To the familiar American refrain of "Where were you in 1963 when you heard JFK had been assassinated," may now be added to "Where were you in 2020 when you first heard Trump had been defeated?"
The reign of Trump has been a national nightmare. I often found myself these last two years especially asking whether this was what it was like…
To the familiar American refrain of "Where were you in 1963 when you heard JFK had been assassinated," may now be added to "Where were you in 2020 when you first heard Trump had been defeated?"
The reign of Trump has been a national nightmare. I often found myself these last two years especially asking whether this was what it was like living in Nazi Germany during WWII, cringing at the thought of what another four years would bring to the last shreds of democracy in American.
Yes, we just dodged a huge bullet, but there will be so much work to repair the damage done. America's experiment in democracy is still alive, though badly bruised. It is time to once again to come together and reassert the ideal. And that my dear friends and fellow citizens is now "the only game in town . . ."
On Friday morning, I was in a casino-hotel called the Peppermill in Wendover, Nevada-Utah border. I turned on the TV just in time to discover that Biden took the lead in Pennsylvania. That's when I realized that he was going to win. That's when I realized the nightmare is almost over. I saved the envelope that the hotel room key comes in.
The USA-is not merely “badly bruised” but its immune system - to contain and prohibit what would destroy it - has been and is being systematically and incrementally dismantled and/or crippled by corporations and the super rich intent on controlling us through amassing unlimited power and wealth. This is the non-sexy, un dramatic but meat and potatoes source of conditions still fertile for another coup. This rant and insistence on free instead of regulated fair trade by corporations represents a killing point. A murderous break with laws of Nature. Hardwired into Nature is implicit regulation. Frankl (Mans Search for Meaning) once said in a lecture at Berkeley that Americans fool themselves in thinking that freedom can prosper without its twin “responsibility.” Isn’t acting responsibly an expression of an acceptance of limitation? Can anyone in touch with the fundamental realities of interdependence and plain decency consider the -shifting of corporate offices overseas to avoid taxes, buying legislators, lying about researched and known destructiveness of their processes and products (Exxon, Shell, tobacco industry), monopolistic practices and union busting - as “responsible “? Okay. So Capt Chaos is out. Now is not the time to bury your duff in the sofa or go do Brunch. Now is the time to make fundamental change happen. To keep on being loud, strategic, insistent, persistent and with a clear eye on wishy washy politicians pushing no-change no-benefit centrist policies and giving them hell until they shape up or ship out.
I think an important part of what is causing the oligarchical "shadow government" is a failure to enact strict campaign finance reform. It would be central to "fixing" the issues the country is facing. We were asked dozens of times a day to donate to the national election that conservatively cost a $4 billion! This is a non-partisan issue. Both parties are mired in the collection of money, the more the better. Without stopping this destructive means of financing elections, the government will continue to be controlled by deep pockets with global, ruinous agendas.
Yes but those that owe their place to that money will not dare face the people without it. They have been bought, emasculated and robotized. It's doubtless a measure that either awaits the reults of the Georgian senatorial run-offs or the successful completion of the mid-terms...and then the SCOTUS stupidities must be sorted out to ensure it sticks.
My concern is that to ascend at all in politics, one needs to seek money, a lot of it. If there is one thing Pelosi is known and valued for, it is her effectiveness in raising money, as an example. Even those who value "grassroots", small donations, understand that it is the money that is needed and they need to constantly churn for it. It's a system running in the dark, in the background, that seems to be the lesser of all of the issues. But I think it is the prime issue.
I was just remembering that I have given a good deal of money to the elections of candidates and causes, time and again, in this cycle. I am just as "robotized" as the politicians! Instead of "how much justice can you afford", is it becoming "how much democracy can you afford"!
If the corporations and the rich can spend no more than you and nobody or nothing gets tax credits for "think tank educative" or direct political expenditures then things should settle down.
Daughter of Holocaust victims here. I can tell you that I am grateful my parents did not have to endure these last 4 years with a moron at the helm. I think the actions of Stephen Miller and his boss would have killed them.
To the familiar American refrain of "Where were you in 1963 when you heard JFK had been assassinated," may now be added to "Where were you in 2020 when you first heard Trump had been defeated?"
The reign of Trump has been a national nightmare. I often found myself these last two years especially asking whether this was what it was like living in Nazi Germany during WWII, cringing at the thought of what another four years would bring to the last shreds of democracy in American.
Yes, we just dodged a huge bullet, but there will be so much work to repair the damage done. America's experiment in democracy is still alive, though badly bruised. It is time to once again to come together and reassert the ideal. And that my dear friends and fellow citizens is now "the only game in town . . ."
On Friday morning, I was in a casino-hotel called the Peppermill in Wendover, Nevada-Utah border. I turned on the TV just in time to discover that Biden took the lead in Pennsylvania. That's when I realized that he was going to win. That's when I realized the nightmare is almost over. I saved the envelope that the hotel room key comes in.
I will never forget.
Truck driver parking in the hotel parking lot after driving 530 miles from West Sacramento, food delivery, on the job, not gambler.
The USA-is not merely “badly bruised” but its immune system - to contain and prohibit what would destroy it - has been and is being systematically and incrementally dismantled and/or crippled by corporations and the super rich intent on controlling us through amassing unlimited power and wealth. This is the non-sexy, un dramatic but meat and potatoes source of conditions still fertile for another coup. This rant and insistence on free instead of regulated fair trade by corporations represents a killing point. A murderous break with laws of Nature. Hardwired into Nature is implicit regulation. Frankl (Mans Search for Meaning) once said in a lecture at Berkeley that Americans fool themselves in thinking that freedom can prosper without its twin “responsibility.” Isn’t acting responsibly an expression of an acceptance of limitation? Can anyone in touch with the fundamental realities of interdependence and plain decency consider the -shifting of corporate offices overseas to avoid taxes, buying legislators, lying about researched and known destructiveness of their processes and products (Exxon, Shell, tobacco industry), monopolistic practices and union busting - as “responsible “? Okay. So Capt Chaos is out. Now is not the time to bury your duff in the sofa or go do Brunch. Now is the time to make fundamental change happen. To keep on being loud, strategic, insistent, persistent and with a clear eye on wishy washy politicians pushing no-change no-benefit centrist policies and giving them hell until they shape up or ship out.
I think an important part of what is causing the oligarchical "shadow government" is a failure to enact strict campaign finance reform. It would be central to "fixing" the issues the country is facing. We were asked dozens of times a day to donate to the national election that conservatively cost a $4 billion! This is a non-partisan issue. Both parties are mired in the collection of money, the more the better. Without stopping this destructive means of financing elections, the government will continue to be controlled by deep pockets with global, ruinous agendas.
Yes but those that owe their place to that money will not dare face the people without it. They have been bought, emasculated and robotized. It's doubtless a measure that either awaits the reults of the Georgian senatorial run-offs or the successful completion of the mid-terms...and then the SCOTUS stupidities must be sorted out to ensure it sticks.
My concern is that to ascend at all in politics, one needs to seek money, a lot of it. If there is one thing Pelosi is known and valued for, it is her effectiveness in raising money, as an example. Even those who value "grassroots", small donations, understand that it is the money that is needed and they need to constantly churn for it. It's a system running in the dark, in the background, that seems to be the lesser of all of the issues. But I think it is the prime issue.
I was just remembering that I have given a good deal of money to the elections of candidates and causes, time and again, in this cycle. I am just as "robotized" as the politicians! Instead of "how much justice can you afford", is it becoming "how much democracy can you afford"!
If the corporations and the rich can spend no more than you and nobody or nothing gets tax credits for "think tank educative" or direct political expenditures then things should settle down.
Daughter of Holocaust victims here. I can tell you that I am grateful my parents did not have to endure these last 4 years with a moron at the helm. I think the actions of Stephen Miller and his boss would have killed them.