America's Aborted 250: Saturday Political Soap Box 305

Like it or not, it's hard to celebrate right now.  American-style democracy is under serious attack today. 

Much of what I love most about America is under serious challenge by a malevolent wannabe dictator, a weak and compliant Congress, and a Supreme Court determined to strip away our hard-fought rights.

His projects in DC are not to show a shining nation.  It is to glorify and profit himself.

The reflecting pool is emblematic of that toxic makeover, and of his complete incompetence and buffoonery.

 

His takeover of the America 250 event, turning it from a celebration of the nation into a glorification of all things Tumpy, has resulted in the biggest failure of an event of this scale EVER.  Melted ice cream, power outages, unattended musical acts, pitiful state booths, the dominance of Christian Nationalists, a cheesy, crumbling, Arch Du Drumpf, parts of the stage falling on performers, crippling heat with little air conditioning.  The Great American State Fair is not just a failure; it is a complete and utter embarrassment.

And there is more to come.  They plan on upping the fireworks from 20,000 to 850,000.  That is a dangerous increase, environmentally and health-wise. If I had dogs there, I would be taking a trip to Williamsburg.  

He is planning to give a speech on a day when the temperature could hit 107.  He wants to impress people with how long he can go. I'll bet the stage will be fanned/air-conditioned. The audience watching it? Eh, not so much. Better have a giant fleet of ambulances ready.

The increase in democracy and equal representation/opportunity has never been a straight line in this country.  The Civil War, the constitutional amendments, and Reconstruction were followed by Jim Crow and segregation.  Civil rights movements in the 60s were followed by decades of backlash, encouraged by Reagan.  The promise of Obama and "Yes, You Can" was followed by Trump and "No, You Can't."

American Democracy

July 4, 1766 - January 20, 2025

I'm sorry. That's the way I feel right now.

Change my mind.

Maybe it's too late.

But I hope not.

Find a way to celebrate what's best in this country.

And be sure to vote for people who will restore the American promise for ALL of its people.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

AOC '28

Georgia Primary: Lost Who to Vote For? Saturday Political Soap Box 303

 

PatrickJ Wilver, candidate for 1st Congressional District

This is a tough one.

Many of you have probably already voted in the Georgia primary, but I'm voting on Election Day this year only because that's what best fits our schedule.

It'd be difficult to come up with endorsements this year.  There are many candidates this year, and it's hard to find much information about many of them.  

I'm going to tell you where I'm leaning, but I highly encourage you to research for yourself.  

This is only for the Democratic Primary.  If you want to vote in the Republican primary, I really don't know what to tell you.  Most of their candidates are groveling to be the candidate closest to Trump. Good luck with that, attaching your star to a President whose star is falling to Reath, disintegrating before our very eyes.  The only thing I beg you is not to vote for Rick Jackson - a vile bigot running racist and cruel ads.

Governor

Keisha Lance Bottoms

Former Mayor of Atlanta...considered for Vice President by Biden

In this one, I have decided not to fight the inevitable.  She may not be the most progressive candidate, but she is competent and more than capable of being Governor.  She's the most likely to get over 50%, and I would really like to avoid a runoff.  The Republican race is likely to end in a divisive runoff, and I would rather our candidate have the lead time to consolidate support.

Another good choice would be Jason Estaves.  He may be a bit more progressive than Bottoms, and he seems like a good person, with some charisma and speaking skills.

Nabilah Parkes

Former State Senator. Gwinnett County

I'm leaning here right now.  She is experienced as a politician and an activist, and I believe will be good on healthcare and insurance issues.  Since she has legislative experience, she may be able to herd the cats in Georgia's legislature.

I'm also considering Josh McLarin.  He is also a State Senator representing a district that covers parts of the northern suburbs of Atlanta.  His legislative priorities are similar to Nabilah's, and I have seen some TikTok Georgib-based progressives endorse him.

Secretary of State

Cam Ashling

A progressive who also has financial and small business experience. She has the experience to handle all the needs and concerns of small businesses, with licensing and other services offered by the Secretary of State.  She is being on election integrity (OUR kind, not THEIR kind), and I believe has the analytical skills to be a good Secretary of State.

I'm also considering Adam Consonery, Jr. He is the candidate who has most clearly endorsed ranked-choice voting.

Georgia 1st Congressional District

Patrick J Wilver

He's a veteran (West Point Graduate), an activist, and a college student at Georgia Southern. He's young, energetic, sharp, and able to connect with the younger voter while still appealing to the rest of us (including this old man).  His platform is the most progressive, and he most clearly states his support of true universal healthcare.  He's capable of attracting the working-class vote and moving Congress away from corruption and toward addressing 21st-century issues, not gridlock and culture-war madness.

Joyce Marie Griggs is likely to receive the most votes because of her name recognition, but she is not my choice. A conservative-to-centrist Democrat, she has run and lost before and is unlikely to build the coalition needed to win in the General Election. I am most likely to vote against her in a runoff, so I am hoping that a genuine progressive is her opposition.

I won't go into all the others.  There is a lot. You do need to vote for Miracle Rankin and Jen Auer Jordan for the Georgia Supreme Court.  They will help protect us in matters of women's reproductive rights, voting rights, and workers' rights and interests.

Without details, where I'm leaning on other races -

Attorney General  - Tanya Miller

Commissioner of Agriculture - Sedrick Kent Rowe, Jr.

Commissioner of  Insurance - Keisha Sean Waites

State School Superintendent - Anton Anthony (Otha Thornton also looks good).

Commissioner of Labor - Brett A Hulme

Public Service Commissioner - Angelica Pressley (only if you want someone advocating for YOU instead of the insurance companies).

Court of Appeals of Georgia - Will Wooten

Court of Appeals of Georgia - Fatima Harris Felton

I normally don't vote for unopposed candidates, but I am making an exception for Jon Ossoff. He has been an excellent Senator, and I am proud he represents Georgia.  We need to send a message to the lunatics running on the Republican side that we will keep the best, like we did with Ralph Warnock (the best speaker in the Senate). 

Please, if you read this and have other recommendations, please let me know. I'm open to any thoughts as to who the most progressive candidates are.

T. M. Strait

AOC '28

A Legacy Devolved: Saturday Political Soap Box 298

 

We are often heavily influenced by political figures that are popular when we come of age.

I became politically aware younger than most. JFK and Camelot meant a lot to me, not just for what they did but also for what they promised to do.

The assassination of President Kennedy seemed to me like a dream interrupted. LBJ accomplished much of the Civil Rights agenda, only to fall way short with Vietnam.

RFK felt to me like an opportunity to restore the dream. Bobby was a more brash figure than his brother, starting out more conservative. But after the assassination, he went on a spiritual and political journey that brought him to identify more with minorities and the poor and disadvantaged. He had the rare ability to earn support from both Black and Latino voters, along with the white working class.

In my room at home, I had a poster of a quote that Bobby would often use -

This was initially said by George Bernard Shaw but made popular in my generation by RFK.

Once again, the dream was cut short by an assassination. It left me angry, confused, hopeless. Would the legacy ever be restored?

The youngest brother, Teddy, held some promise, but Chappaquiddick left him compromised. He still had a lot of good things to say, but it was hard for him to overcome what happened in that tragic accident. Although I longed for a Kennedy restoration, I stuck with President Carter in the primaries.

I looked for future generations as they entered adulthood and politics. Joe Kennedy Jr, congressman for Massachusetts, came the closest, but none quite fit the bill.

On the surface, I should have liked RFK, Jr., but I admired his earlier career in environmentalism. But then...

He kind of went off the nut.

His personal life was shaky (babysitter affairs, brain worms, adventures with roadkill). His policies were skewed towards the unacceptable. Some might consider his anti-vaccine routine acceptable or just a minor thing. I do not, not when childhood diseases are making a comeback, not when he was a significant part of the Covidiot nonsense.

So, I knew that he was not someone I could support. Some friends were upset that he was getting resistance from being on the debate stage or fighting to get on enough ballots.

If he was a ground-roots movement designed to build a vital new political party, I might have some sympathy with that viewpoint.  

But his is not. It's another rich guy's vanity project. Funding came from a consortium of right-wing billionaires. I kept being told RFK was a liberal by those who damn well knew that he was not.

Many thought he was a plant to draw Democratic voters away from Biden. I was skeptical and just thought it was narcissistic selfishness.

I was wrong.

Yesterday, he suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, even showing up at one of Trump's rallies.

Well, that rips the cover off that ball, doesn't it?

I am grateful that we don't have a monarchy in this country. We've had few families where we could safely transfer power from one family member to another.

The royal attraction is still strong in this country. John Adams to his son John Quincy Adams. Roosevelt cousins. Bush Sr to Bush Jr. The desire to go from Bill to Hilary. Those who swore until the convention that the Democrats would turn to Michelle Obama.

I am no longer yearning for a return to the Kenedys. However, I do still yearn for the politics represented by Bobby Kennedy—that progressive bent that attracts ALL the working class across all other barriers.

I see that ticket in Harris/Walz. Harris is experienced and competent speaks the right language, is strong in our various American communities, and crosses gender and racial lines. Coach Walz has a simple and direct way of communicating with the working class in ways that they can understand and identify with.

I still wonder what American History would have been like had Bobby not been assassinated and had won the Presidency in 1968. We can only conjecture. We can only dream.

But even though the dream of Bobby might be gone, and his legacy devolved by his own son, Harris/Walz convinces me that the dream is still alive.

I'm voting for Gus's Dad!

Harris/Walz 2024!!!

Mean Green Republicans: Saturday Political Soap Box 294

 Look, I know that this isn't straight green. The color is actually described as apple green.

The 118th Congress, the least productive Congress in modern times, did not like their original pins. You see, they were navy blue, and by golly, I guess any shade of blue is official property of the Democratic Party. Well, they can't have that! So, the House Republicans dropped another 40K so they could all change over to a different color.

True, even though it's not a lot of money in the scheme of things, it is endemic to the misplaced values of the Crazy Conference.

Every action or proposed action the House Republicans take is about grievance and preserving power for the wealthy, corporations, and Christian Nationalists.

They have little genuine legislative power at the national level, thanks to a Democratic Senate and President. But they can threaten to shut down the government (hurting countless people), stop forward progress on any genuinely beneficial legislation, block support of the Ukrainians in their battle against a Russian dictator (Speaker Mike Johnson is practically handing the keys to Putin and saying, "Here, Puty, take 'er out for a test drive!"), and hold endless hearings about Hunter Biden while Marjorie Taylor Greene holds up dick pics.

Yes, their childish antics can be entertaining. But they're also destroying any ability to get anything done.

Not so in states with Republican Governors and Republican-controlled legislatures. They have run roughshod over voting rights, and the lgbtq+ community, directing tax cuts to the wealthy and increasing the tax burden of the poor and middle class, supporting book bans, undermining public education, blocking Medicaid expansion, and so many other mean and frankly anit-Christian actions.

Currently, some of these Republican states have sounded off about summer feeding programs for children. The Governor of Mississippi wants to discontinue it because it fosters dependence on a "welfare state." This is the same state that has NO state minimum wage, only the federal minimum of $7.25. Guess they don't want to foster dependence on an employer either.

Georgia is in the same boat. Only Governor Kemp tries to hand out cookies to teachers to bribe them to his side. Maybe they won't notice all the stuff he's taking away from them, including support for summer feeding.

Republicans. They just can't help being mean, green, antidemocratic machines.

But, what the hey! They do have spiffy pins!

Going Down With the Trumptanic: Saturday Political Soap Box 293

 

President Biden is on a roll.  Whatever his age, his achievements have been extraordinary.  He led us out of the worst of the Pandemic, even though many were willing to make other people sick by not following basic health protocol, in the name of freedumb.  Given the pits the economy was in, it has come around remarkably under Biden.  The lowest unemployment in several decades, improving stock market and GDP, growth in manufacturing jobs, and inflation whipped faster than any other industrialized country.  He has passed the most comprehensive infrastructure bill in American history, including our most significant effort to deal with climate change.  He has organized an international coalition to help Ukraine fight the invasion of Russia, including the strengthening and expanding of NATO.  This is in the face of bitter Republican opposition and a far-right-extremist Supreme Court.

And yet...

A recent New York Times poll shows Biden and Trump in a dead heat.

Twice-impeached, thrice indicted, two-time popular vote loser, narcissistic misogynist bully racist Donald J. Trump.

It's true.  America has done some shameful things in the past (sorry, DeSantis, that's the hard truth), but this attachment to this foul figure, Trump, is breaking my heart and shattering my faith in many of those around me (I live in a county that voted 87% for Trump - BOTH TIMES).

If you're still sticking with this orange buffoon, maybe this will shake you away...let's look at the two major defenses he's tried for his latest indictment, centered around his efforts to overthrow an election he knew he had lost.

1) I have freedom of speech.  I can say whatever I want, even if it is a lie.

Wow.  Think about that one for a minute.  His defense is that lying to you about an election is okay?  Really?  That's what you want?  Someone who has no shame in lying to you?

2) I was following the advice of my lawyers.  It's their fault.

My Grandfather Martin was a bit of a booze hound, probably an alcoholic.  Whenever a doctor told him to live, he had to give up the booze; he simply found another doctor that wouldn't hound him about it.  And when that doctor started in about not drinking, he would find another doctor who wouldn't tell him to stop drinking.  This plan didn't work forever - he eventually died, with liver cirrhosis being a significant cause.

And that's what Trump does.  His lawyer shops until he gets one that tells him what he wants to hear.

And what does that tell you, my Trumpeteer friend, about the judgment of your favorite clown?  He can't distinguish between bad advice and good advice.  He hears whatever he wants to hear.

---------

I've suffered a lot in the last seven years.  People I care about cling to this idiot, who had no business being a dog catcher, much less President of the United States.  You sold out all your values, including the love of country and democracy, all for this despicable human being who doesn't give a damn about you, especially your so-called Christian values.

Now, I know there are many issues where you and I might not agree - universal health care, Green New Deal, a living wage, free post-secondary education (including community colleges and apprenticeships), supporting the LGBTQ+ community, and more.  But you know what we shouldn't argue over?  Democracy, voting rights, free and fair elections, being kind and supportive to all Americans.

I'm sick of Trump.  I'm sick of those who sell their decency out to support him.  I'm sick of your attachment to him.

He's irredeemable slime.  And he deserves all the indictments he has received.  

And that's just the tip of the Trumpberg.

Please stop shuffling the deck chairs.  Get off the Trumptanic, once and for all.  It's going down, and you don't need to be aboard.

Actuarial Speculatron: Saturday Political Soap Box 292

 

Actuaries make a lot of money. The insurance industry depends on them to evaluate their risk in making and pricing policies.

Actuaries use mathematics and statistics to measure life expectancy and the risk of insurance companies in making specific policies.

Actuaries can't know for certain about individuals - they can only make predictions about a group and statistical likelihood.

So, please, when I talk about the actuary of American politics, I'm not making predictions about any specific individual. We've had political figures whose lives have been cut unexpectedly short. We've had others who've lived a long time. Jimmy Carter may now be in hospice care but is still with us at 98. Henry Kissinger just had his 100th birthday.

In general, actuaries would agree that the older you get, the more risk you run. Some of that risk is not death but incapacitation, unable to function physically and/or mentally at a level sufficient for the tasks they are responsible for.

Yes, both Biden and Trump are falling into an area of greater actuarial risk. The odds of both being healthy enough to compete vigorously in the 2024 election is not high. Not impossible, but not high.

But there are other places where we run an increased actuarial risk. We have a number of Senators that are in the upper brackets of aging. There are 10 Senators aged 75 to 79. There are five over the age of 80. With the narrow split in the Senate (51 to 49 caucusing for the Democrats), any health crisis could unbalance the Senate.

A case in point would be 89-year-old Senator Finestein of California's recent extended bout with illness that left her unable to perform her duties for many weeks. This made it difficult to impossible for the Democrats to move ahead with judicial nominees, as her vote was crucial in moving them forward.

Different states have different rules for replacing a US Senator if necessary. So, anything could happen.

The following is not necessarily based on death but on enough incapacitation that the Presidential candidate cannot continue running -

In a normal election, Biden should be Trump, but if it is not Trump, then Biden might have a more challenging time. I've seen enough of DeSantis to not believe he is a viable candidate, but he would be significantly younger than Biden. If Republicans are smart enough to run a Republican who is not an extremist on abortion and other cultural issues, they would have an excellent shot at beating Biden.

If Biden cannot run for a second term, the Democrats would most likely run Vice President Kamala Harris. I greatly admire her and think she would be a first-rate President. I am less sure of her ability to run in the hailstorm of negative press and Republican nastiness that would come her way.

Some day, at some point in time, the Democrats will need to turn to a younger Progressive. Of course, my first choice would be Congressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But it isn't likely for 2024. As younger voters gain voting strength, she and others like her will become more viable.

Change will be coming in our body politic. That is also an actuarial certainty.

It may not be in 2024. But it is coming.

99 Luftlooney Balloons: Saturday Political Soap Box 291

 

Well, thanks, Kevin McCarthy. You got your dream job after 15 ballots of trying. All you had to do was sell your soul to the crazies, and ensure that the 118th Congress is the craziest one ever.

Yes, the antics of Marjorie Taylor Greene have become a poster child for your reign. She backed you early - for one reason and one reason only - to put her back on committees and closer to the controls of power.

Her balloon stunt, pictured above, is one of her milder reactions. It's more stupid and pointless than it is insulting or outrageous. 

Her behavior during the State of the Union was thuggish and boorish. Her interrupting and catcalling, as if she were at a cage wrestling match, hurt the Republicans more than they imagined, by inspiring President Biden to corner the Republicans on Social Security and Medicare. He got them to deny their own statements about cutting these super-popular programs, and negotiated the debt ceiling before the largest audience possible.

In a committee hearing, she proclaimed that one elementary school in Illinois received $5.1 billion dollars in Covid money, exclusively to teach CRT. Do I have to analyze this for you? Does it pass your smell test? If you think this is any way plausible, you may want to find another blog to read. This one is going to make you very unhappy.

In a hearing about the Chinese balloon shot over the Atlantic, she just called what the military was saying BS (initials not used) and saying, "I don't believe you!"

Recent elections have shown that MAGA extremists and election deniers have trouble winning at the national and state level. But that can't include all of the carefully gerrymandered Congressional districts in some parts of the country. So we have to suffer these fools. And because of the thin margin that Congressional Republicans have, they have to let these extremists sling their crap all over the halls of Congress.

There are more fools in the Republican toolshed. There is the fantasy-spinning George Santos, whose lying even eclipses the delusional self-serving Trump. There is the gun-toting Chrstifascist Lauren Boebert. There is Matt Gaetz, whose sexual proclivities are distasteful at best and criminal at worst.

And there are many who are quieter but still support and condone the actions of these fools. What did you expect, after tolerating for years the madness of Trump, the worst and most unqualified President we've ever had?

This is my first Saturday Political Soap Box I've done in a while (since early December). In the future, I will try to deal more with the topics that affect our everyday lives - inflation, Russian aggression, universal health care, climate change, the growing income gap, and more.

But it's going to be hard to ignore the Christfascist threat to the future. Those in Congress are just clowns putting on a show. What we need to fear are people like Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is turning his state into a repressive fascist hellhole.

So, no, as much as I'd like to post about other things, I'm not going to let you forget it. Nothing good can come until we deal with this threat.

Until next I climb the Soap Box,

T. M. Strait

2022 Election Summary by T. M. Strait: Saturday Political Soap Box 290

 Here is what you have been waiting for.

The summary of Election 2022 and what it means by the unrenowned political analyst T. M. Strait, whose posts over the last decade have received around 30 views apiece (more or less).

So, what do I think of the last election?

It went much better than I expected, but I don't think it was the fabulous slam dunk Democratic celebration that many media commentators and Democratic activists thought it was. It's true that they did as well for a first-term President's midterms as you could expect, dating back to Roosevelt.

But...neither did they have any significant breakthroughs that help Biden govern. The House is thinly Republican but Republican nonetheless. And the Republican MAGA crazies hold the balance of power. Expect no significant legislation. Expect Hunter Biden's laptop 24/7. Expect constant calls for impeachment. 

The Senate is in better shape. It may help expedite federal appointments (judges, cabinet officials, etc.). But, despite the "improved" majority and media overconfidence, we're still at the mercy of Manchin and Sinema. Schumer on Wednesday: Woohoo! We have 51 Democrats and are a solid majority! Sinema on Friday: Hold my beer.

Here are my major takeaways from the 2020 election:

Incumbents Rule, Challengers Drool

Although incumbents usually win into the 90% range, this election cycle was particularly incumbency. In the Senate, every Democratic incumbent won, but so did every Republican. The only changeover occurred in Pennsylvania, where Fetterman beat an out-of-state snake oil salesman.

It was more of a victory for incumbency than for either political party.

Gen Z is coming!  

As a bona fide political nerd, I've been listening to political elections since before puberty. I can't ever recall hearing where the youth vote made a difference. But it did this time. And I am amazed and thrilled.

As older generations fade, the impact of Gen Z will rise. Political affiliation often gets affixed early, and it sticks. We've been stuck with the Boomers and Reagan Babies for a long time. And, yes, I'm a Boomer, but I got influenced by politics earlier than most of my peers (60s), and I came from a liberal home. Nothing is 100%, but there were too many of us conned by Nixon, and then Reagen; too many that got swallowed by Greed is Good.

New York and California are Really Bad at Gerrymandering

Believe it or not, if New York and California had done a better job at forming new Congressional districts and taken campaigning a little more seriously, the Democrats would have held the House. Seriously. I'm not kidding. The guy who ran the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Sean Maloney, lost his race (partially redistricted) to his Republican challenger. I mean, my God, we almost lost Katie Porter, the California Democratic SUPERSTAR!

Stop listening to James Carville

In many ways, I like James Carville. He is a vocal advocate for Democrats,  But his concept of Democrats is stuck in the old Third Way compromise Clinton Era. For God's sake, don't let your Progressive flag fly. Be fiesty, but only advocate policies that can best be described as Republican Lite. Well, bullcrap! I want a party that STANDS for something. We're never going to get the progressive values and policy solutions that Americans show they favor in poll after poll.

That doesn't mean you have to be a flower child. You have to show an affinity for the working man. Two Progressives that did this and WON were John Fetterman and Raphael Warnock.  

As the election got to the last day, Joe Scarborough and other media moderates/conservatives were singing the praises of Tim Ryan, Democrat running for Senate in Ohio. Ryan was feisty but also s conservative/moderate, not taking any really bold stances. Ryan debated well. Ryan also lost to a genuinely creepy MAGA Republican, JD Vance. It was about the only Trump-endorsed candidate that won (particularly when you consider those Trump actually rallied for).

And I know. You're saying that was Ohio. It's pretty red. True, but Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown wins there election after election, and he is a no-bones about it Progressive.

Issues that Mattered

Abortion mattered. Republicans caught the car and now they don't know what to do with it. Unfortunately, they are on the wrong side of this, and every state referendum will show what a mistake they made.

Democracy mattered. Virtually every election denier lost. 

Yes, for some, inflation mattered. Particularly for Republican voters.

Issues that Didn't Matter

It breaks my heart, but COVID didn't matter. If it did, Kemp and DeSantis would have been consigned to the dustbin of history.

LGBTQ+ hatred, CRT, immigration - none of these had a major impact. Yes, there is a fraction of the American people for whom these issues matter a great deal, especially in the most MAGA areas, so it really didn't change things.

Global warming/climate change did not have much influence, except for maybe Gen Z.  We will pay the price for ignoring this.

Trump is Toast

His influence only proved to work in a negative direction.

I know. It's been said many times, in many ways, that Trump is a goner. But there's something different this time.

I think it's finally sinking in what a political loser he is.

This is not all cream and gravy.  

You need to be fearfully aware of...

THE IDES OF DeSANTIS!

----------------------

Ok, this is much longer than I thought. It's more of an essay than a summary. It probably means I'll only get 12 who read it instead of 30.

Sigh.

Windmill tilting is exhausting.

The Center Will Not Hold: Saturday Political Soapbox 289

 

Most of the electorate is set. They vote 95% plus for one side or the other. Many may call themselves independent, but they're really not.

I call myself an Independent Progressive, but in reality, I align now with the Democrats. If ever there is a Republican more progressive than the Democrat, I'll seriously give them a look-see. But in today's bitterly divided politics, I'm more likely to see a unicorn in my backyard.

Many other Independents are actually conservatives who, for whatever reason, shun formally attaching themself to the Republican label. A lot of Trumpeteers are Trump first, party and country second. Nevertheless, they will always vote Republican.

Yet, there are a small number of independents, enough that most of our closer elections are determined by them. You know, the type of person that voted for Obama and then somehow rollercoastered to Trump (that's just one example).

Yes, there may be a few independents that genuinely research and think critically each election. But the majority are simply people who pay little attention to politics and go by their gut each election.

So, what are these true independents thinking this year?

Meet Mortimer Snerd.  Mortimer, please take the rest of this column.

Hi. Morty here. What an election year this is!

Anyhoo...

Yeah, I think climate change is real, more or less. And we probably should be doing more about it.

That Rowing Wade thing overturned? Yeah, that's pretty bad. Maybe abortion ain't the best, but no exceptions? C'mon! That ain't right. A pregnant 10-year-old that's been raped having to go out of state to get an abortion? Ridiculous. The whole Supreme Court thing has gone wacko. What's next? Gay marriage? Interracial marriage? I hear they may even restrict contraceptives!  

And it would be nice if the minimum wage were to go up. Of course, I get paid more than that, but I don't know how others survive on $7.25 an hour. It's been stuck there a long time. And maybe raising it will goose everybody's wages some.

Look, yeah, parents need to be involved in their children's education, but Good God! Slavery was real and evil, and the country hasn't been perfect, and we need to teach about the truth, warts and all.

And can we stop talking about the last damn election? Whining about it just makes you look like a poor loser. Overall, I like democracy, and some of the voter suppression efforts of the Republicans make me nervous. And the Covid response? What a mess. Y'all should have just worn a mask and taken the vaccine. I lost some people close to me, and it makes me mad that some of you could not take it seriously.

And, geez Louise, gun violence is wrecking this country. So what's wrong with a couple of common sense measures? How about some background checks? And weapons that are the equivalent of machine guns? You don't need a gun that shoots hundreds of rounds a minute to hunt deer or even self-defense.

And, yeah, we should be supporting Ukraine. We got to draw the line on this Putin dude, or we're gonna wind up with half of Europe swallowed. Does nobody remember how appeasing Hitler worked? Not so hot.

And taxing the rich more is not the worst idea in the world. I hear that some billionaires pay less proportionally than their janitors, and that doesn't seem right. No one wants to see the rich persecuted for being rich. But, good golly, can't they just pay their fair share?

And our healthcare system is a mess. How do people afford the drugs they need, like insulin? It would be good to cover more people less expensively. Even Obamacare turned out to be not so bad. So, maybe some form of universal healthcare would be...

WAIT! WHAT?!? I HAVE TO PAY HOW MUCH FOR GAS? AND MY GROCERIES ARE GOING UP?

That does it.

I'm voting Republican.

Back to me again.

Yep. That's right. I fear some independent voters will chuck all their other concerns out the window and vote based on gas and grocery prices. And, in the back of some of their minds, they must know that a President has little control over oil market prices or the worldwide inflation that's occurring due to pandemic recovery, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and corporate exploitation.

It doesn't matter.

The gut does what the gut does.

The future of democracy be damned.

Losing My CNN: Saturday Political Soap Box 288

 

Circa 18 months ago:

I was at a loss. Sometimes I watch morning news coverage. But it was tough to find one that wasn't biased to the right. I wanted something ranging from left to at least center-left.

Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax were still bleating pro-trump and hard-right talking points. And my go-to MSNBC put Joe Scarbrough on in the mornings. It's true that he had grown very anti-Trump, but he would still be very conservative on almost all other issues. TYT was good, but they were not live - at least in the mornings.

The main network morning shows, like the Today Show and Good Morning America, were more fluff than stuff. I was likelier to see celebrity news interviews and recipes than hard news.

I had long since given up on CNN. It wasn't terrible, but it focused on giving equal time to opinions that did not deserve equal time (facts given equal time with fantasy). They also ran a lot of fluff shows about cooking or whatever. Much of their news was blanded, making them a good choice for airports or medical offices.

Another MSNBC* host that I can't stomach is Chuck Todd. He pretends he's neutral, but he often rehashes Republican talking points. His show was at 1 PM.

I complained to my sister, and she told me about CNN's Brianna Keilar, who was on opposite Chuck Todd. She seemed much more acceptable to me. No, she wasn't a liberal flamer. But she seemed to value truth and facts.

When she moved to CNN's morning show, I was happy! I had my mornings back.**

Recently, all that has changed.

A few months ago was the startling news that Time Warner had been bought by the Discovery Channel people. I mean, what the hay? Is Discovery bigger than the super mega-corporation Time Warner (previously owned by the giant AT&T)? That made no sense. Naked and Afraid is bigger than Game of Thrones? Who knew?

Worse news related to this followed. Turns out the major investor in Discovery is a billionaire, one who is a Trump donor and supporter.  

It turned ugly after that. One of their most liberal hosts, Brian Stetler of Reliable Sources, was pushed out. His crime? Indicating that "I really hope we don't both sides democracy" Correspondent John Harwood son followed, for the sin of calling Trump "a demagogue" And the new head of CNN went to Republican legislators and basically said, "What can we do to make you happy?"

Others like Anderson Cooper, Jim Acosta, and Don Lemon live on borrowed time. It depends on how well they can kowtow to their new overlords. And I am afraid Brianna Keilar is already gone, moaning about Biden's speech being too nasty to PEOPLE WHO WANT TO END DEMOCRACY.

Biden was wrong for calling them semi-fascists. They're not. The MAGA Trumpies are full-blown FASCISTS. There is nothing semi about them,  They are ALL IN.

So, I have to abandon my flirtation with CNN. Do we really need yet another far-right-wing news network?

But it doesn't matter what the American people want.

It only matters what billionaires can buy.

* I didn't want to interrupt my post's main flow, but I know that MSNBC has its own problems. It is owned by COMCAST, which has its own right-wing leanings. At this point, however, the liberal hosts are what's getting them the ratings and money, and they have been able to push back on being subsumed. MSNBC isn't good all the time, but it's good most of the time.

**I need to note that I only see about 15 to 20 minutes of morning coverage daily. Sometimes it's zero. Sometimes it's more if there is a major news story.

Army of the Unwoke! Saturday Political Soap Box 287

 Sometimes parents use control words designed to steer you to the choice they want you to make. For me, the one I remember the most was mature. If I made the choice they wanted me to make, that was mature. If I made the choice, they didn't want me to make, that was immature. It was used to end discussions because the last thing we wanted was to be declared not mature.

Conservatives love to do this. For decades, they will find a word that they believe will end all arguments and make everyone genuflect on their choices. They love turning words into weapons.

Judt tracing through my own time, initially in the fifties and early sixties, the most often used word by Republicans was communist. Take any idea designed to help support the middle class and/or the poor and call it communist. Well, we didn't want to go there, did we? End of discussion!

Social security? Communist! Medicare? Communist! Medicaid? Super duper communist! Also - civil rights, open housing, food stamps, women's reproductive rights - on and on!

When one word would lose its sting, another would come to take its place.

Socialism.

Liberal.

Change Democratic Party to DEMOCRAT Party - emphasis on the RAT.

Politically Correct.

Social Justice Warrior.

Libtard.

And now, the latest word twisted to become a negative pejorative -

WOKE.

A word designed to simply state that a person acknowledges our past history and prejudices, that they've read and experienced and are aware of our country's flaws and discrimination, and they want to respect everybody and want to do better.

But no! People who are open and awakened to our authentic history are monsters to be condemned! And now, the unwoke side of our politics wants to condemn anybody whose eyes are open.

Now, if you want to win an argument, just call something woke. Apparently, we're just supposed to melt into a puddle.

There are many places in the country where the unwoke army rages. But nowhere is it worse than in Florida. Their Christofacsist* Governor has made leading the army of the unwoke his principal rallying cry. History is revised so white people won't be challenged or offended. The LGBTQ+ community is ostracized and vilified. Any state official who won't aggressively pursue perceived violators of abortion procedures is subject to being fired.

It's so bad in Florida that many donated books are withheld from school libraries, including a large number of donated dictionaries (given yearly by the highly radical and woke ROTARY CLUB), for fear they won't pass the Governor's standards.

This is madness. Access to books in school and public libraries may totally collapse.

Am I aware that some can take woke too far? Sure. I have no respect for those who try to exclude speakers from colleges, create artificial safe spaces that can be as exclusionary as what DeSantis is doing, or try to remove books from the library that violate their own perspective.

But they are a minority and perversion of what it means to be woke.

We need to know our true history. Only then can we change it for the better. It does no good to hide our heads in the sand.

*do I realize that Christofascist can be thought of as a control word by the other side? Yep. And I don't care.

Everyone Will Replace Us! Saturday Political Soap Box 286

 

I love history. It was my favorite subject in school but has also been a lifelong passion. 

I wanted to teach History. But, alas, that was not to be. I had a teaching degree that qualified me to teach it, but no one was interested in a history teacher who couldn't coach a sport. That didn't diminish my love of history, even though I am only an amateur historian.

One of the writing projects that fired me up in my late teens and early 20s was the idea of a novel inspired by James Michener, entitled Saginaw. It was intended to be a multi-generational story crossing through the history of the Saginaw area.

It would start with a conflict between two native American tribes fighting to control the Saginaw area. Subsequent parts would deal with French fur trappers and their battles with the English, the timber era and how Saginaw became the center of the lumberjack barons and their demolishment of Michigan's great forests, the rise of the auto industry and the new immigrant groups that came in (Polish, German, the South), and finally, about the 1970s and the white flight from Saginaw to the suburbs.

The point was, whether peaceful or by force, the culture of Saginaw was constantly changing, always evolving. Culture isn't fixed. It's constantly adapting, always blending.

It's essential to have a sense of history. It's important to know where you're from, understand what has happened in the past, and learn lessons from it.

What we must never do is think we can freeze culture where it is and never let it change. We cannot, for example, apply Bedouin cultural standards to modern industrial society.

Technology and knowledge change things. Sticking with fossil fuels when we know what damage they do is foolish. Because people were comfortable with child brides in the past doesn't mean we should be comfortable with them today. Because women didn't have the right to vote over a century ago, it doesn't mean they should be denied it today.

We don't live like our grandparents did. We don't get around in horses and buggies or Model T's. We can travel to Europe without it being a weeks-long ocean voyage. We've gone from radio to a TV station to several TV stations to thousands of streaming choices. We've gone from socializing through day-long church events and town festivals to social media that connects us around our globe in ways that both free us and connect us but also enforce our worst instincts and spread hate and ignorance as well as love and knowledge.

Some things have stuck with us for centuries, like our holy texts, Shakespeare, and silverware. Others last for decades, like some of our foods, our sporting games, and our religious rituals. Before we know it, other things are in and out, like fashion, music, and what we find funny.

Sports do ebb and flow. Baseball used to be our national pastime. Now it is American football. Who knows? In another few decades, it may become soccer. Or pickleball. Who knows? Golf was high in popularity but is declining now. I wonder what that means in the future to retirement communities such as The Villages in Florida, which build their communities around dozens of golf courses. That, too, is the nature of things. Cities that seemed vital in the past become less meaningful over time, with many becoming ghost cities.

There is a long tradition of gun ownership in this country. But that is changing, particularly why or what they're used for. Hunting, like it or not, is declining in this country. At one time, it was a necessity. Now it is a sport and a luxury. People keep guns to connect to their family's past, but that will mean less and less to future generations over time. Gun ownership now is mainly a result of fear of the other, the refusal to accept change, and the desire to hold back other groups and freeze culture.

That is bunk. You can't hold back time. You can't stop change.

Over time, everyone will replace us. The culture of the future will only marginally be like ours. That has its good and bad aspects. But it is inevitable.

There was another thread to this I wanted to pursue, but this is long enough. I will try to follow that other thread in a future post. 

Thank you for reading.  

Through the Dark Lens: Saturday Political Soap Box 284

 

Here is a picture of the man most likely to be the next President of the United States. Ron DeSantis, the bigoted, bullying Governor of Florida.

This is not an endorsement. It is a warning of where we're headed.

Just check with your most conservative friends (populist authoritarian Christian right conservatives, less so traditional conservatives) and ask who they like the most besides Trump. Odds are they will name DeSantis. If any of them named Romney, Cheney or Kinzinger, or someone similar, I would be astonished. Please let me know if that is the case.

There is a certain inertia to events. The American Will often moves counter to what would be best, to even achieve the basics of what they want. Sorry, conservatives, most Americans, even y'all, side with progressives when polled on individual issues. They understand that climate change is real, and we have to do something about it. They believe in science-based solutions to COVID. They want a raised minimum wage. They may not like abortion, but they're hesitant to completely eliminate women's reproductive choices. They want the wealthy and corporations to pay more of their fair share of taxes. They love their LGBTQ family and friends and don't want them persecuted. They want common-sense gun control measures, like background checks. They know that Putin is the bad guy and want to see Ukraine as a free democracy. Many of us want to see our children taught the truth in school, not religiously-infused right-wing propaganda. We realize we can't move forward unless we can recognize the truth about our past.

Yes, the voices against these and other common-sense measures are loud and strident. Those who oppose them do so with an angry passion that brokes no compromise. 35 to 40% of the American people will always vote for people like Trump and DeSantis. They are dedicated to an authoritarian, Christian right government.

The political system is set up in such a way as to advantage this fraction of the population. Small states have outsize power in both the electoral college and the Senate. They control most state legislatures (via past gerrymandering) which allows them to gerrymander the House of Representatives. They steal and control most of the nominations of the Supreme Court and have a 6-3 majority. They have the loudest and angriest propaganda outlets in their right-wing controlled media, drowning moderate media (liberal media is completely swamped).

And yet...if that was was our only problem, we could still win the majority of seats. No, the problem is the wanderers. That 15 to 20% of the American people who wander between the parties and seem to flop from one extreme to another. Yes, there are people who voted for Obama and then flopped to Trump. People who voted for Trump and then switched to Biden.

Voting based on identified interests, the Democrats would have won and increased control of Congress in 2010. They didn't. They lost badly.

And that is what it looks like will happen in 2022.

Sure, there is some inflation. Sure, Biden didn't get all the legislation he wanted. Sure, the Afghanistan exit had its problems. Sure, COVID-19 is incredible in its persistence.

But that is mostly window dressing for what the wanderers have already decided. They didn't get all they wanted, so they will switch to the other side. There is no rationality to it. It's just the way it is.

That is the view through the dark lens. Maybe next week I'll try to look at it through rose-colored glasses.

Maybe.

Strait's State of the Union: Saturday Political Soap Box 283

 President Biden's State of the Union address was solid.  It might not have been the highest state of rhetoric, one for the ages, but it was mega-light years ahead of the most recent former occupant.

He said little I disagree with.  He was far more bipartisan than I would have been.

Without the high flown rhetoric, here is where I see as the State of the Union:

We're in trouble, but not as far off course as we could have been.

1)  The number one concern of our times continues to be...global warming.

We are unable to pass even the most basic legislation to reverse course. This is mostly symbolized by the resistance of Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, but he is really just the frontman for corporate and wealthy interests who are more concerned about the NOW instead of tomorrow.

We also are faced with the likelihood that even mild executive actions will be reversed by one the most reactionarily conservative Supreme Courts in American History.

The clock is ticking.  It is already too late to stop.  We can only mitigate.  Perhaps Russian belligerence will finally move us to free us of our dependence on fossil fuels.

But I'm guessing it won't. 

I applaud Biden's efforts.  But without Congressional and judicial support, there may be little that can be done.

2) The conflict between autocracy and democracy is now front and center.

I don't want having to stand down Putin to be the primary focus of global reality.  But we don't always get to choose.  Our grandparents/great-grandparents certainly didn't want to be focused on Hitler.  But they didn't have any choice, and they rose to the occasion.

Now, we are being called to do the same.  For four years we had a President who worshipped at the feet of autocrats. One who dismissed NATO and withheld $391 million dollars worth of military aid to Ukraine as attempted blackmail.

We must rejoin the ranks of nations who believe in democracy.  We must turn our backs on those who would encourage coups and insurrections, those who refuse to accept the results of elections out of petty narcissism and fear of retribution for their crimes.

It is a dangerous action that the Russians have taken, and we must be cautious not to fire up World War 3.  But we need to do everything we can to support the Ukranian people -  diplomacy, supplies (humanitarian and military), shared intelligence, sanctions, sacrifice.  

I have a special message for Republicans and Trumpists who want to complain about gas prices right now - SHUT UP.  Now is not the time or place.  We must leave no economic sanction unturned, and if that means patriotically handling higher gas prices - SO BE IT.

3) The macro-economy is hitting gangbusters!

The greatest increase in jobs under any President, super-charged GDP growth, virtual full unemployment - it's all about as good as it gets. If this was under a Republican administration, we'd hear about it 24/7 blasted from the rooftops.

Yes, there are people falling through the cracks.  Child care, college expense, health care, inflation - all remain obstacles to a secure middle class life.  I insist that passing the proposed human infrastructure bill would go a long way to solving these problems - Joe Manchin, are you listening?

I'm hitting some time and length limits, so I will do my best to continue this I the near future.

God bless the Ukranian people.  I pray for a peaceful and democratic solution.

T. M. Strait

sorry for any uncorected grammar flaws.  Grammarly is having trouble functioning this morning.

Maus In the Haus: Saturday Political Soap Box 282

This is Volume 2 of Maus. It is my copy. In my Haus. I believe we have Volume 1, but I wasn't immediately able to find it - my collection is in a bit of a reorganization effort right now. It may be that Benjamin has it.

Maus is the Pulitzer Prize-winning Graphic Novel written and illustrated by Art Spiegelman. It tells of his family's experience with the Nazis and the Holocaust. It is not pretty, but it is exceptionally well and powerfully told. It uses the allegory of Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats.

If you follow my blog, you know I am an avid reader of comic books and graphic novels. So, when I tell you that, of the tens of thousands I have read, Maus ranks at the very top, that should carry some weight.

To me, the idea that the Tennesse School Board is banning this book is utterly horrifying. This critical and seminal book, which effectively shows the horrors of the Holocaust, particularly to young readers, is being banned from the places where it could do the most good. Its banning effectively either silences or trivializes this important event. An event that must be seared in all our brains so that it CAN NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.

In some ways, this is just another salvo in the idiotic culture wars this nation has to endure. The authoritarian side of the ledger (I'm sorry - it's hard to even call them Republicans anymore - they've gone so far off the bend beyond simple advocacy of conservative principals) is constantly bringing up distractions to get us to ignore the real needs in this country - universal health care, climate change, the income gap, fighting COVID, adequate and affordable child care, racial inequality.  

Now, led by Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, they would like to quash the teaching of anything that remotely discomforts white people. Can't dwell on slavery being bad. Can't point out how our laws and legal systems reinforce racial inequality. Can't talk about how our genocide of indigenous peoples was one of the inspirations and templates used by the Nazis for the Holocaust.

And, yes. I know these culture war issues are brought mainly to gin the rest of us up. They love our outrage and feed off of it. Then, they use it for fundraisers and to further divide us.

So, congratulations,  It worked. I'm ginned up and angry.

But you won't win. I already have Maus, and Benjamin can read it anytime, again and again. Maus is now #2 on the Amazon Best Seller list. That's of ALL books, not just graphic novels. I'm sure more young readers are seeking this out more than ever before.

Of course, this is not the only time that a Tennessee School Board has acted out in a censoring, moronic fashion. In the 1920s, they tried to ban the teaching of evolution. This led to one of the most famous courtroom trials of all time, the Scopes Monkey Trial, prosecuting a teacher for even mentioning the possibility of evolution. The trial featured the rhetorical skills of the most successful defense lawyer of that time, Clarence Darrow, and three-time Presidential candidate and devout fundamentalist, William Jenning Bryan.

I know about this because, in 9th Grade, my Drama class did an in-class one act from the play based on the trial, Inherit the Wind, where I got to play the Clarence Darrow part. To this day, it is hands down my favorite play. It's been my great white acting whale to play one of the two lawyers in a community theatre production. In the late 70s, when I lived in Cartersville, Georgia, they performed the play. I tried out and got the part of Scopes, the Tennessee teacher. Odd, playing a part with a distinct Southern accent when I was a Yankee that had just moved to the South. But, hey, I'm a good actor. What else can I say?

I've waited patiently for another theatre to perform it, but it does not look like that will happen. Too many male parts. Too controversial. And what does that say about the time that now Inherit the Wind is too controversial to perform?

Come to think of it, I don't know if a school system would be allowed to use it in the current environment. After all, one of the characters uses the word damn. And it could be seen as critical to fundamentalist/evangelical Christianity (although the play is much more balanced than you would think). So, if I were a student in school now, I might not even know about the Scopes Monkey trial.

Not that the time I was educated was perfect. I didn't even know about the Tulsa massacre until recent years. Much of the Civil Rights era was skipped over*, and even living up North in Michigan, the teaching of the Civil War was infested by Lost Cause mythology and a diminishment of the importance of slavery as a cause.

In the end, Maus will survive. Censorship of something this important will backfire.  

But I am so tired of the culture wars. So, so tired and angry.

FIND MAUS.

READ MAUS. 

REMEMBER WHAT IT TELLS YOU.

DON"T LET THEM ERASE HISTORY.

*it was skipped over in part because it was still ongoing when I was in school.  They tended to run out of time in American History class and tried to squeeze in the last twenty to thirty years into the last week.

 

Sometimes Nightmares Come In With a Babyface: Saturday Political Soap Box 281

 I wasn't on the jury. So I did not spend days listening to the trial and then additional days mulling over the evidence with a group of my peers who did likewise.

I can't argue all the particulars of the Rittenhouse case.  I am not an attorney.  I don't know all the ins and outs of Wisconsin law. However, I believe it's one of those states with over-the-top Stand Your Ground laws that give a wide berth to self-defense claims. Especially when it comes to white defendants.

What I can address is the pattern and what this verdict means for the future.

It's clear that the defendant was allowed an extra-special additional defense attorney, one that most defendants don't get.  And that was the Judge.

The Judge's performance was one of the most heavy-handed I've ever seen, hearkening back to the worst of the Jim Crow era.  Fine.  So you don't want the prosecutors to call the victims what they were - VICTIMS.  Whatever quirk floats your boat.  But then to allow the defense to call the protestors LOOTERS? RIOTERS?  Virtually every decision he made favored the defense.  He didn't just have his thumb on the scale - he was smashing it down with both hands and both feet.

The Judge threw out the one sure-thing slam dunk charge, one that was utterly indisputable - Kyle Rittenhouse brought an illegal weapon across state lines.  SLAM! DUNK!  No analysis needed!  And the Judge would not even let the jury rule on it.

It fits the pattern of our biased criminal justice system.  If you're white, you're given a universe of reasonable doubt.  If you're rich (although well-represented by the best available right-wing attorneys - this is in general - I'm not claiming Kyle Rittenhouse is rich), you can expert attorneys who can run circles around the out-manned prosecution.  The cases where justice has fallen short are legion, and I'm afraid Ahmaud Arbery will be next.

But most importantly, it is the message that this trial has sent.  It is a message that may just be the beginning of a nightmare.  A nightmare where protestors are at constant threat of losing their lives.

The danger involved was best summed up in a written statement released by the parents of one of Rittenhouse's VICTIMS, Anthony Huber -

Today's verdict means there is no accountability for the person who murdered our son. It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street. 

You doubt this?  Go on to Facebook and look at what your right-wing friends are saying about this verdict.  Look at how they're embracing Kyle Rittenhouse as a hero.  Look at what extremist Republican Congressmen are saying about him, even wanting him to intern for them.  

This verdict is the official call to open season.  

And it's exclusively a call to the far right to invade, disrupt and commit violence in ANY PROTEST advocating anything they don't like. For example, protests of police violence, gatherings advocating climate change legislation, marches for voting rights.  Anything they don't like can be intimidated and challenged.  Do anything to them that they interpret as a threat?  Why then they're free to SHOOT and KILL you.

This only extends to far-right violence.  Others need not apply.

You doubt me?

Flip it.

Does anyone think that if a black male, armed with an illegal weapon, had gone into a crowd of right-wing protestors and fired upon anyone who he thought was threatening, or were so scared of him that they tried to take his weapon away, do you honestly believe that the trial of that individual would have the same outcome as the Rittenhouse trial?

We should all be afraid. The far-right has just been handed their permission slip.

The nightmare may have just begun.

Build Back Better! Saturday Political Soap Box 280

 

Let's set aside our blind partisan anger, our reflexive cries of SOCIALISM., and look to what is really in the original Build Back Better Bill.*

Universal Pre-K for Children 3 years old and up

Free Community College

Extension of the Child Care Tax Credit, up to $3,600 a year

Investments in Child Care and Elderly Home Care and Disability Home Care

Paid Family Leave

Offers consumer rebates and tax credits to make switching to clean energy alternatives affordable for homeowners

Ensuring that Clean Energy Technology is built in the United States

Encouraging and subsidizing clean energy investment

Investments in forest management, coastal restoration, and soil conservation

Prescription Drug Cost controls

Allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices

Strengthens the Affordable Care Act and reduces premiums

Closes the Medicaid coverage gap

Expands Medicare to cover hearing benefits

Expand Medicare to cover dental and vision

Investments in affordable housing

Expands the Earned Income Tax Credit

Promote nutritional security to children

Invest in immigration reform

Funding for rural areas, supply chain improvements, and maternal health

The items in italics have already been eliminated by Joe Manchin.  I don't know whether, in your mind, that makes Joe Manchin a hero or a villain,  But you do need to remember - Joe Manchin is responsible.  And he may cut out more before he is done.

But, Tom, you ask, how will all this be paid for?

I'm glad you ask.  Why you don't ask when it's the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, or the Defense Budget, massive reductions in tax rates for the wealthy and large corporations, I don't know.  Maybe it's only important when it's for everyday people.

Nevertheless, the White House thinks it's covered.

There are a series of measures designed to make sure the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share.  No more mega-corporations paying zero income tax!  It ensures that corporations cannot profit or avoid taxation by shipping jobs overseas.  If you make over $10 million, you will pay a 5% tax surcharge and another 3% for those making more than $25 million.

This has, as of this writing, yet to be verified by the Congressional Budget Office.

Another note of caution - Krysten Sinema has vowed not to let the rich pay a penny more in taxes.  How blessed the super-rich must feel to have such a stalwart defender!  So, if this is not fully paid for, you budget hawks out there - blame Krysten Sinema.

No one should be afraid of federal government spending if it is an investment. Investments create returns that pay dividends in the future. All of these measures will create a better, more secure future.  The climate legislation alone should save us TRILLIONS and keep America at the forefront of the future.

I know some who read this are foaming about this or that or all of it.  But I wanted to outline what it does.  At least that way, we have common ground about what we are talking about.

*Sources for this information include both government and media sources.  They include the White House and NBC News.  

A Very Good, Promising Day: Saturday Political Soap Box 279

 

Plans change.

I was all set to make this post about comparisons to the Democratic Party's current woes to the Weirmar Republic, Germany's government in the 1920s (1919 to 1933).  It was a democratic system, with a diverse parliament, that failed to rule effectively and ended with the rise of Hitler and the Nazis.  It faced major problems with hyperinflation and political extremism.  It was led by an elderly statesman, Paul Von Hinderberg, who became President at the age of 78.  Although a well-meaning man, his inability to lead and handle Germany's problems, and his concessions to the negative forces in the country, helped pave the path for the end of Germany's democratic experiment.

But then, Friday happened.

Economic News

The October Jobs Report was PHE-NOM-A--NAL!!!  Over 500,000 jobs added, with both Seprember and August adjusted upwards by hundreds of thousands!  And the unemployment rate fell form 4.8% to 4.6%!  In ten months, more jobs have been added during the Biden administration than in the first two years of the Trump adminstration.

The stock market reached record highs.  Granted, not my favorite indicator of economic progress - nevertheless - whoops! There it is!

Covid News

The rates of Covid cases are dropping substantially (newly crowned moron Aaron Rodgers notwithstanding),  The vaccine is now available for those 5 and up.  And the best news Friday? Pfizer now has a pill that works on those who have Covid, reducing the hospitalization and death rate by 90%!

It ain't over.  There are still pitfalls.  But off in the distance, I faintly hear the fat lady singing.

Political News

Democracy ain't pretty. Sausage making is easier to watch than seeing legislation ground out.  But the logjam may have been partially broken.  The Physical Infrasture part of the agenda has been passed by the House and Biden will sign it into law.

The Build Back Better bill, although not dead certain, passed major roadblocks in the House, and, unless the tiny handful of corporate Democrats are lying to us (what are the odds of that?), should pass the House by no later than November 15th.

Of course, even once out of the House, it has to go through the buzzsaw of the Senate (specifically, ManChinema).  We're not out of the woods, but at least we're in it.

--------

No, it ain't over.  The Weimar ghost still lurks in the shadows.  But, gee whiz, people, we should take out glimmers of hope where we can get them.

One of the problems the Weimar Republic had is that they were under the impression that they could work with the Nazis and contain them by keeping them in the fold.  Boy, did that bacfire!

So, one of the things that we must not do (Democrats and Progressives and true Independents) is remove pressure form the Trumpists.  We must not ever let up on the Trumpists and Insurectionists.  Those who don't believe in Democtracy must be called out, and when they do criminal things, THEY MUST NOT GET A PASS.

The world is still a perilous place.  We have much to do, and many challenges to doing it.  But today was a bright day.

I pray for many more days like it.

Return of the SPECULATRON! Saturday Political Soap Box 278

 A return to one of my most unasked for features - the Speculatron, where I try to predict the political future with uncanny inaccuracy!

While Prime Minister Joe Manchin tries to rule us all from his houseboat, let's take a look at what the future may hold depending on the passing of the Build Back Better  Bill, or some remnant thereof -

The entire 3.5 trillion-dollar passes intact

Yeah.  As likely as a camel passing through the eye of a needle. It would be an amazingly transformative bill, leaving us much better off.  Free community college, paid leave, extended child care credits and improved Medicare benefits, real and effective climate legislation, fairer tax rates, and on and on.   Every American life would be substantially and visibly improved.

The 2022 political result of this joyous victory?  Republicans narrowly take control of the House and the Senate.

Huh? What? Why?  Because too many Americans are short-sighted and can't look past their own nose.  The benefits will be quickly absorbed, but the negative reaction from Republicans, Trumpeteers, AND the media, both conservative AND mainstream, will drown out the effects of any progress.

A watered-down version of Build Back Better passes

Yeah, this will still have some good things, but it will be harder for most Americans to see in their everyday lives. Thanx and a hat's tip to Prime Minster Manchin and the wealthy donor's new BFF, quirky little Krysten Sinema.

I can't tell you at this point what will survive the great Manchin/Sinema Chew-Up, but the results will be decisively less effective than the original bill.

It's odd that the Progressives, who are increasing in number and legislative muscle, can still be stopped by two Corporate Democrats.  But that's where we are.  Just imagine the reverse, however.  What if two Progressive US Senators stopped a bill filled with goodies and lard for the top 10%, designed by Corporate Democrats?  The media would be up in arms!  Joe Scarborough would be expectorating so much spittle his studio would be drowning in it!

The 2022 political result of this partial victory?  Republicans decisively win control of the House and the Senate.

This one is easier to explain.  There is historical precedent. Obama watered down the bill to get us out of the recession so much that the cost was slashed, and half was given to useless tax giveaways to the rich and mega-corporations in a desperate attempt to win over Republicans (an attempt that failed spectacularly).

While it did help us out of the recession, it did it in kind of a frog-boiling way.  It was so slow that most people didn't connect it with the legislation that passed.  They were easily persuaded that it had little effect on their lives.  And in 2010, the Republicans received huge gains.

The Democrats have learned nothing, and this is the scenario most likely to be repeated.

No bill passes

The saddest thing to me about this scenario is that everyone will blame Joe Biden.  Could he have negotiated better?  Maybe, at the margins.  But ultimately, the cake is baked.  Even with reconciliation, even if the filibuster was eliminated, you are still stuck with the King of Coal Manchin and the Queen of the Lobbyists Sinema.

But the American people won't see it that way. Instead, they will see Biden as weak and ineffective and blame him entirely.  

The 2022 political result of no bill passing?  Republicans tromp with a merciless, unprecedented beat down.

Boy, aren't these conclusions sorry and sad!  Okay, maybe there's some hope if we pass the whole thing (sadly, that ship has sailed), but even if  Republicans take control, at least we'll have passed the whole thing. Moreover, we'll have laid the groundwork for a better future, one that will be difficult for the Republicans to reverse.

In a vain attempt to be a contrarian, here is the scenario that offers the most hope for Democrats in 2022  - 

Manchin and Sinema join the Republican Party

Let people see what the full effects of letting the Trumpified Republicans run the Senate look like.  It wouldn't be Democratic disarray that stopped things - it would be Republican intransigence. So we can blame government dysfunction on its true source - Republicans.

This would give Biden something to campaign against -  a full-throated wail at the Do Nothing Senate.  Give 'em Hell like Harry Truman did.

I would prefer this happen after the Build Back Better bill passes (in all its watered-down glory), but I'll take what I can get.

I'm not ashamed of it.  I'm not trying to be a Purge-aholic.  But, dang it, it's time.  It's time for a Progressive takeover of the Democratic Party.

I don't know if this will work.  There's a lot to fight - state voter suppression laws, gerrymandering, a media pretty much united against progressives.  But there's also hope - most progressive solutions poll well when they're not swamped with party labels.

Here's to hope!