Cowardice

Misanthropic Boomer

The current shameful episode is a direct result of the cowardice which is in the nation’s DNA. Whenever anything has threatened the status quo the nation’s shepherds have chosen  the path creating the least conflict. It began when the founders, brave enough to rebel against the Crown, feared the same failure that accompanied the Articles of the Confederation. The result was that the men who put into writing that, “All men are created equal...” allowed the disenfranchisement of women, and the Three-Fifths Compromise in order to avoid possible civil conflict.

The resultant conflict came seventy-four years later...The Civil war. Following the war of secession the government again acted in its comfortable cowardly fashion when, during “Reconstruction,” the Southern states were allowed to create barriers to persons of color for the same opportunities that the White minority enjoyed.

This cowardice has continued throughout the nation’s history: always in support of White Privilege. It created a schism between women seeking the right to vote and people of color on the same mission. Persons of color were granted the right to vote because they were concentrated, for the most part, in the South and would be controlled through a varity of disenfranchisement  techniques, e.g. Poll taxes, literacy requirements, etc. Women would not be so easy to control.

The industrial Revolution once again allowed the nation’s cowardly nature to come to the fore. Large corporations were being created, having large sums of money and influence. Elected officials began  allowing these corporations to write their own laws out of fear of losing their support.

The fear of losing White Privilege drove Manifest Destiny, laws restricting the rights of Persons of Color and Indigenous Persons.  That same cowardly approach to life allowed the justification of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. It also prompted Congress to create the Taft-Hartley legislation to prevent unions from having complete autonomy: in essence the validation of spying.

The national affliction allowed Joe McCarthy to ruin lives with near impunity. It supported our excursions into interfering with the sovereignty of other nations. And now, we have Republican Congress Persons supporting a coup because they fear the influence Trump has over Right Wing voters.

A revolution of sorts is the only way to alter our National DNA and cure ourselves. Our immediate goals should be to force term limit restrictions on Congress...as long as there are no term limits Congress Person is a profession, and as such supports the fear of losing one’s job...it was never meant to be more than a part time job. 

Congress Persons must also be subject to the same laws and accountability as are all citizens. They must also participate in Social Security and Medicare...they will then protect not abuse those programs. Lobbying must also have restrictions put in place; and finally corporate money must be removed from politics entirely.

I am not completely certain how to force these changes. Perhaps something similar to Iceland’s “Pots and Pans Rebellion” could work as a start. What I am certain of is that unless the reforms I have delineated are carried out we will remain a nation of cowards. 

The Right is Wrong

Misanthropic Boomer

The Supreme Court’s decision to allow the state of Texas to “legally” violate the civil rights of women by upholding the recently enacted SB-8 legislation, is akin to overturning Roe. That is, after all the Right’s openly stated goal. The Republicans, champions of small government want Big Brother to control the life of every pregnant woman in America. The really frightening thing is that this is just the beginning. Next will be voting restrictions, followed by another attempted palace coup in 2024.

It must be recognized that the Right has been stacking the courts and doing all of the nasty political grunt work necessary to accomplish their goals for more than fifty years. They have been following the playbook of far Right Wing Professor of Economics, James McGill Buchanan, who began his assault upon th U.S. Constitution in 1956, following the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown vs. The Board of Education.

Buchanan was a student of the methods of Henry Clay, the wealthiest Congressman and Slave owner in the nation’s history. Professor Buchanan, like Clay, believed the propertied few should not be affected by the people’s desires for social change, regardless of morality or the fact that the majority of theelectorate supported such change.

Buchanan garnered the support of billionaire Libertarian, Charles Koch. Their main goal was to neuter the U.S. Constitution by putting States Rights above the needs of the people and the laws as laid out in the Constitution. They began using the same techniques in which Buchanan schooled Pinochet of Chile. He and his minions stacked the Chilean courts, gradually amending the Chilean Constitution until it

provided no authority to anyone other than El Presidente and his cabinet.

While the  Right has been marching in lock-step toward their goal, the Progressives have been locked in an ever expanding internecine struggle over the good not being good enough. Someone once said that getting the Democrats to agree on anything and to get them to come together to implement it is akin to attempting to herd cats. That, I am afraid, is a far too optimistic view.

I am just as angry and frustrated as anyone over the seeming inevitability of the reversal of Roe as well as the probability of an attempted coup in 2024. I am fairly certain that this is coming. I have raised the red flag time and again: begged people to share my predictions to no avail. My words have fallen on ears that refuse to hear and eyes that would rather not see. My predictions have all come to pass. I’m not proud of that…I’m angry as hell.

The progressives have a year to accomplish something of note, otherwise they will lose both the House and the Senate. If that happens all will be lost. Perhaps the saddest part of this coming tragedy is that it will embolden bad actors worldwide; democracies will be attacked from all sides and there will be no shining city on the hill to come to their rescue.

So spake the Atheist

MORE OF THE SAME

Misanthropic Boomer

THE REPUBLICANS TRIED TO BURY US…WITH THE HELP OF THE DEMOCRATS THEY MAY SUCCEED.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the only difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is Republicans wear Brown suits while Democrats sport Navy Blue suits. Both parties are corrupt and care little for the American electorate. Their sole purpose in life seems to be to get re-elected. The Republicans seem to be corrupt on purpose, while their brethren across the aisle achieve their corruption through sheer stupidity.

Since Joseph Robinette Biden took office in January most of his agenda has been slowed to a near stop due to the refusal by Senators Krysten Sinema and Joe Manchin to vote with their fellow Democrats; be it on Climate legislation, Infrastructure, Elimination of the filibuster, or Biden’s desire to boost the middle class by trying to partially reform the tax system; getting the wealthy to pay their fair share.

Then too there are the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, and Cori Bush; collectively known as “the squad.” As Manchin and Sinema refuse to side with the rest of the Senate Democrats to pass sorely needed legislation, the squad are determined to refuse the give and take required in politics to create compromise with their opposite numbers on the Republican side. They would apparently rather be “true” to themselves and fail than to look for compromise solutions which would help their American constituents. Their lack of good sense will probably cost us the House because they are getting nothing done.

As if things aren’t bad enough the Senate Majority leader has decided in his infinite wisdom to slip the  Democrats and the nation a “political Mickey.” Chuck Schummer has just rewarded the traitorous actions of Coal Baron, Climate Denier Manchin by making him the head of the Senate Energy Committe. Manchin has received millions of dollars from big coal and oil, as well as from the Republicans. He is now in a position to secure his retirement nest-egg by giving away the store.

I recommend calling Senator Schummer’s office at (202) 224-6542, or writing to him at 322 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington D.C. 20510, and voicing displeasure at Schummer’s rewarding Manchin with this choice assignment.

 After four years of the Grifter in Chief robbing the nation blind, and giving what he couldn’t steal to his billionaire friends I was certain it could get no worse. I didn’t take into account that apparently in D.C, Democrat is just a different way of spelling Republican.