn’t work nationwide and that the Democrats had been welcoming African American voters, electing Lyndon Johnson in a landslide in 1964. 

The Republicans, searching for a new strategy and voters, realized that the Evangelical Christian movement may be their best bet. They decided that they could convince a huge block of white voters that they were the Party of “American Values”; not exactly the same as their disastrous Southern Strategy, but still recruiting from much of the same voting block. They cast their lots with the likes of Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson (who ran for President in  the 1988 Republican Party) and their various Christian organizations. They would become the “pure” Party, the Party of God, Guns, Apple Pie, and Patriotism. They didn’t need any of those liberal socialists anyway. And they might just be able to pull it off.  They heard what LBJ said, and they knew that was where they could exploit millions of hard working, faithful, Christian men and women to join them. 

“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored(sic) man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you”.  Lyndon Johnson, 1964

As crude as LBJ’s words are, it may be the way to understand the devotion of Donald Trump’s followers, and the loud “mean girl” strategy being used during this election season. 

The Republican Party has been referred to recently as “the party of grievance”, or the “just say no” party:

  • No health care, 
  • No abortions
  • No voting for black folks,
  • No mercy for people crossing into the US from dangerous countries 
  • No Social Security or Medicare for old or disabled people, 
  • No funding (especially)for Medicaid, of course 
  • No funding for public education (but using that money for private charter schools is ok), 
  • No rent assistance, 
  • No debt forgiveness, 
  • No nutrition assistance for children or families, 
  • No books that may have social or political themes, 
  • No allowances for gender differences, 
  • No gay marriage 
  • No restrictions on gun ownership or guns in public places, 
  • No restrictions on the destruction of public lands by private oil companies, 
  • No money to fund the maintenance of bridges or highways that are crumbling, 
  • No restrictions on greenhouse gasses or funding for alternative energy sources, 
  • No restrictions on ownership of media or what is said by such,  
  • No restrictions on the amount of money corporations can use to fund and support candidates that they know will vote on legislation in the best interest of the corporation rather than the best interests of the people of the United States (dark money aka bribes). 

Grievance politics means that the rules of behavior (good manners) that you learned in elementary school as early as kindergarten no longer apply, and anyone can say or do anything they want to do. If you disagree, then you are ridiculed as “woke”, “elitist”, “socialist”, “snowflakes” or other terms they consider insulting. 

Better than some of the invectives thrown around during the Civil Rights era, yes, although I’m not sure why they think the appropriated term “woke” is disparaging…and I embrace that one. I’m proud to be awake, aware of what’s happening around me, aware of what they are attempting to do….”snowflakes” are beautiful in winter, none of them exactly the same as another, just like humans…”socialist”…well, I do appreciate the services provided by the fire department, police department, public hospitals, Veteran’s benefits, Unemployment insurance, FEMA, the GI bill, the National Parks, the FDA, NASA, the CDC, the Post Office, and, of course, the military. Soooo, yep. That one works for me, too. (Plus, I’m on Social Security and Medicare, the truly evil socialist programs the Republicans have been trying to dismantle since they were developed, and have promised to do just that if they are able to gain the Senate and House majorities again) 

The “elitist” one cracks me up.  The Republican Party “ruling class” is made up almost entirely of extremely wealthy “legacy” rich white men with degrees bought and paid for by ELITE wealthy parents who realize that their offspring don’t have a dime of common sense or interest in actual learning. They may have excelled at the expensive private prep schools they attended in the arts of bullying, hazing, drinking, cheating, and womanizing (ahem, Brett Kavanaugh) and know that they will have to provide large “gifts” to the Ivy League institutions they insist their offspring attend in order for said offspring to graduate. Now, who are you calling “elitists”? 

Elitists? I’ve often wondered how they can launch that term at Democrats with a straight face. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was informed by a former Republican friend that “elitists” actually refers to “the Jews”.  Yep, that same old trope that’s been floating around, sometimes under cover of what Republicans call “political correctness”, sometimes blatant, and sometimes fatal. The trope that says that all Jews are connected by some sort of  international cabal that starts with that most dangerous Jew, George Soros, and makes its way throughout the world by way of his support for organizations that promote democracy, peaceful governments, and “socialist” ideals like feeding the poor and hungry and providing health care to the most needy, especially on continents like Africa and Asia. Of course, his “influence” is aided and abetted by the “elites” of Hollywood, New York, and the Democratic Party.  (I guess that must be when we aren’t all gorging ourselves on the blood and flesh of the children we have molested and kept prisoner under a pizza shop in NYC)(You know I’m joking, right?) 

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October 31, 2022 · 5:57 pm
Aside

Libs and Cons…Part 1

I’ve been trying to understand for years now the draw that people like Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump, and groups like “The Proud Boys” et al. for the American right wing-especially for the CHRISTIAN right wing. I think I may have thought that it was simply because of the issue of abortion; no discussion of conservative politics ever took place in my discussions without the issue of abortion asserting itself somewhere along the way.  But with the election of Donald Trump and the repeal of Roe v Wade, the bile oozing from Republican candidates across the country is still spreading, smothering any kind of rational discussion of political policy I once believed possible between the left and right. 

Of course, the election of Donald Trump was a shock to our political system on all sides.  Republicans were shocked and delighted. We liberals were shocked to see such an ill-informed, narcissistic buffoon elected to the office of the Presidency of the United States. We suffered through four years of embarrassment as his lies, his racist and anti-semitic bloviation, his ineptitude and his obvious sense of entitlement made a mockery of our image of ourselves as Americans here and abroad. The disdain we saw on the faces of foreign allies and adversaries alike, the shifting of traditional alignments of the U.S. with other democratic governments to the “love letters” from leaders of authoritarian nations like North Korea, Russia, Hungary, and Argentina were indications of the transforming of American culture from the top down.  Even those who rarely engaged in political action or conversation have been drawn in by what Polish writer Ann Applebaum calls the “seductive lure of authoritarianism” developing in all aspects of our American life.  

The frightening part of the reign of Donald Trump, though, was not simply the alliances he discarded or insulted, or even the coarseness of his language and lies.  The frightening thing is that because of his belief that he alone knew what was best for all of us, that what he wanted to do, legally, criminally, or personally, was what we “should” also want and be satisfied with, and that nearly half the citizens in this country fell for it. The glee that many of our citizens have for following his lead, for being “allowed” to spew racist and anti-semitic rhetoric, to feel entitled to violence against those who disagreed with them, and to demand his continued presence in the White House even after 60-SIXTY!-judges, many of them judges that he himself had appointed, declared that he had not won the right to continue as President has been bone-chilling. 

Even worse, if possible, has been the acquiescence of the Republican Party to the influence of Donald Trump and his despicable stooges. That grown men, some who have been in Washington for decades, have deprecated themselves, politically, personally, and spiritually to bow down to this bloviating bully, cowering in fear that he will use his truly “bully pulpit” to call them out, revealing or lying about their loyalty to him, which means loyalty to the country, or calling into question some aspect of their “manhood”, virtue, intelligence, or whatever he recognizes as a weakness he can use to corrupt. The voting public has no such fear, as they know they are anonymous to him. The Republicans in Congress, however, so brash and self-righteous in their belief that THEIR way is the RIGHT way, cower in fear of Donald Trump’s wrath, even after his expulsion from office. 

Now, the Republicans stepping into the fray and running for offices at every level of government in their attempt to seize or maintain power are seriously emulating the example that Donald Trump set for them.  It is almost a badge of honor to be hateful, foul-mouthed, and extolling vitriol, propaganda, and violence toward those who disagree. They are angry-very angry, it seems-that their guy LOST in the 2020 election, and that means their grievances won’t be heard. So they are running themselves. And they are using every nasty trick in the old Republican playbooks ever used: they are lying outright, having learned from the “master” of propaganda Josef Goebbels, they know that a lie, repeated long enough and often enough will become “truth” to those predisposed to believe it.  They are mocking rivals for their health, for their non-religious politics, their quiet demeanor, and for “goodness”.  They are even “darkening” the skin of their African-American opponents in advertisements, believing (or knowing) that their almost entirely Caucasian base will be frightened by a candidate they see as “too black”. 

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October 31, 2022 · 5:51 pm