It appears that the Republican National Committee’s censure of Representatives Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), along with its declaration that the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was “legitimate political discourse,” has created a problem for Republican lawmakers as they try to position the party for the midterms and the 2024 election. Coming, as the statement did, just after former president Trump said that Pence had the power to “overturn the election” and that if reelected, Trump would pardon those who attacked the Capitol, it has put the Republican Party openly on the side of overturning our democracy.
Sunday evening I watched the program "Love and the Constitution" featuring Jamie Raskin, a constitutional law professor and member of the Jan 6 committee. He was elected to Congress in 2016 and the program started with his election. It was interesting to have my memory jogged on what the first couple of years of the DT administration were like - like shutting down the government etc. It was a wonderful program and puts Rep. Raskin on a short list of people I would vote for for President. It might be refreshing to have a Constitutional scholar who loves the Constitution to repair the damage that has been done to the Constitution by all three branches of government. The shadow docket of the Supreme Court and its dismantling of democracy is one thing that needs to be fixed. The Congress as a supposed democratic institution needs the have some adults elected to the Congress. President Biden is doing an amazing job in extremely difficult circumstances. The two party system that John Adams called the worst evil to befall the Constitution should be buried with the Republican party. We can do better than a system that leads to such dysfunctional extremes. Let's celebrate the Biden Boom! Let's celebrate the Constitution. But, make it work for All the People this time.
"It was a wonderful program and puts Rep. Raskin on a short list of people I would vote for for President."
Whew. So while Republicans are uniting, the Left is back to the purity tests, pipe dreams, and third party Pied Pipers which helped elect Trump once and can again. A typical move, pretend to praise Democrats' accomplishments and then pull the plug on the two party system.
Gush over Jamie Raskin and ignore that Jamie Raskin is a Democrat.
I was lucky to be a neighbor and constituent of Raskin's when he first ran for Congress. To honor him, I try to follow his example - including strategic voting to support Democratic control of government. My list of who I would vote for for president includes any candidate who wins the Democratic primary. That means, after caucusing for Sanders, volunteering and voting for Clinton and after voting for Warren, volunteering and voting for Biden.
We had a constitutional scholar, Barack Obama. The problems are beyond being a decent, intelligent human. (I admire Rep. Raskin deservedly )T But the next dem president will only be as effective as we are active, right down to the Drain Commisioner and Library Board level. Showing up at School Board meetings and City Commission meetings is important. We need to be a strong -and active- progressive block.
Racist wing religious extremists learned the lesson of the Civil Rights movement. Get into politics at every level. Show up and remake the party in your image.
Racist right wing religious extremists volunteer, vote, and run - as Republicans. They didn't swallow the elephant whole, they ate it bite by bite before *s#itting* out in their image - Trump.
The Left has a lot of catching up to do. BLM has the right idea - an alliance for civil right. Cori Bush for example.
I filed for Treasurer of our county for the primary in the spring. I expect to be the only Democrat on the ballot! My heart is breaking! I will be 79 if I am elected in the fall.
Good for you. I am 79 too. Thinking of posting myself for school board. At this point it would be write-in, but nobody here wants that job. And I'm not sure I do either, but I could be at least a placeholder.
Do it! My town needed someone to run and Selectmen encouraged me to step up. I had no children in school but I did have years of experience in government out of state. I knew the District had problems and no one seemed willing to face them or figure out what was wrong (although I had an idea). I was elected - served two 3-year terms, the last two years as Chair. We figured out the cause of the problem (a business manager who had stolen $250,000) and took care of that (sent her to prison). Rebuilt the confidence of the voters and passed budgets with nary a problem.
You will learn a lot being on that side of the Board table. And you may be able to build voter interest and better understanding of how a School Board works.
Do it, Annie! A buddy of mine ran for county commissioner as a write-in not long after he graduated from high school in 2018. He decided to run about 48 hours before the primary. A multi-generational cohort of supporters swung into action and got him on the ballot. He came in sixth in the general -- the top seven were elected. He's currently in college and doing a great job.
Don't let your age dissuade you. It gives you perspective, emotional balance, and the courage to say what needs to be said. At our age (I will be 81 in March) we don't have to be building anything; we have nothing to lose by telling the truth and doing what's right. So you're already ahead of any Republican on the ticket.
Rusty, I have an accounting degree from ISU (a late in life student). Then in 1987 after graduation I started working as a sales and use tax, withholding and income tax auditor for 26 1/2 years. I retired at 70 1/2. I am ready to go back to work and work for my county government now!
Thanks, Rusty. There is actually NOBODY on the ticket for this position, which was vacated midway by the incumbent. School board is non-partison. I live in a small town. Running would not be an issue. And they do need people like me. My problem is concern for my own health. I'm going to talk to someone I know who is on the board to get her thoughts.
LOL! I live in a "Republican" county in Indiana. Most folks are uneducated and only vote straight "Republican" because they know the word "Republican". So very sad!
I suggest that we need a strong and active Democratic block. At least if we want to get anything done. The Democratic Party is the big tent. That has always been its strength. Insisting on purity is a gift to the Republicans--that is, to the authoritarians. Yes, we need progressives--I consider myself one--but let's be clear that we will support what most Democrats want, because at this point there is no choice if we want to be effective and stave off tyranny.
ps. Obama was not nearly the scholar, activist, nor politician that Raskin or Clyburn are. They are smart, savvy team players.
Obama, despite being a basketball fan, never understood team play or political strategy. He won elections but was not an adept executive because he did not work with his Democratic team in Congress.
Oh yes, purity tests....going strong in the our new CD six here in Oregon. I want someone who can win in the general and that person might not check every box. It is not enough to want medicare for all, or universal health care; it has to be single payer of else. On one thread I gave a little history starting at the New Deal about the effort to get health care for everyone. Shame on me, as someone decided to be condescending and I suspect was also mansplaining. Finally, I explained to him why he was offensive and didn't receive a reply after that. But if the Neanderthal Peter Thiel had his way, I wouldn't be voting.
Pragmatism, as in who stands the best chance of beating whomever the Republicans nominate, should be the guiding principle for Democrats given what's at stake. Progressives, for all their noble policy positions — most of which I support, too often forget the well-worn saying "perfection is the enemy of the good."
Four thumbs up. I have tried to explain this, but talking to them is like talking to a true believer of any hue. I have to smile about the irony on one of the pages which is supposedly open for discussion, but no this and no that if it's not pure far left progressive. Just as autocratic as those they oppose.
Only a billionaire like Thiel could get away with objecting to women voting. Democrats should use this against any Republican who accepts Thiel's help. He deserves to be ostracized.
Also, FWIW, research continues to build a case that Neanderthals don't deserve having their name used a pejorative. Smarter and more ingenious than earlier thought, they may not have gone extinct. Instead, they likely were absorbed into the homo sapient population. But I'm biased because of my higher-than-average Neanderthal DNA.
I suggest referring to Thiel as a troglodyte. One meaning of the word: a person who is regarded as being deliberately ignorant or old-fashioned. Or call him a rich savage.
I didn't mean to insult Neanderthals and actually thought about what you mentioned. I think it's great you have a higher than average amount of their DNA. And I do read about prehistory. I finished a book on ancient DNA not long ago. i was in a hurry and had a different word in mind, but was iffy on the spelling. You provided the word I wanted. I confess to being a poor speller and am also at the age when the word I want sometimes escapes me, but will come if I am not trying to think of it. I think I can fairly call Thiel a misogynist. He is certainly in the wrong century.
What planet are you on? Not this one, that’s for sure. Republicans are uniting? You couldn’t prove it by what they are saying. Or by their steadily diminishing minority. Democrats are engaging in purity tests? Sure they are. That’s why they united behind Joe Biden, and passed ARP with not one Republican vote, and the infrastructure package with very few. It’s time to come down to Earth.
Sheesh. Mitch McConnell's Senate. The Leonard Leo Supreme Court. RNC. Unite the Right is the GOP motto. What they *say*? Seriously. They will *say* anything. Listen to Susan Collins. She says all sorts of nice stuff -and then marches lock step with McConnell. You shall know them by their deeds.
Yes Democrats united behind Biden. THANKYOU James Clyburn. ThankYou all the Democratic contenders who stepped down from their personal ambition and stepped up for their Country and Party. ThankYou all the Democratic voters, many of them for whom unity did not come easy.
Yes after the 2016 disaster, many on the Left joined the Biden coalition in 2020.
But comments about 'short list of Democrats I would vote for for president' show that many consider their vote a personal expression of their own deeply held feelings - rather than a tactic to strategically unite for a shared goal.
Unfortunately, at the local level, certain progressives are pushing purity tests and they constantly diss Biden. If a pol takes even a dime from a corporation, that person is a corporate D. Our secretary of state here in Oregon just made it more difficult to get measures on the November ballot about campaign money because there is a court decision about the wording of these. They would also apply to unions and that may be part of the problem. The story now is incomplete and I hope there is further information. And Phil Knight just made a large donation to Betsy Johnson, a DINO, who is running as an independent for governor. And no, the Oregon supreme court has not made a decision on Kristof.
Not at all your bad. There is so much going on in every state that it is hard to keep track. That's one of the thing that I like about this site; I read about what's going on in other places. And yes, the national noise is very loud.
You gotta play the hand you're dealt. Focus on uniting and winning. The two party system may not be working for a lot of us, but the alternative is marching in circles with no one listening.
Exactly, Syd. Thank you for a concise statement of what has to drive our priorities right now. One of the reasons some Progs are obstructive is because they want some kind of absolute in the outcome. That's kind of the same approach right wing republicans use. And it isn't getting them anywhere either (thankfully). But they can keep things muddled up enough we could lose unless we get straight on what is at stake here. The two (or more) party system does work, but first you have to have working, politically healthy parties capable of engaging in rational discourse.
Some people do not seem to understand this at all. They do not understand the reality of what can be achieved in the political realm. When I tried to point out that we should celebrate what Biden has achieved and not constantly diss him, I was "toxic." Just was on one thread where one person was trying to talk about the practical problems of getting campaign finance reform. The other person wanted a detailed plan and then I guess he thought that could be implemented with no problem.
Cathy praised the worthy Raskin to the skies. Told us to celebrate the Biden Boom. And then rallied us to pull the plug on the two party system, leading the way for a purity test politics. Which she claims will help all of us. Well, the Democratic successes are helping all of us. We need a larger majority to do more.
We have a two party system. That is the choice. After Ross Perot, Republicans learned the lesson of uniting the right for power, particularly the power of the courts.
And even after 2016 and with the Leonard Leo, Koch, Mercer et al Supreme Court obstructing justice for years to come. Many on the left still don't get it.
I believe this is missing the larger point. The Constitution as written was adequate for the white society that ruled America in the late 18th and early 19th century. But societies become more and more complex over time. The steps are incremental and designed to solve problems as they arise.
But the overall effect is monumental when comparing, say, today with 1800. Our society has changed to the point that it is utterly alien to that which existed in the early days of the Republic.
The arc of all major societies is towards collapse. Joseph Tainter’s book, “The Collapse of Complex Societies” delineated this truth nearly 40 years ago.
It has become painfully obvious that the intricately-structured, rickety, yes two party system of governing America, designed largely as reflexive protection against Britain, is hopelessly unequal to the challenges of the modern world. Attempts to solve the problem by tacking on a third party or adding even more radical change to the superstructure are effectively man’s best effort to stick a finger in the dyke in order to prevent the flood.
Working within the system, becoming involved at even the lowest levels of government are calls to action that are hard to resist - there is a certain very finite logic to them.
But the larger point remains hard to ignore. America has become too complex a society to remain cohesive. Its collapse is relatively imminent. It is true that the same can be said for the rest of the developed world, democracies and otherwise. But the American system is so ossified, so structurally immovable and the penchant of your country for deep, coruscating internal division almost guarantees that its collapse will be arrived at more swiftly.
The Founders as Enlightenment revolutionaries were progressives. The essence of the Constitution is coming to consensus through reasoned debate of empirical evidence. The scientific method informing an agreed legal framework. This is how we transfer executive and legislative authority, interpret the law through the judiciary, and make laws in the legislature. And amend the Constitution. Everything else is up for reform and renewal.
Our government is threatened from the Right by the absolute truths of religious creed and from the Left from the absolute truths of ideology. More parties won't fix absolutism. More parties may create more gridlock and worse politics. Showing up once every 4 years to skew a presidential election is not building a party.
I find it an imposing task to imagine more gridlock.
I like the ideals in your first paragraph, but they remain aslant from the trend to complexity. Each new problem brings (at best) a just-in-time solution and, as an added bonus (?) another jump towards an increase in overall complexity. The Jenga sticks grow, and to a more than casual observer, look less sturdy.
Add to that the insane and entirely unique pace of technological transformation and it becomes more to difficult to argue that the centre can hold. The centre is no longer served by its collection of what it took to be truisms. So it embarks on a futile search for progressive ventures (ranked choice voting is one) to preserve the unpreservable.
I've had these thoughts, though not as coherently and cohesively -- along with the long-held conviction that the earth's population has grown too large to be supported by the earth's resources. These two thoughts seem of a piece to me -- that once a system grows too large, it starts to collapse. Are viruses like Covid the planet's way of shaking off its major predator? Are the deep socio-political-cultural divisions we're seeing an inevitable result of societies being organized along the lines of have and have not? Have we already engineered the destruction of our species, with current situations being the beginning of Act I? Sorry -- a maudlin start to the day. I think I'll take the dog for a walk.
Somewhat off topic, but a response to the previous post: Each year, starting in 2006, the Global Footprint Network calculates so-called Earth Overshoot Day, “the date on which humanity has used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year.” For 2020, the date was August 22; in 2021, it was July 29. The organization estimated that each year humanity was consuming about 160% of what the Earth could replenish. Here's a link:
The two extreme parties do not represent me. I have no elected representative that represents me. On Biden's Inauguration Day a Gallup poll showed 25% of the people identified as Democrats, 25% as Republicans and a simple majority 50% as Independents. The solution to the third candidate spoiling the two party bipartisan (as quite different from nonpartisan) lock on elections is called ranked choice voting. The two party system is not in the Constitution and in fact the founders thought it would destroy democracy. They are being proved correct in this century. Texas is already an autocracy with minority white male rule. ALEC has gotten 17 states (red ones) to pass resolutions to hold a Constitutional Convention. It takes 38 to have one. If you think the Supreme Court super-majority is a problem which is already ripping up the Constitution wait until the ALEC Convention makes the death of our democratic republic a reality.
May I suggest that it is not about you? It is about putting our personal lived experiences to work for our shared goals?
It is not about seeing someone just like you in office, unless you run for office. It is about working and playing well together. For something more important than our individual selves.
The Founders were against factions in general. But as Ben Franklin said, 'when animosities arise, stand with the party which unfurls the flag of the general welfare.' Loosely paraphrased.
Well put, lin. I do think the time will come when the "United States" will either redefine and rename itself, or it will regionalize into an assembly of nations rather than semi-independent states (which is where our name originally arose). Most of us have a sense of regional identity, and there are many formal, legal regional collaborations already in place. We can't predict where the future will take us (as the recent past has all too well reminded us). But we do seem to be on the cusp of some kind of significant change. The values we choose to operate under will play a large role in how that plays out. The trope that nations and empires necessarily descend into violence is not true. Mostly they just kind of wind down.
Wow. Just wow. Lin, you seem to have jumped to a whole lot of conclusions based on not much. I don't agree with Cathy Learoyd's apparent opposition to the two-party system, and I'd never quote John Adams as an authority on the subject (that was then . . .), but where did she say that Raskin was the only Dem she would vote for?
In the documentary he made it very clear that the power to govern is Congresses to do the things you listed that need to be fixef, not the presidents. It is the President's job to faithfully execute and uphold the laws Congress passes and the Constitution. That is why executive orders have no real teeth and since Congress under Obama was able to do little to nothing because of McConnell's obstruction it was his only avenue to fixing things. Wasn't Obama a Constitutional law professor? Raskin is wonderful, I agree, but I think he will do the most good being in the House. He is now a household name, like Schiff. Four years ago I would have been hard put to name any Representative from Maryland except for my own. He is gaining national respect and influence. I'm going to enjoy watching him in action over the coming years. Although I think his wisdom and love of democracy would be extremely useful on the world stage...I would have no problem giving him my vote if he chooses to run for president.
The US Constitution was clearly never intended to work for all the people (read it if you don't believe me). And it never will work for all the people without a major rewrite to bring it into the 21st century
Then the question is who would rewrite it for the 21st century vs. going back to the 18th century or earlier. I do think a Constitutional Convention will happen in the next decade but whether it will be to strengthen democracy or strengthen atrocracy we don't yet know.
These are the most gung ho to do it, be careful what you ask for. When the Heritage Society decides that all the donor money is going to the MAGAts, and abandons the traditional Republican blather (read that somewhere yesterday), then the dye is cast, in my view…
And pretty sure that people would be shocked at who is a member. Suffice it to say that Dan Patrick, truly evil Lt Gov of Tx, is emblematic of the ALEC evil that spreads state house to state house with lightening speed.
Actually, ALEC is already working on the Constitutional Convention for a very conservative constitution. They already have 17 states out of the needed 38 to call for a conventional. Republicans have achieved their goal with the super-majority Supreme Court and now is going straight to the heart of the Constitution to get it out of their way. Saw a cartoon yesterday that said Welcome to Texas - Where the Hand Maids Tale meets the Taliban.
Sure, Kathleen, there are good people and good ideas, yet a premature convention would break open Pandora's box. The best you'd get would be the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, while the worst that lies buried under that fine table of stone doesn't bear thinking of...
But, Peter, isn't it good to start lining up plans for when the time is right? There are pervasive changes we need to update our democracy to bring it into this century. We need a catalogue of the changes to come that have much better checks and balances as well as qualifications for public servants (corruption, bankruptcies, connections with evil empires, mental health stability. Can they pass the National Security background checks and Civil Service Exams | Federal Civil Service exams. Oh, and can they read? I would add, how addicted are they to twitter, social media, golfing, lying and gazing in the mirror at their own reflection (level of Narcissism). And how do they feel about democracies, emolument clauses, racism, misogyny, nepotism, fair share taxation with proof of last ten years IRS returns) and the Rule of Law (i.e.do they live above it or under it?). Who do they look up to and admire (no autocratic leaders allowed, even if they "can look into their souls." Better get back to something constructive like clearing the snow.
Well said—and well thought! (The linguist says pensa means “thinks” in Latin or Italian.) I had the Federalist thrown at my head at age 17, but today we have the Federalist Society thinking hard about how to deconstruct America on the basis of the 1787 document and plenty of federalists with the appropriate prefix “con” drumming up states’ support for a d.i.y. constitutional convention that would take the country back where they want it, to their very own pre-1787 libertarian-la-la-land. It’s because that wild backwoods bunch are already busy plotting and planning that we’ve reason to beware of a prematurely timed and inadequately prepared convention, for, unless I’ve misunderstood, convening a convention means throwing the entire constitutional issue wide open.
As for “clearing the snow”, the world will be safer when some people are kept busy with such healthy activities in remotest Alaska. Or somewhere equally remote on the other side of the Bering Strait.
So, before there can be any changes (which must, among other things, incorporate Madison’s view that the Constitution should be regularly reviewed and updated) there must be a huge amount of thorough preparatory work, and here I am completely behind Kathleen and citizens’ associative work. With this proviso: if it can be done by means other than a constitutional convention, so it should be—see MaryPat Sercu’s comment to that effect.
"We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and other related cases, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights." Yes! BUT, we do not need a Constitutional convention or rewrite to amend it. We just need to amend it to stop corporations from buying, then destroying, our democracy.
I agree with you Mary Pat. Using the idea of nation rebuilding as a foundation, I wrote a paper in 2015 in favor of reestablishing the values base for the nation, suggesting we needed to come together with a contemporary and more dynamic constitution. I thought it a healthy exercise in pursuit of ensuring the democracy we professed to love. I shared it with five people I respected. It died the appropriate death it deserved. That experience reminded me of the Baptist fault that fits in this train of thought about convening a constitutional convention. If we can't get unanimity in ideology, start over, build a new church, and work the slow path to where ideological differences divide, rather than unite. The hard work is adjusting to differences, to make progress, not to create the most perfect and unchangeable way to live together is the productive direction for our messy nation. HCR certainly makes clear that opening up a convention to update the Constitutional would prove as ill-advised as did that which occurred in 1787; the damned compromises we now live with. Amend, yes, and recognize that our constitution is not divine scripture, but the product of it's time, brilliant though the idea is that all men are created equal and equal under the laws of a just nation.
Yes, I think Citizens United is the crux of the problem and why we are losing our democratic republic. However, the alternative to a Convention of States is the Congress presenting the amendment and most of them have been corrupted by the money allowed by Citizens United. It is like asking a fox to put a lock on the hen house.
True that. But to my knowledge there has been more push for a Congressional Convention from the right than the left. We are back to un-corrupting government a school board seat and a County Commissioner position at a time. Have to re-read the last third of David Pepper's book again ("Laboratories of Democracy"). And EVERYONE ON THIS SITE NEEDS TO FOLLOW CATHY'S LEAD: JOIN AND BE ACTIVE IN THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS!
Talk of changing the United States Constitution at this time is akin to painting the living room while the house is on fire. Do we really need to water down our efforts in preserving the Democratic form of Government we currently enjoy? We have got to coalesce around the 2022 and 2024 elections.
Perhaps the Constitution is not so much at fault as the people who interpret it.
Mike All this talk about a Constitutional Convention is totally irrelevant to what is occurring in modern-day America In over 250 years there has been fewer than 30 Constitutional Amendments, of which only a handful were substantive. The suggestion that a Constitutional Convention could ‘repair’ the Constitution defies political realities [requirement for approval from 3/4 of states].
I commented earlier today on the volatility of the Constitutional checks-and-balances provisions. Additionally. There is the ongoing struggle over federal/states rights as reflected in the 10th Amendment.
We are obliged to work within our existing amended Constitution under which, for now, we have a ‘rogue’ Supreme Court. Currently it seems highly unlikely that the Legislature can clip the wings of this court and a president has limited opportunity to enforce Executive Orders.
The document doesn't need repairing - it needs replacing, preferably with a document that supports a Westminster (i.e. parliamentary) style system rather than the Latin American-style presidential system now in place (Look up the stats on which countries besides the US actually have presidential systems. You'll be shocked.)
Why in the world would we now try to be like the very form of government we rebelled against?
You also discount the sense of tradition, Patriotism and downright love Americans have for their Founding Fathers and the Constitution of these United States.
At present the United States is going through what is undoubtedly a cataclysmic and frightening time. We are in a serious battle for our Democracy. Constant disparaging of who we are, our past and how our Constitution works is untimely to say the least.
Maybe because it works, for the UK and for most of the world outside of the United States. (And has worked for upwards of a thousand years.) Why would the US want a form of government which is found almost exclusively in South America, and in South American dictatorships at that? There was nothing inherently wrong with the form of government in place in England at the time of the American Revolution - just in its policies toward its colonies in the New World. I grew up in the US and would love to see its brave political experiment succeed, but at the rate things are going, I'm afraid it might not - at least not without some major rethinking.
Talia I can appreciate your frustration with our Constitution as it has gradually evolved over more than 250 years. Can you describe how we might scrap the present Constitution and create some sort of parliamentary system? As I described in my commentary, the devil is in the details. I don’t foresee such a revolutionary endeavor.
Hate to admit I lived in Massachusetts for over two decades and have never read its Constitution. It did seem to work well. Now living in Texas I don't think I could make any sense out of its Constitution and its 507 amendments! That what odd year elections are for - to pass Constitutional amendments by small turn-out on important things like allowing rodeos to do raffles.
The US Constitution was a brilliant and appropriate document for its time, when the US was a small, close-knit country with a relatvely homogeneous population and common social values. Its creators had know way of knowing that in 200 years, the country would become a sprawling , coast-to-coast conglomerate of fifty states, each of which with disparate politics, demographics, characters, and philosophies. Had they known, I think the Constitution would hsve been written quite differently.
Your comment is illustrates why I almost always vote no on constitutional amendment ballot measures in California. Some of the things people want to hammer into a state or federal constitution do NOT belong in a constitution.
Ralph Nader helped give us Bush. Jill Stein voters helped give us Trump. Bernie Sanders helped give us Trump. Split the Party and give us a Dictatorship in 2024. As I bet Dr. Richardson would tell you history does not lie.
Corrupt republicans, the Mercers, the Murdochs, the Kochs, and Vlad and his oligarch friends ALL helped give us their seditious monkeyman for their destructive ends of our democracy. A soul-less, narcissistic, revengeful man-corporation can be bought by anyone, especially if they make him emperor.
And we split our votes while we put our head in the sand and pretended the boogeymen weren't there. Biden, Sanders, Warren, Cheney, Kinsinger, etc. weren't bought. "Going down to the crossroads" is a personal decision.
Once again. We aid and abet the enemy when we ignore the threat and our personal responsibility in fighting it. We absolutely do not have the luxury of blaming someone else, pandering to a wish list or playing politics at this time.
Jon Meacham, James Carville and other have stated this: DEMOCRACY IS HANGING BY A THREAD. I for one walk around with a low level of terror at the prospect of living in an Authoritarian State should the Democrats fail in 2022 or 2024.
Yes it is. It haunts me Dave. Already the Republicans are talking of impeaching Biden, jailing people they deem not in lock step with their agenda and on and on. They are counting on winning in 2022.
You need to listen to CSpan more. Yes, Jamie Raskin is my hero but he is not a rare case of a decent human being in politics. The list of Democrats is too long to type out - but why not start with James Clyburn, Sheldon Whitehouse, Patty Murray, Hakeem Jeffries, Jon Ossoff, Zoe Loftgren, Tammy Baldwin, Maisie Horano, Tammy Duckworth, Raphael Warnock ...
Sadly true, Barbara. I would note that the author of the article from which the list on the poster was taken--Laurence Britt--noted in his opening paragraph:
"And fascism’s principles are wafting in the air today, surreptitiously masquerading as something else, challenging everything we stand for. The cliché that people and nations learn from history is not only overused, but also overestimated; often we fail to learn from history, or draw the wrong conclusions. Sadly, historical amnesia is the norm."
With the exception of 'Supremacy of the Military," all are present to some extent today in our country. Fascism replaces democracy in bits and pieces, not all at once. And eventually, before you know it, it's there, big, ugly and undemocratic. BINGO!
Make it work! Don't leave it "for the other guy". Be an informed and involved citizen. Support the candidate you want to see lead with your time and your money. Even if all you do is provide true facts around the water cooler or with neighbors and friends. Write letters to the editor. Join the local party group. Join Indivisibles. Advocate for truth, justice and the American Way. The America where all men (and women) are created equal. We are not there yet but working toward that end.
Cathy James Madison in Federalist 51 makes a stark statement about human beings “If men were angels, there would be no need for government….’ This is precisely why there was such a focus on establishing checks and balances (Executive/Legislature/Judiciary) in the Constitution.)
There were no ‘political parties’ when Washington was elected president. Washington, in dealing with Hamilton/Jefferson food fights, expressed great fear of political factions. Gradually political parties evolved, at times splitting [the Republican Party was created from remnants of the Whig and American Party in the 1850s.]
Historically, checks-and-balances has been a teeter board, at times with the legislature dominant and, more frequently with a president pushing the constitutional envelope. On occasion, the Supreme Court upsets the ‘constitutional balance.’ The current Supreme Court majority seems as historically out of step as the “Dred Scott’ SC of the 1850s and the SC that FDR inherited in 1933.
Barbara Several historians have written that the qualities required to win a presidency are starkly different than those required to function appropriately as president. If you look at the 10 attributes that historians and political scientists apply in the C-Span ranking of past presidents, they differ profoundly from the selection process of a presidential candidate.
TV attractiveness now is certainly a prerequisite for a prospective presidential candidate. Lincoln would probably have flunked this test. Today FDR in his wheel chair would have done badly. In 1960 in the Kennedy/Nixon debates, JFK’s attractive vigor was in sharp contrast to Gloomy Dick, who refused make up and was appearing just after days in his sick bed.
Robert Redford would be a superb presidential candidate these days. Meryl Streep would do well as a female candidate. Though Lassie would meet the requirement of being American born, alas he was not 35 years old. Botox for presidential candidates?
Mike Though “a constitutional law professor’ is disqualified from being President because he can read, there is no disqualification of a “constipated President.” Cause for a Constitutional Amendment?
Cathy, might be good for you to go back and read the reasoning and conditions behind John Adams comment. Shall we return to a bunch of people running independently, with the top vote getter becoming President and the second becoming vice-president. At the time the founders were cycling the offices among themselves. Jefferson (an odd man in many ways) broke that when he figured out how to manipulate the system in his favor. There were factions before, but that likely was when parties began, so that voters could join together to promote their choice of candidates and causes. Remember also that those votes were not cast by "All the People", but basically by more or less self-selected representatives of the people. "People" did not include women, most colored men, or, in many places, men who did not own land. There were many parties, not just two, in the beginning. The same is true now, and both major parties are actually coalitions of people who share enough values and goals in common to work together. What we're seeing now is yet another shift in those coalitions, esp on the side currently known as "Republican", whose factions are breaking apart. The chaos is significant. And it may disintegrate. But our of the chaos may emerge other ways of organizing around conservative principles. Or some splintering may occur, with a central party emerging that pushes the extreme right wing into irrelevance. Some signs of that possibility.
To be honest, I am not sure what your point really is in your post. At one point you say "celebrate the Constitution", but the "solutions" you propose (some of which do not even make sense) would require us to throw the Constitution away.
I hope that some of the people who "liked" what you wrote reread it and rethink what they are actually "liking". Several commenters noted the inconsistencies and raised their concerns. I add mine.
I applaud this comment. I am 1000% not attributing what I am about to say to anyone on this comments board today. Here goes. Be cautious in talking up these causes folks. There are many and more than you realize among us in these United States who want to sow dissension, disbelief in our institutions and hatred of others and hence chaos.. A friend of mine as part of his occupation has studied propaganda in America. It is here and has been here. We are easily fooled and swayed by running to one cause and then another. Stay focused on preserving Democracy. Stay focused on the 2022 elections.
I wholly agree Barbara that 2022 looms enormous! I feel stymied way out and up here in Washington. After the victories of Ossoff and Warnock I feel it vitally necessary to augment the skin on my teeth so I've arranged to travel with my brother to Fulton County in November to timely bring food and water to those in need. Being somewhat feisty but in the last year of my eighth decade, I may not hold up well to the complications I may provoke from the vigilante election officials. But I am certain that if trouble finds me, at the very least it shall be good trouble.
I believe Georgia wrote into their draconian voter suppression "laws" that it is considered against the law to give food and water to voters in line. I might be wrong though. Just check on it would you?
It might be effective to have a system of open primaries and ranked choice voting. It would increase voter participation and decrease the party hegemony.
It's being tried in some local elections and, I believe, in one state for state elections. It has been very successful in Ireland and some other places. But for us, right now, it is something that Congress should take up while looking at fixing voting for national offices. And for us, here, right now, it would be a distraction away from the critical work of preparing for and building up awareness of the upcoming midterms and the Nov 2024. We can't afford that.
One looks at individuals such as Jamie Ruskin with admiration as a fellow American...then on the other hand, thinks how totally ashamed they would be as a Republican today! To be fair...I can't believe the silent majority comes close to identifying with the despicable sycophants that represent the republican party presently. Unfortunately...their apathy damns them and possibly our Democracy. I shudder to think what might happen to this Country if the Elections of 2022 and 2024 go wrong!
I would like to see Jamie Raskin as our President too. My heart was breaking Sunday night for him and his family. I would also like to see Adam as our President. However, at soon to be 79 I might not be so lucky. They are both wonderful young men!
I am 72. I am Jewish. Like Raskin and Schiff. There is too much antiSemitism on the right *and* on the left for a Jew, no matter how qualified, to be elected president of the United States.
I'll take a pass on Mr. Schiff, he seems a bit too enamored of the spotlight; Mr. Raskin, however, looks better than anyone in either party who is currently making candidacy noises.
You should really stop and think a bit before you start ranting. My comment was in response to Cathy's post and complimentary remarks about Cong. Raskin. For the record, I wouldn't and didn't vote for the former president even against the former Secretary of State. This sort of doctrinaire and presumptive response without accompanying thought is why the Democrats have a hard time getting anything done.
And truly formidable work in the House because we have a sufficient majority and a very good progressive wing working with the leadership. And if we had a larger majority in the Senate then we'd have Civil Rights acts and Build Back Better.
Trying to click heart, lin. Maybe it'll kick in later, Good response. We got work to do. It'd be nice if some of the people making uninformed claims about what is going on would join in. That's the way to get things done, not throwing bricks.
There should be articles, ads, multiple news stories as to what daily life would be like with an authoritarian goverment. But then, many people probably wouldn't believe it until it happens. Really. It appears they have no idea!
I have been watching Seaside Hotel, set in Denmark. The Nazis have just taken power. Relatively minor things happen at first, like having your phone calls monitored by the censors and cut off if not for business purposes. Gosh, we would never stand for that! Oh, I forgot, earlier a gay character was savagely beaten by Hitler youth, and Jews were being targeted, but we are used to that kind of thing. But prohibiting phone calls? Terrible! That would be going too far! (Sarcasm)
Unless it is the Cheney who is currently fighting for Democracy then this is a moot point and actually serves no one except to further sow division which as we know is a hallmark of fascism.
A good point (about my bad point). My intent, though, is to caution us that Liz Cheney's version of democracy's freedoms does not include, for example, recognition of LGBQT rights.
"The Brookings Institution argued that Cheney has a long-term strategy to become the leader of the Republican Party in the post-Trump era, and that "she’s a real conservative—Democrats who like her opposition to Trump will never like her politics."
I agree. I do not like Liz Cheney's viewpoint on the above issues. BUT. I am only focused on seeing that we preserve this Democracy so that we may have the luxury of tackling issues once again.
Thank you for the suggestion of Seaside Hotel. Well put, Carol. Yes! It is a marvelous look at the insidious nature of autocracy. First the Nazi soldiers are housed in a neighboring hotel to yours, then you are trying to placate them by offering a meal, then they are fencing off the beach, and all the while an intimate relationship is building between one of your hotel's staff and one of the Nazi soldiers. And then there's more. It is a good look at how the frog in the pot is confronted with one and then another "nearly" intolerable situation until the water is boiling. One character at the hotel is paying attention, listening to the radio. The others roll their eyes at his reports about Germany and England. It is gripping. As is our situation, unfortunately.
Jane, Seems like R voters in particular are clueless. They think masking and distancing are infringing their freedom? They should vacation in Turkey, or N. Korea for a few weeks. They would return ashamed of themselves. Never happen....
Canadians are free people, but when their government issues laws and mandates the people seem to obey them without too much trouble. Check out what it takes to own (and continue to own) a firearm in Canada for example. Check out what a Canadian goes through to just visit the United States, for another.
As a Canadian-American(Camerican?), I can tell you that the feeble response of our government to what many people refer to as more an occupation of our capital than a protest is a cause for public outrage. The trucker caravans have made it difficult for health care workers and people in need to access hospitals- counter demonstrations by health care workers and their supporters have led to angry confrontations in Toronto. The antivac truckers are a small but highly vocal minority among Canadian truckers 85% of whom are vaccinated. The only saving grace- no guns. I see this is a preview of what could happen in Canada if the US abandons the rule of law and goes full bore authoritarian. The threat to US democracy is a threat to all democracies.
Lots of US money and US right wing extremists fueling this- but they have some fertile ground in Canada to work with. And some members of our Conservative party have given them political cover. Some people here have forgotten that we choose our leaders through elections and not by intimidation and bullying.
And there are reports of Nazi flag waving. When you look at the fact that some strongly fascist leaning Republicans support these truckers this spells trouble. FOX is supporting the truckers. And now the truckers have advanced to the Detroit bridge.
I also heard, in one report, Confederate flags. Same report stated that there were many truckers/anti-vaxxers from the U.S. participating. I haven't heard this elsewhere yet however.
One trucker with an 18-wheeler can make a statement. 30 truckers in the same place can produce gridlock in a city's transportation arterials. Then the media piles on...
Thanks Gigi. Who are those pushing the narrative that the “convoy” has spread world wide? The same small number of anti vaxer folks that have been noted recently?
Almost sounds like people are "mad as hell" and not going to take it any more. Network was a profoundly impactful movie when it was released but I don't think anyone expected it to be prophetic as well.
I think you read that post way differently than I did, Elaine. I got that in the US there are people who actually think their rights are being infringed by being asked to behave like responsible grown-up. The writer was pointing out that wearing masks and doing other responsible things is not the same thing as the kinds of things that can happen in authoritarian countries. Give some thought to that, because one of the big topics right now is that we are dealing with the possibility of our own country heading that direction. While foolish, self-absorbed people whine about masks and vaccines, they are being used to set the stage for infringing on REAL rights, like the right to vote or make your own choices about your body.
Media countering good sense at every turn, leading us straight to authoritarianism, is almost laughable (non-humorous version). Media will be the First Thing brought to heel.
Someone describing what will happen to America when we convert to authoritarianism should lead with that first.
And just look at how journalists are being treated at the Olympics. Plus, this morning, the recently 'missing' Chinese tennis star, Peng Shuai, gave a 'forced confession' with a 'minder' seen in the background.
TC, I just deleted a reply heartily endorsing your post about FB’s algorithm(s), but my elaboration on your post made no sense, and I’m too tired to fix it. I despise Zuckerman’s arrogant contempt for our country.
I guess the America he disdains made it too easy for him to succeed and become rich & influential so he abuses it like a ‘cheap woman’ he succeeded with.
Remember how Jared Kushner used to brag about how Facebook was “embedded” in the 2016 Trump campaign? Peter Thiel on the board-FB (and now Meta) play a big part in dismantling democracy-too bad because it could have been used for good.
Diana, I can’t really disagree with you, but I also think they kept us critically informed during the last administration. What other major daily’s had the capacity to do that? We could ask the same question about broadcast and cable media, but where would that really get us? At least we have a choice as to what to read and watch. The real question was asked by Ted Keyes, about FB. Unregulated and indifferent, profit over country, there is no question that FB has done grievous harm to this nation.
As the faithful who've swallowed The Word won't even look at other sources of information -- not even when they tell them what they want to hear -- it will make sense to trawl through the right-wing press for items that simply tell it as it is.
Examples include this editorial in the National Review and one or two articles to the same effect:
The British Mail Online is very right-wing and finding real US news articles involves trawling through reams of porn and propaganda, but there are still plenty of items like this:
Somehow, despite that girth, he's still as adept at foot-in-mouth as when he was a few months old...
The only trouble with all this is, as we know, that any item about their Gawd, however damning, will only make his votaries more ecstatically besotted than they were before.
Still... reports from Reality (as opposed to Real DTs) may well surface in addicts' minds during and beyond cold turkey...
As for the WaPo, a while back I noted that most of the complaints about it were by people who seemed stuck on the opinions page, which has no agenda, just random opinions, some valid, some vapid, some excellent. No indication they actually read news or analysis, or followed a topic as it developed. WaPo, like other good news outlets, has multiple sections that are worth reading and contains valuable information. It's up to us to use it.
Read, “MINDF*ck” byChristopher Wylie and “The Rise of Weaponized FLaK in the New Media Era” by Brian Michael Goss. And, “Data versus Democracy” by Kris Shaffer. THEN you’ll understand the role of Facebook, Zuckerberg, Thiel, the Mercer’s and all the rest. READ.
This is a salient question, and FB carries significant influence. I'd also like to expand the question to technology in general. I was just tallying up the cost of all my digital subscriptions to news papers I used to read, free, in coffee shops. I'm at what is a small, but notable percentage of my income to get access to good information. Earlier than my fifties, I couldn't afford that. Tech has much to do with changes in our society.
"Tech has much to do with changes in our society." Both good and bad. Can you imagine life since 2020 if we didn't have electronic means to be able to connect with friends and family, or remote learning with schools closed in 2020-21, or so many simple capabilities like ordering groceries or meals for delivery?
FB, as well, both good and bad. Not defending FB algorithms that ramp up "the bad" but FB also enables me & friends to be in touch, share info and stories, and alert one another about local political activities that we can take action on. For instance, there's a very important parks-related issue to be discussed by a subcommittee of the City Council. The technology enables us to be at home, access agendas & supporting documents and participate in meetings remotely, as well as to share links for that information with local FB parks advocates.
You make a very good point Judith. My boycott of FB has come at great personal cost. Even in the 'before times' (pre - TFG and pre - covid), I wasn't able to communicate with my friends and family except for email, and today my local Indivisible group has a FB page that has a lot of current information that I miss out on. My choice, but it hurts....I do not judge anyone for using FB. Many are immune to the exploitation....
Oh geez, every letter has a gut punch, with something new, something shocking, but true, but this one really hit with extra realization. So now we know where the Zuck’ gets his orders from. How long has Billionaire Peter Theil been on the FB/Meta board? Probably at least since 2015? Enough time to facilitate selling out every single American psyche on the “platform” to the Russian Internet Research Agency trolls, bots, etc, or at least just looking the other way to make a few more $, as tens of millions of Americans have been radicalized, or better yet, fanatic’ised beyond reason. It’s a new age of digital demagoguery, but the motives are old, and selfish, and as evil as ever.
Officially, the only platform that the Republican Party has right now is to obstruct everything that Biden and the democratically controlled Congress does. That is their sole objective. No legislative agenda whatsoever. Obstruct the emerging diversity society at all costs, democracy be damned.
So what does it mean to be a Republican in this decade?
• Attacking immigrants (because they’re not white)
• Putting up walls on the southern border (because those immigrants will dilute the white population)
• Straights only: no rainbows please. (Please? PLEASE? There is nothing kind or considerate about how Republicans and their white supremacist membership treats non-straights. Violence.)
• Rich people only, which means exploiting everybody else so the rich can get richer off of everyone else (think Republican tax cuts)
• Attack every non-white who is nominated or elected for a position of authority, especially if it’s a she, because we only want whites in charge and we only want mostly men in charge, and if a woman is in charge, that’s ok only if she has been trained to defer to men and to accept the authority of men over women
• No government assistance for the poor people, or even the middle class, assistance only for rich people. That includes FDR and the New Deal, arguably the most important administration in the 20th century because of the magnitude of its new innovations like Social Security and Medicare
• No abortions, for the dual purpose of keeping men in charge of women AND increasing the number of white babies. Notice how young mother assistance programs run by a particular brand of Christian (non-Planned Parenthood) group focus nearly exclusively on getting white teenage mothers to deliver their white babies?
It took months and months and months of discussion with all of you here, and reading and absorbing Heather’s pieces, for me to get to the bottom of the Republican versus Democrat enigma. My freshly formed (in the last two years) political opinions are in huge part a product of my time here with all of you. Thank you all 🙏
Oddly and hideously, you can break down nearly every Republican and even “conservative“ ideology and issue and culture war complaint to this:
• keep whites in charge
• keep men in charge
• keep rich people in charge
• keep straights in charge
Republicans are the people who like white supremacy, male supremacy, wealth supremacy, and straight supremacy.
Try it sometime with the next distasteful or revolting piece of news coming from them. Test that news against this template. While you’re at it, why limit yourself to America. Whenever you hear about something in Europe or Russia or South America or elsewhere that has been called “nativist“ or “tribal“ or “far right wing,” see if the shoe fits.
You have to be a real moral giant and intellectual genius to be Christian and antisemitic. But you’re right, “Keep Christians in charge“ covers a lot, like the guy at January 6 who had “Camp Auschwitz” on the front and “Staff“ on the back of his sweatshirt. I strongly suspect he identifies as Christian.
❤️ Thank you Roland! To add a little substance to my list, I found these points on target:
“Why Catholic Supreme Court Justices are so comfortable with constitutional originalism
It is no coincidence that a strong leaning toward originalism
and textualism is espoused by the most conservative Catholic Supreme Court Justices.
To date, this applies especially to Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, following in the footsteps of Judge Barrett’s “mentor,” Anthony Scalia.
In this way, they achieve a curious result: Catholic Supreme Court justices treat the U.S. Constitution – a temporal document composed by human beings in all their wisdom as well as in all their human faults – as if it were some mystical holy scripture, divinely inspired.
If nothing else, going the next step and vesting the “correct” reading of the U.S. Constitution in a strict originalist frame, at best betrays an overwrought adherence to authority.
As with all religions, Roman Catholicism’s ecumenical and fundamentalist branches intensify belief in the Church’s current structures.
The apparently fervent participation of Judge Barrett in such a group as “People of Praise” is indeed relevant to her service as a justice.
In addition, recent scandals associated with that group’s schools, on which Justice Barrett served as a board member after the abuse was well documented, show how ideology can overshadow reason.
U.S. Republicans’ and Catholics’ very similar structures
The contemporary Republican Party resembles the male-dominated and elite-driven structure of the Roman Catholic Church.
The party eschews participatory democracy and does not trust participation by common people in any significant manner.
It excels in luring them with mellifluous promises as well as ideologies of security (particularly against change), but it does not encourage their independent thought.
Unsurprisingly then, what the Republican Party expects from their nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court is basically to follow authority and party dictates.
Just follow the party dictates
More directly put, this translates into voting for the outcomes the Republicans need politically from their nominees to the court.
For instance, in recent months, SCOTUS has used the shadow docket on cases about Covid restrictions on religious groups, the Trump Administration’s “remain in Mexico” policy and the emergency ban on evictions.
Other more mainstream issues are indeed litmus tests for Republican appointed justices, including campaign finance, the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms, and – quite salient these days – voting rights.
The practices of Protestantism
The basic reason why Republicans evidently don’t want to rely any longer on justices of protestant faith lies in the structure of Protestantism.
In contrast to Roman Catholicism, it has far more democratically governing bodies. From the earliest days of the Reformation onward, they are at least conceptually based on a bottom-up approach.
Indeed, the Protestant denominational structures had at least an indirect influence on the structure of the U.S.’s political governing bodies themselves.
Though Protestant denominations were for centuries also male-dominated, they admitted women both to the clergy and to governing bodies many decades ago.
Further, Protestant religious practice rests on the idea of the “priesthood of all believers,” that is, each person must exercise their independent conscience and make their own decisions.
This is, in many ways, a heavier burden than having one’s opinions and decisions handed down from above. In the context of the U.S. Supreme Court, that burden is more likely to guarantee a more independent judicial thought process.
Why one’s personal religion and service as a justice are deeply intertwined
For all these reasons, questions about how a nominee thinks judicially do indeed relate to their religious preferences and practices.
For that same reason, their past decisions at lower courts should be read for evidence of religious thinking and what they might mean to a democratic society.
Effectively undercutting the separation of church and state
The separation of church and state has been a governing concept in the United States since its founding. The Establishment Clause is the first provision in the Bill of Rights, assuring that Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Even having a two-thirds Catholic majority on the U.S. Supreme Court does not by itself constitute Congress establishing a religion.
“…the influence such a majority can attain….” Like any other extremely conservative religious branch, they are True (unquestioning) Believers. The Church in the US has moved ever rightward as bishops fight to protect their exalted status and against Pope Francis’s message of love and mercy.
While it is indeed noticeable that the reactionary majority on the Stench Court are ultra right wing Catholics, it’s a very big step from there to blame Catholicism in general for their right wing, and an even bigger one to exempt Protestants from their own right wing when “evangelical” has become so closely associated with ultra right politics. There are abundant counter examples in both groups. More importantly, reasoning according to group membership has hazards. I’m old enough to remember when John F Kennedy was running for President, and the papers discussed whether a Catholic President would be taking orders from the Pope.
<heart> Thank you, Joan. The kind of attitude you mention has been increasing here, and it unsettles me. It's good to see it called out, or at least named when it occurs. Too much out in the world.
I remember that media fear of papal control of JFK, too, back in 1960, when my Catholic parents were liberal Democrats, and were appalled by that assumption. Then, in the late 60's, "The Church" started sponsoring anti-abortion marches and the evangelical movement. Prophecy come true?
Let us not forget the Plowshares eight (the Berrigans, et.al.), Dorothy Day, Peter Mauren and the Catholic Worker (social justice mouthpiece), Thomas Merton, and other 20th century Catholics.
I've said it maybe too many times - or maybe not: Jesus, Yeshua ben Josef, was a brown-skinned Jewish rabbi. The christian bureaucracy was founded on the shoulders of emperor Constantine, with which he founded his own religion - except that he wasn't baptized until minutes before he died. The halos of Jesus and the other saints are actually taken from Sol Invictus, the sun god to whom Constantine was faithful.
The violence that the messianic (read christian) faith perpetrated on the Jews among others, including their own followers (indulgences, or payments to the church for lighter sentences in purgatory, were actually a way to put money in the pockets of the pope and bishops, who had to pay exorbitant amounts for their positions. I could go on. Going to seminary taught me a lot that I hadn't known before...
I would add (Semitic) following Jewish to further put a point on it for those who are anti-Semitic. Jesus was not only Jewish but, as all Hebrews (and Arabs), he was a Semite. Definition: "Semite noun /ˈsiːmaɪt/, /ˈsemaɪt/ /ˈsemaɪt/ a member of the peoples who speak Semitic languages, including Arabs and Jews" https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/semite
We haven't said it enough, Rosalind: "Jesus was a brown-skinned Jewish Rabbi." And His message was Love:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself." Look how far we haven't come.
Funny, isn't it, that we have no mention of Jesus calling himself perfect or The Christ or anything like that. He did call out an admirer who called him good, that only God is good. Even he made mistakes.
Being good is SO HARD! I try to remember to respond to my tRumper relatives and friends from a perspective of love. The best I can do, is NOT do - very little if any contact now. Ironically, they all pray for me.
Additionally, there is a great deal already said and written on how Koch/TFG/maybe Opus Dei etc all understood how vulnerable the population that worships a “savior” can be to the propaganda of authoritarianism
Was he blonde-haired, blue eyed? I would consider someone like that promoting hate-speech against a lot of our citizens who are historically traumatized by WWII. Strip idiots like him of his rights...and his hideous t-shirt. And put him on a watch him...with our bald-eagle-eyes.
Absolutely, "christian" probably up on the top of the list someplace.
And, we should all be using quotes with "Christian".
Because, having read the New Testament many times, INCLUDING the Acts of the Aposltles where ALL of Jesus early followers (thousands) lived as communists (shared all things, to each according to his need).....
a significant fraction of today's Christians have never read one word of the messages captured at the Conference of Nicea in the fourth century.
True Christians are everywhere, inside and outside of the tribe of hypocrites. We have many here. Bruce. Vince (Keltik Warrior). Multiple brands of Christianity out there, and unfortunately too many of them are not truly Christian. Consider this: if you are reading this, you are probably a true Christian, because this forum is saturated with magnificent people living that ideology.
“Christians who I have admired for decades turned out to be Pharisees. There are about 10% that live the Jesus version. The others are guns “god” and greed
The GOP is ALL about the “Shock Doctrine.” It is Charles Koch’s master plan, couched in euphemisms like, “Libertarian.” It only liberates the billionaires from paying taxes.
I'm in the same boat. I have one friend left who is still posting political stuff on Facebook (at least the ones that I can see. I'm up into double digits for being unfriended and blocked by former colleagues who seem to be threatened by this sort of information.) Most of the rest have kept FB to the family photos, craft projects, etc. and are bleating their propaganda on Parler or other RWNJ platforms.
Roland, I’ve been wondering what you think of the “Freedom Convoy”, the siege of Ottawa by truckers, which has now raised $4.5 million thanks to the Christian app GiveSendGo? There’s a parallel European Freedom Convoy scheduled to take over Brussels on Feb. 14, and a “California to DC” convoy in the making. What’s your reckoning, please?
This is tough. Here goes. Being a U.S. truck driver does not make me an expert on a Canadian truck driver blockade: I’ve never even been to Canada (go figure, because I’ve been to four continents and lived in 2). I can understand why they would protest having to quarantine when crossing the border, because that cuts into your pay dramatically. As a truck driver, you are a working stiff like any other, trying to pay the bills, and you can’t afford to be sitting doing nothing. So at one level, this protest is speaking for all of the workers who have been screwed by the pandemic, and boy a lot of industries have been affected. So they are expressing powerlessness. When you have no power in a frustrating situation, sometimes you look for a way to express what little power you have. Like driving to the capital city and blowing your horn.
That said, the straight-white-male population insists on keeping its privilege. Privileged white males get whiny and sulk when anyone tells them what to do. Since we know truck drivers are heavily male, a good part of this fiasco is just immature little twerps in grown bodies pissing and moaning, throwing a temper tantrum, about having to be responsible.
Heavy lifting... thanks for your thoughtful reply, Roland. I get your point of view completely and can see the same, although I worry that the authoritarian "influencers" here and abroad are able to stir this up into much more.
Ottawa City Councillor Matthew Luloff told NPR's Morning Edition on Tuesday that the protest has morphed into a more far-reaching and hostile demonstration against the government than was originally planned.
"Some of the most well-known radicals in this country have now descended upon the capital. Some of them are calling for violence. Some of them are threatening individual politicians," said Luloff, who also noted the presence of hate symbols and antisemitic flyers at the protest.
Roland, that is an almost axiomatic description of right wing politics the world over. As a philosopher-wanna-be, I always look for the underlying assumptions of whatever system I am contemplating at the moment. Well done!
Reading your assessment makes me soberly ask “Why”? I believe I need to pull back and look deeper and wonder about trump supporters. To simply hate them is not as effective as wondering how and why they planted their flag in these beliefs. I know of immigrants who are against immigration and want trumps Wall. I know of women of color who vote trump because they believe abortion should be stopped. They don’t care about anything else policy-wise. There are black gay men who vote gop because they side with their business policies. And so many of them do want a “Christian” country, but not one that actually resembles Christ’s values. Why? We are being propelled by fear. And we are effectively being divided by fear. There is no going back to “normal”. We are in a new, evolving reality and our actions -small as they seem- are writing this script. What effectively can I do? How can I take my glasses of hate off and push back against the frustration and feeling of impotence?
You do not need to hate them. You need to think of this as right or wrong "For All The People" It is 2022. Roland provides a simple assessment tool for measuring actions and words for those for or against democracies around the world.
I get that part. My question is what to do after the assessment, because that’s what counts. That’s what moves the needle - or not. And it still leaves me wondering why? Why is white supremacy so effective? Does it devolve to “Don’ take my stuff!” Or “They will then treat me as we have treated them?” Does the immigration debate devolve to “I’m tired of MY low paying job, but don’t want someone else that I am told is inferior to me, taking it.”? Or”There’s already too many people here. We don’t need more.”? Or is it, “I lost my child. My heart is broken. So I don’t want YOU to have an abortion.”? Or is it “Don’t make me explain or talk about someone else’s sexual choices with my child. All I know is that’s wrong. That’s what I’ve been told I must believe to be a good person.”? Some times checking your beliefs is too great a risk to the architecture of one’s life. So my wonder is how to get to that field where we can actually talk and debate about what we believe is Right and Wrong. They believe they are Right as much as we believe we are Right. I can assess Right or Wrong intentions until the cow’s come home. But after that, What do you do? What actionable things do we do?
Hello Michele. Love and compassion. You’re doing exactly the right thing in this post, trying to understand them. My father is a diehard lifetime racist and sexist, has voted Republican religiously ever since he came to the US in the 1950s (and now a Trump supporter). The blessing and curse of having him as my father has given me the best understanding I can have of that culture. We do our best to exercise love and compassion, but in the final analysis, we are the adults. What we say, goes. (Biden, Harris, Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff, J6 committee, et al)
The Golden Rule builds empathy as should non-"white-washed," fact-based history. A society that makes decisions based on what is good and respectful for the whole should be the foundations education. With a lot of critical thinking and questioning thrown in. Not bullying, lying and entitlement. It goes both ways on the financial spectrum. I have worked with teens on welfare and also those of the uber rich. I have witnessed some who feel a sense of entitlement at both ends. You bring up a good problem that we need to grapple with now, and begin to implement change.
I think it is critical that we recognize racism, sexism and gay hating when it appears. Not identifying them and letting them pass unannounced just allows these transgressions to continue.
When this ideology is pointed out to them (at least when I have pointed this out to my "conservative" "friends") they bleat loudly that they are not racist, sexist, or anti-gay, and deny that white male cisgendered heterosexual Christian privilege is a thing.
Of course they deny it. They are in denial. Plus, in our society, being called racist or sexist or anti-gay is an insult. Comparing Republicans to the KKK and the Nazis is an insult. Unfortunately for the insulted parties, there is a tremendous amount of truth there.
Your 4-point “keep” list and its preceding paragraph is a stand alone essay. And every day, there are more attempts by Repubs to hide their objective by legitimizing events with such hyperbole that it obscures the purpose of the events.
The “keep list” is actually a much smaller minority in number than all other peoples combined, including not to be forgotten children. That’s why the Repubs are after the kids in school so strongly. Bolster the fading census fact for the future.
In North Texas, the repub money has rolled in. The airwaves are rife with anti-immigrant rants. It is blatant and constant. Sickening and bodes poorly for us who care
"The vote for letting the new maps stand was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the liberals against the new right-wing majority, in control thanks to the three justices added by Trump."
I am simply numb. In the state where I live, the Dems are spinning wheels, doing the same old things, thinking things will work out because they always have, even though that is part of the mythology of this state. We've got some good young people and some seasoned old hands, and a bunch of people who just don't seem to pay attention. The Progressives (here a separate party, not a branch of the Dems, though sometimes it's hard to tell) are attracting people with obstructionist tendencies. My local Dem committee does not meet. We lost a brilliant young communications director to another job: she was like a beacon, drawing people in. Damn, I'll miss her.
I write letters because that is what I can do. Today's was promoting a bright, capable challenger to an incumbant on our select board who is one of the aforementioned obstructionist Progs. And a misogynist.
And today I came across an article from the December Atlantic about the state I was born in: the eastern Oregon secession movement, as if they just discovered it. Holy cow. It's been around as long as Oregon has, and just now being exploited by rich men for their own purposes, and they are adding new myths to the old ones (now they want to go to the ocean). At least they got the part about it being really a way to keep the reactionary right from going off the deep end. And there's my irony: my folks left Idaho to get away from Idaho, and Idaho followed them there. So most of us ended up in Washington (the state), including me until I took a job in Vermont, and got stuck here. Guess I'm not as settled in as I thought. Still miss the NW, especially NW Washington. But here I am. So I will keep on doing what I can.
Maybe tomorrow I'll feel better. It stopped snowing, the sun came out for a day or so, and I have a new dog who is a beauty and delightful.
Most of all, a cherished friend in Oregon is back in the saddle, after a scary week in the hospital because of delayed treatment of a non-covid condition that could have ended up costing him his life. And we all know why that is happening.
Can you begin speaking? Creating a group that can speak and hold meetings? Be the light you described the other woman as being? You certainly are as a writer.
Gailee, thank you so much for such an affirming compliment. I love to speak and have spoken, many times. I attend as many public meetings that don't involve travel as I can. Travel wears me out- I am 79, and though relatively healthy now, I still have the aftereffects of long-term Lyme and more recently Covid. My stamina is simply not what I would like. I have been politically active most of my life, as well as a community volunteer, so I am compelled by nature to stay involved.
The woman I mentioned is 23 years old; she and others like her are what give me hope for the future. I am impressed with so many young people. The problem here in Vermont is getting past the way things are always done. The political structures are entrenched, and though much progress has been made in recent years, right now it is simply not enough to wait for the usual take-off points. There are many groups here doing the kind of reach-out you suggest. I support them, but I also recognize they are up against the same obstacles I observed. In some cases, more, as some of the most active are about indigenous and BIPOC issues.
I write. Every day, on various platforms. I speak out in SOOM gatherings. I still hope that I can be involved in this election cycle, beginning with the local offices that are so important for our future as a democracy. Then building as we approach the mid-terms and then 2024. We are wasting too much time talking about 2024 and not preparing the foundations for it. That is what I worry about.
It is actually painful to read posts here echoing things that some people have absorbed because they can't be bothered to expand their sources of information, or to think about what they are writing. After all that Heather has written and spoken to, and her urging to read widely and to use our own intelligence to sort fact from distortion, still people come on here with blather. I want to tell them- go back and read Heather's letters, watch her videos, and learn. This is not a random discussion group. It is a place to expand our minds, with Heather's teaching as a starting point. I don't see it as a place of debate (there are plenty of those out there), but a place to expand and share our own experience and observation.
So my take is this is a jumping off point for each of us to tie a line to as we go into the world to find those things we CAN do. To counter the attempt to pull us into negativity, toward authoritarian ways of thinking. Things we CAN do to ensure that democracy survives, and equity and fairness.
And I will keep writing. And speaking out on the occasions that come my way. Thank you for affirming that.
I am deeply moved by your question. I wish I could refer you to publications, but much of my writing is buried as background, or as white papers for policy makers, or as commentary here and there, or simply lost. Though periodically I sort through one box of papers or another, pulling together some of it, with the hope of publishing a book of personal essays. Thank you so much for asking: it might help spur me to get busy on this again.
Thank you so very much, Roland. Bless you. You are both sweet and kind. The past few months have certainly been a challenge, and it affected me more than I knew. Right now, I'd love a couple of weeks to just sit in front of my woodstove with a stack of genre mysteries and a few books by my favorite poets, and my new dog. She is a "brown" dalmation, maybe a mix but I think not. She has blue albinistic eyes, and so do I, so I am the perfect person for her. The staff at the HA thought she was leery of the snow, but I recognized right away that it wasn't the snow: it was the glare. (I got sunglasses for her, so we both wear sunglasses when we go out during the day.)
She was brought up from Texas, from a shelter being evacuated because of storm damage, so there is no history on her. She is doing a good job of training me to light the fire first thing in the morning: she sits right in front of the stove and stares at me with Snoopy eyes. That makes me laugh.
I’d love you to get those several weeks to read and recuperate. Please do what you have to do to make it happen.
Taking really good care of ourselves is the number one thing in our lives, often easier said than done. But exercising the discipline of bringing oneself back to a happy and healthy place is really critical.
Thank you again, my friend. I think you are right. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. Part some personal stuff (minor auto crash, no injuries, but parts for my car are currently unavailable, and my concern about friends and family with health problems.
Other part is my disappointment about the sluggishness of the Dems in my town. The county committee is active, and I am included as a non-voting guest, so I get to speak, just not vote. Zoom meeting on Thurs, at which I am going to raise a question about the possibility of reorganizing the town meeting, and if that's possible under party rules, I will offer myself as chair. I was told that the current "official" chair is burnt out, and willing to step down. We will see.
Tonight I am going to reserve some mysteries online, and then pick them up tomorrow. I laid in a supply of N95s that actually fit me well (most are too big as I am a small person), and looking forward to the trip to town. I'll pick up a supply of choc decadence cookies (one must call the bakery and reserve some as they sell out rapidly).
Ah, see, now I am feeling better. I made some small decisions that will make it easier to take on things later. (Surer hope the bakery has the cookies tomorrow, they are not an every day item...)
Your kind and thoughful note cheered me up and helped me to remember that my first responsibility is taking care of myself when I need to. Thank you.
I started to answer this a while ago, then got distracted. I wondered if anyone would catch that irony. Doesn't surprise me that you did, Roland, with your sharp eyes for inconsistencies. But yes, indeed, this man is a misogynist and a bit of a gas-lighter. Fortunately, he's put it on display in a number of situations and it has backfired on him. He's also authoritarian, and I am baffled by his choosing to identify as a Progressive. I think it is social points and also opportunistic- he is an ambitious man. The Progressive Party is a growing thing here in Vermont, even in very rural places that most people wouldn't expect it to be. So though he gets nothing actually done on our select board, he "gets along" with the other guys. He began a campaign to run for a statewide office, but I haven't seen anything about it. Maybe he saw the field of female candidates and changed his mind.
Roland, I came back here to find this and add to it. Nobody is likely to read it but you. But I needed to finish out this story. For that matter, if somebody does read it, it might be a lesson on not giving up, to keep poking and poking until you find the thing that works.
I was terribly upset at the thought that nobody was running against this man. Then I learned that the Progs DO have a candidate who is really putting herself into her campaign. Great odds against her, because the good old boy network is swinging into action. I started talking to some county Dems about what is going on. Apparently, in many places in VT, Dem town committees don't meet except to select delegates to the county committee. I found that so odd, because definitely not what I've seen elsewhere, even the other towns where I've lived in VT.
I am (get this) the 3rd *alternate* delegate to the county committee from my town. But I usually get to vote as acting delegate, because only one of the actual delegates shows up.
I have been informed that I CAN request a reformation of the committee, since it is inactive. So that's a possibility. I could be chair, because apparently nobody else wants to be. But do I even? I have a feeling it's a brick wall.
Debating with myself. Because I talked to the Prog candidate for the select board, and learned some things. This guy is NOT a member of the Progressive Party. They got onto him and refuse to allow him to run as a Prog. He can call himself a little p progressive, but he is not allowed to identify himself as a member of the Party. Whoa. Also learned that Progs are starting to get that politics is about compromise that leaves open possibilities, rather than taking a stance that shuts off dialogue. There may be hope.
Talked to some other people, too. To a person, everyone I've spoken to who has had to work with him cannot stand him, especially women, not surprisingly, but men as well, outside the good old boys. One person used the term "creepy" to describe him; others used similar terms. That tallies with my experience with him, and the outcomes of his involvement with other groups. And yet... the old boys network is out in force. Interesting, that.
I can't work in a vacuum. And the Dems here are a vacuum, although I do enjoy the people a great deal (the ones at the county level, which are the only ones I get to interact with). But the town is what I am concerned about at this point. So I am thinking the best bet is for me to resign from the Dems, and rejoin the Progressive Party. That means more work, but less stress. And the possibility of actually removing someone from the select board who shouldn't be there. Sounds good to me.
Never did order those mysteries. Think I will tomorrow.
A homie! Where are you located? I still have relatives in Skagit County, a few in Snohomish. And a cluster on the other side of the mountains. These are the 1 to 3rd degree folks. I've got identifiable relatives probably in every county west of the Rockies.
Moving to PA from CA? Now I'm curious about what draws you, especially this year. Though I can readily understand some of the factors that could make a person want to leave CA. If you do end up in PA, let me know. I have an ancestral line that migrated there, to the Wycoming area early in the 1800s, and I'd like to locate their establishment and the graves. Almost have to go to PA to do research because of the way records were kept there. Be nice to be able to meet a friend while I'm at it.
Hi, neighbors to the north. Kinda the same story here in Oregon. I have 3 sets of friends actively campaigning to join Idaho. Others are clamoring for creating the "State of Jefferson" carved out from S. Oregon and (very)N. California.
Hi, back! I actually had to look up Woodinville, and realized I had a couple projects there when I was working (ages ago) for the State on watershed stuff. In my world, that is part of Seattle. When I say NW, I'm talking well north of Everett or northern Kitsap penninsula.
Now there is NW Washington! I like Bellingham, used to go there a lot when I worked for the state, and sometimes just because. (GREAT restaurants and B&Bs.) My brother lives not far from there, but like me, he is more a country kid.
Another of my favorite places. I've traveled all over the NW, and Port Townsend was always a place I felt at home in. Anacortes and LaConner too, though they are different both from each other and Port Townsend. Gosh, I'm feeling really homesick now.
I was conceived in Seattle and lived there from two months to almost 4, and again 7-8. The place is in my blood despite how crowded it's gotten these last 60 years. I have a friend on San Juan Island in a house he built all by himself over four years. He's a ranger. I get very nostalgic about that part of the world. But I like New England, although not so much in the winter.
Almost my entire family first moved to Lopez Island in the San Juans decades ago, then gradually (as the island culture changed character) moved to various parts of the mainland. I left first to take care of my mother when she was dying of cancer, and then went to Oly to go to grad school at TESC. Started working for the state my second term in, and began to travel all over the state. I've also traveled, both professionally and personally, in most of the US and large parts of Canada, also a little overseas. Hope to do a little more traveling before I tuck in. I've found beauty everyplace I've been, but still think that the PacNW is absolutely the most beautiful place I've been. And watching the Oregon legislature online this week gives me optimism that the state is working through some of the travails it has been saddled with in the last few years. The media has not covered the Northwest well: it falls back on too many outdated tropes.
BTW, my "brother by another mother", a friend from high school, was a ranger until he retired, then he became a college science teacher! He's in southern Oregon, and built the house he raised his family in on land that belonged to his Takelma grandfather.
The one thing I would like to have done was build my own mountain home. I came close, but didn't quite get there. Just as well: the property I owned was in the heart of the fire that burned a year or so ago in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It had to jump 3 highways to get there. I loved it there too, but not sure I'll ever go back to see what that fire did.
I was born in Portland, grew up in southern Oregon, went back to Portland for college. Loved the kind of place it was back then. Raised my kids there. But Portland changed, and became a place I hardly recognize, though I still have friends there, and 2 of my kids live there. I don't feel at home when I visit, though I do think it is one of the most beautiful and dynamic cities I have been in, still. I do love the fact that AmTrak allows me to travel right down to almost all the places that are meaningful to me, so I can spend a few days in Portland and be on my way, catch it again on the way back, and then back up to my brother in the foothills of the Washington Cascades. I would like to travel to Europe again, but I feel strongly that I have responsibilities here, to the land I come from (mixed indigenous, with a healthy admixture of mostly Gaelic), and to what I leave my grandchildren.
I believe that the RNC statement of “legitimate political discourse,” the defeated x45 manchild speech that promised more riots and pardons and the stories of scotch taped papers are the usual tfg red herrings to get the media off the story of obstruction of justice and jury tampering. Well past time to lock up those who ignore subpoenas and threaten violence to poll workers, school committees and other public officials, including Dr Fauci. It’s February already and the all-important primaries begin in a few weeks.
Damn, I should have waited til morning to read this and the continuing treason and outrageous behavior of the Republicans who Kiss the Don’s butt shamelessly. I will probably dream of attempting to rectify the situation in ways that my Quaker friends from high school would not approve. ☠️
Thanks, Heather. The Republicans have thrown down the gauntlet of destroying our democracy, officially. The enemy to our own democracy lies within our corporatocracy and maintaining the caste system against anyone who is not white, male and privileged. This is February 8, 2022. Is it now time to treat aiders and abetters of sedition as the anti-democracy criminals they are— according to our Constitution?
Gailee, I would submit that a large part of what’s destroying our democracy is losing sight of the fact that Capitalism is not very good at distribution. It only can work if it’s wedded to social democratic institutions, a regulatory state which contains its excesses, moderates its raw brute greedy and self-serving impulses, keeps it honest, gives it a human face, makes it work for all of us.
Hmmm, that's a very interesting point, MaryPat -- I hear you saying Democracy let its guard (rules) down and permitted capitalism to run amok. Fascinating idea.
It seems now, tho, that capitalism IS our form of government.
Nope. Other way round. The original Adam Smith wrote very clearly that capitalism could only work as a viable economic system if it were carefully and consistently regulated and managed, and pointed out the dangers if it weren't. We are living his prophesies now. Funny how proponents of Big Capitolism take care never to mention that part of Smith's writings.
SLWeston, Thank you for your kind words. A question: If you don’t believe we have the capacity to regulate and contain Capitalism, what would you suggest as a replacement?
Sadly, BarbaraJo, I'm so much better at criticism-spewing than solution-finding! lol
I have no answer for you. I keep wondering if paring this whole mess down to its basics, one on one, neighbor to neighbor is an answer. It sure feels appealing. The damndemic shutdown, the pioneer-life feel to existence for a while there, meeting people as we walked our neighborhood every evening, that we're-all-in-this-together vibe, the lifeboat camaraderie -- what an eye-opener, brain-expander, heart-softener.
How about community-building and -organizing as a new form of government -- no one in charge, each one sharing their expertise, coordinating with nearby communities?
SLWeston, Though parts of your comment resonated, I, nonetheless, am destined to persevere in the struggle for a more inclusive, pluralistic, multi-ethnic democracy, even when it can be shown, as it often can, that decisions get made for ideological purposes I don’t share. Still, I and fellow travelers will stay the course. We’ll try to affect the agenda, swallow the medicine if outvoted, and be there next time as well….
American Capitalism simply engulfs and destroys whatever is in its path: indigenous communities; the Earth; urban neighborhoods and pastoral landscapes; air, water, sky and ground.
The world is littered with the cancerous affluents of our American Capitalism.
But good liberals and progressives mistakenly enable this violence by blindly segregating into silos of feminism; ecologism; and every conceivable form of activism.
The elephant in the room, our society and in this world, is the cancer known as American Capitalism.
But watch this column - the author, Helen Cox Richardson and the dozens of “commentators.” Where is the critique of the true demon in our society and our souls?
“Souls” I state .... because Americans are oblivious to the addiction of materialism, which allows homelessness and begars on the intersections of our richest neighborhoods, many of which are simply frightened families hiding behind gates.
I think it exists, though not in America, and not by that name, which is an oxymoron. We have to first stop confounding democracy with capitalism, and we need to remember that all economic systems need management. What is referred to as corporate capitalism is not capitalism: it is oligarchy. Get rid of the labels and trying to create something to fit a label. First, take a good look at how things actually work, and what doesn't. There are many examples of different kinds of economies right here in the US. Some are very successful. Ditto overseas, despite the efforts to impose American Corporate Capitalism in as many places as possible.
Capitalism is an economic system that can only function successfully and fairly within a democracy government system which controls it. Democracy sets the rules and values. Currently capitalism in America defies (and buys) the first and lacks the second.
Not exactly—Citizens United and the Charles Koch philosophy of Capitalism as unbridled greed couched in false similes of “survival of the fittest” is what has destroyed this democracy. Corporations are not People; they are a legal tool to protect management from certain types of liabilities.
The wealthiest civilization in history, we are told, yet America cannot feed or house or provide safety, not because of a lack of freedom, but due to unequal distribution of food, housing, and protection. Money indeed is the root .....
A Canadian friend of mine sent a TikTok video to me last night which is staggering. To see it, go to tiktok@w.o.r.l.d256 to see their videos and click on "Most Valuable Companies in the World." Beautiful presentation of a nauseating reality of corporatocracy numbers up. very. close.
I was moved by Adam Schiff's closing lines at tfg's impeachment trial, and they continue to give me chills today:
“'History will not be kind to Donald Trump. If you find that the House has proved its case, and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history.'"
The singular indignity and contempt with which the RNC discharges its duties belongs in the gutter alongside its idol, the "golden calf" and his abominable Republican minions. How any human being can yearn to link their name to his is beyond comprehension.
He represents Burbank, which is Hollywood. The entertainment industry located him and set him up for office, that’s what I read somewhere... (LA Times)
With redistricting, he"s now running to represent the new 30th District, which includes the Original Farmer's Mkt area, Park La Brea, Miracle Mile, the
Grove. I continue to support him with an automatic
monthly donation (measly, but it all adds up, right?). He is a superb human being who gives me some sense of comfort that we have a few politicians who truly work for the people.
TFG had advisors who fed him lines of BS? Remember, he chose his advisors. When they stopped saying what he wanted to hear, he sacked them and appointed new ones, with accelerating frequency as his term came to a close. He seemed to have a talent for picking a rogue's gallery of "advisors", several of whom have already been convicted and served time for one form of white collar crime or another. And, now he has the RNC in his pocket as well. But, the closer and closer he flies to the flame, the more other Republicans will slowly succumb to the fear that being associated with him will destroy their chances with more moderate and orthodox party voters and independents. We still have nearly 3 years to the 2024 election, plenty of time for him to continue spouting increasingly outrageous lies and self incriminating statements, even IF the DOJ can't summon the courage to indict and prosecute him. The only court he cares about is the one with 160 million members in the jury box. It's worth remembering that he DID capture a personal record number of voters in 2020 and still lost by 5 million+ AND the electoral college. There just won't be enough voters in his base willing to stick with him in spite of himself to carry an election. He may wreak havoc in the primary, but the Republican orthodoxy (do they even exist anymore?) will have to make the brutal choice to perish in flames with him, or summon the courage to put him out to pasture and choose new champions. I haven't seen much evidence of courage in the current generation of elected national Republican leaders, so I wouldn't lay odds on their behaving as king-makers for anyone "new" in 2024. One simply can't speak from a position of strength while attempting to split the baby, to stand straight upright on the fractured ground of a huge pile of lies.
Words to describe those who follow Trump are opportunists and sycophants! Those are the ones that I can print. I have some choice words in German too. At the same time, I cannot help wondering why this obviously criminal ex-president is not thrown in jail and locked away where he belongs. I have long been thinking about the appropriate location for a penal colony for Trump and all of his sycophantic gangster Republican homies.
I used to think of Gitmo in the early years of the past regime. Now, it is way too small for all the traitors to America. We need to look to the Siberian suggestions below.
Zemalya Bunge, is an uninhabited New Siberian Island that is a barren sandy plain. That would be my choice. It has no vegetation and some think it might be sea floor that was caused to rise above sea level.
Oh. Good. I've been to Siberia. It is a wonderful place. My inlaws live in Khakasia and my niece goes to university in Krasnoyarsk. Lenin was sent to Siberia by the Czar and look where it got hom
They have been used for years by the Australian government as detention centres for any refugees or asylum-seekers trying to reach Australia by boat. Bad story. I was being ironic. But they are fully equipped with huts, basic communal facilities, guards, and high barbed wire fences.
There are no "good Republicans." There is the Party of Trump, and all he did was make it OK for them to say out loud what they have believed for decades. One of the founding parties that became the GOP were the former Know Nothings, who now run the entire show.
But you see, The Former Guy wasn't really bad. He was just stupid.
I believe this is called "damning with faint praise." And it seems to be the very best that his most ardent admirers can come up with.
Of course, I damn him with nothing that can be called "faint," nor can it be even remotely associated with "praise." I've even invented a new part of the Inferno for him to spend eternity in.
I dunno, Joseph. He’s not dumb and I truly feel his “admirers” don’t think he’s stupid. I know this was tongue-in-cheek, but TFG is extremely dangerous. If he is finally thrown in prison, my guess is he’ll sing like a canary. He won’t want to be by himself facing the audience…this time.
Many who voted ¨for him¨ were voting against Biden because they truly believe the Dems will establish a Venezuelan form of socialism. I know a few of them.
Thanks Heather again for concise, penetrating commentary and insight. Hopefully the dam is going to break at some point and those (somewhat) honest Republicans in office will finally break with the "fringe" that now dominates the remains of the party. In all the polling and statistics, it seems that this country has about 30 some percent of voters who are aligned with all the Trump et al lies. (A higher percentage of Republicans of course.) The challenge now, is to get a winning majority of the remaining 70 percent of voters to come over the the Truth, Facts, and Science of the Democrat party. How to do seems to me to be the challenging political matter at hand today. What is the way?????? Who shall lead??? That seems to be the great unanswered question. Biden is caught up in dealing with the everyday trying to deliver the goods right now----and succeeding magnificently (look at jobs added, etc.) even though the MSM can't see that. In Addition: For what it is worth, take a look at The American Prospect web and emails that point out the REAL problem behind the bottleneck in trucking and distribution. It is the lack of good, well-paying jobs. The scandal is the fact that so many truckers have been reduced to contractors, unions have been squeezed out, the turnover in truckers is about 94% per year---Get the article and confirm the details and then write letters to newspapers, and all the rest. It isn't the lack of drivers---it is the lack of jobs that pay decently, have benefits, and all the rest. (which was the status of things until trucking was DEREGULATED----end of this rant.) Peace and Courage to all. And sleep well; be ready for tomorrow........
didn't I read somewhere that 40% of the electorate now identify themselves as independent? I'm a proud member of this "non-party". I'd participate in an open primary if there was one available to me; everyone gets to vote and the top two candidates move on to the general election, irrespective of party affiliation.
There will always be lobbyists, and that's not all a bad thing. It's Citizen's (ha) United with no restrictions on money that propelled the destruction of our democracy by corporate thugs.
In 2016 after a lifetime of voting without enrolling in a political party, I found it necessary to enroll as a Democrat, as I finally became conscious of the need to stand strong against autocracy. I regret that it took me that long to see, and to begin to work purposefully to support democracy.
Perhaps I need to shift from Independent to democrat for now, too. When we have time to fight for campaign finance reform, I can go back to Independent. But we need to have huge numbers of dems right now to show the party of sedition that we mean serious business.
NM has closed primaries. I consider myself an Independent, but have maintained registration as a Democrat, because in a heavily Democratic state, that is where the candidates are chosen. Over the years, I have prided myself on voting for the candidates, not the party. For the foreseeable future that has changed and I will not vote for any Republican. No matter what they promise in campaigns, they seem to get sucked into the prevailing party line.
Choosing independent (with a lower case "i" )means one accepts the reality of being an "outsider" to any particular voter block. It also demands more of the voter than the party-line voter. There isn't a lazy "party ticket" recipe for voting. As an independent, one may have conservative and/or liberal views, issue by issue. I find myself fiscally conservative and socially moderate on most issues, understanding also that fiscal conservatism and social moderation have more than one definition. I view the primary season as a means to come to know something about the major party candidates, knowing I'll be confronted with two of them in the general election. Sadly, there hasn't been a third party candidate with a big enough megaphone to catch the public's attention since Ross Perot, although there are axes along which people can align themselves other than conservative/liberal. A balanced budget, for instance, is neither liberal nor conservative in and of itself. Tax policy can be used to unbalance a budget, or cover up profligate spending. So, I'm a spectator for the primaries, a voter for the general election season.
The Biblical directive quoted above; "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, ....and love your neighbor as yourself" can be claimed by persons on all points along the political spectrum. To truly own that commandment speaks far more about an individual's sense of humility than it does about one's politics, more about one's attitude/behavior towards others than one's personal view of the world. It more or less excludes the behavior of an idealogue. Hunger, frailty, danger, disenfranchisement aren't primarily political issues. We certainly politicize them, but one feature of political belief/process is about whether one approaches the debates with an intent to find common ground or to "win" a cage fight. Where is the party that attracts people whose instincts are to find the center, rather than the extremes?
The "fringe" ideas have been strong in the GOP for decades. Trump was only "special" in making it OK for them to say that crap out loud. Go read Richard Hofstadter's "The Pseudo-Conservative Revolt," written back in 1954 - it describes modern "mainstream" Republicans to a "T."
Just when you think the atrocities that DT committed in which more come to light each day, are absolutely the craziest you can think of, you realize we are running out of superlatives to describe them. AND he’s seemingly untouchable and unaccountable for nothing short of high crimes of treason. How can this be possible?
Reading this letter, really a summary of more crazy TFG stunts and the news today, I have to stop and breathe. Holding my breath until the next discovery. Nixon had secret tapes. TFG wasn’t even hiding his destruction of documents. Interesting that his staff taped the ripped pieces together. Why wasn’t that leaked to the public? Obstruction of Justice. What’s next? We are extremely lucky, very very lucky, this crazy man didn’t start WW3. But if we ask his diehard supporters, this is no big deal. We will have to rely on the 1/6 committee and the law.
They absolutely are. Thiel's ideal society is apparently a society similar (if not identical) to that which exists in Russia; a corrupt oligarchy run by a few robber barons.
I agree. Not only does he object both to government operating for the benefit of all, but also has a problem with women voting? And he has the means to promote, hard, others who share his views.
At least all the troglodytes seems to be compelled right now to voice the unvoiceable. I love that we see who they all are. Though it feels excruciatingly slow, it seems necessary as the worst of our privileged wealthy, or seemingly powerless white males, are demonstrating very clearly who they are. It is much easier for a democracy to see its' enemies who have lain just under the surface.
A monopoly is the easy way to build a business, but it usually offers lousy subpar products. The USSR was one big monopoly and was 20 years behind the west. Competition is what pushes innovation and excellence.
The GOP can't have it both ways; either you are a part of the corrupt Trump cult-and complicit in his authoritarianism-or you break completely and declare how dangerous this blighted human being is for the future of democracy in America.
Trump and his brownshirts have spoken their intentions out loud, providing no quarter for GOP fence-sitters.
Attempting to attract Trump's followers while seeking some semblance of distance from Trump is nothing more than a morbid exercise in dystopian pretzel logic.
Sunday evening I watched the program "Love and the Constitution" featuring Jamie Raskin, a constitutional law professor and member of the Jan 6 committee. He was elected to Congress in 2016 and the program started with his election. It was interesting to have my memory jogged on what the first couple of years of the DT administration were like - like shutting down the government etc. It was a wonderful program and puts Rep. Raskin on a short list of people I would vote for for President. It might be refreshing to have a Constitutional scholar who loves the Constitution to repair the damage that has been done to the Constitution by all three branches of government. The shadow docket of the Supreme Court and its dismantling of democracy is one thing that needs to be fixed. The Congress as a supposed democratic institution needs the have some adults elected to the Congress. President Biden is doing an amazing job in extremely difficult circumstances. The two party system that John Adams called the worst evil to befall the Constitution should be buried with the Republican party. We can do better than a system that leads to such dysfunctional extremes. Let's celebrate the Biden Boom! Let's celebrate the Constitution. But, make it work for All the People this time.
"It was a wonderful program and puts Rep. Raskin on a short list of people I would vote for for President."
Whew. So while Republicans are uniting, the Left is back to the purity tests, pipe dreams, and third party Pied Pipers which helped elect Trump once and can again. A typical move, pretend to praise Democrats' accomplishments and then pull the plug on the two party system.
Gush over Jamie Raskin and ignore that Jamie Raskin is a Democrat.
I was lucky to be a neighbor and constituent of Raskin's when he first ran for Congress. To honor him, I try to follow his example - including strategic voting to support Democratic control of government. My list of who I would vote for for president includes any candidate who wins the Democratic primary. That means, after caucusing for Sanders, volunteering and voting for Clinton and after voting for Warren, volunteering and voting for Biden.
We had a constitutional scholar, Barack Obama. The problems are beyond being a decent, intelligent human. (I admire Rep. Raskin deservedly )T But the next dem president will only be as effective as we are active, right down to the Drain Commisioner and Library Board level. Showing up at School Board meetings and City Commission meetings is important. We need to be a strong -and active- progressive block.
ThankYou!!!!
Racist wing religious extremists learned the lesson of the Civil Rights movement. Get into politics at every level. Show up and remake the party in your image.
Racist right wing religious extremists volunteer, vote, and run - as Republicans. They didn't swallow the elephant whole, they ate it bite by bite before *s#itting* out in their image - Trump.
The Left has a lot of catching up to do. BLM has the right idea - an alliance for civil right. Cori Bush for example.
I filed for Treasurer of our county for the primary in the spring. I expect to be the only Democrat on the ballot! My heart is breaking! I will be 79 if I am elected in the fall.
Good for you. I am 79 too. Thinking of posting myself for school board. At this point it would be write-in, but nobody here wants that job. And I'm not sure I do either, but I could be at least a placeholder.
Do it! My town needed someone to run and Selectmen encouraged me to step up. I had no children in school but I did have years of experience in government out of state. I knew the District had problems and no one seemed willing to face them or figure out what was wrong (although I had an idea). I was elected - served two 3-year terms, the last two years as Chair. We figured out the cause of the problem (a business manager who had stolen $250,000) and took care of that (sent her to prison). Rebuilt the confidence of the voters and passed budgets with nary a problem.
You will learn a lot being on that side of the Board table. And you may be able to build voter interest and better understanding of how a School Board works.
Do it, Annie! A buddy of mine ran for county commissioner as a write-in not long after he graduated from high school in 2018. He decided to run about 48 hours before the primary. A multi-generational cohort of supporters swung into action and got him on the ballot. He came in sixth in the general -- the top seven were elected. He's currently in college and doing a great job.
Don't let your age dissuade you. It gives you perspective, emotional balance, and the courage to say what needs to be said. At our age (I will be 81 in March) we don't have to be building anything; we have nothing to lose by telling the truth and doing what's right. So you're already ahead of any Republican on the ticket.
Rusty, I have an accounting degree from ISU (a late in life student). Then in 1987 after graduation I started working as a sales and use tax, withholding and income tax auditor for 26 1/2 years. I retired at 70 1/2. I am ready to go back to work and work for my county government now!
Thanks, Rusty. There is actually NOBODY on the ticket for this position, which was vacated midway by the incumbent. School board is non-partison. I live in a small town. Running would not be an issue. And they do need people like me. My problem is concern for my own health. I'm going to talk to someone I know who is on the board to get her thoughts.
Check out Run For Something for candidate support:
https://runforsomething.net/
Good for you, Sharon! I hope you win!
Yaay!!! YOU are the solution. All Best Wishes!!!!
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Hey! You’re just a kid! You will win…never ever doubt that, not even for a minute!!
LOL! I live in a "Republican" county in Indiana. Most folks are uneducated and only vote straight "Republican" because they know the word "Republican". So very sad!
Kudos.
Bless you!
Love Cori Bush! She is indeed a force of positive energy for her making our country a better place.
A savvy and smart activist and politician.
I suggest that we need a strong and active Democratic block. At least if we want to get anything done. The Democratic Party is the big tent. That has always been its strength. Insisting on purity is a gift to the Republicans--that is, to the authoritarians. Yes, we need progressives--I consider myself one--but let's be clear that we will support what most Democrats want, because at this point there is no choice if we want to be effective and stave off tyranny.
ps. Obama was not nearly the scholar, activist, nor politician that Raskin or Clyburn are. They are smart, savvy team players.
Obama, despite being a basketball fan, never understood team play or political strategy. He won elections but was not an adept executive because he did not work with his Democratic team in Congress.
If he had understood team play or political strategy, we might never have had TFG in the white house.
Exactly!
Oh yes, purity tests....going strong in the our new CD six here in Oregon. I want someone who can win in the general and that person might not check every box. It is not enough to want medicare for all, or universal health care; it has to be single payer of else. On one thread I gave a little history starting at the New Deal about the effort to get health care for everyone. Shame on me, as someone decided to be condescending and I suspect was also mansplaining. Finally, I explained to him why he was offensive and didn't receive a reply after that. But if the Neanderthal Peter Thiel had his way, I wouldn't be voting.
You go girl!!! Absolutely yes.
Pragmatism, as in who stands the best chance of beating whomever the Republicans nominate, should be the guiding principle for Democrats given what's at stake. Progressives, for all their noble policy positions — most of which I support, too often forget the well-worn saying "perfection is the enemy of the good."
Four thumbs up. I have tried to explain this, but talking to them is like talking to a true believer of any hue. I have to smile about the irony on one of the pages which is supposedly open for discussion, but no this and no that if it's not pure far left progressive. Just as autocratic as those they oppose.
Only a billionaire like Thiel could get away with objecting to women voting. Democrats should use this against any Republican who accepts Thiel's help. He deserves to be ostracized.
Also, FWIW, research continues to build a case that Neanderthals don't deserve having their name used a pejorative. Smarter and more ingenious than earlier thought, they may not have gone extinct. Instead, they likely were absorbed into the homo sapient population. But I'm biased because of my higher-than-average Neanderthal DNA.
I suggest referring to Thiel as a troglodyte. One meaning of the word: a person who is regarded as being deliberately ignorant or old-fashioned. Or call him a rich savage.
I didn't mean to insult Neanderthals and actually thought about what you mentioned. I think it's great you have a higher than average amount of their DNA. And I do read about prehistory. I finished a book on ancient DNA not long ago. i was in a hurry and had a different word in mind, but was iffy on the spelling. You provided the word I wanted. I confess to being a poor speller and am also at the age when the word I want sometimes escapes me, but will come if I am not trying to think of it. I think I can fairly call Thiel a misogynist. He is certainly in the wrong century.
What planet are you on? Not this one, that’s for sure. Republicans are uniting? You couldn’t prove it by what they are saying. Or by their steadily diminishing minority. Democrats are engaging in purity tests? Sure they are. That’s why they united behind Joe Biden, and passed ARP with not one Republican vote, and the infrastructure package with very few. It’s time to come down to Earth.
Sheesh. Mitch McConnell's Senate. The Leonard Leo Supreme Court. RNC. Unite the Right is the GOP motto. What they *say*? Seriously. They will *say* anything. Listen to Susan Collins. She says all sorts of nice stuff -and then marches lock step with McConnell. You shall know them by their deeds.
Yes Democrats united behind Biden. THANKYOU James Clyburn. ThankYou all the Democratic contenders who stepped down from their personal ambition and stepped up for their Country and Party. ThankYou all the Democratic voters, many of them for whom unity did not come easy.
Yes after the 2016 disaster, many on the Left joined the Biden coalition in 2020.
But comments about 'short list of Democrats I would vote for for president' show that many consider their vote a personal expression of their own deeply held feelings - rather than a tactic to strategically unite for a shared goal.
Amen!
Right on the button, lin. Thank you.
Unfortunately, at the local level, certain progressives are pushing purity tests and they constantly diss Biden. If a pol takes even a dime from a corporation, that person is a corporate D. Our secretary of state here in Oregon just made it more difficult to get measures on the November ballot about campaign money because there is a court decision about the wording of these. They would also apply to unions and that may be part of the problem. The story now is incomplete and I hope there is further information. And Phil Knight just made a large donation to Betsy Johnson, a DINO, who is running as an independent for governor. And no, the Oregon supreme court has not made a decision on Kristof.
With the incessant national noise, I’ve been less engaged with what’s going on in Oregon at the state level. My bad.
Not at all your bad. There is so much going on in every state that it is hard to keep track. That's one of the thing that I like about this site; I read about what's going on in other places. And yes, the national noise is very loud.
Not following your logic as a response to Cathy’s comment.
You gotta play the hand you're dealt. Focus on uniting and winning. The two party system may not be working for a lot of us, but the alternative is marching in circles with no one listening.
Exactly, Syd. Thank you for a concise statement of what has to drive our priorities right now. One of the reasons some Progs are obstructive is because they want some kind of absolute in the outcome. That's kind of the same approach right wing republicans use. And it isn't getting them anywhere either (thankfully). But they can keep things muddled up enough we could lose unless we get straight on what is at stake here. The two (or more) party system does work, but first you have to have working, politically healthy parties capable of engaging in rational discourse.
Some people do not seem to understand this at all. They do not understand the reality of what can be achieved in the political realm. When I tried to point out that we should celebrate what Biden has achieved and not constantly diss him, I was "toxic." Just was on one thread where one person was trying to talk about the practical problems of getting campaign finance reform. The other person wanted a detailed plan and then I guess he thought that could be implemented with no problem.
"Politics is the Art of the Possible." A duly famous quote.
A quote I often use, but rarely receive any kind of cogent answer to it.
We can’t succumb to purity tests. Otherwise we end up with Jill Stein and other third party candidates siphoning off electors.
However, I loved Raskin way back when he had Rand Paul’s haircut.
Cathy praised the worthy Raskin to the skies. Told us to celebrate the Biden Boom. And then rallied us to pull the plug on the two party system, leading the way for a purity test politics. Which she claims will help all of us. Well, the Democratic successes are helping all of us. We need a larger majority to do more.
We have a two party system. That is the choice. After Ross Perot, Republicans learned the lesson of uniting the right for power, particularly the power of the courts.
And even after 2016 and with the Leonard Leo, Koch, Mercer et al Supreme Court obstructing justice for years to come. Many on the left still don't get it.
I believe this is missing the larger point. The Constitution as written was adequate for the white society that ruled America in the late 18th and early 19th century. But societies become more and more complex over time. The steps are incremental and designed to solve problems as they arise.
But the overall effect is monumental when comparing, say, today with 1800. Our society has changed to the point that it is utterly alien to that which existed in the early days of the Republic.
The arc of all major societies is towards collapse. Joseph Tainter’s book, “The Collapse of Complex Societies” delineated this truth nearly 40 years ago.
It has become painfully obvious that the intricately-structured, rickety, yes two party system of governing America, designed largely as reflexive protection against Britain, is hopelessly unequal to the challenges of the modern world. Attempts to solve the problem by tacking on a third party or adding even more radical change to the superstructure are effectively man’s best effort to stick a finger in the dyke in order to prevent the flood.
Working within the system, becoming involved at even the lowest levels of government are calls to action that are hard to resist - there is a certain very finite logic to them.
But the larger point remains hard to ignore. America has become too complex a society to remain cohesive. Its collapse is relatively imminent. It is true that the same can be said for the rest of the developed world, democracies and otherwise. But the American system is so ossified, so structurally immovable and the penchant of your country for deep, coruscating internal division almost guarantees that its collapse will be arrived at more swiftly.
The Founders as Enlightenment revolutionaries were progressives. The essence of the Constitution is coming to consensus through reasoned debate of empirical evidence. The scientific method informing an agreed legal framework. This is how we transfer executive and legislative authority, interpret the law through the judiciary, and make laws in the legislature. And amend the Constitution. Everything else is up for reform and renewal.
Our government is threatened from the Right by the absolute truths of religious creed and from the Left from the absolute truths of ideology. More parties won't fix absolutism. More parties may create more gridlock and worse politics. Showing up once every 4 years to skew a presidential election is not building a party.
I find it an imposing task to imagine more gridlock.
I like the ideals in your first paragraph, but they remain aslant from the trend to complexity. Each new problem brings (at best) a just-in-time solution and, as an added bonus (?) another jump towards an increase in overall complexity. The Jenga sticks grow, and to a more than casual observer, look less sturdy.
Add to that the insane and entirely unique pace of technological transformation and it becomes more to difficult to argue that the centre can hold. The centre is no longer served by its collection of what it took to be truisms. So it embarks on a futile search for progressive ventures (ranked choice voting is one) to preserve the unpreservable.
I've had these thoughts, though not as coherently and cohesively -- along with the long-held conviction that the earth's population has grown too large to be supported by the earth's resources. These two thoughts seem of a piece to me -- that once a system grows too large, it starts to collapse. Are viruses like Covid the planet's way of shaking off its major predator? Are the deep socio-political-cultural divisions we're seeing an inevitable result of societies being organized along the lines of have and have not? Have we already engineered the destruction of our species, with current situations being the beginning of Act I? Sorry -- a maudlin start to the day. I think I'll take the dog for a walk.
Somewhat off topic, but a response to the previous post: Each year, starting in 2006, the Global Footprint Network calculates so-called Earth Overshoot Day, “the date on which humanity has used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year.” For 2020, the date was August 22; in 2021, it was July 29. The organization estimated that each year humanity was consuming about 160% of what the Earth could replenish. Here's a link:
https://www.footprintnetwork.org/about-us/our-history/
The two extreme parties do not represent me. I have no elected representative that represents me. On Biden's Inauguration Day a Gallup poll showed 25% of the people identified as Democrats, 25% as Republicans and a simple majority 50% as Independents. The solution to the third candidate spoiling the two party bipartisan (as quite different from nonpartisan) lock on elections is called ranked choice voting. The two party system is not in the Constitution and in fact the founders thought it would destroy democracy. They are being proved correct in this century. Texas is already an autocracy with minority white male rule. ALEC has gotten 17 states (red ones) to pass resolutions to hold a Constitutional Convention. It takes 38 to have one. If you think the Supreme Court super-majority is a problem which is already ripping up the Constitution wait until the ALEC Convention makes the death of our democratic republic a reality.
May I suggest that it is not about you? It is about putting our personal lived experiences to work for our shared goals?
It is not about seeing someone just like you in office, unless you run for office. It is about working and playing well together. For something more important than our individual selves.
The Founders were against factions in general. But as Ben Franklin said, 'when animosities arise, stand with the party which unfurls the flag of the general welfare.' Loosely paraphrased.
Sorry lin. You are making so many assumptions about who I am and you have no clue. Enjoy this sunny day!
Well put, lin. I do think the time will come when the "United States" will either redefine and rename itself, or it will regionalize into an assembly of nations rather than semi-independent states (which is where our name originally arose). Most of us have a sense of regional identity, and there are many formal, legal regional collaborations already in place. We can't predict where the future will take us (as the recent past has all too well reminded us). But we do seem to be on the cusp of some kind of significant change. The values we choose to operate under will play a large role in how that plays out. The trope that nations and empires necessarily descend into violence is not true. Mostly they just kind of wind down.
Republicans are uniting? Really?
Yes. THIS is what we need!
Wow. Just wow. Lin, you seem to have jumped to a whole lot of conclusions based on not much. I don't agree with Cathy Learoyd's apparent opposition to the two-party system, and I'd never quote John Adams as an authority on the subject (that was then . . .), but where did she say that Raskin was the only Dem she would vote for?
In the documentary he made it very clear that the power to govern is Congresses to do the things you listed that need to be fixef, not the presidents. It is the President's job to faithfully execute and uphold the laws Congress passes and the Constitution. That is why executive orders have no real teeth and since Congress under Obama was able to do little to nothing because of McConnell's obstruction it was his only avenue to fixing things. Wasn't Obama a Constitutional law professor? Raskin is wonderful, I agree, but I think he will do the most good being in the House. He is now a household name, like Schiff. Four years ago I would have been hard put to name any Representative from Maryland except for my own. He is gaining national respect and influence. I'm going to enjoy watching him in action over the coming years. Although I think his wisdom and love of democracy would be extremely useful on the world stage...I would have no problem giving him my vote if he chooses to run for president.
The US Constitution was clearly never intended to work for all the people (read it if you don't believe me). And it never will work for all the people without a major rewrite to bring it into the 21st century
Then the question is who would rewrite it for the 21st century vs. going back to the 18th century or earlier. I do think a Constitutional Convention will happen in the next decade but whether it will be to strengthen democracy or strengthen atrocracy we don't yet know.
Great typo, seems a contraction of atrocious-cracy
Oops, not intentional. Guess I coined a new word. LOL!
But, a new word so apropos to today's issues....
Remember that a Constitutional Convention cannot be limited in what it does, and think about how the delegates will be elected.
Well, hopefully, by ten years' time, all the corrupt republicans will be in jail or on that island in Siberia.
Alas, they have spawn. Many.
Alas, so true...and brainwashed followers... we cannot send them all, I guess.
How bout the Koch Brothers?
Or, the Federalist Society?
Or, hey, we could even ask Donald Trump (although I do not think he can read or write) to do it!!
These are the most gung ho to do it, be careful what you ask for. When the Heritage Society decides that all the donor money is going to the MAGAts, and abandons the traditional Republican blather (read that somewhere yesterday), then the dye is cast, in my view…
Add ALEC. They are powerful and have loads of funding.
And pretty sure that people would be shocked at who is a member. Suffice it to say that Dan Patrick, truly evil Lt Gov of Tx, is emblematic of the ALEC evil that spreads state house to state house with lightening speed.
I didn't know this about Dan Patrick, but I'm not at all surprised.
ALEC already has 17 states (red ones) calling for a Constitutional Convention.
Actually, ALEC is already working on the Constitutional Convention for a very conservative constitution. They already have 17 states out of the needed 38 to call for a conventional. Republicans have achieved their goal with the super-majority Supreme Court and now is going straight to the heart of the Constitution to get it out of their way. Saw a cartoon yesterday that said Welcome to Texas - Where the Hand Maids Tale meets the Taliban.
... pretty sure these folks are aiming for fair and just for all ...:
https://www.movetoamend.org/
Sure, Kathleen, there are good people and good ideas, yet a premature convention would break open Pandora's box. The best you'd get would be the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, while the worst that lies buried under that fine table of stone doesn't bear thinking of...
But, Peter, isn't it good to start lining up plans for when the time is right? There are pervasive changes we need to update our democracy to bring it into this century. We need a catalogue of the changes to come that have much better checks and balances as well as qualifications for public servants (corruption, bankruptcies, connections with evil empires, mental health stability. Can they pass the National Security background checks and Civil Service Exams | Federal Civil Service exams. Oh, and can they read? I would add, how addicted are they to twitter, social media, golfing, lying and gazing in the mirror at their own reflection (level of Narcissism). And how do they feel about democracies, emolument clauses, racism, misogyny, nepotism, fair share taxation with proof of last ten years IRS returns) and the Rule of Law (i.e.do they live above it or under it?). Who do they look up to and admire (no autocratic leaders allowed, even if they "can look into their souls." Better get back to something constructive like clearing the snow.
Well said—and well thought! (The linguist says pensa means “thinks” in Latin or Italian.) I had the Federalist thrown at my head at age 17, but today we have the Federalist Society thinking hard about how to deconstruct America on the basis of the 1787 document and plenty of federalists with the appropriate prefix “con” drumming up states’ support for a d.i.y. constitutional convention that would take the country back where they want it, to their very own pre-1787 libertarian-la-la-land. It’s because that wild backwoods bunch are already busy plotting and planning that we’ve reason to beware of a prematurely timed and inadequately prepared convention, for, unless I’ve misunderstood, convening a convention means throwing the entire constitutional issue wide open.
As for “clearing the snow”, the world will be safer when some people are kept busy with such healthy activities in remotest Alaska. Or somewhere equally remote on the other side of the Bering Strait.
So, before there can be any changes (which must, among other things, incorporate Madison’s view that the Constitution should be regularly reviewed and updated) there must be a huge amount of thorough preparatory work, and here I am completely behind Kathleen and citizens’ associative work. With this proviso: if it can be done by means other than a constitutional convention, so it should be—see MaryPat Sercu’s comment to that effect.
"We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and other related cases, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights." Yes! BUT, we do not need a Constitutional convention or rewrite to amend it. We just need to amend it to stop corporations from buying, then destroying, our democracy.
I agree with you Mary Pat. Using the idea of nation rebuilding as a foundation, I wrote a paper in 2015 in favor of reestablishing the values base for the nation, suggesting we needed to come together with a contemporary and more dynamic constitution. I thought it a healthy exercise in pursuit of ensuring the democracy we professed to love. I shared it with five people I respected. It died the appropriate death it deserved. That experience reminded me of the Baptist fault that fits in this train of thought about convening a constitutional convention. If we can't get unanimity in ideology, start over, build a new church, and work the slow path to where ideological differences divide, rather than unite. The hard work is adjusting to differences, to make progress, not to create the most perfect and unchangeable way to live together is the productive direction for our messy nation. HCR certainly makes clear that opening up a convention to update the Constitutional would prove as ill-advised as did that which occurred in 1787; the damned compromises we now live with. Amend, yes, and recognize that our constitution is not divine scripture, but the product of it's time, brilliant though the idea is that all men are created equal and equal under the laws of a just nation.
Yes, I think Citizens United is the crux of the problem and why we are losing our democratic republic. However, the alternative to a Convention of States is the Congress presenting the amendment and most of them have been corrupted by the money allowed by Citizens United. It is like asking a fox to put a lock on the hen house.
True that. But to my knowledge there has been more push for a Congressional Convention from the right than the left. We are back to un-corrupting government a school board seat and a County Commissioner position at a time. Have to re-read the last third of David Pepper's book again ("Laboratories of Democracy"). And EVERYONE ON THIS SITE NEEDS TO FOLLOW CATHY'S LEAD: JOIN AND BE ACTIVE IN THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS!
Exactly. They are way ahead of any reasoned effort
I say we substitute the Massachuesetts Constitution for the US Constitution.
A MUCH better document and sans all the compromises with the slave states and rich plantation owners.
Talk of changing the United States Constitution at this time is akin to painting the living room while the house is on fire. Do we really need to water down our efforts in preserving the Democratic form of Government we currently enjoy? We have got to coalesce around the 2022 and 2024 elections.
Perhaps the Constitution is not so much at fault as the people who interpret it.
Mike All this talk about a Constitutional Convention is totally irrelevant to what is occurring in modern-day America In over 250 years there has been fewer than 30 Constitutional Amendments, of which only a handful were substantive. The suggestion that a Constitutional Convention could ‘repair’ the Constitution defies political realities [requirement for approval from 3/4 of states].
I commented earlier today on the volatility of the Constitutional checks-and-balances provisions. Additionally. There is the ongoing struggle over federal/states rights as reflected in the 10th Amendment.
We are obliged to work within our existing amended Constitution under which, for now, we have a ‘rogue’ Supreme Court. Currently it seems highly unlikely that the Legislature can clip the wings of this court and a president has limited opportunity to enforce Executive Orders.
The document doesn't need repairing - it needs replacing, preferably with a document that supports a Westminster (i.e. parliamentary) style system rather than the Latin American-style presidential system now in place (Look up the stats on which countries besides the US actually have presidential systems. You'll be shocked.)
Why in the world would we now try to be like the very form of government we rebelled against?
You also discount the sense of tradition, Patriotism and downright love Americans have for their Founding Fathers and the Constitution of these United States.
At present the United States is going through what is undoubtedly a cataclysmic and frightening time. We are in a serious battle for our Democracy. Constant disparaging of who we are, our past and how our Constitution works is untimely to say the least.
Maybe because it works, for the UK and for most of the world outside of the United States. (And has worked for upwards of a thousand years.) Why would the US want a form of government which is found almost exclusively in South America, and in South American dictatorships at that? There was nothing inherently wrong with the form of government in place in England at the time of the American Revolution - just in its policies toward its colonies in the New World. I grew up in the US and would love to see its brave political experiment succeed, but at the rate things are going, I'm afraid it might not - at least not without some major rethinking.
Talia I can appreciate your frustration with our Constitution as it has gradually evolved over more than 250 years. Can you describe how we might scrap the present Constitution and create some sort of parliamentary system? As I described in my commentary, the devil is in the details. I don’t foresee such a revolutionary endeavor.
The question should be: What is in the Constitution that you perceive as not working?
Hate to admit I lived in Massachusetts for over two decades and have never read its Constitution. It did seem to work well. Now living in Texas I don't think I could make any sense out of its Constitution and its 507 amendments! That what odd year elections are for - to pass Constitutional amendments by small turn-out on important things like allowing rodeos to do raffles.
The US Constitution was a brilliant and appropriate document for its time, when the US was a small, close-knit country with a relatvely homogeneous population and common social values. Its creators had know way of knowing that in 200 years, the country would become a sprawling , coast-to-coast conglomerate of fifty states, each of which with disparate politics, demographics, characters, and philosophies. Had they known, I think the Constitution would hsve been written quite differently.
RAFFLES at rodeos? it's the beginning of the end.
Your comment is illustrates why I almost always vote no on constitutional amendment ballot measures in California. Some of the things people want to hammer into a state or federal constitution do NOT belong in a constitution.
Ralph Nader helped give us Bush. Jill Stein voters helped give us Trump. Bernie Sanders helped give us Trump. Split the Party and give us a Dictatorship in 2024. As I bet Dr. Richardson would tell you history does not lie.
Corrupt republicans, the Mercers, the Murdochs, the Kochs, and Vlad and his oligarch friends ALL helped give us their seditious monkeyman for their destructive ends of our democracy. A soul-less, narcissistic, revengeful man-corporation can be bought by anyone, especially if they make him emperor.
And we split our votes while we put our head in the sand and pretended the boogeymen weren't there. Biden, Sanders, Warren, Cheney, Kinsinger, etc. weren't bought. "Going down to the crossroads" is a personal decision.
Once again. We aid and abet the enemy when we ignore the threat and our personal responsibility in fighting it. We absolutely do not have the luxury of blaming someone else, pandering to a wish list or playing politics at this time.
Jon Meacham, James Carville and other have stated this: DEMOCRACY IS HANGING BY A THREAD. I for one walk around with a low level of terror at the prospect of living in an Authoritarian State should the Democrats fail in 2022 or 2024.
FairVote.com. rank voting
I know what that is Kat. We 1000% need to keep our focus on defeating the Republicans in 2022 and 2024. Anything else is a distraction.
and the emperor has no clothes...
And the graphic image that conjures up is too horrifying for words.
Yes it is. It haunts me Dave. Already the Republicans are talking of impeaching Biden, jailing people they deem not in lock step with their agenda and on and on. They are counting on winning in 2022.
And setting themselves up for some major trauma if they don't; a consummation devoutly to be wished for and which we all need to work to bring about.
Seems like he is the rare case of a decent human being in politics.
You need to listen to CSpan more. Yes, Jamie Raskin is my hero but he is not a rare case of a decent human being in politics. The list of Democrats is too long to type out - but why not start with James Clyburn, Sheldon Whitehouse, Patty Murray, Hakeem Jeffries, Jon Ossoff, Zoe Loftgren, Tammy Baldwin, Maisie Horano, Tammy Duckworth, Raphael Warnock ...
And an odd duck to be that open about his (gasp) feelings and emotions. He is a decent human being, and that is not damning by faint praise.
One thing I noticed on Rep. Raskin office wall was a framed list of the Early Warning Signs of FACISM from the Holocaust Museum. Here it is as a quiz:
QUIZ: How many of these Warning Signs of Fascism do you see in today's America? Check the boxes.
Early Warning Signs of
FASCISM
☐ Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
☐ Disdain for Human Rights
☐ Identification of Enemies as a Unifying Cause
☐ Supremacy of the Military
☐ Controlled Mass Media
☐ Obsession with National Security
☐ Religion and Government Intertwined
☐ Corporate Power Protected
☐ Labor Power Suppressed
☐ Disdain for Intellectuals & the Arts
☐ Obsession with Crime & Punishment
☐ Rampant Cronyism & Corruption
☐ Fraudulent Elections
(from the Holocaust Museum)
____ out of 14 checked
There is one missing. A population ignoring/dismissing the signs.
Sadly true, Barbara. I would note that the author of the article from which the list on the poster was taken--Laurence Britt--noted in his opening paragraph:
"And fascism’s principles are wafting in the air today, surreptitiously masquerading as something else, challenging everything we stand for. The cliché that people and nations learn from history is not only overused, but also overestimated; often we fail to learn from history, or draw the wrong conclusions. Sadly, historical amnesia is the norm."
https://secularhumanism.org/2003/03/fascism-anyone/
Amen!
Far too many out of 14.
With the exception of 'Supremacy of the Military," all are present to some extent today in our country. Fascism replaces democracy in bits and pieces, not all at once. And eventually, before you know it, it's there, big, ugly and undemocratic. BINGO!
Make it work! Don't leave it "for the other guy". Be an informed and involved citizen. Support the candidate you want to see lead with your time and your money. Even if all you do is provide true facts around the water cooler or with neighbors and friends. Write letters to the editor. Join the local party group. Join Indivisibles. Advocate for truth, justice and the American Way. The America where all men (and women) are created equal. We are not there yet but working toward that end.
Cathy James Madison in Federalist 51 makes a stark statement about human beings “If men were angels, there would be no need for government….’ This is precisely why there was such a focus on establishing checks and balances (Executive/Legislature/Judiciary) in the Constitution.)
There were no ‘political parties’ when Washington was elected president. Washington, in dealing with Hamilton/Jefferson food fights, expressed great fear of political factions. Gradually political parties evolved, at times splitting [the Republican Party was created from remnants of the Whig and American Party in the 1850s.]
Historically, checks-and-balances has been a teeter board, at times with the legislature dominant and, more frequently with a president pushing the constitutional envelope. On occasion, the Supreme Court upsets the ‘constitutional balance.’ The current Supreme Court majority seems as historically out of step as the “Dred Scott’ SC of the 1850s and the SC that FDR inherited in 1933.
Cathy,
I understand your enthusiasm for Jamie Raskin. However, "a constitutional law professor" disqualifies him from being President.
He can read.
:-)
Choosing Presidential Candidates because they make us feel good or they are the flavor of the month is a recipe for bad bad outcome.
Barbara Several historians have written that the qualities required to win a presidency are starkly different than those required to function appropriately as president. If you look at the 10 attributes that historians and political scientists apply in the C-Span ranking of past presidents, they differ profoundly from the selection process of a presidential candidate.
TV attractiveness now is certainly a prerequisite for a prospective presidential candidate. Lincoln would probably have flunked this test. Today FDR in his wheel chair would have done badly. In 1960 in the Kennedy/Nixon debates, JFK’s attractive vigor was in sharp contrast to Gloomy Dick, who refused make up and was appearing just after days in his sick bed.
Robert Redford would be a superb presidential candidate these days. Meryl Streep would do well as a female candidate. Though Lassie would meet the requirement of being American born, alas he was not 35 years old. Botox for presidential candidates?
HA~
Mike Though “a constitutional law professor’ is disqualified from being President because he can read, there is no disqualification of a “constipated President.” Cause for a Constitutional Amendment?
Cathy, might be good for you to go back and read the reasoning and conditions behind John Adams comment. Shall we return to a bunch of people running independently, with the top vote getter becoming President and the second becoming vice-president. At the time the founders were cycling the offices among themselves. Jefferson (an odd man in many ways) broke that when he figured out how to manipulate the system in his favor. There were factions before, but that likely was when parties began, so that voters could join together to promote their choice of candidates and causes. Remember also that those votes were not cast by "All the People", but basically by more or less self-selected representatives of the people. "People" did not include women, most colored men, or, in many places, men who did not own land. There were many parties, not just two, in the beginning. The same is true now, and both major parties are actually coalitions of people who share enough values and goals in common to work together. What we're seeing now is yet another shift in those coalitions, esp on the side currently known as "Republican", whose factions are breaking apart. The chaos is significant. And it may disintegrate. But our of the chaos may emerge other ways of organizing around conservative principles. Or some splintering may occur, with a central party emerging that pushes the extreme right wing into irrelevance. Some signs of that possibility.
To be honest, I am not sure what your point really is in your post. At one point you say "celebrate the Constitution", but the "solutions" you propose (some of which do not even make sense) would require us to throw the Constitution away.
I hope that some of the people who "liked" what you wrote reread it and rethink what they are actually "liking". Several commenters noted the inconsistencies and raised their concerns. I add mine.
I applaud this comment. I am 1000% not attributing what I am about to say to anyone on this comments board today. Here goes. Be cautious in talking up these causes folks. There are many and more than you realize among us in these United States who want to sow dissension, disbelief in our institutions and hatred of others and hence chaos.. A friend of mine as part of his occupation has studied propaganda in America. It is here and has been here. We are easily fooled and swayed by running to one cause and then another. Stay focused on preserving Democracy. Stay focused on the 2022 elections.
I wholly agree Barbara that 2022 looms enormous! I feel stymied way out and up here in Washington. After the victories of Ossoff and Warnock I feel it vitally necessary to augment the skin on my teeth so I've arranged to travel with my brother to Fulton County in November to timely bring food and water to those in need. Being somewhat feisty but in the last year of my eighth decade, I may not hold up well to the complications I may provoke from the vigilante election officials. But I am certain that if trouble finds me, at the very least it shall be good trouble.
I believe Georgia wrote into their draconian voter suppression "laws" that it is considered against the law to give food and water to voters in line. I might be wrong though. Just check on it would you?
You are definitely speaking for me. ThankYou and Thank your friend.
It might be effective to have a system of open primaries and ranked choice voting. It would increase voter participation and decrease the party hegemony.
It's being tried in some local elections and, I believe, in one state for state elections. It has been very successful in Ireland and some other places. But for us, right now, it is something that Congress should take up while looking at fixing voting for national offices. And for us, here, right now, it would be a distraction away from the critical work of preparing for and building up awareness of the upcoming midterms and the Nov 2024. We can't afford that.
Hallelujah! Thank you, Cathy.
One looks at individuals such as Jamie Ruskin with admiration as a fellow American...then on the other hand, thinks how totally ashamed they would be as a Republican today! To be fair...I can't believe the silent majority comes close to identifying with the despicable sycophants that represent the republican party presently. Unfortunately...their apathy damns them and possibly our Democracy. I shudder to think what might happen to this Country if the Elections of 2022 and 2024 go wrong!
Incomprehensible...
I would like to see Jamie Raskin as our President too. My heart was breaking Sunday night for him and his family. I would also like to see Adam as our President. However, at soon to be 79 I might not be so lucky. They are both wonderful young men!
I am 72. I am Jewish. Like Raskin and Schiff. There is too much antiSemitism on the right *and* on the left for a Jew, no matter how qualified, to be elected president of the United States.
Please prove me wrong.
I'll take a pass on Mr. Schiff, he seems a bit too enamored of the spotlight; Mr. Raskin, however, looks better than anyone in either party who is currently making candidacy noises.
Have you read his book? If not, I suggest you do.
I'll take a look, but there's a long list before I get into political puff pieces.
Schiff!
Adam Kinzinger is 43. Which Adam would you like to see as president?
It's a really short list. Right now, based on your recommendation, there's one name on it.
Yes, only one name on your list of who you will vote for for president. Donald Trump. He's counting on you.
I know, I know. *I won't and you can't make me* the rallying cry of of the intransigent and self indulgent so called 'opposition.'
It's not about you. It's about our most vulnerable neighbors and fragile planet who will be done irreparable harm by a Republican regime. Again.
Don't think for a moment that just because you sit on your hands, there isn't blood on them.
You should really stop and think a bit before you start ranting. My comment was in response to Cathy's post and complimentary remarks about Cong. Raskin. For the record, I wouldn't and didn't vote for the former president even against the former Secretary of State. This sort of doctrinaire and presumptive response without accompanying thought is why the Democrats have a hard time getting anything done.
"This sort of doctrinaire and presumptive response without accompanying thought is why the Democrats have a hard time getting anything done."
HaHa. Presumptive and Doctrinaire. *and Democrats have a hard time getting anything done* to boot.
Pandemic relief. Economic stimulus. Infrastructure.
And truly formidable work in the House because we have a sufficient majority and a very good progressive wing working with the leadership. And if we had a larger majority in the Senate then we'd have Civil Rights acts and Build Back Better.
Whatever ...
Trying to click heart, lin. Maybe it'll kick in later, Good response. We got work to do. It'd be nice if some of the people making uninformed claims about what is going on would join in. That's the way to get things done, not throwing bricks.
Guilty of throwing bricks myself - not the best way to get people to join in. ThankYou for the reminder that we need to work and play well together.
Darn… I had intended to watch that! I hope it’s still available!!
There should be articles, ads, multiple news stories as to what daily life would be like with an authoritarian goverment. But then, many people probably wouldn't believe it until it happens. Really. It appears they have no idea!
I have been watching Seaside Hotel, set in Denmark. The Nazis have just taken power. Relatively minor things happen at first, like having your phone calls monitored by the censors and cut off if not for business purposes. Gosh, we would never stand for that! Oh, I forgot, earlier a gay character was savagely beaten by Hitler youth, and Jews were being targeted, but we are used to that kind of thing. But prohibiting phone calls? Terrible! That would be going too far! (Sarcasm)
I remind you of the Patriot Act of 2001. We gave up immense freedoms with that one.
Remember, it was a Cheney who stole them.
Unless it is the Cheney who is currently fighting for Democracy then this is a moot point and actually serves no one except to further sow division which as we know is a hallmark of fascism.
A good point (about my bad point). My intent, though, is to caution us that Liz Cheney's version of democracy's freedoms does not include, for example, recognition of LGBQT rights.
"The Brookings Institution argued that Cheney has a long-term strategy to become the leader of the Republican Party in the post-Trump era, and that "she’s a real conservative—Democrats who like her opposition to Trump will never like her politics."
[Wickipedia]
I agree. I do not like Liz Cheney's viewpoint on the above issues. BUT. I am only focused on seeing that we preserve this Democracy so that we may have the luxury of tackling issues once again.
So true, will never forget Dickie
Thank you for the suggestion of Seaside Hotel. Well put, Carol. Yes! It is a marvelous look at the insidious nature of autocracy. First the Nazi soldiers are housed in a neighboring hotel to yours, then you are trying to placate them by offering a meal, then they are fencing off the beach, and all the while an intimate relationship is building between one of your hotel's staff and one of the Nazi soldiers. And then there's more. It is a good look at how the frog in the pot is confronted with one and then another "nearly" intolerable situation until the water is boiling. One character at the hotel is paying attention, listening to the radio. The others roll their eyes at his reports about Germany and England. It is gripping. As is our situation, unfortunately.
Nine seasons! Speaking of "frog in the pot."
https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/seaside-hotel-2013
Jane, Seems like R voters in particular are clueless. They think masking and distancing are infringing their freedom? They should vacation in Turkey, or N. Korea for a few weeks. They would return ashamed of themselves. Never happen....
Canadians are free people, but when their government issues laws and mandates the people seem to obey them without too much trouble. Check out what it takes to own (and continue to own) a firearm in Canada for example. Check out what a Canadian goes through to just visit the United States, for another.
But the current trucker's actions seems to be skewing this view a bit.
As a Canadian-American(Camerican?), I can tell you that the feeble response of our government to what many people refer to as more an occupation of our capital than a protest is a cause for public outrage. The trucker caravans have made it difficult for health care workers and people in need to access hospitals- counter demonstrations by health care workers and their supporters have led to angry confrontations in Toronto. The antivac truckers are a small but highly vocal minority among Canadian truckers 85% of whom are vaccinated. The only saving grace- no guns. I see this is a preview of what could happen in Canada if the US abandons the rule of law and goes full bore authoritarian. The threat to US democracy is a threat to all democracies.
Even in Vancouver there is great frustration (comments from my ex wife). Evidently there is a considerable contingent of US activists...
Lots of US money and US right wing extremists fueling this- but they have some fertile ground in Canada to work with. And some members of our Conservative party have given them political cover. Some people here have forgotten that we choose our leaders through elections and not by intimidation and bullying.
I wondered about that.
Thank you for the insight, Richard. I do agree with your ending statement. The minority trucker contingent is perfect example.
And there are reports of Nazi flag waving. When you look at the fact that some strongly fascist leaning Republicans support these truckers this spells trouble. FOX is supporting the truckers. And now the truckers have advanced to the Detroit bridge.
Sending the best of wishes to the Canadians.
I also heard, in one report, Confederate flags. Same report stated that there were many truckers/anti-vaxxers from the U.S. participating. I haven't heard this elsewhere yet however.
I also read where Canada declined Republican support. Go Canada.
One trucker with an 18-wheeler can make a statement. 30 truckers in the same place can produce gridlock in a city's transportation arterials. Then the media piles on...
<heart>
Snopes has investigated the truck caravan stories and *surprise* there are many lies and much fakeness. Several articles recently posted. Here’s one: https://www.snopes.com/articles/392281/freedom-convoy-size-exaggerated/
Thanks Gigi. Who are those pushing the narrative that the “convoy” has spread world wide? The same small number of anti vaxer folks that have been noted recently?
And inspiring reactions throughout the world. People have about had enough.
Almost sounds like people are "mad as hell" and not going to take it any more. Network was a profoundly impactful movie when it was released but I don't think anyone expected it to be prophetic as well.
American trouble makers, betcha
Agreed. Exception for commerce....?
Why are you measuring us up against such low bars? Why is what we are doing OK because there are other countries who are worse?
I think you read that post way differently than I did, Elaine. I got that in the US there are people who actually think their rights are being infringed by being asked to behave like responsible grown-up. The writer was pointing out that wearing masks and doing other responsible things is not the same thing as the kinds of things that can happen in authoritarian countries. Give some thought to that, because one of the big topics right now is that we are dealing with the possibility of our own country heading that direction. While foolish, self-absorbed people whine about masks and vaccines, they are being used to set the stage for infringing on REAL rights, like the right to vote or make your own choices about your body.
I didn’t read it wrong I assure you.
I'm sure you think so. I read it differently. That's ok. But I would like to understand better why you read it the way you did.
Media countering good sense at every turn, leading us straight to authoritarianism, is almost laughable (non-humorous version). Media will be the First Thing brought to heel.
Someone describing what will happen to America when we convert to authoritarianism should lead with that first.
Exactly! Can’t forget how tfg banned journalists who raised probing questions from his press conferences.
And just look at how journalists are being treated at the Olympics. Plus, this morning, the recently 'missing' Chinese tennis star, Peng Shuai, gave a 'forced confession' with a 'minder' seen in the background.
Just read Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale. That's all you need. It's slim.
Yes. I have read that, but realize many will not. If they do, it's thought of more as a novel, and chose to see it as not happening here.
Milton Mayer’s “They Thought They We’re Free, Germany 1933-1945”.
I will check it out. Thanks!
Starting with book burning, oh wait, we already do that.
How has FB helped make it this way?
FB has an algorithm that measures success by how much "conflict" it promotes.
TC, I just deleted a reply heartily endorsing your post about FB’s algorithm(s), but my elaboration on your post made no sense, and I’m too tired to fix it. I despise Zuckerman’s arrogant contempt for our country.
Good night all!
I guess the America he disdains made it too easy for him to succeed and become rich & influential so he abuses it like a ‘cheap woman’ he succeeded with.
I agree. We should all do to Facebook what a lot of others have done to Spotify.
Be careful with that. We become social authoritarians in a way if we keep ganging up like that.
Good point. I'll add to it that this kind of thing keeps the masses entertained, while doing nothing to fix the underlying problem.
Morning Gus.
Exactly why I closed my FB account
It’s why he personally lost billions last week. May it keep happening.
Enragement maintains the engagement.
Well, I'm enraged at Thiel, and Kushner. Won't last long, not going to waste any brain cells or cortisol on them.
Ukrainians, recognizing the repeated divisional digital strategies, have learned to do something similar.
And how could 20,000 likes be wrong?
YES! I listed three book above that explains it all.
Conflict or reaction?
Remember how Jared Kushner used to brag about how Facebook was “embedded” in the 2016 Trump campaign? Peter Thiel on the board-FB (and now Meta) play a big part in dismantling democracy-too bad because it could have been used for good.
Peter Thiel just left Meta to help Trump-backed candidates.
How has NYT and Washington Post helped make it this way?
Diana, I can’t really disagree with you, but I also think they kept us critically informed during the last administration. What other major daily’s had the capacity to do that? We could ask the same question about broadcast and cable media, but where would that really get us? At least we have a choice as to what to read and watch. The real question was asked by Ted Keyes, about FB. Unregulated and indifferent, profit over country, there is no question that FB has done grievous harm to this nation.
Gus, I agree. I dumped FB a couple years ago. I advise all to do the same. Force Zuckerman’s evil to die!
As the faithful who've swallowed The Word won't even look at other sources of information -- not even when they tell them what they want to hear -- it will make sense to trawl through the right-wing press for items that simply tell it as it is.
Examples include this editorial in the National Review and one or two articles to the same effect:
https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/02/rnc-should-take-a-lesson-from-mike-pence/
The British Mail Online is very right-wing and finding real US news articles involves trawling through reams of porn and propaganda, but there are still plenty of items like this:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10469717/Trump-considered-blanket-pardon-January-6-defendants-left-office.html
or
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10482859/He-told-truth-accident-Chris-Christie-says-Trump-admitted-lost-2020-wanted-overturned.html
or gossip
Somehow, despite that girth, he's still as adept at foot-in-mouth as when he was a few months old...
The only trouble with all this is, as we know, that any item about their Gawd, however damning, will only make his votaries more ecstatically besotted than they were before.
Still... reports from Reality (as opposed to Real DTs) may well surface in addicts' minds during and beyond cold turkey...
Depressing links to be sure. Thanks. I think.
Sure. Don't forget to mask up and wear gloves and protective clothing when you're doing your media research. Keep a gas mask at the ready...
As for DT telling the truth by accident, that's so killingly true-to-life!
As for the WaPo, a while back I noted that most of the complaints about it were by people who seemed stuck on the opinions page, which has no agenda, just random opinions, some valid, some vapid, some excellent. No indication they actually read news or analysis, or followed a topic as it developed. WaPo, like other good news outlets, has multiple sections that are worth reading and contains valuable information. It's up to us to use it.
Why does nobody mention Rupert, just because he is behind the scenes doesn’t mean that he hasn’t set the stage
YES! Rupert Murdoch and the Mercer’s spearheading the “Mindf*ck” and “weaponized Flak.” Cambridge Analytica/ Emerdata, Parler…
I mentioned them much earlier.
Read, “MINDF*ck” byChristopher Wylie and “The Rise of Weaponized FLaK in the New Media Era” by Brian Michael Goss. And, “Data versus Democracy” by Kris Shaffer. THEN you’ll understand the role of Facebook, Zuckerberg, Thiel, the Mercer’s and all the rest. READ.
Thanks for these suggestions-I bet the details are really interesting.
This is a salient question, and FB carries significant influence. I'd also like to expand the question to technology in general. I was just tallying up the cost of all my digital subscriptions to news papers I used to read, free, in coffee shops. I'm at what is a small, but notable percentage of my income to get access to good information. Earlier than my fifties, I couldn't afford that. Tech has much to do with changes in our society.
"Tech has much to do with changes in our society." Both good and bad. Can you imagine life since 2020 if we didn't have electronic means to be able to connect with friends and family, or remote learning with schools closed in 2020-21, or so many simple capabilities like ordering groceries or meals for delivery?
FB, as well, both good and bad. Not defending FB algorithms that ramp up "the bad" but FB also enables me & friends to be in touch, share info and stories, and alert one another about local political activities that we can take action on. For instance, there's a very important parks-related issue to be discussed by a subcommittee of the City Council. The technology enables us to be at home, access agendas & supporting documents and participate in meetings remotely, as well as to share links for that information with local FB parks advocates.
You make a very good point Judith. My boycott of FB has come at great personal cost. Even in the 'before times' (pre - TFG and pre - covid), I wasn't able to communicate with my friends and family except for email, and today my local Indivisible group has a FB page that has a lot of current information that I miss out on. My choice, but it hurts....I do not judge anyone for using FB. Many are immune to the exploitation....
Photos of Putin’s competitors jailed, poisoned, shot and thrown from windows.
Pictures say 1000 words, especially for those who don't read
coming for chump's detractors
Children's books as well.
Could be a whole series of bully books teaching the Golden Rule for Everyone. .
Oh geez, every letter has a gut punch, with something new, something shocking, but true, but this one really hit with extra realization. So now we know where the Zuck’ gets his orders from. How long has Billionaire Peter Theil been on the FB/Meta board? Probably at least since 2015? Enough time to facilitate selling out every single American psyche on the “platform” to the Russian Internet Research Agency trolls, bots, etc, or at least just looking the other way to make a few more $, as tens of millions of Americans have been radicalized, or better yet, fanatic’ised beyond reason. It’s a new age of digital demagoguery, but the motives are old, and selfish, and as evil as ever.
Ted, you said it!
He was one of the first chump supporters, my heart sank then, been in the toilet in years since
Theil’s been on the Facebook board since 2005.
Officially, the only platform that the Republican Party has right now is to obstruct everything that Biden and the democratically controlled Congress does. That is their sole objective. No legislative agenda whatsoever. Obstruct the emerging diversity society at all costs, democracy be damned.
So what does it mean to be a Republican in this decade?
• Attacking immigrants (because they’re not white)
• Putting up walls on the southern border (because those immigrants will dilute the white population)
• Straights only: no rainbows please. (Please? PLEASE? There is nothing kind or considerate about how Republicans and their white supremacist membership treats non-straights. Violence.)
• Rich people only, which means exploiting everybody else so the rich can get richer off of everyone else (think Republican tax cuts)
• Attack every non-white who is nominated or elected for a position of authority, especially if it’s a she, because we only want whites in charge and we only want mostly men in charge, and if a woman is in charge, that’s ok only if she has been trained to defer to men and to accept the authority of men over women
• No government assistance for the poor people, or even the middle class, assistance only for rich people. That includes FDR and the New Deal, arguably the most important administration in the 20th century because of the magnitude of its new innovations like Social Security and Medicare
• No abortions, for the dual purpose of keeping men in charge of women AND increasing the number of white babies. Notice how young mother assistance programs run by a particular brand of Christian (non-Planned Parenthood) group focus nearly exclusively on getting white teenage mothers to deliver their white babies?
It took months and months and months of discussion with all of you here, and reading and absorbing Heather’s pieces, for me to get to the bottom of the Republican versus Democrat enigma. My freshly formed (in the last two years) political opinions are in huge part a product of my time here with all of you. Thank you all 🙏
Oddly and hideously, you can break down nearly every Republican and even “conservative“ ideology and issue and culture war complaint to this:
• keep whites in charge
• keep men in charge
• keep rich people in charge
• keep straights in charge
Republicans are the people who like white supremacy, male supremacy, wealth supremacy, and straight supremacy.
Try it sometime with the next distasteful or revolting piece of news coming from them. Test that news against this template. While you’re at it, why limit yourself to America. Whenever you hear about something in Europe or Russia or South America or elsewhere that has been called “nativist“ or “tribal“ or “far right wing,” see if the shoe fits.
Hmmm. It’s a great list, and not to start a torrent of suggestions but: maybe need to add “keep Christians in charge” to your list?
Yes, thank you.
You have to be a real moral giant and intellectual genius to be Christian and antisemitic. But you’re right, “Keep Christians in charge“ covers a lot, like the guy at January 6 who had “Camp Auschwitz” on the front and “Staff“ on the back of his sweatshirt. I strongly suspect he identifies as Christian.
❤️ Thank you Roland! To add a little substance to my list, I found these points on target:
“Why Catholic Supreme Court Justices are so comfortable with constitutional originalism
It is no coincidence that a strong leaning toward originalism
and textualism is espoused by the most conservative Catholic Supreme Court Justices.
To date, this applies especially to Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, following in the footsteps of Judge Barrett’s “mentor,” Anthony Scalia.
In this way, they achieve a curious result: Catholic Supreme Court justices treat the U.S. Constitution – a temporal document composed by human beings in all their wisdom as well as in all their human faults – as if it were some mystical holy scripture, divinely inspired.
If nothing else, going the next step and vesting the “correct” reading of the U.S. Constitution in a strict originalist frame, at best betrays an overwrought adherence to authority.
As with all religions, Roman Catholicism’s ecumenical and fundamentalist branches intensify belief in the Church’s current structures.
The apparently fervent participation of Judge Barrett in such a group as “People of Praise” is indeed relevant to her service as a justice.
In addition, recent scandals associated with that group’s schools, on which Justice Barrett served as a board member after the abuse was well documented, show how ideology can overshadow reason.
U.S. Republicans’ and Catholics’ very similar structures
The contemporary Republican Party resembles the male-dominated and elite-driven structure of the Roman Catholic Church.
The party eschews participatory democracy and does not trust participation by common people in any significant manner.
It excels in luring them with mellifluous promises as well as ideologies of security (particularly against change), but it does not encourage their independent thought.
Unsurprisingly then, what the Republican Party expects from their nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court is basically to follow authority and party dictates.
Just follow the party dictates
More directly put, this translates into voting for the outcomes the Republicans need politically from their nominees to the court.
For instance, in recent months, SCOTUS has used the shadow docket on cases about Covid restrictions on religious groups, the Trump Administration’s “remain in Mexico” policy and the emergency ban on evictions.
Other more mainstream issues are indeed litmus tests for Republican appointed justices, including campaign finance, the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms, and – quite salient these days – voting rights.
The practices of Protestantism
The basic reason why Republicans evidently don’t want to rely any longer on justices of protestant faith lies in the structure of Protestantism.
In contrast to Roman Catholicism, it has far more democratically governing bodies. From the earliest days of the Reformation onward, they are at least conceptually based on a bottom-up approach.
Indeed, the Protestant denominational structures had at least an indirect influence on the structure of the U.S.’s political governing bodies themselves.
Though Protestant denominations were for centuries also male-dominated, they admitted women both to the clergy and to governing bodies many decades ago.
Further, Protestant religious practice rests on the idea of the “priesthood of all believers,” that is, each person must exercise their independent conscience and make their own decisions.
This is, in many ways, a heavier burden than having one’s opinions and decisions handed down from above. In the context of the U.S. Supreme Court, that burden is more likely to guarantee a more independent judicial thought process.
Why one’s personal religion and service as a justice are deeply intertwined
For all these reasons, questions about how a nominee thinks judicially do indeed relate to their religious preferences and practices.
For that same reason, their past decisions at lower courts should be read for evidence of religious thinking and what they might mean to a democratic society.
Effectively undercutting the separation of church and state
The separation of church and state has been a governing concept in the United States since its founding. The Establishment Clause is the first provision in the Bill of Rights, assuring that Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Even having a two-thirds Catholic majority on the U.S. Supreme Court does not by itself constitute Congress establishing a religion.
However, the influence that such a majority can attain serving on the Supreme Court – an overly powerful body in the U.S. system of governance – can be exercised in a subtle, at least somewhat veiled but nevertheless very effective manner.” https://www.theglobalist.com/the-u-s-supreme-court-now-a-roman-catholic-institution/
Helpful to have such discussions publicly.
“…the influence such a majority can attain….” Like any other extremely conservative religious branch, they are True (unquestioning) Believers. The Church in the US has moved ever rightward as bishops fight to protect their exalted status and against Pope Francis’s message of love and mercy.
Pope Francis is the real thing.
He totally is.
While it is indeed noticeable that the reactionary majority on the Stench Court are ultra right wing Catholics, it’s a very big step from there to blame Catholicism in general for their right wing, and an even bigger one to exempt Protestants from their own right wing when “evangelical” has become so closely associated with ultra right politics. There are abundant counter examples in both groups. More importantly, reasoning according to group membership has hazards. I’m old enough to remember when John F Kennedy was running for President, and the papers discussed whether a Catholic President would be taking orders from the Pope.
<heart> Thank you, Joan. The kind of attitude you mention has been increasing here, and it unsettles me. It's good to see it called out, or at least named when it occurs. Too much out in the world.
Trying to find Greg Olear’s research piece on the Leonard Leo project to get Christians on the bench, maybe the link is in this article
Not just any Christians - only far right ones who will do anything to impose their views.
I remember that media fear of papal control of JFK, too, back in 1960, when my Catholic parents were liberal Democrats, and were appalled by that assumption. Then, in the late 60's, "The Church" started sponsoring anti-abortion marches and the evangelical movement. Prophecy come true?
And now it would be an improvement if the right wing justices and bishops would follow Pope Francis!
Let us not forget the Plowshares eight (the Berrigans, et.al.), Dorothy Day, Peter Mauren and the Catholic Worker (social justice mouthpiece), Thomas Merton, and other 20th century Catholics.
Absolutely
😯
I've said it maybe too many times - or maybe not: Jesus, Yeshua ben Josef, was a brown-skinned Jewish rabbi. The christian bureaucracy was founded on the shoulders of emperor Constantine, with which he founded his own religion - except that he wasn't baptized until minutes before he died. The halos of Jesus and the other saints are actually taken from Sol Invictus, the sun god to whom Constantine was faithful.
The violence that the messianic (read christian) faith perpetrated on the Jews among others, including their own followers (indulgences, or payments to the church for lighter sentences in purgatory, were actually a way to put money in the pockets of the pope and bishops, who had to pay exorbitant amounts for their positions. I could go on. Going to seminary taught me a lot that I hadn't known before...
I would add (Semitic) following Jewish to further put a point on it for those who are anti-Semitic. Jesus was not only Jewish but, as all Hebrews (and Arabs), he was a Semite. Definition: "Semite noun /ˈsiːmaɪt/, /ˈsemaɪt/ /ˈsemaɪt/ a member of the peoples who speak Semitic languages, including Arabs and Jews" https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/semite
Thanks for the addition!
We haven't said it enough, Rosalind: "Jesus was a brown-skinned Jewish Rabbi." And His message was Love:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself." Look how far we haven't come.
Yes indeed, MaryPat.
Funny, isn't it, that we have no mention of Jesus calling himself perfect or The Christ or anything like that. He did call out an admirer who called him good, that only God is good. Even he made mistakes.
Being good is SO HARD! I try to remember to respond to my tRumper relatives and friends from a perspective of love. The best I can do, is NOT do - very little if any contact now. Ironically, they all pray for me.
Rosalind. We have lost Gary's email. So sorry about this. Very grateful if you can forward again. Thanks.
🏆🏆🏆🏆
Keep saying it Rosalind
Additionally, there is a great deal already said and written on how Koch/TFG/maybe Opus Dei etc all understood how vulnerable the population that worships a “savior” can be to the propaganda of authoritarianism
Koch/tfg/maybe Opus Dei/Hitler
Was he blonde-haired, blue eyed? I would consider someone like that promoting hate-speech against a lot of our citizens who are historically traumatized by WWII. Strip idiots like him of his rights...and his hideous t-shirt. And put him on a watch him...with our bald-eagle-eyes.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1254070
Absolutely, "christian" probably up on the top of the list someplace.
And, we should all be using quotes with "Christian".
Because, having read the New Testament many times, INCLUDING the Acts of the Aposltles where ALL of Jesus early followers (thousands) lived as communists (shared all things, to each according to his need).....
a significant fraction of today's Christians have never read one word of the messages captured at the Conference of Nicea in the fourth century.
Christ has nothing to do with their religion. At. All.
100% true in my humble opinion
True Christians are everywhere, inside and outside of the tribe of hypocrites. We have many here. Bruce. Vince (Keltik Warrior). Multiple brands of Christianity out there, and unfortunately too many of them are not truly Christian. Consider this: if you are reading this, you are probably a true Christian, because this forum is saturated with magnificent people living that ideology.
“Christians who I have admired for decades turned out to be Pharisees. There are about 10% that live the Jesus version. The others are guns “god” and greed
Essenes and Gnostics
The GOP is ALL about the “Shock Doctrine.” It is Charles Koch’s master plan, couched in euphemisms like, “Libertarian.” It only liberates the billionaires from paying taxes.
Capitalism is evil. No different than royalty and medieval servitude.
Well done Roland. I have saved your list and sending to all my Republican "friends".
Good luck
Yes. It has not been going well Roland. I seem to be fairly unpopular with my (not large number of) former Republican friends now.
Funny. I don't miss them.
I'm in the same boat. I have one friend left who is still posting political stuff on Facebook (at least the ones that I can see. I'm up into double digits for being unfriended and blocked by former colleagues who seem to be threatened by this sort of information.) Most of the rest have kept FB to the family photos, craft projects, etc. and are bleating their propaganda on Parler or other RWNJ platforms.
Roland, I’ve been wondering what you think of the “Freedom Convoy”, the siege of Ottawa by truckers, which has now raised $4.5 million thanks to the Christian app GiveSendGo? There’s a parallel European Freedom Convoy scheduled to take over Brussels on Feb. 14, and a “California to DC” convoy in the making. What’s your reckoning, please?
Well, it remains to be seen if the purported European or California convoy are actually real. https://www.snopes.com/articles/392281/freedom-convoy-size-exaggerated/
Thanks for this news. It's a topsy-turvy world of misinformation, half-truths, empty promises, and unexpected truths.
This is tough. Here goes. Being a U.S. truck driver does not make me an expert on a Canadian truck driver blockade: I’ve never even been to Canada (go figure, because I’ve been to four continents and lived in 2). I can understand why they would protest having to quarantine when crossing the border, because that cuts into your pay dramatically. As a truck driver, you are a working stiff like any other, trying to pay the bills, and you can’t afford to be sitting doing nothing. So at one level, this protest is speaking for all of the workers who have been screwed by the pandemic, and boy a lot of industries have been affected. So they are expressing powerlessness. When you have no power in a frustrating situation, sometimes you look for a way to express what little power you have. Like driving to the capital city and blowing your horn.
That said, the straight-white-male population insists on keeping its privilege. Privileged white males get whiny and sulk when anyone tells them what to do. Since we know truck drivers are heavily male, a good part of this fiasco is just immature little twerps in grown bodies pissing and moaning, throwing a temper tantrum, about having to be responsible.
Heavy lifting... thanks for your thoughtful reply, Roland. I get your point of view completely and can see the same, although I worry that the authoritarian "influencers" here and abroad are able to stir this up into much more.
Ottawa City Councillor Matthew Luloff told NPR's Morning Edition on Tuesday that the protest has morphed into a more far-reaching and hostile demonstration against the government than was originally planned.
"Some of the most well-known radicals in this country have now descended upon the capital. Some of them are calling for violence. Some of them are threatening individual politicians," said Luloff, who also noted the presence of hate symbols and antisemitic flyers at the protest.
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/08/1079212789/ottawa-trucker-convoy-protest
Let me get back to you Jeff. Still thinking about that.
Roland, that is an almost axiomatic description of right wing politics the world over. As a philosopher-wanna-be, I always look for the underlying assumptions of whatever system I am contemplating at the moment. Well done!
Thank you Steve. 🙏
Philosopher-wanna-be. That’s me too.
Reading your assessment makes me soberly ask “Why”? I believe I need to pull back and look deeper and wonder about trump supporters. To simply hate them is not as effective as wondering how and why they planted their flag in these beliefs. I know of immigrants who are against immigration and want trumps Wall. I know of women of color who vote trump because they believe abortion should be stopped. They don’t care about anything else policy-wise. There are black gay men who vote gop because they side with their business policies. And so many of them do want a “Christian” country, but not one that actually resembles Christ’s values. Why? We are being propelled by fear. And we are effectively being divided by fear. There is no going back to “normal”. We are in a new, evolving reality and our actions -small as they seem- are writing this script. What effectively can I do? How can I take my glasses of hate off and push back against the frustration and feeling of impotence?
You do not need to hate them. You need to think of this as right or wrong "For All The People" It is 2022. Roland provides a simple assessment tool for measuring actions and words for those for or against democracies around the world.
I get that part. My question is what to do after the assessment, because that’s what counts. That’s what moves the needle - or not. And it still leaves me wondering why? Why is white supremacy so effective? Does it devolve to “Don’ take my stuff!” Or “They will then treat me as we have treated them?” Does the immigration debate devolve to “I’m tired of MY low paying job, but don’t want someone else that I am told is inferior to me, taking it.”? Or”There’s already too many people here. We don’t need more.”? Or is it, “I lost my child. My heart is broken. So I don’t want YOU to have an abortion.”? Or is it “Don’t make me explain or talk about someone else’s sexual choices with my child. All I know is that’s wrong. That’s what I’ve been told I must believe to be a good person.”? Some times checking your beliefs is too great a risk to the architecture of one’s life. So my wonder is how to get to that field where we can actually talk and debate about what we believe is Right and Wrong. They believe they are Right as much as we believe we are Right. I can assess Right or Wrong intentions until the cow’s come home. But after that, What do you do? What actionable things do we do?
Hello Michele. Love and compassion. You’re doing exactly the right thing in this post, trying to understand them. My father is a diehard lifetime racist and sexist, has voted Republican religiously ever since he came to the US in the 1950s (and now a Trump supporter). The blessing and curse of having him as my father has given me the best understanding I can have of that culture. We do our best to exercise love and compassion, but in the final analysis, we are the adults. What we say, goes. (Biden, Harris, Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff, J6 committee, et al)
Run for the school board so that children can still learn right from wrong.
The Golden Rule builds empathy as should non-"white-washed," fact-based history. A society that makes decisions based on what is good and respectful for the whole should be the foundations education. With a lot of critical thinking and questioning thrown in. Not bullying, lying and entitlement. It goes both ways on the financial spectrum. I have worked with teens on welfare and also those of the uber rich. I have witnessed some who feel a sense of entitlement at both ends. You bring up a good problem that we need to grapple with now, and begin to implement change.
Good luck with that, will history write that we waited too late to rise up.
I think it is critical that we recognize racism, sexism and gay hating when it appears. Not identifying them and letting them pass unannounced just allows these transgressions to continue.
When this ideology is pointed out to them (at least when I have pointed this out to my "conservative" "friends") they bleat loudly that they are not racist, sexist, or anti-gay, and deny that white male cisgendered heterosexual Christian privilege is a thing.
Of course they deny it. They are in denial. Plus, in our society, being called racist or sexist or anti-gay is an insult. Comparing Republicans to the KKK and the Nazis is an insult. Unfortunately for the insulted parties, there is a tremendous amount of truth there.
Your 4-point “keep” list and its preceding paragraph is a stand alone essay. And every day, there are more attempts by Repubs to hide their objective by legitimizing events with such hyperbole that it obscures the purpose of the events.
The “keep list” is actually a much smaller minority in number than all other peoples combined, including not to be forgotten children. That’s why the Repubs are after the kids in school so strongly. Bolster the fading census fact for the future.
Thank you Christine for the high praise. 🙏
In North Texas, the repub money has rolled in. The airwaves are rife with anti-immigrant rants. It is blatant and constant. Sickening and bodes poorly for us who care
yep
Hey, Roland, are you really moving?
👍
Where to??
"The vote for letting the new maps stand was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the liberals against the new right-wing majority, in control thanks to the three justices added by Trump."
And some people claim the Court is not political.
“Partisan hacks” - Amy Comey Barrett
As is commonly said, “Politicians in black robes”
HA!
Slap them for lying
I wonder how Roberts feels about the Shelby vs Holder decision now.
I expect he's just fine with it. He has a long history of being against who gets to vote. Please read: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/john-roberts-voting-rights-act-121222/
Wolves in black sheep’s clothing.
I am simply numb. In the state where I live, the Dems are spinning wheels, doing the same old things, thinking things will work out because they always have, even though that is part of the mythology of this state. We've got some good young people and some seasoned old hands, and a bunch of people who just don't seem to pay attention. The Progressives (here a separate party, not a branch of the Dems, though sometimes it's hard to tell) are attracting people with obstructionist tendencies. My local Dem committee does not meet. We lost a brilliant young communications director to another job: she was like a beacon, drawing people in. Damn, I'll miss her.
I write letters because that is what I can do. Today's was promoting a bright, capable challenger to an incumbant on our select board who is one of the aforementioned obstructionist Progs. And a misogynist.
And today I came across an article from the December Atlantic about the state I was born in: the eastern Oregon secession movement, as if they just discovered it. Holy cow. It's been around as long as Oregon has, and just now being exploited by rich men for their own purposes, and they are adding new myths to the old ones (now they want to go to the ocean). At least they got the part about it being really a way to keep the reactionary right from going off the deep end. And there's my irony: my folks left Idaho to get away from Idaho, and Idaho followed them there. So most of us ended up in Washington (the state), including me until I took a job in Vermont, and got stuck here. Guess I'm not as settled in as I thought. Still miss the NW, especially NW Washington. But here I am. So I will keep on doing what I can.
Maybe tomorrow I'll feel better. It stopped snowing, the sun came out for a day or so, and I have a new dog who is a beauty and delightful.
Most of all, a cherished friend in Oregon is back in the saddle, after a scary week in the hospital because of delayed treatment of a non-covid condition that could have ended up costing him his life. And we all know why that is happening.
Can you begin speaking? Creating a group that can speak and hold meetings? Be the light you described the other woman as being? You certainly are as a writer.
Gailee, thank you so much for such an affirming compliment. I love to speak and have spoken, many times. I attend as many public meetings that don't involve travel as I can. Travel wears me out- I am 79, and though relatively healthy now, I still have the aftereffects of long-term Lyme and more recently Covid. My stamina is simply not what I would like. I have been politically active most of my life, as well as a community volunteer, so I am compelled by nature to stay involved.
The woman I mentioned is 23 years old; she and others like her are what give me hope for the future. I am impressed with so many young people. The problem here in Vermont is getting past the way things are always done. The political structures are entrenched, and though much progress has been made in recent years, right now it is simply not enough to wait for the usual take-off points. There are many groups here doing the kind of reach-out you suggest. I support them, but I also recognize they are up against the same obstacles I observed. In some cases, more, as some of the most active are about indigenous and BIPOC issues.
I write. Every day, on various platforms. I speak out in SOOM gatherings. I still hope that I can be involved in this election cycle, beginning with the local offices that are so important for our future as a democracy. Then building as we approach the mid-terms and then 2024. We are wasting too much time talking about 2024 and not preparing the foundations for it. That is what I worry about.
It is actually painful to read posts here echoing things that some people have absorbed because they can't be bothered to expand their sources of information, or to think about what they are writing. After all that Heather has written and spoken to, and her urging to read widely and to use our own intelligence to sort fact from distortion, still people come on here with blather. I want to tell them- go back and read Heather's letters, watch her videos, and learn. This is not a random discussion group. It is a place to expand our minds, with Heather's teaching as a starting point. I don't see it as a place of debate (there are plenty of those out there), but a place to expand and share our own experience and observation.
So my take is this is a jumping off point for each of us to tie a line to as we go into the world to find those things we CAN do. To counter the attempt to pull us into negativity, toward authoritarian ways of thinking. Things we CAN do to ensure that democracy survives, and equity and fairness.
And I will keep writing. And speaking out on the occasions that come my way. Thank you for affirming that.
You are a marvel and an inspiration. Thank you.
Now I'm going to cry...! Bless you.
Where can I find some more of your writing?
I am deeply moved by your question. I wish I could refer you to publications, but much of my writing is buried as background, or as white papers for policy makers, or as commentary here and there, or simply lost. Though periodically I sort through one box of papers or another, pulling together some of it, with the hope of publishing a book of personal essays. Thank you so much for asking: it might help spur me to get busy on this again.
Anything to lift you out of despair. You are clearly a very sweet soul.
Thank you so very much, Roland. Bless you. You are both sweet and kind. The past few months have certainly been a challenge, and it affected me more than I knew. Right now, I'd love a couple of weeks to just sit in front of my woodstove with a stack of genre mysteries and a few books by my favorite poets, and my new dog. She is a "brown" dalmation, maybe a mix but I think not. She has blue albinistic eyes, and so do I, so I am the perfect person for her. The staff at the HA thought she was leery of the snow, but I recognized right away that it wasn't the snow: it was the glare. (I got sunglasses for her, so we both wear sunglasses when we go out during the day.)
She was brought up from Texas, from a shelter being evacuated because of storm damage, so there is no history on her. She is doing a good job of training me to light the fire first thing in the morning: she sits right in front of the stove and stares at me with Snoopy eyes. That makes me laugh.
You sound like you could really use some time in front of your stove with books and the new dog. I recommend that for you, and what Roland says.
Thank you, David. Amazing how meaningful a few words from a stranger can be. I truly appreciate that you took the time to do that for me.
I’d love you to get those several weeks to read and recuperate. Please do what you have to do to make it happen.
Taking really good care of ourselves is the number one thing in our lives, often easier said than done. But exercising the discipline of bringing oneself back to a happy and healthy place is really critical.
Thank you again, my friend. I think you are right. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. Part some personal stuff (minor auto crash, no injuries, but parts for my car are currently unavailable, and my concern about friends and family with health problems.
Other part is my disappointment about the sluggishness of the Dems in my town. The county committee is active, and I am included as a non-voting guest, so I get to speak, just not vote. Zoom meeting on Thurs, at which I am going to raise a question about the possibility of reorganizing the town meeting, and if that's possible under party rules, I will offer myself as chair. I was told that the current "official" chair is burnt out, and willing to step down. We will see.
Tonight I am going to reserve some mysteries online, and then pick them up tomorrow. I laid in a supply of N95s that actually fit me well (most are too big as I am a small person), and looking forward to the trip to town. I'll pick up a supply of choc decadence cookies (one must call the bakery and reserve some as they sell out rapidly).
Ah, see, now I am feeling better. I made some small decisions that will make it easier to take on things later. (Surer hope the bakery has the cookies tomorrow, they are not an every day item...)
Your kind and thoughful note cheered me up and helped me to remember that my first responsibility is taking care of myself when I need to. Thank you.
A “Progressive“ who is a misogynist. Anyone else see a slight contradiction in terms here?
I started to answer this a while ago, then got distracted. I wondered if anyone would catch that irony. Doesn't surprise me that you did, Roland, with your sharp eyes for inconsistencies. But yes, indeed, this man is a misogynist and a bit of a gas-lighter. Fortunately, he's put it on display in a number of situations and it has backfired on him. He's also authoritarian, and I am baffled by his choosing to identify as a Progressive. I think it is social points and also opportunistic- he is an ambitious man. The Progressive Party is a growing thing here in Vermont, even in very rural places that most people wouldn't expect it to be. So though he gets nothing actually done on our select board, he "gets along" with the other guys. He began a campaign to run for a statewide office, but I haven't seen anything about it. Maybe he saw the field of female candidates and changed his mind.
Roland, I came back here to find this and add to it. Nobody is likely to read it but you. But I needed to finish out this story. For that matter, if somebody does read it, it might be a lesson on not giving up, to keep poking and poking until you find the thing that works.
I was terribly upset at the thought that nobody was running against this man. Then I learned that the Progs DO have a candidate who is really putting herself into her campaign. Great odds against her, because the good old boy network is swinging into action. I started talking to some county Dems about what is going on. Apparently, in many places in VT, Dem town committees don't meet except to select delegates to the county committee. I found that so odd, because definitely not what I've seen elsewhere, even the other towns where I've lived in VT.
I am (get this) the 3rd *alternate* delegate to the county committee from my town. But I usually get to vote as acting delegate, because only one of the actual delegates shows up.
I have been informed that I CAN request a reformation of the committee, since it is inactive. So that's a possibility. I could be chair, because apparently nobody else wants to be. But do I even? I have a feeling it's a brick wall.
Debating with myself. Because I talked to the Prog candidate for the select board, and learned some things. This guy is NOT a member of the Progressive Party. They got onto him and refuse to allow him to run as a Prog. He can call himself a little p progressive, but he is not allowed to identify himself as a member of the Party. Whoa. Also learned that Progs are starting to get that politics is about compromise that leaves open possibilities, rather than taking a stance that shuts off dialogue. There may be hope.
Talked to some other people, too. To a person, everyone I've spoken to who has had to work with him cannot stand him, especially women, not surprisingly, but men as well, outside the good old boys. One person used the term "creepy" to describe him; others used similar terms. That tallies with my experience with him, and the outcomes of his involvement with other groups. And yet... the old boys network is out in force. Interesting, that.
I can't work in a vacuum. And the Dems here are a vacuum, although I do enjoy the people a great deal (the ones at the county level, which are the only ones I get to interact with). But the town is what I am concerned about at this point. So I am thinking the best bet is for me to resign from the Dems, and rejoin the Progressive Party. That means more work, but less stress. And the possibility of actually removing someone from the select board who shouldn't be there. Sounds good to me.
Never did order those mysteries. Think I will tomorrow.
Hello from NW Washington.
A homie! Where are you located? I still have relatives in Skagit County, a few in Snohomish. And a cluster on the other side of the mountains. These are the 1 to 3rd degree folks. I've got identifiable relatives probably in every county west of the Rockies.
Likely moving to PA this year or next
Moving to PA from CA? Now I'm curious about what draws you, especially this year. Though I can readily understand some of the factors that could make a person want to leave CA. If you do end up in PA, let me know. I have an ancestral line that migrated there, to the Wycoming area early in the 1800s, and I'd like to locate their establishment and the graves. Almost have to go to PA to do research because of the way records were kept there. Be nice to be able to meet a friend while I'm at it.
Hi, neighbors to the north. Kinda the same story here in Oregon. I have 3 sets of friends actively campaigning to join Idaho. Others are clamoring for creating the "State of Jefferson" carved out from S. Oregon and (very)N. California.
Hi from Woodinville!
Molbaks 🌹🌼🌲🌿🌵
Hi, back! I actually had to look up Woodinville, and realized I had a couple projects there when I was working (ages ago) for the State on watershed stuff. In my world, that is part of Seattle. When I say NW, I'm talking well north of Everett or northern Kitsap penninsula.
A brother in Bellingham!
Now there is NW Washington! I like Bellingham, used to go there a lot when I worked for the state, and sometimes just because. (GREAT restaurants and B&Bs.) My brother lives not far from there, but like me, he is more a country kid.
Port Townsend!
Another of my favorite places. I've traveled all over the NW, and Port Townsend was always a place I felt at home in. Anacortes and LaConner too, though they are different both from each other and Port Townsend. Gosh, I'm feeling really homesick now.
I was conceived in Seattle and lived there from two months to almost 4, and again 7-8. The place is in my blood despite how crowded it's gotten these last 60 years. I have a friend on San Juan Island in a house he built all by himself over four years. He's a ranger. I get very nostalgic about that part of the world. But I like New England, although not so much in the winter.
Almost my entire family first moved to Lopez Island in the San Juans decades ago, then gradually (as the island culture changed character) moved to various parts of the mainland. I left first to take care of my mother when she was dying of cancer, and then went to Oly to go to grad school at TESC. Started working for the state my second term in, and began to travel all over the state. I've also traveled, both professionally and personally, in most of the US and large parts of Canada, also a little overseas. Hope to do a little more traveling before I tuck in. I've found beauty everyplace I've been, but still think that the PacNW is absolutely the most beautiful place I've been. And watching the Oregon legislature online this week gives me optimism that the state is working through some of the travails it has been saddled with in the last few years. The media has not covered the Northwest well: it falls back on too many outdated tropes.
BTW, my "brother by another mother", a friend from high school, was a ranger until he retired, then he became a college science teacher! He's in southern Oregon, and built the house he raised his family in on land that belonged to his Takelma grandfather.
The one thing I would like to have done was build my own mountain home. I came close, but didn't quite get there. Just as well: the property I owned was in the heart of the fire that burned a year or so ago in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It had to jump 3 highways to get there. I loved it there too, but not sure I'll ever go back to see what that fire did.
disillusioned Portlandian here... (looking into options for retiring to Europe)
I was born in Portland, grew up in southern Oregon, went back to Portland for college. Loved the kind of place it was back then. Raised my kids there. But Portland changed, and became a place I hardly recognize, though I still have friends there, and 2 of my kids live there. I don't feel at home when I visit, though I do think it is one of the most beautiful and dynamic cities I have been in, still. I do love the fact that AmTrak allows me to travel right down to almost all the places that are meaningful to me, so I can spend a few days in Portland and be on my way, catch it again on the way back, and then back up to my brother in the foothills of the Washington Cascades. I would like to travel to Europe again, but I feel strongly that I have responsibilities here, to the land I come from (mixed indigenous, with a healthy admixture of mostly Gaelic), and to what I leave my grandchildren.
I believe that the RNC statement of “legitimate political discourse,” the defeated x45 manchild speech that promised more riots and pardons and the stories of scotch taped papers are the usual tfg red herrings to get the media off the story of obstruction of justice and jury tampering. Well past time to lock up those who ignore subpoenas and threaten violence to poll workers, school committees and other public officials, including Dr Fauci. It’s February already and the all-important primaries begin in a few weeks.
Also to distract from the impressive jobs report
Damn, I should have waited til morning to read this and the continuing treason and outrageous behavior of the Republicans who Kiss the Don’s butt shamelessly. I will probably dream of attempting to rectify the situation in ways that my Quaker friends from high school would not approve. ☠️
thanks for the laugh. I sometimes do just that.
However some of us might approve
😊
Yeah, I cannot read the Letter before bed. Not if I want to sleep.
That's the mistake I made last night.
Hale, mine neither!
Thanks, Heather. The Republicans have thrown down the gauntlet of destroying our democracy, officially. The enemy to our own democracy lies within our corporatocracy and maintaining the caste system against anyone who is not white, male and privileged. This is February 8, 2022. Is it now time to treat aiders and abetters of sedition as the anti-democracy criminals they are— according to our Constitution?
I believe that American Capitalism is what is destroying our democracy.
Gailee, I would submit that a large part of what’s destroying our democracy is losing sight of the fact that Capitalism is not very good at distribution. It only can work if it’s wedded to social democratic institutions, a regulatory state which contains its excesses, moderates its raw brute greedy and self-serving impulses, keeps it honest, gives it a human face, makes it work for all of us.
Beautifully stated, Barbara Jo. And I agree with Gailee — I just don’t think this nation is able to tame capitalism as it once did, mid-last-century.
That is a problem with DEMOCRACY, not Capitalism. Sort of like having children owning the parents, and tossing all the rules.
Hmmm, that's a very interesting point, MaryPat -- I hear you saying Democracy let its guard (rules) down and permitted capitalism to run amok. Fascinating idea.
It seems now, tho, that capitalism IS our form of government.
Heart that-- we are a corporatocracy, which MaryPat stated somewhere around here...
Nope. Other way round. The original Adam Smith wrote very clearly that capitalism could only work as a viable economic system if it were carefully and consistently regulated and managed, and pointed out the dangers if it weren't. We are living his prophesies now. Funny how proponents of Big Capitolism take care never to mention that part of Smith's writings.
Agree (heart not working). What a difference a context makes.
SLWeston, Thank you for your kind words. A question: If you don’t believe we have the capacity to regulate and contain Capitalism, what would you suggest as a replacement?
Sadly, BarbaraJo, I'm so much better at criticism-spewing than solution-finding! lol
I have no answer for you. I keep wondering if paring this whole mess down to its basics, one on one, neighbor to neighbor is an answer. It sure feels appealing. The damndemic shutdown, the pioneer-life feel to existence for a while there, meeting people as we walked our neighborhood every evening, that we're-all-in-this-together vibe, the lifeboat camaraderie -- what an eye-opener, brain-expander, heart-softener.
How about community-building and -organizing as a new form of government -- no one in charge, each one sharing their expertise, coordinating with nearby communities?
(I'm too old for this other shit.)
SLWeston, Though parts of your comment resonated, I, nonetheless, am destined to persevere in the struggle for a more inclusive, pluralistic, multi-ethnic democracy, even when it can be shown, as it often can, that decisions get made for ideological purposes I don’t share. Still, I and fellow travelers will stay the course. We’ll try to affect the agenda, swallow the medicine if outvoted, and be there next time as well….
A renewal of villages. With all that that entailed.
Yes. "Democracy Capitalism", as Frederick calls it.
I’ll second that notion, Gailee.
American Capitalism simply engulfs and destroys whatever is in its path: indigenous communities; the Earth; urban neighborhoods and pastoral landscapes; air, water, sky and ground.
The world is littered with the cancerous affluents of our American Capitalism.
But good liberals and progressives mistakenly enable this violence by blindly segregating into silos of feminism; ecologism; and every conceivable form of activism.
The elephant in the room, our society and in this world, is the cancer known as American Capitalism.
But watch this column - the author, Helen Cox Richardson and the dozens of “commentators.” Where is the critique of the true demon in our society and our souls?
“Souls” I state .... because Americans are oblivious to the addiction of materialism, which allows homelessness and begars on the intersections of our richest neighborhoods, many of which are simply frightened families hiding behind gates.
Heather, not Helen.
Frederick! How do we resurrect (or create) American Democracy Capitalism!?!
I think it exists, though not in America, and not by that name, which is an oxymoron. We have to first stop confounding democracy with capitalism, and we need to remember that all economic systems need management. What is referred to as corporate capitalism is not capitalism: it is oligarchy. Get rid of the labels and trying to create something to fit a label. First, take a good look at how things actually work, and what doesn't. There are many examples of different kinds of economies right here in the US. Some are very successful. Ditto overseas, despite the efforts to impose American Corporate Capitalism in as many places as possible.
Capitalism is an economic system that can only function successfully and fairly within a democracy government system which controls it. Democracy sets the rules and values. Currently capitalism in America defies (and buys) the first and lacks the second.
Not exactly—Citizens United and the Charles Koch philosophy of Capitalism as unbridled greed couched in false similes of “survival of the fittest” is what has destroyed this democracy. Corporations are not People; they are a legal tool to protect management from certain types of liabilities.
The wealthiest civilization in history, we are told, yet America cannot feed or house or provide safety, not because of a lack of freedom, but due to unequal distribution of food, housing, and protection. Money indeed is the root .....
A Canadian friend of mine sent a TikTok video to me last night which is staggering. To see it, go to tiktok@w.o.r.l.d256 to see their videos and click on "Most Valuable Companies in the World." Beautiful presentation of a nauseating reality of corporatocracy numbers up. very. close.
❤️
Yes. Capitalism combined with the obstinate fight against the diverse society = equal power to each person.
That piece by Heather McGhee has rocked me.
Coupled with racism...(white MALE entitlement with a few women and POC which is such a mystery).
"Corporatocracy."
I was moved by Adam Schiff's closing lines at tfg's impeachment trial, and they continue to give me chills today:
“'History will not be kind to Donald Trump. If you find that the House has proved its case, and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel and for all of history.'"
The singular indignity and contempt with which the RNC discharges its duties belongs in the gutter alongside its idol, the "golden calf" and his abominable Republican minions. How any human being can yearn to link their name to his is beyond comprehension.
Adam Schiff is wondrous, an outrageously wicked smart one. I would marry him! Or vote for him for president. He is freakin brilliant.
You know his wife is named Eve. How’s that for a great pair!
Hahaha!
Artificial selection...
He represents Burbank, which is Hollywood. The entertainment industry located him and set him up for office, that’s what I read somewhere... (LA Times)
With redistricting, he"s now running to represent the new 30th District, which includes the Original Farmer's Mkt area, Park La Brea, Miracle Mile, the
Grove. I continue to support him with an automatic
monthly donation (measly, but it all adds up, right?). He is a superb human being who gives me some sense of comfort that we have a few politicians who truly work for the people.
TFG had advisors who fed him lines of BS? Remember, he chose his advisors. When they stopped saying what he wanted to hear, he sacked them and appointed new ones, with accelerating frequency as his term came to a close. He seemed to have a talent for picking a rogue's gallery of "advisors", several of whom have already been convicted and served time for one form of white collar crime or another. And, now he has the RNC in his pocket as well. But, the closer and closer he flies to the flame, the more other Republicans will slowly succumb to the fear that being associated with him will destroy their chances with more moderate and orthodox party voters and independents. We still have nearly 3 years to the 2024 election, plenty of time for him to continue spouting increasingly outrageous lies and self incriminating statements, even IF the DOJ can't summon the courage to indict and prosecute him. The only court he cares about is the one with 160 million members in the jury box. It's worth remembering that he DID capture a personal record number of voters in 2020 and still lost by 5 million+ AND the electoral college. There just won't be enough voters in his base willing to stick with him in spite of himself to carry an election. He may wreak havoc in the primary, but the Republican orthodoxy (do they even exist anymore?) will have to make the brutal choice to perish in flames with him, or summon the courage to put him out to pasture and choose new champions. I haven't seen much evidence of courage in the current generation of elected national Republican leaders, so I wouldn't lay odds on their behaving as king-makers for anyone "new" in 2024. One simply can't speak from a position of strength while attempting to split the baby, to stand straight upright on the fractured ground of a huge pile of lies.
Words to describe those who follow Trump are opportunists and sycophants! Those are the ones that I can print. I have some choice words in German too. At the same time, I cannot help wondering why this obviously criminal ex-president is not thrown in jail and locked away where he belongs. I have long been thinking about the appropriate location for a penal colony for Trump and all of his sycophantic gangster Republican homies.
we already own Guantanamo...
I used to think of Gitmo in the early years of the past regime. Now, it is way too small for all the traitors to America. We need to look to the Siberian suggestions below.
I have had the same dream for five years. Mine occurs for all to be deported to Siberia.
Yes. I was thinking the uninhabited Russian Arctic Island of New Siberia.
An island might be better than the desert. They can learn to fish and work like other people do.
Zemalya Bunge, is an uninhabited New Siberian Island that is a barren sandy plain. That would be my choice. It has no vegetation and some think it might be sea floor that was caused to rise above sea level.
Thanks for the reference. I'd never heard of it. In regard to using it as a penal colony, there is a problem-could easily be flooded-given sea rise. I found this article about it: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/147359/sandy-plains-in-the-arctic
Very enjoyable train of thought
YES!
Oh. Good. I've been to Siberia. It is a wonderful place. My inlaws live in Khakasia and my niece goes to university in Krasnoyarsk. Lenin was sent to Siberia by the Czar and look where it got hom
How about 'cult'?
Have you heard of Nauru? or Christmas Island?
Yes. Those are populated islands.
They have been used for years by the Australian government as detention centres for any refugees or asylum-seekers trying to reach Australia by boat. Bad story. I was being ironic. But they are fully equipped with huts, basic communal facilities, guards, and high barbed wire fences.
No twitter?
No internet!
There are no "good Republicans." There is the Party of Trump, and all he did was make it OK for them to say out loud what they have believed for decades. One of the founding parties that became the GOP were the former Know Nothings, who now run the entire show.
Ain't that the truth. Giving them permission to be openly racist, sexist, and all the phobics of the LGBTQ+ community.
Pithy, dear TC
But you see, The Former Guy wasn't really bad. He was just stupid.
I believe this is called "damning with faint praise." And it seems to be the very best that his most ardent admirers can come up with.
Of course, I damn him with nothing that can be called "faint," nor can it be even remotely associated with "praise." I've even invented a new part of the Inferno for him to spend eternity in.
I dunno, Joseph. He’s not dumb and I truly feel his “admirers” don’t think he’s stupid. I know this was tongue-in-cheek, but TFG is extremely dangerous. If he is finally thrown in prison, my guess is he’ll sing like a canary. He won’t want to be by himself facing the audience…this time.
trying to 'like' this, but substack won't let me.
Also trying to ❤️ Marlene’s post
❤
I think the red ink gets blocked. I clicked on all three hearts, nothing, then refreshed, and lo! they were all fixed when I came back.
Sometimes, if you write a comment, you can come back to the post and like it. Other times, getting off Substack and back on fixes it. For a while.
Try refreshing the page-that should help.
When I try that, I end up somewhere else in the long, long list, and am lost. <sigh>
I was just clarifying their argument. "He wasn't bad, he just had bad advisors."
Sure, Mr. Trump, go ahead and put your tongue on that frozen flagpole.....
Joseph, it looks more like they are praising with faint damn to me....make that wing of the inferno big enough for all of them....
Why did that make me laugh so much? getting feeble.
Many who voted ¨for him¨ were voting against Biden because they truly believe the Dems will establish a Venezuelan form of socialism. I know a few of them.
Thanks Heather again for concise, penetrating commentary and insight. Hopefully the dam is going to break at some point and those (somewhat) honest Republicans in office will finally break with the "fringe" that now dominates the remains of the party. In all the polling and statistics, it seems that this country has about 30 some percent of voters who are aligned with all the Trump et al lies. (A higher percentage of Republicans of course.) The challenge now, is to get a winning majority of the remaining 70 percent of voters to come over the the Truth, Facts, and Science of the Democrat party. How to do seems to me to be the challenging political matter at hand today. What is the way?????? Who shall lead??? That seems to be the great unanswered question. Biden is caught up in dealing with the everyday trying to deliver the goods right now----and succeeding magnificently (look at jobs added, etc.) even though the MSM can't see that. In Addition: For what it is worth, take a look at The American Prospect web and emails that point out the REAL problem behind the bottleneck in trucking and distribution. It is the lack of good, well-paying jobs. The scandal is the fact that so many truckers have been reduced to contractors, unions have been squeezed out, the turnover in truckers is about 94% per year---Get the article and confirm the details and then write letters to newspapers, and all the rest. It isn't the lack of drivers---it is the lack of jobs that pay decently, have benefits, and all the rest. (which was the status of things until trucking was DEREGULATED----end of this rant.) Peace and Courage to all. And sleep well; be ready for tomorrow........
didn't I read somewhere that 40% of the electorate now identify themselves as independent? I'm a proud member of this "non-party". I'd participate in an open primary if there was one available to me; everyone gets to vote and the top two candidates move on to the general election, irrespective of party affiliation.
And No corporate money or lobbyists allowed. Down with corporatocracy.
There will always be lobbyists, and that's not all a bad thing. It's Citizen's (ha) United with no restrictions on money that propelled the destruction of our democracy by corporate thugs.
In 2016 after a lifetime of voting without enrolling in a political party, I found it necessary to enroll as a Democrat, as I finally became conscious of the need to stand strong against autocracy. I regret that it took me that long to see, and to begin to work purposefully to support democracy.
Perhaps I need to shift from Independent to democrat for now, too. When we have time to fight for campaign finance reform, I can go back to Independent. But we need to have huge numbers of dems right now to show the party of sedition that we mean serious business.
Yes. I did.
NM has closed primaries. I consider myself an Independent, but have maintained registration as a Democrat, because in a heavily Democratic state, that is where the candidates are chosen. Over the years, I have prided myself on voting for the candidates, not the party. For the foreseeable future that has changed and I will not vote for any Republican. No matter what they promise in campaigns, they seem to get sucked into the prevailing party line.
I am the same.
I'm one
I have been a member of the Independent Party for 35 years. The only member.
Choosing independent (with a lower case "i" )means one accepts the reality of being an "outsider" to any particular voter block. It also demands more of the voter than the party-line voter. There isn't a lazy "party ticket" recipe for voting. As an independent, one may have conservative and/or liberal views, issue by issue. I find myself fiscally conservative and socially moderate on most issues, understanding also that fiscal conservatism and social moderation have more than one definition. I view the primary season as a means to come to know something about the major party candidates, knowing I'll be confronted with two of them in the general election. Sadly, there hasn't been a third party candidate with a big enough megaphone to catch the public's attention since Ross Perot, although there are axes along which people can align themselves other than conservative/liberal. A balanced budget, for instance, is neither liberal nor conservative in and of itself. Tax policy can be used to unbalance a budget, or cover up profligate spending. So, I'm a spectator for the primaries, a voter for the general election season.
The Biblical directive quoted above; "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, ....and love your neighbor as yourself" can be claimed by persons on all points along the political spectrum. To truly own that commandment speaks far more about an individual's sense of humility than it does about one's politics, more about one's attitude/behavior towards others than one's personal view of the world. It more or less excludes the behavior of an idealogue. Hunger, frailty, danger, disenfranchisement aren't primarily political issues. We certainly politicize them, but one feature of political belief/process is about whether one approaches the debates with an intent to find common ground or to "win" a cage fight. Where is the party that attracts people whose instincts are to find the center, rather than the extremes?
Wow. Yes.
Here in NH, there's a law about to be put in place to mandate that anyone who wants to vote in a primary MUST declare party affiliation 120 days before the primary-no declaration-you can't vote in a primary. https://www.ledgertranscript.com/Proposed-legislation-would-close-New-Hampshire-s-primary-elections-to-undeclared-voters-44266835
And that seems very unfair in our system. I want to vote for whom I feel is the best candidate, not party. Ticks me off how we have to be affliated...
It's wrong. The vote should not be revealed.
The "fringe" ideas have been strong in the GOP for decades. Trump was only "special" in making it OK for them to say that crap out loud. Go read Richard Hofstadter's "The Pseudo-Conservative Revolt," written back in 1954 - it describes modern "mainstream" Republicans to a "T."
Just when you think the atrocities that DT committed in which more come to light each day, are absolutely the craziest you can think of, you realize we are running out of superlatives to describe them. AND he’s seemingly untouchable and unaccountable for nothing short of high crimes of treason. How can this be possible?
The Untouchables were caught and indicted and convicted and jailed. T-Rump et al will be Al Caponed.
There is always hope that Justice will prevail and most especially in cases as important as insurrection or treason.
Reading this letter, really a summary of more crazy TFG stunts and the news today, I have to stop and breathe. Holding my breath until the next discovery. Nixon had secret tapes. TFG wasn’t even hiding his destruction of documents. Interesting that his staff taped the ripped pieces together. Why wasn’t that leaked to the public? Obstruction of Justice. What’s next? We are extremely lucky, very very lucky, this crazy man didn’t start WW3. But if we ask his diehard supporters, this is no big deal. We will have to rely on the 1/6 committee and the law.
The comments by billionaire Peter Thiel are chilling.
Thiel in between the lines, if quoted accurately: "I got mine. Screw you."
He probably believed all that before he hit pay dirt. I wonder how well gay people do during fascist regimes though. Just saying.
Exactly. Man is akin to tRump....mine, all mine and f#$k you.
What makes it more chilling is that Theil is not an idiot like Drumpf.
They absolutely are. Thiel's ideal society is apparently a society similar (if not identical) to that which exists in Russia; a corrupt oligarchy run by a few robber barons.
According to Putin there are no homosexuals in Russia.
Does he protest too much🙄
I agree. Not only does he object both to government operating for the benefit of all, but also has a problem with women voting? And he has the means to promote, hard, others who share his views.
At least all the troglodytes seems to be compelled right now to voice the unvoiceable. I love that we see who they all are. Though it feels excruciatingly slow, it seems necessary as the worst of our privileged wealthy, or seemingly powerless white males, are demonstrating very clearly who they are. It is much easier for a democracy to see its' enemies who have lain just under the surface.
He also said that competition is for losers and the best way to build a business is through monopoly
A monopoly is the easy way to build a business, but it usually offers lousy subpar products. The USSR was one big monopoly and was 20 years behind the west. Competition is what pushes innovation and excellence.
The GOP can't have it both ways; either you are a part of the corrupt Trump cult-and complicit in his authoritarianism-or you break completely and declare how dangerous this blighted human being is for the future of democracy in America.
Trump and his brownshirts have spoken their intentions out loud, providing no quarter for GOP fence-sitters.
Attempting to attract Trump's followers while seeking some semblance of distance from Trump is nothing more than a morbid exercise in dystopian pretzel logic.
Deborah, that is a great argument! Agree 100%