Power and money. That is the sole calculus for all these people. Nothing else matters for them, not country, not integrity, not truth. The only conversation they have with themselves is about how to perpetuate and increase their power and money. Just like a cancer, they will kill their host, and they will then die along with it because the system they exploited and corrupted for power and money will no longer exist.
The biggest surprise to me was Mitt Romney. He has money, and as for power, how exactly is he exercising power by sitting on his hands in the Senate? Graham is just pathetic, McConnell is a craven old pol, and Hawley aspires to be POTUS.
In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare described rulers who, in their lust for power, exploit the mob, but nothing quite like this bland awfulness.
Michael, I really like your term "bland awfulness." It says it betteter than anything I have heard to this point. When McConnell stood up in the Senate after the impeachment trial in February 2021 and basically said that Trump was guilty, my belief that McConnell was a go with the wind kind of person with no moral compass was proven correct. Romney's "takers vs. givers" comments in 2012 sealed him in my mind as just another whiny white boy who wanted to blame everyone but himself and his group for the challenges of our society. Graham, who knows what he is? My inclination is to say "traitor." Hawley is just another privileged white boy who thinks he deserves everything he has and everything he can get. As a blind person, I have no idea what he looks like, but I suspect he is attractive as pouty white men go. I can say that Hawley's voice is not attractive. It sounds condescending all the time. The saddest Republicans for me are Susan Collins (proven to be a nonentity) and Lisa Merkowsky (oh wait, another nonentity). I would expect women to do and be better. That's my bias. I think the Republicans who do not stand up for our democracy are as bad as the ones who are trying to wreck it because they are being seen as approving of Trump and Kump, and do nothing to deny it.
What I can't understand is their inability to envision the very real possibility of a future like this, described so aptly by the Professor in today's post: . . . "Where will you draw the line? If Trump is reelected and imposes martial law? If he or another Republican president forbids public criticism of his administration? If he calls for violence against those who oppose him?" . . . IF they can see this coming, do they so stupidly think it these things would never apply to THEM? Or their families and friends????????
I think that the people and actions described in the article are the physical manifestations of the corporatists who are pulling the strings. Like drumpf, they foment fear, hatred, bigotry, nationalism - all leading inexorably to violence. Meanwhile they sit back and privatize, expropriate, and marginalize the commons and the workers, who become further enraged because as they've been told by their masters, the "others" are taking their stuff and jobs. what rot.
Close to 40% of the nation is not frightened of a Trump Presidency. Not saying i agree with them but it is a reality.
Since 2016 we have done nothing but make fun of his supporters. It has not worked to convince one of them that they need to change their support.
Trump supporters, according to the polls, share the views of progressives in the Dem party on a number of pocket book issues.
As long as we vote for Dem leaders that refuse to address the pocket book of the poor and middle class by supporting the policy that has popular support from voters in the DEM and GOP party then the Dems will never have enough of a mandate to rule. Polls show GOP voters support M4A, Higher taxes to the rich, Free Child Care, Higher Min wage. But the DEMS we keep electing ignore these issues and as a result don't bring new voters to the party.
But hey, by not fighting for these issues they keep the donor class happy and increasingly voters see that keep that donor class happy is always #1
I beg to differ with you. The democrats have believed in higher taxes for the rich, free childcare, and higher minimum wage for a long time. It has been the Republicans that do not support these benefits for the working class. Regarding M4A, I doubt it if many Americans know much about this particular issue. Trump is selling discrimination! Namely outright STOPPING all immigration from Latin America.
If the Democrats "believe in" Free childcare, higher min wage why have they never passed bills to get these things written into law. They have had the majority for two years now and they had it under Obama too.
At some point you have to see the difference between rhetoric and reality. No they dont support these things.
Dems haven't held a solid Senate Majority since 2010. Sinema and Manchin are DINO's.
Back in 2009 when Obama was inaugurated, there were more pressing issues than childcare and a higher min. wage.
But you're correct that not ALL Dems support those items, although I think most would say a higher min wage is way overdue. But the majority of Dem politicians aren't progressive. Moreover, most of them haven't shown the political stones to fight for much of anything.
But Senate Dems aren't willing to do what's needed to codify their beliefs because sometime they might want to use the same mechanism that's being used to block them -- the filibuster and super-majority.
Spot on, That is why progressives should vote in every single primary. And they should vote against the incumbent Democrat. Threaten their seat and their heart and mind will follow.
Sounds like it might work. My biggest concern with that, though, is what happens if a right wing supporter won as a result? And I would have said "right wing extremists" except for the fact that now almost all of them are extreme to some extent at least.
Hey Fay, I'm getting up there too, but I am not ready to go yet. I want to find a way to leave this place better than it was when I was born and right now, it could be a whole lot better, that is if we could inject some sense into the MAGA Republicans who are doing their very best to make sure they have not made America great in any way. For them, MAGA has become a word and Trump has become their daddy, even though he was pretty much as bad a daddy as he was a businessman and human being. If asked, the MAGAs have no idea what they want for this nation, only what they don't want: Black people, Hispanic people, immigrants in general (even though their grandparents came from . . .), people getting paid a living wage (except themselves, of course), no accountability for their bad behavior, no one but Republicans in office (even the appalling ones they have been electing lately who do nothing to help them). We do have a lot of work ahead. I just hope we can do it in time.
Also: they want to ban any book that encourages independent thought; they want women in the kitchen and pregnant (uppity empowered women are not wanted: too threatening!). They want Christianity (their version) to be declared the Official Religion of the U.S. and for all schools to be religious indoctrination centers--free, of course. Tab to be picked up by the Feds. They want to force LGBTQ+ folks back into the closet and make them shut up. Indeed, they want everyone who isn't a straight, white, Christian male to simply STFU and let them rule...just because. Because patriarchy.
I don't think we will have any impact what so ever with Maga country if all we are offering them are insults and finger wagging.
When the Dem's put forth leaders that are serious about getting pocket book policy passed for the poor and middle class some (not all) MAGA people will come to our side.
Obama did it his first term. But in the end he just left those people twisting int he wind like every President since Reagan. He bailed out banks and guaranteed their bonuses too. He did nothing for unions nothing to min wage and nothing to slow downs Wall Streets greed.
They set aside their Identity Politics and voted for their pocket book. And Obama taught them a lesson. Dems are not going to deliver for them anymore than the GOP will. At least the GOP share their identity politics.
When the DEMS want to get serious about helping the Middle class over the donor class there are plenty of MAGA votes to be had. Until then they are better off voting for their identity politics.
You are right, Michael. We need to hold the Democrats feet to the fire. It is no longer ok to be good enough, We have to give what was promised. There is no compromise available with the Mitch McConnell's, Ted Cruz.'s, Kevin McCarthy's and ilk. If we want things done that benefit the other 99.900007% of us, we need to do it on our own, loudly, proudly, and with no excuses. If Manchin and Sinema don't like it, they can be exchanged for REAL Democrats who care more for Americans than bottom lines.
Neither have my millennia's, though for me it was the 80's not the 60's.
The reason is clear. Today kids graduate from college and they are under immediate pressure to make money. Wages, relative to cost of living is massively higher than it was when i was a kid. Kids graduate with massive student loan debt. Small businesses can no longer higher they have to work for massive companies that treat the kids like machines.
It is no wonder kids are not out protesting. They work like slaves (far more hrs that we did) all day and are exhausted at the end of the day. It is easier to watch Netflix.
Right, you are Michael. This generation of children has gotten shafted.I was a "late bloomer", coming from Canada in the late 50's where going to any college/university education was out of question except for the truly wealthy. So., I got my education here, all the way through a Master's degree debt free. I went back to Community College in the early 2000's to take 3 semesters of Spanish and was shocked to be charged $144/per unit per semester + outrageously priced text books. I thought the $40 I paid for a Vogel for Organic Chem was bad, it was dirt cheap compared to the $230 I paid for the Spanish text, workbook, and tapes. Thanks to the weird thinking of the 80's on, college educations are not only obscenely expensive, any jobs to be had don't even pay the rent in most big cities.
Maryk ; The 60's were a time when our food was exposed as being sub par, food labels were improved, water was starting to get cleaned up. People were encouraged to 'Question Authority' Students became 'conscious', along with grown ups. lab animals were advocated for. War was Questioned as being unnecessary, Women won the right to be 'Persons", meaning we could go into establishments that previously admitted only men, like bars and restaurants where business deals were made and private 'men only' golf clubs. Women were allowed to open their own bank accounts without their husbands co signing! Rome was not built in a day. An enlightened and fairer world will not happen overnight or even in an entire generation. Freedom isn't free. Give anyone who improves anything important, credit. Did you realize that a woman could not rent an apartment without being subjected to personal questions like ; 'Do you have a boyfriend? Do you use birth control? A Lot of 'norms' were abolished or challenged. I remember a woman filing suit against Logan Airport around that time (60's), because she refused to wear makeup! She fought and won! She had allergies to those products. There is a lot more. Look it up!
In fact, sadly, a lot of people still have a very non-science-based point of view, devoid of key information, and say the earth goddess will prevail, even if humans don't survive.
It looks to me as though many of the 60s and 70s hippies have become the exact thing they once protested so strongly against. How many CEOs were once revolutionaries, at least in their and their friends' minds?
Spot on... It is like Trump supporters who scream about censorship when Trump gets thrown off of a platform. Of course Trump tried to censor anyone and everyone who said what he did not want to hear...
Too many of is have forgotten what it means to have principles
Every generation has its own challenges. It's unfair, but providential. Just as we've never been entirely free of some worldly demigod for one minute, somewhere in the world, we've also managed to cough up genuine, good, effective, high-minded, intentional, pervasive, and talented leaders, many of whom have prevailed. This will continue to happen.
I think i am with Jeff on that. Americans have thought about their children and grandchildren and laid foundations to help improve their lives. The baby boomers never did that. They wanted it all to themselves. And they still rule the country that way taking everything for themself's and telling future generation's "everyone generation has its own challenges"
Which poll are you talking about. I've been getting a mixed message. I sometimes hear Ryan's ahead, and other times Vance. To me, the polls sound a tad volatile to be reliable at this time.
BTW: I don't see anything about error margin in this chart. I suspect the result is within the error margin, which may explain why results I hear informally in the news seem volatile.
Actually, you're too recent. The worldview of the macro culture to whom most in Red America still belong is on the order of 6000 years old, as I model such things. We're talking conquering hordes of old, in a dismissive but historically accurate comparison. Societies in which a tiny minority ruled, a small minority served them, and rest were sub-feudal peons, and other ethnicities were harvested for slaves. It really is that simple. There were some upsides to that macro culture: they told great stories (wrote all the epics) and were skilled artisans often. But there's a lot of downside. And they were indeed incredibly patriarchal in societal structure. It's no surprise to have Red America doing it's all to enslave women to produce more children (of the right color): That is their societal pattern for millennia, only suppressed under the spreading legal and institutional structures of modern liberal and socialist structures, which they themselves hate utterly for that reason.
I'm not kidding: that is my view as a comparative and intellectual historian.
I was wondering just last night yesterday how far back societal classes went -- your "order of 6000 years old" appears to answer my question. What was before then (if anything discernible) in your opinion? Thx.
Class structure and other primary social organization configurations can and do change, but to my observation they do so slowly and seldom do so entirely. For example, European aristocracies have declined in social standing to vestigial status, as we see again in Britain . . . yet they remain as that, embedded if withered features of a larger whole.
Cultures are quite enduring, though they can be malleable to new information and potential as well; as 'styles and modalities' supplemental to existing norms rather than replacements of them, in the main. Societal gestalts overarching over more regional cultures, including classes and much else, are extremely enduring in my study of them. Their features remain embedded in the conceptual matrix of the whole, whether features actively 'real-ized' by a population involved or structurally latent. These features tend to endure once incorporated for as long as the 'quasi-civilization' endures, which can be a very long time indeed, as I mention. Everyone seems surprised to now see racist nativistism erupting in the last decade in the white backcountry of the United States, or chauvinistic nationalism 'abruptly' more evident in multiple countries in Western Europe including supposed 'liberal' ones such as the UK and the Netherlands, and separately in fascistic forms in Eastern Europe at the present as in Poland, Russia, Serbia, Hungary, and let's not forget Croatia, Albania . . . and Ukraine, though out of public view there just at the present. NO one should be surprised. These conceptual positions are integral in the entire matrices of belief of the societies involved. Even if overtly repressed, as nationalism was for the middle decades of the 1900s in Eastern Europe, these concepts remain latent. They are 'implied by the whole' in a manner I would see as holographic, such that latent positions will find proponents and expression in what seem suitable historical moments, even if scarcely even barroom rumors for generations through.
We should always remain aware that nativist bigotry is a potential practice for part of the American population; that chauvinistic nationalism and its extreme of fascism is a buried toxin in Western European society; that ethnic chauvinism and militarism are latent in Japanese society, not to be extinguished in a mere two generations; that revolutionary liberal zealotry is an integral feature of the population which presently constitutes Blue America. All these and much else for other macro-societies are potentials waiting for their historical moment. Potentials which will not necessarily be expressed---there is no 'destiny' in this, no inviolable cyclicality---but which can be, given fitting circumstances. And the 'fit' of those circumstances is recurrent in a phase pattern which is structurally predictable. Can be expressed time and again; if not disrupted. There was a chance to suppress nativist quasi-fascism from re-emergence in the USA in the 1990s. Timid liberals flinched, as they ever do: the chance was missed. Now, we'll have to work harder. But the upside is that we can work better for a more comprehensive resolution, should we chose to do so.
It depends upon which society, but I have read a good deal of Bronze Age legends. And those myths are actually far older than the Bronze Age. By the Bronze Age, the system of myth involved was _breaking down_ such that the content was garbled compared to earlier and more consistent schema. That's another long story which I have spent time researching, and regarding which I hope to publish in due course.
I have studied haplogroup type categories as a way to model population movements in Deep Antiquity. That's secondary to the kind of modeling I refer to in the above comment, but informs the perspective of large population clades associated with primary sociological concept sets; metanousa, is a term I will be using for the latter. I don't want to demonize the population involved. That said, they have a discrete history with a very defined worldview going back thousands of years. And they are still here. Their accumulated cultural history is not all that anyone of them likely believes by any means. But it's a template into which their current experience is fitted.
The rejection of modern science for tribal identity tropes fits perfectly with that worldview, for example. Folks there _know_ there may be something to the science, but the worldview says that it not only doesn't matter at the basic level but is the 'weaponized' leverage of a separate and rival community. This is why the election is rejected, for example. The FACTS of the result don't matter nearly as much as the tribal completion, which must be won. Because in that worldview, losers are ethnically cleansed or reduced to slavery, and there is a wealth of experience in their 6000 year history to validate that, even if no one with a red neck in Alabama or Montana knows a thing about that.
My dad went to college in the 1920's when eugenics was a required course. Alt science. Some of those rednecks know this stuff far better than you give them credit. Demagogues know how to play it.
yep! UNBELIEVABLE! But then, so was the fact that he met the ex-President for dinner after public humiliation. What was that all about (rhetorical). Romney is up for reelection in 2024. Time for a Democrat in Utah!
Real life is stranger than fiction, especially in the political realm. One reason I'm not such a fan of either fiction or movies is because they can't match what happens in real life. Want excitement, intrigue, betrayal, mystery, suspense, comedy, tragedy, farce, horror, etc., follow politics.
Ah, but much fiction and film offer a happy ending within a manageable time frame -- i.e., the protagonist's life span. "And they all lived happily ever after." 😉
Yes, real life is a neverending soap opera, with the climax forever building. If/when it all ends, we will probably not be aware of it, & it surely won't be happy.
"The Constitution shall hang by a thread, and a member of the priesthood shall ride up to the steps of the Capitol on a white horse, and save the Union." The official Mormon Church no longer acknowledges this prophecy, so I guess Romney gets a pass.
That is encouraging. We should support McMullin over Lee. It's not the same as getting a Democrat in there, but a moderate Independent is better than an extreme right-wing Republican
Mike Lee's a much bigger threat to democracy than Romney, and HE'S running. If you're thinking about contributing to someone Evan McMullin might be your guy.
Daniel, I, too believe in the oath. The problem, it seems to me right now is that getting people to the point of speaking under oath has been really hard, and perjury is not being addressed effectively. Subpoenas are allowed to be ignored. We have Supreme Court justices who lied to Congress under oath, and they swore an oath when they entered the Court, but neither oath held them to any higher loyalty, like, our democracy, precedent, or anything but their own personal beliefs. When people aren't held accountable, they do not stop their bad behavior, they will enhance it since they got away with it. Then there's the realization that Donald Trump is not likely to be given an oath because he might swear to it as he did when becoming president, but he can't distinguish among lies and facts. There will, of course, be all kinds of excuses for this inability, but he will probably not be held accountable. The one good outcome might be that the Trumpers and Trumpettes might see what many of the rest of us have known all along, Trump is not bright, he does whatever he wants to do and does his best to make up justifications that occur to him at any particular moment, and he does not care about anyone or anything but himself, money, power, and feeling invincible.
Ruth, you mentioned somewhere else in this discussion that you're a blind person, and that someone sounded untrustworthy (my word there). I want to notice that you receive and process non-verbal information from the tone of voice. Yes!! Vocal messages contain emotional messages too! I despise trump's whiny victim voice. And his words, too, but when he sort of casually and pseudo-meekly and insincerely utters "you know they" I often want to vomit. Some BIG Lie usually follows that whiny tone of voice. Trump spins around the Rescue Triangle: Victim-Rescuer-Persecutor. That's a model of emotional communication. Thank you for saying you are blind. Sounds like you naturally compensate for missing visual information by noticing the non-verbal component of verbal messages. I applaud you for that, and you!
Agree. Daniel, but first we need the legal evidence and then we need people with courage to prosecute, before we run out of time, which could be as early as 2024.
Yes, Fay, and who knows what 2024 will bring. It could bring a stronger democracy if we the people stand up to the Trump insanity, or it could start us down a path toward autocracy we don't want to travel. A tiny spark of hope is the judge in New Mexico who ordered a county official to never be able to hold office again because of his participation in the insurgency. If that happened more often but with higher level officials, we the people could make some progress.
She is beyond disappointing; she is clearly ill-equipped to sit on that bench, OR be in any way involved in making such an important decision.... but, she IS clearly very good at doing what she's told/paid to do. What HAVE we come to??? Signs of our future if we can't turn this mess around.
28 U.S. Code § 455 - Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge. Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
You are right, Jan, but the only way I can see to have honest, knowledgeable judges is to take their appointment away from politicians and set up a Laws Informed Civil Service to appoint, hire, replace justices at all levels. This way of letting politicians appoint is a set-up for corruption as we see in Cannon and the five mistakes on the Supreme Court. Asking voters to appoint them is equally stupid. I don't care how well educated you are, unless your education was in the legal system, you/we are not equipped with the information to elect anyone but politicians.
You may be right .Daniel, but I don’t think these people care and the courts have been tampered with in key areas. I’m too old to think otherwise. However I do believe our kids and their kids need to do the heavy lifting. Overwhelming repudiation at the ballot box is all we have. We are in the hands of women and the young. We “boomers” have blown it.
I always bristle at people making comments about entire generations taking full blame for situations of today. Please stop that! There are numerous achievements ( think Roe V Wade) that were accomplished by Boomers, vietnam war protests, interracial marriage, LGBTQ Recognition…. The millennials have confronted our sick relationship with guns, Wall Street etc..It is the MAGA and portions of every generation who have destroyed all the good built up by Democrats that helped the common good.
Those who power grab & give no consideration to the betterment of society who are to blame.
We need to support what we have had before the republican wrecking crew came in. And the entire party should splinter away for good. There are a select few fighting..(Lincoln Project etc). Most republicans are staying silent while watching our demise. We should NEVER forget that.
Biden is a war baby. There aren't as many of us, but as a group, I've noticed, we have become more serious people than our little cousins, the 'boomers. We don't have the 'boomer sense of entitlement—many of us had to earn our way forward. I know. I'm trying not to generalize. It's just a behavior pattern I've noticed my whole long life.
Daniel, I agree, particularly as we hold increasingly more people at the top accountable, at least to the point of being subject to full-blown investigation. After all, though one can stonewall a Congressional committee, it’s not so easy to stonewall a grand jury.
I'm going to share the good doctors inspired questions as much as possible. It is up to us who are awake to ask these questions. It is up to us to have take courage and speak up - even run for office. We can't leave it to those in the court system, or our media "news", or thec greedy corporate CEOs etc. It is up to us to be the ones to inspire those with limited vision with the courage to change course. We are still the majority and are sadly running out of time. It is up to us to be the movement that shares the big picture and help the misinformed visualize the future for the sake of our childrens' grand children and the seventh generation. The more we the people come out and speak up, the more we can give them the courage to stop and evaluate our immediate circumstances. Civil War is not the answer!
We, who follow the law, believe in the power of the oath. The people we'd like to apply this to do not, even as they state their oaths. They are truly evil and motivated only by gaining power.
Ryan ; good point ; "The system they exploited and corrupted for power and money will no longer exist, and so will their place in it. What if they end up on the wrong side of tRump or someone else who wields more power than they have? Justice will be a cruel joke! Like in Russia, or any other home of tyranny!
Yep. Even when he proudly announces that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue without repercussion. Even when he says that someone committing treason should be shot. People show you early on who they really are. They really, really do. Does anyone here think that tfg cared one tiny whit about all the Americans who died from covid? Or from mass shootings? Nope. It's only all about "his" economy..... WAKE UP AMERICA, especially those of you so easily enabling him.... him, the wannabe dictator who demands total loyalty but never gives the same back.... the one who enacts extreme punishment against anyone who disagrees with him in the slightest.....
Assuming you've read 1984, you may recall how Winston Smith's energetically patriotic neighbor was denounced by his kid for "thoughtcrime," and the neighbor bragged on his kid for having done so? It follows, that MAGA-morons will naturally assume disloyalty if any of their own were ever "done" by ol' Tweety. They might even initiate "5 minutes hate" for them at a rally! Of course. since the rallies are hatefests anyway, that 5 minutes might be indistinguishable from the rest of the rally - just another sad instance of a distinction without a difference!
Laurie, Great insight. I wondered what he would portray if he loses out. Aren't people, who aren't even in the game, end up being for the poor, put upon "Underdog"? Since assuming the role of President, Trump liked it so much, he can't give it up. It is HIS dream come true; the Power is HIS.
Laurie. You are right about the way tyrannies work. The problem is that the MAGAs don't know history at all, so don't know what happens to people the autocrats no longer need or have grown tired of. They somehow believe Trump's lies that he loves them and works for them. They, so far, can't be convinced of the truth that he loves only himself and only tolerates the sycophants whom he can get to do his bidding. If any of them have a moral compass that wants to steer them in a direction different from where Trump wants them to go, they are disposable, that is unless they can convince Trump to go in that other direction and make it seem like it was Trump's idea. That can only work for so long because jealousy among the other sycophants will get anyone who gets a bit more of the goodies, declared disloyal to Daddy Donnie. The MAGAs just don't know and probably wouldn't believe it anyway.
Yes, it was a journalist who had uncovered corruption, etc. by this politician. The kind of investigative reporter there's too little of these days, & now there's 1 less of them.
What to they all tell themselves? "All you little people can eat shyte."
That's the message that the powerful wealthy and the professionally conservative have been shoveling into the public face for forty years. After each Big Lie has given way to a Bigger Lie in the interests of gaining public acceptance and personal power, any fealty to the truth value of ANY statement has eroded for most. It's _ALL_ about power and money; period. Full stop. The 'political' issues are simply a modality for that. Some may matter to the professional conservatives. But the 'issues' are simply a vehicle to secure power and money.
As for those who spoke an oath, it was but with their lips that they said it; a necessary genuflection with little and soon no belief behind it.
As for 'future generations and the judgment of history' one can only conclude that professional lying liars in conservative circles who by their actions manifestly care only for power and money simply wipe their arses on the prospect of either. They are all about themselves, and about themselves right now. Climate change is something that happens to little scarcely human people after they themselves are dead. The neo-pharoanic Thiels and Musks of the world expect to live on cryogenically on their ocean traversing private mini-continent size arco-yachts until somehow they are vampiristically resurrected as they feel they surely deserve: they DON'T CARE.
Most professional conservatives haven't made the slightest attempt to actually build anything; even a movement. Their entire effort over 60 years has been to push back against the ever-expanding wave of personal liberalism in American culture. That is why their current policies are all backward looking, to reverse the reforms of mid-1900s America; indeed to erase those reforms, and the possibility of their reoccurrence. If you spend all day looking in the mirror at your own face and the past behind it, the real context around you patently loses relevance for your actions.
There are legitimate conservatives troubled by all this. Liz Cheney (though not at all her Dad), Upton, Hogan, Devers. Their dismay is evident. Their percentage in their party is also evident: Sinlge Digitville. The rest are sold to Mammon and Mephistopheles. It really is that simple. And that is most of history on other instances of Big Lies of the kind the Republican Party has built themselves around for decades now unfortunately, if one bothers to learn it. Morality is utterly inconsequential when power and money are your only values.
Ryan, you are right about the power and money as total incentive. It is their addiction. We the people need to do an intervention to get them off those "drugs" that are more destructive to others than to themselves.
I dream of journalists and media labeling every politician as a Big Lie opponent or denier on every occasion. I would like every voter to know before voting.
Daniel, that would be great, demanding they state their position on the 2020 election, but those guys just weasel out of answering anything plainly. They depend on their well-financed PACs to state their positions for them in their ads, which are usually filled with lies, innuendos, and racist tropes (see the Dr. Oz ads in PA). Maybe social mediaing their weaseling could help show people just what kind of fools Republicans are running.
Yes good journalism is essential, but people need to think before they vote. They need to think what may result if their candidate wins - what will America be like. No one should willy-nilly, believe every word uttered by a candidate. What has that candidate done in the past (and I don't mean sexual scandals) What projects have they supported, what legislation have they written or advanced? The problem lies with bigots, who don't think, they just know they don't like anyone who doesn't look like them. share their same pleasures, go to the same church, or been in their family for a long time.
Yes Fay, ask the candidate what if anything they have accomplished for the good of America and or for their electorate. Make it shown on every thing there is on the candidate. What is it you personally have accomplished for the salary you are being paid by the American society. “What can we put your name on .......and prove it!”
Great idea. Hope some reporter or TV analyst picks up on the idea. My Congressman does this and has since he was elected in 2014. He sends an on-line letter to all his constituents who sign up for it. He also responds to all e-mails sent to him - it may take up to 6 weeks, but he does respond. This should be a requirement for all member of Congress. Wouldn't it be nice if once, every 2 years, in October all local channels reported on the accomplishments of each elected official who serves their community? It might also be helpful if they'd also expose what they didn't do.
Raymond, identifying each Republican and his/her position related to "the big lie" would be helpful. Maybe they could say, "big lie-er (supporter)" or "Trump denier)
Helpful. simplified wording on the questions, nonpartisan, in attempt to elicit Yes or No answers would be key. I envision the 7 questions being:
1. Do you deny Biden won the 2020 election?
2. Do you favor eliminating Roe V Wade?
3. Are you in favor of marketing assault weapons to those under 25 years of age?
4. Do you favor Universal Health Insurance, which multiple analyses show saves money beginning in the first year?
5. Are you in favor of banning stock purchases by Congressmen and their families? Index funds OK.
6. Would you support equal numbers of IRS audits for all tiers of income?
7. Do you support the FBI efforts to reclaim the stolen documents at Mar a Lago?
My vision is to collect answers and print them on a postcard sized durable plastic surface, with documentation of those who refuse to answer, short answers suitable for shirt pocket to take in the voting booth. Negotiating with LWV locally to manage as part of their candidate forums. Historiclly, Rs mostly refuse to show up.
1. The election may not have been stolen, but it surely was mugged (Hunter's laptop being suppressed, delay of covid shot rollout, counting suspended in wee hours, etc.)
2. I appreciate the decision being relegated back to state level, where it belonged.
3. Define assault weapon. My son, under 25, already owns an AR-15. I just wish he had a .300 BLK upper receiver on it.
4. I could negotiate on this one, so long as the government had no influence on the process.
5. Yes. Agreed.
6. Equal numbers? I'm not sure that is feasible, unless you mean per capita. I'm open to discussion
7. My earnest concern is with the constant leaks. You realize that photo of folders spread around a floor was staged, right? If this were about the rule of law, and not political, that photo, and the leaks, would be prosecuted just as rigorously as the original FBI retrieval. This is a mockery of what should have been a straightforward operation, and discerning eyes see the bias and corruption implied by the clown-like method of dropping "bombshells" in the Washington Post's lap.
I have never been so disheartened in the more than 60 years I have been observing and particpating in the political arena. The question you posed is so "right on", it deserves to be shared with all Americans. Thank you for putting it so succinctly.
robert reich writes: "Generations to come will sit in judgment about what you have wrought. And if the democratic experiment called America continues to unravel because of what you did or failed to do, you will live in infamy."
i respond: the planet is being destroyed at a rapidly accelerating pace. we've wiped out huge swaths of habitats, biodiversity, even entire ecosystems are being destroyed whilst we ALL complacently stand around in the deluded daze that humans will have a future to look forward to. we do not. our children and grandchildren will be facing ecological, economic, political and especially basic everyday-needs disasters that will NOT be solvable using science, technology or anything else, not even planting a few dozen trees -- and nor will we be able to escape our unforgivable planetary sins through space travel. all these greedy elitist bastards that you call out by name are only too happy to burn the entire planet to the ground if it means they get to be the last one standing on the pile of rotting corpses. that's their goal. to crush the competition one final time.
in short, robert, my response to your optimistic comment is this: SOYLENT GREEN.
And Environmental damage climate change, etc., is denied by Republicans who have no clue about science. They deny science. Very very short term vision.
Mark, I think the Trummpians ignore or deny science because they are so scared. They see the floods happening and the wildfires and extreme heat but can't understand that it impacts them until it does, then they can in their own minds, blame everyone else for what has happened to them, then still vote for the people who will continue to press their denial of science, our democracy, and truth itself. I don't know how to reach those people. That is the scary thing for me.
I've cited "Soylent Green" here before, myself. Musk wants to go to Mars. He may need to settle for orbiting hotels & mansions - along with prisons to provide a labor force for service & maintenance.
Oh Laurie, I think Musk has all of those ideas and more. He is a child-man who can only see how other people can be useful to himself, not that we all have value in ourselves. He is a poison on our society, but he is rich, so people listen to him as though he has anything beyond his understanding of technology to offer, and that is tainted by his personal corruption, a disgusting human being!
Oh, I'm sure it was already on the drawing board before I ever even conceived of it. I once met a fellow who admonished me: "If you can think of it, it's been done." I've found that to be generally true!
DZK ; I was half kidding! but you are right, Murphy's Law says something like '"If a bad thing can happen , it will". I paraphrase. If tfg could have a 'death star' to terrorize other planets ; he would.
GirlScientist, your comment cut to the bone...and it hurts. I grew up in Florida and if a place has been ravaged-- surface still looks inviting--it's raging on. People are pouring in every day and the State and especially counties welcome them and promotes industries. Because of weak restrictions, we are experiencing more polluted lakes, rivers, bays and even our Gulf. Waterfront development has long depleted sea life reproduction and Still it goes on! We keep having toxic spills. The water demand will one day be beyond that ability of our aquifers to produce--we have had shortages warnings for years. I'm witnessing what you are talking about.
I would rather be positive! I don't believe that the greedheads want to stand on a pile of rotting corpses. Even the evil and greedy want beauty. They just have to recognize it themselves.
Daniel, I really like that song, "The Merry Minuet." I first heard it back in the '60s. My sister and I have performed it often in our shows with a few words changed to update it a bit. The hope is that people will hear it and say "I want something better for us."
Daniel ; If we can't beat 'em ,join 'em ? The ultimate escape! There is evidence that nuclear blasts have happened on Earth on some deserts. Large areas of molten glass (melted sand), that could only have been caused by a nuclear blast. Not taught in schools.
I've come across that before. I've often wondered if prehistoric metallurgists came across that heavy metal that glows in the dark, and not knowing about or understanding the nature of "critical mass," tried to melt, or otherwise pound or combine enough to mold into jewelry. Clearly, they wouldn't have been around to tell of what they learned! No. I don't think it was aliens. I've always kind'a thought it's rather insulting to humankind's intelligence for people to credit aliens for accomplishments (?) they can't imagine cave men having the wits for.
Brilliant! I just bought a banjolele - and kazoo - I'm determined to master so I can learn to play and sing the following - which, incidentally, came up following the link you provide here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Rsretl-qQ I guess the next song I intend to master will come as no surprise!
the evil and greedy want to POSSESS beauty, to hide it away in their castles, to place it in their study, like a monet or a rodan or perhaps the mounted head of an extinct species, where they and only they and those whom they specifically allow to enjoy it can do so. the rest of us ... ? not a chance.
Unfortunately, these self-centered despicable people don't give a damn for anyone besides themselves, if their kids and grandkids die, why they'll give them a fancy funeral.
Mark, I don't think they are telling their children and grandchildren anything. They might drool when Trump comes on screen, but if their offspring listen to Trump's actual speeches, they will realize he is nuts and has nothing important to say to them. The grandparents can't bear that, so talk about other stuff.
Another great essay; needs to be echoed by more of you with the ability and authority. Loved the naming names and hope that you'll write a follow up with examples in American history when others followed this same self-serving agenda...your one about McCarthy comes to mind as worthy to be named again in the company of all those of this post. The saddest thing is, every one of us has our reasons we've reasoned ourselves into so reasoning only will not change behaviors. The roots lie deeper, in our emotional identities, and emotions are a far more dangerous topic to touch than simply following what we're told has value--wealth, power, charm--over identifying with those who lack the desire to acquire them in a rigged system; those are people who have the ability to identify with and nurture others as equal beings, human or not.
May I ask them, too...Do you not have enough freedom? What freedom do you lack? What freedom do yo want more of? What freedom has Biden taken from you?
And do you know that autocrats tend to strip freedoms and rights? Especially freedom of speech. Autocrats dislike dissent. You will likely lose freedoms if trump returns to office. You can see trump has a long record of enforcing loyalty to him. Loyalty to the Constitution has no downside. Treason, sedition, etc does have a legal downside, of course. Disloyalty to an autocrat has a downside, but not a legal one. Just an dishonorable personal downside.
Mark, wow! I appreciate your introduction of the questions about freedom. Most of the Trumpers and Trumpettes I have heard "interviewed" (OK interview is not the term, but I am not sure what is since they are usually asked one or two meaningless questions and no follow-up) only rarely mention that they want their freedoms back with no indication of what those freedoms are. They quickly turn to their complaints which are not the same as freedoms. The Republican leaders cite freedom of speech and religion, but are pretty sure they don't want those for anyone but those whose words and beliefs are the same as their own. That is not freedom, it is a toddler wanting what they want when they want it no matter what happens since they don't understand consequences. So, Republicans are being led by a bunch of toddlers who think they deserve more freedom than anyone else and can't be questioned about their childishness.
"Echelon!" Now >there's< a Q-spiracy, and he's embracing it? How does he feel about the Bilderbergs? I'd do an LOL! here if it weren't so pathetic - or disturbing to find out that a powerful capitalist/anarchist holds such a view.
OMG Ken, I hope most people today don't hold those beliefs! In 1927, Europe was still coming out of an insane war that should never have happened, but Germany and Britain had to show off their masculinity on the world's stage. Of course their view of the world is going to be warped into thinking fascism is useful. It isn't, neither is authoritarianism of any kind. Democrats are not anti-capitalism. The two are not mutually exclusive. Capitalism can be the place of innovation and expansion of ideas. However, capitalism unregulated is insanity, the worst of the pseudo-Darwinian idea of "survival of the fittest." It seems to me a good democracy is a combination of the social contract where everyone has a place and can live a decent life and capitalism where ideas in business and service can flourish. Women and men need to be equally involved in both aspects at all levels. The government of such a democracy needs to reflect the diversity of the population. I get it that this is idealistic, but it is worth a try. A bunch of rich white child-men competing to see who can screw the people over fastest and for the most money is not my idea of a successful capitalist element of any society.
I agree! There is a possible world, a 'social democracy' that includes everyone, prosperous and cooperative with the necessary laws and regulations that protect without controlling. It's extremely difficult to find and maintain the best balance, but it doesn't have to be a choice between Fascism or Anarchy!
That’s what is confounding. We can try and understand motivations, but who are these people really? Deluded by their own ambition. In the deny, deny, deny Modus operandi. Backed into a corner and unwilling to lose face. Or just under the spell of plain every day greed, dishonesty, and a dance with a devil.
Archana, I believe it is all of the above. I see ambition as a primary motivator, but then greed, the desire for more and more money and power, the realization that when they are in power, people listen to them far more than their actual achievements warrant. Then, there's the fear of recanting a position they have staunchly promoted, even if they didn't believe it. How does one acknowledge one has lied to the people about something they didn't believe in the first place. It makes some people start to wonder what else that "leader" has deceived them on. We have seen that even when Trump has turned on those fools, they cling to him as though they were drowning (Lindsay Graham and Ted Cruz are examples of this). How either retains support from the voters of their states is incomprehensible.
The answers would likely be the same as those senators that took us on that damn fool’s crusade to Iraq based on dodgy evidence and faulty logic 20 years ago but fail to admit their error.
Greed can be rationalized, because they knew what they were really doing was wrong. Bush and 'Mr. Halliburton'. Too bad that not even one 'Pro Lifer' made a peep about the slaughter of thousands of innocent Iraqis. Hey, Pro Lifers ; Some of the women were pregnant! Why did you not march, or stand out in public places and churches with big signs?
Rishi ; Some day , if they prevail, they just might do that. And write a 'creation story' about their 'venerable 'leader'. Second coming of the Christ? Kim Jon Un has one.
That's where you may underestimate them. The ones running the con >can< write and >will< write the history, even if they don't prevail. That's why the problem isn't going to just go away. For example, people still read "Mein Kompf," and all the other bat-shit NAZI literature, >exactly because< it hasn't been burned.
Yes, quite; all of the doubts about our Commander In Chief's academic "bona fides" didn't mean much when he decided the balance of power would favor the executive: the 'Bush Doctrine' was authored without him ever needing to put pen to paper & the balance shifted away from Congress and the judiciary in turn (note the lack of success with AUMF repeal efforts going on twenty years now)...
Anyone remember Chomsky raising concerns about manufacture of language (a la "weapons of mass destruction", etc. etc.)?
I'm sure they will write their own views of history. We can't have book banning. Some who read it do so to actually study the evil that must be guarded against. It's something to learn from, hopefully, instead of having a repeat. I remember when it was reported that G.W. Bush had a relative who owned a book publishing place. There was concern that it would be monopolizing the printing (and writing content) of elementary and secondary school textbooks. Maybe even college level ! All at a handsome profit, of course.
What a powerful and elegant piece of writing, Robert Reich. I hope the people you have named will have their “dark night of the soul” and come to support the Constitution and the principles of democracy before it’s too late. Thanks for all you do.
Yes, Miland, perhaps Dr. Reich could have that one printed in the "NY Times" as an Op Ed piece. It might reach a few of the targeted folks who pride themselves of being informed from "both sides." They lie of course, but maybe their staff members might read it and some of the little people who bow and scrape to Baby Donnie might accidentally see it and let it into their nearly closed minds.
Your question makes me think about the age old problems of power and greed. Look no further than the lessons of literature. Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and the pigs, Napoleon, “four legs good, two legs bad.” And the lies. And that Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Is it human nature? It doesn’t have to be.
Irenie ; I agree that it seems to be 'human nature' if the humans in question have been taught that profit is everything ; the bottom line is the goal, no matter the means. Working together to 'survive and even thrive' is the only true progress. Treating others as you would want to be treated (when possible). Democracy may be messy, but the alternative does not seem to work well.
Agree, Laurie. But for the people Dr. Reich is addressing, authoritarianism is neat and tidy, it keeps the mass of Society in its place - at the bottom of the heap, and allows the 'rich and famous' to enjoy themselves in the luxury to which they are entitled. And some in that heap at the bottom have enabled them with their adoring envy.
Irenie, you are right, deliberate ignorance, lying, and corruption may be within humanity, but are not necessary parts of human nature. They, like so many other behaviors, grew when unchecked. We can and need to do better.
Mr. Reich, you forgot to ask one group of powerful people how they continue to support the Big Lie and Trump. The clergy. The people with with undue influence over their minions using God’s Law to justify their position and sermons. They aren’t going away.
Ed Meese, Ronald Reagan’s attorney general once commented to the effect that the Republican Party needed to take steps to ensure the “Reagan Revolution”, assuring the prerogatives of the haves, was protected against any democratic inspired efforts to dislodge it. Using justifications first posed to justify slavery and minority government provided by former Vice President, senator, and strident defender of slavery John C. Calhoun, and funded by oligarchs who despise taxes and majoritarian politics, the Republican Party has been doing just that ever since. The Party was stacking the courts, and rigging the electoral process long before Trump happened along. Knowing this is anyone really surprised the Big Lie would be in the Republican tool box? It’s just represents the next step in the process. Appealing to the consciences of these people as you have done by your question Dr. Reich, is a Labor of Sisyphus . You cannot be a Republican or vote Republican and lay claim to having one. At the end of the day it is all about power and the Lords of the Dark Money Universe, who really control the GOP , are determined to keep hold of it by any means necessary.
Power and money. That is the sole calculus for all these people. Nothing else matters for them, not country, not integrity, not truth. The only conversation they have with themselves is about how to perpetuate and increase their power and money. Just like a cancer, they will kill their host, and they will then die along with it because the system they exploited and corrupted for power and money will no longer exist.
The biggest surprise to me was Mitt Romney. He has money, and as for power, how exactly is he exercising power by sitting on his hands in the Senate? Graham is just pathetic, McConnell is a craven old pol, and Hawley aspires to be POTUS.
In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare described rulers who, in their lust for power, exploit the mob, but nothing quite like this bland awfulness.
Michael, I really like your term "bland awfulness." It says it betteter than anything I have heard to this point. When McConnell stood up in the Senate after the impeachment trial in February 2021 and basically said that Trump was guilty, my belief that McConnell was a go with the wind kind of person with no moral compass was proven correct. Romney's "takers vs. givers" comments in 2012 sealed him in my mind as just another whiny white boy who wanted to blame everyone but himself and his group for the challenges of our society. Graham, who knows what he is? My inclination is to say "traitor." Hawley is just another privileged white boy who thinks he deserves everything he has and everything he can get. As a blind person, I have no idea what he looks like, but I suspect he is attractive as pouty white men go. I can say that Hawley's voice is not attractive. It sounds condescending all the time. The saddest Republicans for me are Susan Collins (proven to be a nonentity) and Lisa Merkowsky (oh wait, another nonentity). I would expect women to do and be better. That's my bias. I think the Republicans who do not stand up for our democracy are as bad as the ones who are trying to wreck it because they are being seen as approving of Trump and Kump, and do nothing to deny it.
Ruth, for a blind person, you seem to have excellent vision indeed. You certainly have better vision than the blind followers of Trump.
System won't let me "heart" your comment.
me either....
Sometimes it doesn't show but if you refresh the page it's there.
It looks like the ♥️ aren't working today!
Beautifully written!! Thank you!!!
Nina from Maine
Excellent commentary!!
Thanks! His words are so right on!!!
What I can't understand is their inability to envision the very real possibility of a future like this, described so aptly by the Professor in today's post: . . . "Where will you draw the line? If Trump is reelected and imposes martial law? If he or another Republican president forbids public criticism of his administration? If he calls for violence against those who oppose him?" . . . IF they can see this coming, do they so stupidly think it these things would never apply to THEM? Or their families and friends????????
Where do you think this is heading? https://people.howstuffworks.com/fascism-movement.htm
I think that the people and actions described in the article are the physical manifestations of the corporatists who are pulling the strings. Like drumpf, they foment fear, hatred, bigotry, nationalism - all leading inexorably to violence. Meanwhile they sit back and privatize, expropriate, and marginalize the commons and the workers, who become further enraged because as they've been told by their masters, the "others" are taking their stuff and jobs. what rot.
already in the beginning stages, and have been for awhile..
MM
Close to 40% of the nation is not frightened of a Trump Presidency. Not saying i agree with them but it is a reality.
Since 2016 we have done nothing but make fun of his supporters. It has not worked to convince one of them that they need to change their support.
Trump supporters, according to the polls, share the views of progressives in the Dem party on a number of pocket book issues.
As long as we vote for Dem leaders that refuse to address the pocket book of the poor and middle class by supporting the policy that has popular support from voters in the DEM and GOP party then the Dems will never have enough of a mandate to rule. Polls show GOP voters support M4A, Higher taxes to the rich, Free Child Care, Higher Min wage. But the DEMS we keep electing ignore these issues and as a result don't bring new voters to the party.
But hey, by not fighting for these issues they keep the donor class happy and increasingly voters see that keep that donor class happy is always #1
I beg to differ with you. The democrats have believed in higher taxes for the rich, free childcare, and higher minimum wage for a long time. It has been the Republicans that do not support these benefits for the working class. Regarding M4A, I doubt it if many Americans know much about this particular issue. Trump is selling discrimination! Namely outright STOPPING all immigration from Latin America.
EB
If the Democrats "believe in" Free childcare, higher min wage why have they never passed bills to get these things written into law. They have had the majority for two years now and they had it under Obama too.
At some point you have to see the difference between rhetoric and reality. No they dont support these things.
Dems haven't held a solid Senate Majority since 2010. Sinema and Manchin are DINO's.
Back in 2009 when Obama was inaugurated, there were more pressing issues than childcare and a higher min. wage.
But you're correct that not ALL Dems support those items, although I think most would say a higher min wage is way overdue. But the majority of Dem politicians aren't progressive. Moreover, most of them haven't shown the political stones to fight for much of anything.
But Senate Dems aren't willing to do what's needed to codify their beliefs because sometime they might want to use the same mechanism that's being used to block them -- the filibuster and super-majority.
I'm not sure it's appropriate or accurate to say this, but the Dems have generally gotten stupid.
Truth
They will draw the line at the spot where their personal interests feel threatened.
Spot on, That is why progressives should vote in every single primary. And they should vote against the incumbent Democrat. Threaten their seat and their heart and mind will follow.
Sounds like it might work. My biggest concern with that, though, is what happens if a right wing supporter won as a result? And I would have said "right wing extremists" except for the fact that now almost all of them are extreme to some extent at least.
There is very little risk of that because most districts are not even close. The more often we do it the less power we give the corporate class.
Check out Dana Millbank this morning: How reactionary is MAGA? Try the first century B.C. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/07/jd-vance-fascist-roman-imperialist-caesar/
Frightening. I'm so glad that I'm old.
Hey Fay, I'm getting up there too, but I am not ready to go yet. I want to find a way to leave this place better than it was when I was born and right now, it could be a whole lot better, that is if we could inject some sense into the MAGA Republicans who are doing their very best to make sure they have not made America great in any way. For them, MAGA has become a word and Trump has become their daddy, even though he was pretty much as bad a daddy as he was a businessman and human being. If asked, the MAGAs have no idea what they want for this nation, only what they don't want: Black people, Hispanic people, immigrants in general (even though their grandparents came from . . .), people getting paid a living wage (except themselves, of course), no accountability for their bad behavior, no one but Republicans in office (even the appalling ones they have been electing lately who do nothing to help them). We do have a lot of work ahead. I just hope we can do it in time.
Another great comment the system won't let me "heart".
Ruth is on fire today!
I'm not quite ready to go yet, I probably have another 3 years, and I intend to go out kicking and screaming all the way.
Also: they want to ban any book that encourages independent thought; they want women in the kitchen and pregnant (uppity empowered women are not wanted: too threatening!). They want Christianity (their version) to be declared the Official Religion of the U.S. and for all schools to be religious indoctrination centers--free, of course. Tab to be picked up by the Feds. They want to force LGBTQ+ folks back into the closet and make them shut up. Indeed, they want everyone who isn't a straight, white, Christian male to simply STFU and let them rule...just because. Because patriarchy.
Ruth
I don't think we will have any impact what so ever with Maga country if all we are offering them are insults and finger wagging.
When the Dem's put forth leaders that are serious about getting pocket book policy passed for the poor and middle class some (not all) MAGA people will come to our side.
Obama did it his first term. But in the end he just left those people twisting int he wind like every President since Reagan. He bailed out banks and guaranteed their bonuses too. He did nothing for unions nothing to min wage and nothing to slow downs Wall Streets greed.
They set aside their Identity Politics and voted for their pocket book. And Obama taught them a lesson. Dems are not going to deliver for them anymore than the GOP will. At least the GOP share their identity politics.
When the DEMS want to get serious about helping the Middle class over the donor class there are plenty of MAGA votes to be had. Until then they are better off voting for their identity politics.
You are right, Michael. We need to hold the Democrats feet to the fire. It is no longer ok to be good enough, We have to give what was promised. There is no compromise available with the Mitch McConnell's, Ted Cruz.'s, Kevin McCarthy's and ilk. If we want things done that benefit the other 99.900007% of us, we need to do it on our own, loudly, proudly, and with no excuses. If Manchin and Sinema don't like it, they can be exchanged for REAL Democrats who care more for Americans than bottom lines.
Yeah gurl. At least we had the 60's when we believed we could fix the world. My Gen Zs have never experienced that kind exhilaration.
Neither have my millennia's, though for me it was the 80's not the 60's.
The reason is clear. Today kids graduate from college and they are under immediate pressure to make money. Wages, relative to cost of living is massively higher than it was when i was a kid. Kids graduate with massive student loan debt. Small businesses can no longer higher they have to work for massive companies that treat the kids like machines.
It is no wonder kids are not out protesting. They work like slaves (far more hrs that we did) all day and are exhausted at the end of the day. It is easier to watch Netflix.
Right, you are Michael. This generation of children has gotten shafted.I was a "late bloomer", coming from Canada in the late 50's where going to any college/university education was out of question except for the truly wealthy. So., I got my education here, all the way through a Master's degree debt free. I went back to Community College in the early 2000's to take 3 semesters of Spanish and was shocked to be charged $144/per unit per semester + outrageously priced text books. I thought the $40 I paid for a Vogel for Organic Chem was bad, it was dirt cheap compared to the $230 I paid for the Spanish text, workbook, and tapes. Thanks to the weird thinking of the 80's on, college educations are not only obscenely expensive, any jobs to be had don't even pay the rent in most big cities.
We didn't see much delivery on that belief.
Maryk ; The 60's were a time when our food was exposed as being sub par, food labels were improved, water was starting to get cleaned up. People were encouraged to 'Question Authority' Students became 'conscious', along with grown ups. lab animals were advocated for. War was Questioned as being unnecessary, Women won the right to be 'Persons", meaning we could go into establishments that previously admitted only men, like bars and restaurants where business deals were made and private 'men only' golf clubs. Women were allowed to open their own bank accounts without their husbands co signing! Rome was not built in a day. An enlightened and fairer world will not happen overnight or even in an entire generation. Freedom isn't free. Give anyone who improves anything important, credit. Did you realize that a woman could not rent an apartment without being subjected to personal questions like ; 'Do you have a boyfriend? Do you use birth control? A Lot of 'norms' were abolished or challenged. I remember a woman filing suit against Logan Airport around that time (60's), because she refused to wear makeup! She fought and won! She had allergies to those products. There is a lot more. Look it up!
In fact, sadly, a lot of people still have a very non-science-based point of view, devoid of key information, and say the earth goddess will prevail, even if humans don't survive.
It looks to me as though many of the 60s and 70s hippies have become the exact thing they once protested so strongly against. How many CEOs were once revolutionaries, at least in their and their friends' minds?
Martin
Spot on... It is like Trump supporters who scream about censorship when Trump gets thrown off of a platform. Of course Trump tried to censor anyone and everyone who said what he did not want to hear...
Too many of is have forgotten what it means to have principles
But what about our children and grandchildren?
Every generation has its own challenges. It's unfair, but providential. Just as we've never been entirely free of some worldly demigod for one minute, somewhere in the world, we've also managed to cough up genuine, good, effective, high-minded, intentional, pervasive, and talented leaders, many of whom have prevailed. This will continue to happen.
I think i am with Jeff on that. Americans have thought about their children and grandchildren and laid foundations to help improve their lives. The baby boomers never did that. They wanted it all to themselves. And they still rule the country that way taking everything for themself's and telling future generation's "everyone generation has its own challenges"
JD Vance is behind by 10 points in the latest polls with Tim Ryan-- who rocks.
https://ballotpedia.org/Tim_Ryan_(Ohio)
Help get out the vote for Tim Ryan, candidate for Senate in Ohio.
Which poll are you talking about. I've been getting a mixed message. I sometimes hear Ryan's ahead, and other times Vance. To me, the polls sound a tad volatile to be reliable at this time.
You can't really rely on them. As we learned from Roger Rabbit, they're just polls (tunes ;>)
You may find this of interest: https://youtu.be/EqW3rt6xzco
According to this on 538, Ryan appears to be 1.9 points ahead, and leaning generally in the lead: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/senate/2022/ohio/ Vance seems to have had a bump from April, but it disappeared by July.
BTW: I don't see anything about error margin in this chart. I suspect the result is within the error margin, which may explain why results I hear informally in the news seem volatile.
Thank you DZK. I stand corrected and this is encouraging information.
Ryan is five points behind according to 538, for what that’s worth.
Actually, you're too recent. The worldview of the macro culture to whom most in Red America still belong is on the order of 6000 years old, as I model such things. We're talking conquering hordes of old, in a dismissive but historically accurate comparison. Societies in which a tiny minority ruled, a small minority served them, and rest were sub-feudal peons, and other ethnicities were harvested for slaves. It really is that simple. There were some upsides to that macro culture: they told great stories (wrote all the epics) and were skilled artisans often. But there's a lot of downside. And they were indeed incredibly patriarchal in societal structure. It's no surprise to have Red America doing it's all to enslave women to produce more children (of the right color): That is their societal pattern for millennia, only suppressed under the spreading legal and institutional structures of modern liberal and socialist structures, which they themselves hate utterly for that reason.
I'm not kidding: that is my view as a comparative and intellectual historian.
I was wondering just last night yesterday how far back societal classes went -- your "order of 6000 years old" appears to answer my question. What was before then (if anything discernible) in your opinion? Thx.
Class structure and other primary social organization configurations can and do change, but to my observation they do so slowly and seldom do so entirely. For example, European aristocracies have declined in social standing to vestigial status, as we see again in Britain . . . yet they remain as that, embedded if withered features of a larger whole.
Cultures are quite enduring, though they can be malleable to new information and potential as well; as 'styles and modalities' supplemental to existing norms rather than replacements of them, in the main. Societal gestalts overarching over more regional cultures, including classes and much else, are extremely enduring in my study of them. Their features remain embedded in the conceptual matrix of the whole, whether features actively 'real-ized' by a population involved or structurally latent. These features tend to endure once incorporated for as long as the 'quasi-civilization' endures, which can be a very long time indeed, as I mention. Everyone seems surprised to now see racist nativistism erupting in the last decade in the white backcountry of the United States, or chauvinistic nationalism 'abruptly' more evident in multiple countries in Western Europe including supposed 'liberal' ones such as the UK and the Netherlands, and separately in fascistic forms in Eastern Europe at the present as in Poland, Russia, Serbia, Hungary, and let's not forget Croatia, Albania . . . and Ukraine, though out of public view there just at the present. NO one should be surprised. These conceptual positions are integral in the entire matrices of belief of the societies involved. Even if overtly repressed, as nationalism was for the middle decades of the 1900s in Eastern Europe, these concepts remain latent. They are 'implied by the whole' in a manner I would see as holographic, such that latent positions will find proponents and expression in what seem suitable historical moments, even if scarcely even barroom rumors for generations through.
We should always remain aware that nativist bigotry is a potential practice for part of the American population; that chauvinistic nationalism and its extreme of fascism is a buried toxin in Western European society; that ethnic chauvinism and militarism are latent in Japanese society, not to be extinguished in a mere two generations; that revolutionary liberal zealotry is an integral feature of the population which presently constitutes Blue America. All these and much else for other macro-societies are potentials waiting for their historical moment. Potentials which will not necessarily be expressed---there is no 'destiny' in this, no inviolable cyclicality---but which can be, given fitting circumstances. And the 'fit' of those circumstances is recurrent in a phase pattern which is structurally predictable. Can be expressed time and again; if not disrupted. There was a chance to suppress nativist quasi-fascism from re-emergence in the USA in the 1990s. Timid liberals flinched, as they ever do: the chance was missed. Now, we'll have to work harder. But the upside is that we can work better for a more comprehensive resolution, should we chose to do so.
I'll bet you know exactly what I'm talking about when I make reference to Bronze Age barbarian legends.
It depends upon which society, but I have read a good deal of Bronze Age legends. And those myths are actually far older than the Bronze Age. By the Bronze Age, the system of myth involved was _breaking down_ such that the content was garbled compared to earlier and more consistent schema. That's another long story which I have spent time researching, and regarding which I hope to publish in due course.
So many truths, so little time . . . .
The racist collective subconscious bubbles.
In my novel Miami '90 the protagonist solves a murder based on genetics. Neanderthals among us?
I have studied haplogroup type categories as a way to model population movements in Deep Antiquity. That's secondary to the kind of modeling I refer to in the above comment, but informs the perspective of large population clades associated with primary sociological concept sets; metanousa, is a term I will be using for the latter. I don't want to demonize the population involved. That said, they have a discrete history with a very defined worldview going back thousands of years. And they are still here. Their accumulated cultural history is not all that anyone of them likely believes by any means. But it's a template into which their current experience is fitted.
The rejection of modern science for tribal identity tropes fits perfectly with that worldview, for example. Folks there _know_ there may be something to the science, but the worldview says that it not only doesn't matter at the basic level but is the 'weaponized' leverage of a separate and rival community. This is why the election is rejected, for example. The FACTS of the result don't matter nearly as much as the tribal completion, which must be won. Because in that worldview, losers are ethnically cleansed or reduced to slavery, and there is a wealth of experience in their 6000 year history to validate that, even if no one with a red neck in Alabama or Montana knows a thing about that.
My dad went to college in the 1920's when eugenics was a required course. Alt science. Some of those rednecks know this stuff far better than you give them credit. Demagogues know how to play it.
Ave!
et tu?
non tantum!
Who is this question for Daniel?
yep! UNBELIEVABLE! But then, so was the fact that he met the ex-President for dinner after public humiliation. What was that all about (rhetorical). Romney is up for reelection in 2024. Time for a Democrat in Utah!
Democrats are so weak in Utah, they didn't even field a candidate against Sen. Mike Lee, & are getting behind the Independent candidate.
I doubt that there'll be a top level Democrat in Utah until the 2030s. But that could well come about then.
Evan McMullin is a great option https://evanmcmullin.com/
Real life is stranger than fiction, especially in the political realm. One reason I'm not such a fan of either fiction or movies is because they can't match what happens in real life. Want excitement, intrigue, betrayal, mystery, suspense, comedy, tragedy, farce, horror, etc., follow politics.
Ah, but much fiction and film offer a happy ending within a manageable time frame -- i.e., the protagonist's life span. "And they all lived happily ever after." 😉
Yes, real life is a neverending soap opera, with the climax forever building. If/when it all ends, we will probably not be aware of it, & it surely won't be happy.
I remember when Mitt Romney lost, his wife, Ann was heard to exclaim, "you people don't understand!"
Did she elaborate?
I suppose that's part of what gets these uber-rich elected: most people don't get what drives them, what they have-- and what most people DON'T have.
"The Constitution shall hang by a thread, and a member of the priesthood shall ride up to the steps of the Capitol on a white horse, and save the Union." The official Mormon Church no longer acknowledges this prophecy, so I guess Romney gets a pass.
um, no. No passes on epic ethics fails. Romney is richer than most, what is holding him back. Is he afraid he'll get primaried out next time around?
Perhaps the white horse will be Evan McMullin (for Utah's senate) against Trumpie Senator Mike Lee-- Evan shows a 1% lead (at this early date) https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/08/evan-mcmullin-lee-senate-race-trump-utah/
That is encouraging. We should support McMullin over Lee. It's not the same as getting a Democrat in there, but a moderate Independent is better than an extreme right-wing Republican
I got his newsletter for awhile; he came across as trustworthy. If I were in Utah, he'd get my vote.
Mike Lee's a much bigger threat to democracy than Romney, and HE'S running. If you're thinking about contributing to someone Evan McMullin might be your guy.
Just a placeholder/parasite.
I believe in the power of the oath.
Under oath most will tell the truth.
Under cross examination, those who don't can be humiliated. In a legal setting, the penalty phase of laws of perjury should convince them.
Daniel, I, too believe in the oath. The problem, it seems to me right now is that getting people to the point of speaking under oath has been really hard, and perjury is not being addressed effectively. Subpoenas are allowed to be ignored. We have Supreme Court justices who lied to Congress under oath, and they swore an oath when they entered the Court, but neither oath held them to any higher loyalty, like, our democracy, precedent, or anything but their own personal beliefs. When people aren't held accountable, they do not stop their bad behavior, they will enhance it since they got away with it. Then there's the realization that Donald Trump is not likely to be given an oath because he might swear to it as he did when becoming president, but he can't distinguish among lies and facts. There will, of course, be all kinds of excuses for this inability, but he will probably not be held accountable. The one good outcome might be that the Trumpers and Trumpettes might see what many of the rest of us have known all along, Trump is not bright, he does whatever he wants to do and does his best to make up justifications that occur to him at any particular moment, and he does not care about anyone or anything but himself, money, power, and feeling invincible.
Ruth, you mentioned somewhere else in this discussion that you're a blind person, and that someone sounded untrustworthy (my word there). I want to notice that you receive and process non-verbal information from the tone of voice. Yes!! Vocal messages contain emotional messages too! I despise trump's whiny victim voice. And his words, too, but when he sort of casually and pseudo-meekly and insincerely utters "you know they" I often want to vomit. Some BIG Lie usually follows that whiny tone of voice. Trump spins around the Rescue Triangle: Victim-Rescuer-Persecutor. That's a model of emotional communication. Thank you for saying you are blind. Sounds like you naturally compensate for missing visual information by noticing the non-verbal component of verbal messages. I applaud you for that, and you!
Agree. Daniel, but first we need the legal evidence and then we need people with courage to prosecute, before we run out of time, which could be as early as 2024.
Yes, Fay, and who knows what 2024 will bring. It could bring a stronger democracy if we the people stand up to the Trump insanity, or it could start us down a path toward autocracy we don't want to travel. A tiny spark of hope is the judge in New Mexico who ordered a county official to never be able to hold office again because of his participation in the insurgency. If that happened more often but with higher level officials, we the people could make some progress.
Ruth, I heard about that. So true, a spark of hope. We’re so thrilled to have a judge who is not corrupt. How far we’ve fallen.
The one in Florida is the one we need to worry about.
You must be speaking of the Trumpist Judge Cannon.
Agree
Fay, 65 judges, many appointed by Trump, found there is no proof to the Big Lie.
0 (zero) judges found otherwise.
And Judge Cannon is doing whatever she can to protect Trump, while the rest of the corrupt judicial system watches...
She is beyond disappointing; she is clearly ill-equipped to sit on that bench, OR be in any way involved in making such an important decision.... but, she IS clearly very good at doing what she's told/paid to do. What HAVE we come to??? Signs of our future if we can't turn this mess around.
Not over yet.
28 U.S. Code § 455 - Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge. Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
https://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/forms/complaint-judicial-misconduct-or-disability-under-chapter-16
Good luck with that...
We also need judges who will follow the law instead of trying to create it. Yes, I'm thinking of "Judge" Cannon.
You are right, Jan, but the only way I can see to have honest, knowledgeable judges is to take their appointment away from politicians and set up a Laws Informed Civil Service to appoint, hire, replace justices at all levels. This way of letting politicians appoint is a set-up for corruption as we see in Cannon and the five mistakes on the Supreme Court. Asking voters to appoint them is equally stupid. I don't care how well educated you are, unless your education was in the legal system, you/we are not equipped with the information to elect anyone but politicians.
You may be right .Daniel, but I don’t think these people care and the courts have been tampered with in key areas. I’m too old to think otherwise. However I do believe our kids and their kids need to do the heavy lifting. Overwhelming repudiation at the ballot box is all we have. We are in the hands of women and the young. We “boomers” have blown it.
CForrestm
I always bristle at people making comments about entire generations taking full blame for situations of today. Please stop that! There are numerous achievements ( think Roe V Wade) that were accomplished by Boomers, vietnam war protests, interracial marriage, LGBTQ Recognition…. The millennials have confronted our sick relationship with guns, Wall Street etc..It is the MAGA and portions of every generation who have destroyed all the good built up by Democrats that helped the common good.
Those who power grab & give no consideration to the betterment of society who are to blame.
We need to support what we have had before the republican wrecking crew came in. And the entire party should splinter away for good. There are a select few fighting..(Lincoln Project etc). Most republicans are staying silent while watching our demise. We should NEVER forget that.
Biden is a war baby. There aren't as many of us, but as a group, I've noticed, we have become more serious people than our little cousins, the 'boomers. We don't have the 'boomer sense of entitlement—many of us had to earn our way forward. I know. I'm trying not to generalize. It's just a behavior pattern I've noticed my whole long life.
Daniel, I agree, particularly as we hold increasingly more people at the top accountable, at least to the point of being subject to full-blown investigation. After all, though one can stonewall a Congressional committee, it’s not so easy to stonewall a grand jury.
I'm afraid the only thing we'll ever hear from these people under oath is, "I take the 5th."
I'm going to share the good doctors inspired questions as much as possible. It is up to us who are awake to ask these questions. It is up to us to have take courage and speak up - even run for office. We can't leave it to those in the court system, or our media "news", or thec greedy corporate CEOs etc. It is up to us to be the ones to inspire those with limited vision with the courage to change course. We are still the majority and are sadly running out of time. It is up to us to be the movement that shares the big picture and help the misinformed visualize the future for the sake of our childrens' grand children and the seventh generation. The more we the people come out and speak up, the more we can give them the courage to stop and evaluate our immediate circumstances. Civil War is not the answer!
We, who follow the law, believe in the power of the oath. The people we'd like to apply this to do not, even as they state their oaths. They are truly evil and motivated only by gaining power.
And what we believe in doesn't matter unless there's a way to make it work.
Vote like your rights depend on it!
Absolutely
Oh, I hope so.
Ryan ; good point ; "The system they exploited and corrupted for power and money will no longer exist, and so will their place in it. What if they end up on the wrong side of tRump or someone else who wields more power than they have? Justice will be a cruel joke! Like in Russia, or any other home of tyranny!
I understand there have been a number of unexplained suicides among Putin's pals, of late.
Yo DZK, there certainly have been those Putin-related suicides, but the MAGAs can't imagine Donnie would "do" that to them.
Yep. Even when he proudly announces that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue without repercussion. Even when he says that someone committing treason should be shot. People show you early on who they really are. They really, really do. Does anyone here think that tfg cared one tiny whit about all the Americans who died from covid? Or from mass shootings? Nope. It's only all about "his" economy..... WAKE UP AMERICA, especially those of you so easily enabling him.... him, the wannabe dictator who demands total loyalty but never gives the same back.... the one who enacts extreme punishment against anyone who disagrees with him in the slightest.....
"You knew I was a snake, but you took me in anyway..."
Assuming you've read 1984, you may recall how Winston Smith's energetically patriotic neighbor was denounced by his kid for "thoughtcrime," and the neighbor bragged on his kid for having done so? It follows, that MAGA-morons will naturally assume disloyalty if any of their own were ever "done" by ol' Tweety. They might even initiate "5 minutes hate" for them at a rally! Of course. since the rallies are hatefests anyway, that 5 minutes might be indistinguishable from the rest of the rally - just another sad instance of a distinction without a difference!
Thank god someone has read 1984. I ask just everyone I meet if they have. If they haven’t I suggest they get it and read it. Along with Animal Farm.
Yeah, what one would label "unintentional suicides" !!!!!
You wonder if they are faked ; Suicide could be easy to fake. Epstein?
That's the concept!
Especially by defenestration...
Yes, Laurie, but. That's not within the realm of their imagination. In their vacuous minds they cannot fail.
Does it strike anyone but me as monumentally ironic? that Bannon is now saying: “I have not yet begun to fight. They will have to kill me first.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-trump-aide-steve-bannon-en-route-to-surrender-in-new-york-state-turn-over-passport
Phooey! Looks like he wants the Martyr image. So oppressed that he can't fleece people! and appear to be oppressed while getting caught.
just another paper tiger forced to face reality...
Laurie, Great insight. I wondered what he would portray if he loses out. Aren't people, who aren't even in the game, end up being for the poor, put upon "Underdog"? Since assuming the role of President, Trump liked it so much, he can't give it up. It is HIS dream come true; the Power is HIS.
Suzanna Young ; Yes, and he makes money off of it too.
Yes, the old "Give me Liberty or give me death" thing. They want the 'Patriot' image, or 'Revolutionary' medal. Phooey!
Yep! Sam Johnson said the final word on that final refuge five-hundred years ago!
yeah, that one got me too..
Laurie. You are right about the way tyrannies work. The problem is that the MAGAs don't know history at all, so don't know what happens to people the autocrats no longer need or have grown tired of. They somehow believe Trump's lies that he loves them and works for them. They, so far, can't be convinced of the truth that he loves only himself and only tolerates the sycophants whom he can get to do his bidding. If any of them have a moral compass that wants to steer them in a direction different from where Trump wants them to go, they are disposable, that is unless they can convince Trump to go in that other direction and make it seem like it was Trump's idea. That can only work for so long because jealousy among the other sycophants will get anyone who gets a bit more of the goodies, declared disloyal to Daddy Donnie. The MAGAs just don't know and probably wouldn't believe it anyway.
Imo a bigger problem is that many people don't get reliable information about what's really happening. They don't have to be MAGA to be misinformed.
I just heard an item on GMA about a Las Vegas politician who recently got busted for having a critical journalist murdered.
Good grief, if this is true, we've entered the fascist state already.
The entrance opened years ago...
True enough. Ronald McReagan gave it a good kick, but even Ike sounded an early alarm.
If it were >really< a fascist state, the politician wouldn't have been busted and the "disgruntled" journalist would have offed himself.
I love your reply. That really does humorously (but truthfully) the fascist state. Thank you for correcting me. (:-)
Hopefully, it reassures you. We're in perilous times, to be sure. But . . . we haven't quite gotten to the fascist state yet!
I wonder what political party he registered under? Hmmmm.....
Yes, it was a journalist who had uncovered corruption, etc. by this politician. The kind of investigative reporter there's too little of these days, & now there's 1 less of them.
What to they all tell themselves? "All you little people can eat shyte."
That's the message that the powerful wealthy and the professionally conservative have been shoveling into the public face for forty years. After each Big Lie has given way to a Bigger Lie in the interests of gaining public acceptance and personal power, any fealty to the truth value of ANY statement has eroded for most. It's _ALL_ about power and money; period. Full stop. The 'political' issues are simply a modality for that. Some may matter to the professional conservatives. But the 'issues' are simply a vehicle to secure power and money.
As for those who spoke an oath, it was but with their lips that they said it; a necessary genuflection with little and soon no belief behind it.
As for 'future generations and the judgment of history' one can only conclude that professional lying liars in conservative circles who by their actions manifestly care only for power and money simply wipe their arses on the prospect of either. They are all about themselves, and about themselves right now. Climate change is something that happens to little scarcely human people after they themselves are dead. The neo-pharoanic Thiels and Musks of the world expect to live on cryogenically on their ocean traversing private mini-continent size arco-yachts until somehow they are vampiristically resurrected as they feel they surely deserve: they DON'T CARE.
Most professional conservatives haven't made the slightest attempt to actually build anything; even a movement. Their entire effort over 60 years has been to push back against the ever-expanding wave of personal liberalism in American culture. That is why their current policies are all backward looking, to reverse the reforms of mid-1900s America; indeed to erase those reforms, and the possibility of their reoccurrence. If you spend all day looking in the mirror at your own face and the past behind it, the real context around you patently loses relevance for your actions.
There are legitimate conservatives troubled by all this. Liz Cheney (though not at all her Dad), Upton, Hogan, Devers. Their dismay is evident. Their percentage in their party is also evident: Sinlge Digitville. The rest are sold to Mammon and Mephistopheles. It really is that simple. And that is most of history on other instances of Big Lies of the kind the Republican Party has built themselves around for decades now unfortunately, if one bothers to learn it. Morality is utterly inconsequential when power and money are your only values.
Great observation, thanks.
A new post from the Lincoln Project: https://youtu.be/BJ0vPIo9eyY
I find it hysterically funny that on the Lincoln Project is Kellyanne Conway's husband! LOL!
Yes, but George Conway is a Republican, Kellyanne is a retrumplican
Ryan, you are right about the power and money as total incentive. It is their addiction. We the people need to do an intervention to get them off those "drugs" that are more destructive to others than to themselves.
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have proven that even the sky is not the limit, literally and figuratively.
Thank you Ruth, great observations.
Well said.
As a matter of relevant interest: https://youtu.be/nm6XrE3fFvU
Power bound to the marketplace. That's fascism in pure form.
I dream of journalists and media labeling every politician as a Big Lie opponent or denier on every occasion. I would like every voter to know before voting.
Candidates. The media are supposed to ask every candidate whether they accept the Big Lie.
If the media won't, we need to be the media. Stick a smartphone in their face and ask them!
Daniel, that would be great, demanding they state their position on the 2020 election, but those guys just weasel out of answering anything plainly. They depend on their well-financed PACs to state their positions for them in their ads, which are usually filled with lies, innuendos, and racist tropes (see the Dr. Oz ads in PA). Maybe social mediaing their weaseling could help show people just what kind of fools Republicans are running.
Yes good journalism is essential, but people need to think before they vote. They need to think what may result if their candidate wins - what will America be like. No one should willy-nilly, believe every word uttered by a candidate. What has that candidate done in the past (and I don't mean sexual scandals) What projects have they supported, what legislation have they written or advanced? The problem lies with bigots, who don't think, they just know they don't like anyone who doesn't look like them. share their same pleasures, go to the same church, or been in their family for a long time.
Yes Fay, ask the candidate what if anything they have accomplished for the good of America and or for their electorate. Make it shown on every thing there is on the candidate. What is it you personally have accomplished for the salary you are being paid by the American society. “What can we put your name on .......and prove it!”
Great idea. Hope some reporter or TV analyst picks up on the idea. My Congressman does this and has since he was elected in 2014. He sends an on-line letter to all his constituents who sign up for it. He also responds to all e-mails sent to him - it may take up to 6 weeks, but he does respond. This should be a requirement for all member of Congress. Wouldn't it be nice if once, every 2 years, in October all local channels reported on the accomplishments of each elected official who serves their community? It might also be helpful if they'd also expose what they didn't do.
Raymond, identifying each Republican and his/her position related to "the big lie" would be helpful. Maybe they could say, "big lie-er (supporter)" or "Trump denier)
Helpful. simplified wording on the questions, nonpartisan, in attempt to elicit Yes or No answers would be key. I envision the 7 questions being:
1. Do you deny Biden won the 2020 election?
2. Do you favor eliminating Roe V Wade?
3. Are you in favor of marketing assault weapons to those under 25 years of age?
4. Do you favor Universal Health Insurance, which multiple analyses show saves money beginning in the first year?
5. Are you in favor of banning stock purchases by Congressmen and their families? Index funds OK.
6. Would you support equal numbers of IRS audits for all tiers of income?
7. Do you support the FBI efforts to reclaim the stolen documents at Mar a Lago?
My vision is to collect answers and print them on a postcard sized durable plastic surface, with documentation of those who refuse to answer, short answers suitable for shirt pocket to take in the voting booth. Negotiating with LWV locally to manage as part of their candidate forums. Historiclly, Rs mostly refuse to show up.
1. The election may not have been stolen, but it surely was mugged (Hunter's laptop being suppressed, delay of covid shot rollout, counting suspended in wee hours, etc.)
2. I appreciate the decision being relegated back to state level, where it belonged.
3. Define assault weapon. My son, under 25, already owns an AR-15. I just wish he had a .300 BLK upper receiver on it.
4. I could negotiate on this one, so long as the government had no influence on the process.
5. Yes. Agreed.
6. Equal numbers? I'm not sure that is feasible, unless you mean per capita. I'm open to discussion
7. My earnest concern is with the constant leaks. You realize that photo of folders spread around a floor was staged, right? If this were about the rule of law, and not political, that photo, and the leaks, would be prosecuted just as rigorously as the original FBI retrieval. This is a mockery of what should have been a straightforward operation, and discerning eyes see the bias and corruption implied by the clown-like method of dropping "bombshells" in the Washington Post's lap.
May the Lord bless you - 2nd Timothy 2:25
Thank you for the clarity of your words that will forever challenge infamy. Be Well. Be Safe.
I have never been so disheartened in the more than 60 years I have been observing and particpating in the political arena. The question you posed is so "right on", it deserves to be shared with all Americans. Thank you for putting it so succinctly.
robert reich writes: "Generations to come will sit in judgment about what you have wrought. And if the democratic experiment called America continues to unravel because of what you did or failed to do, you will live in infamy."
i respond: the planet is being destroyed at a rapidly accelerating pace. we've wiped out huge swaths of habitats, biodiversity, even entire ecosystems are being destroyed whilst we ALL complacently stand around in the deluded daze that humans will have a future to look forward to. we do not. our children and grandchildren will be facing ecological, economic, political and especially basic everyday-needs disasters that will NOT be solvable using science, technology or anything else, not even planting a few dozen trees -- and nor will we be able to escape our unforgivable planetary sins through space travel. all these greedy elitist bastards that you call out by name are only too happy to burn the entire planet to the ground if it means they get to be the last one standing on the pile of rotting corpses. that's their goal. to crush the competition one final time.
in short, robert, my response to your optimistic comment is this: SOYLENT GREEN.
And Environmental damage climate change, etc., is denied by Republicans who have no clue about science. They deny science. Very very short term vision.
Mark, I think the Trummpians ignore or deny science because they are so scared. They see the floods happening and the wildfires and extreme heat but can't understand that it impacts them until it does, then they can in their own minds, blame everyone else for what has happened to them, then still vote for the people who will continue to press their denial of science, our democracy, and truth itself. I don't know how to reach those people. That is the scary thing for me.
Me, too...
They denied science and… science
( environmental damage) will not care it’s still going to continue and won’t remember them!
Avoidance is a very powerful addition
“ it won’t happen to me”
You only have to have one serious crisis or life threatening circumstances to understand it very well can and will
I've cited "Soylent Green" here before, myself. Musk wants to go to Mars. He may need to settle for orbiting hotels & mansions - along with prisons to provide a labor force for service & maintenance.
DZK ; Don't give Musk and friends any ideas.!
Oh Laurie, I think Musk has all of those ideas and more. He is a child-man who can only see how other people can be useful to himself, not that we all have value in ourselves. He is a poison on our society, but he is rich, so people listen to him as though he has anything beyond his understanding of technology to offer, and that is tainted by his personal corruption, a disgusting human being!
Oh, I'm sure it was already on the drawing board before I ever even conceived of it. I once met a fellow who admonished me: "If you can think of it, it's been done." I've found that to be generally true!
DZK ; I was half kidding! but you are right, Murphy's Law says something like '"If a bad thing can happen , it will". I paraphrase. If tfg could have a 'death star' to terrorize other planets ; he would.
There's >always< some truth underpinning humor - even if you're only half kidding.
DZK ; Yes I think that bit of truth is what makes humor effective.
If they get down to cannibalism , it will not be rotten flesh!
GirlScientist, your comment cut to the bone...and it hurts. I grew up in Florida and if a place has been ravaged-- surface still looks inviting--it's raging on. People are pouring in every day and the State and especially counties welcome them and promotes industries. Because of weak restrictions, we are experiencing more polluted lakes, rivers, bays and even our Gulf. Waterfront development has long depleted sea life reproduction and Still it goes on! We keep having toxic spills. The water demand will one day be beyond that ability of our aquifers to produce--we have had shortages warnings for years. I'm witnessing what you are talking about.
Don't worry, Suzanna, most of Florida will be underwater before too long.
http://plaza.ufl.edu/adam1987/
Hopefully on the southeast coast first..... in one very specific area
:(
my deepest sympathies.
GrrlScientist ; Yuck!
I would rather be positive! I don't believe that the greedheads want to stand on a pile of rotting corpses. Even the evil and greedy want beauty. They just have to recognize it themselves.
Sheldon Harnick
Merry Minuet
They're rioting in Africa. They're starving in Spain.
There's hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans. The Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs. South Africans hate the Dutch.
And I don't like anybody very much!
But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud
For man's been endowed with a mushroom shaped cloud.
And we know for certain that some lovely day
Someone will set the spark off and we will all be blown away.
They're rioting in Africa. There's strife in Iran.
What nature doesn't do to us will be done by our fellow man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUfUAnqRJTQ
Daniel, I really like that song, "The Merry Minuet." I first heard it back in the '60s. My sister and I have performed it often in our shows with a few words changed to update it a bit. The hope is that people will hear it and say "I want something better for us."
That is an excellent poem. Horrifyingly excellent!
Daniel ; If we can't beat 'em ,join 'em ? The ultimate escape! There is evidence that nuclear blasts have happened on Earth on some deserts. Large areas of molten glass (melted sand), that could only have been caused by a nuclear blast. Not taught in schools.
I've come across that before. I've often wondered if prehistoric metallurgists came across that heavy metal that glows in the dark, and not knowing about or understanding the nature of "critical mass," tried to melt, or otherwise pound or combine enough to mold into jewelry. Clearly, they wouldn't have been around to tell of what they learned! No. I don't think it was aliens. I've always kind'a thought it's rather insulting to humankind's intelligence for people to credit aliens for accomplishments (?) they can't imagine cave men having the wits for.
A Canticle for Liebowitz.
Brilliant! I just bought a banjolele - and kazoo - I'm determined to master so I can learn to play and sing the following - which, incidentally, came up following the link you provide here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Rsretl-qQ I guess the next song I intend to master will come as no surprise!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Boy_and_His_Dog
the evil and greedy want to POSSESS beauty, to hide it away in their castles, to place it in their study, like a monet or a rodan or perhaps the mounted head of an extinct species, where they and only they and those whom they specifically allow to enjoy it can do so. the rest of us ... ? not a chance.
Usually it is like Disneyland.
Thanks, Bob, for a powerful essay. What ARE they telling themselves, and their children and grandchildren?
Unfortunately, these self-centered despicable people don't give a damn for anyone besides themselves, if their kids and grandkids die, why they'll give them a fancy funeral.
Mark, I don't think they are telling their children and grandchildren anything. They might drool when Trump comes on screen, but if their offspring listen to Trump's actual speeches, they will realize he is nuts and has nothing important to say to them. The grandparents can't bear that, so talk about other stuff.
Another great essay; needs to be echoed by more of you with the ability and authority. Loved the naming names and hope that you'll write a follow up with examples in American history when others followed this same self-serving agenda...your one about McCarthy comes to mind as worthy to be named again in the company of all those of this post. The saddest thing is, every one of us has our reasons we've reasoned ourselves into so reasoning only will not change behaviors. The roots lie deeper, in our emotional identities, and emotions are a far more dangerous topic to touch than simply following what we're told has value--wealth, power, charm--over identifying with those who lack the desire to acquire them in a rigged system; those are people who have the ability to identify with and nurture others as equal beings, human or not.
May I ask them, too...Do you not have enough freedom? What freedom do you lack? What freedom do yo want more of? What freedom has Biden taken from you?
And do you know that autocrats tend to strip freedoms and rights? Especially freedom of speech. Autocrats dislike dissent. You will likely lose freedoms if trump returns to office. You can see trump has a long record of enforcing loyalty to him. Loyalty to the Constitution has no downside. Treason, sedition, etc does have a legal downside, of course. Disloyalty to an autocrat has a downside, but not a legal one. Just an dishonorable personal downside.
Mark, wow! I appreciate your introduction of the questions about freedom. Most of the Trumpers and Trumpettes I have heard "interviewed" (OK interview is not the term, but I am not sure what is since they are usually asked one or two meaningless questions and no follow-up) only rarely mention that they want their freedoms back with no indication of what those freedoms are. They quickly turn to their complaints which are not the same as freedoms. The Republican leaders cite freedom of speech and religion, but are pretty sure they don't want those for anyone but those whose words and beliefs are the same as their own. That is not freedom, it is a toddler wanting what they want when they want it no matter what happens since they don't understand consequences. So, Republicans are being led by a bunch of toddlers who think they deserve more freedom than anyone else and can't be questioned about their childishness.
What kind of freedom do they still long for? Freedom to deny freedom to others.
The joke is that his lifestyle is the subject of the culture war that would make economics irrelevant.
Meanwhile if investors follow his advice they go the way of cryptocurrency....oblivion.
"Echelon!" Now >there's< a Q-spiracy, and he's embracing it? How does he feel about the Bilderbergs? I'd do an LOL! here if it weren't so pathetic - or disturbing to find out that a powerful capitalist/anarchist holds such a view.
Peter Thiel is only talking about freedom for himself.
OMG Ken, I hope most people today don't hold those beliefs! In 1927, Europe was still coming out of an insane war that should never have happened, but Germany and Britain had to show off their masculinity on the world's stage. Of course their view of the world is going to be warped into thinking fascism is useful. It isn't, neither is authoritarianism of any kind. Democrats are not anti-capitalism. The two are not mutually exclusive. Capitalism can be the place of innovation and expansion of ideas. However, capitalism unregulated is insanity, the worst of the pseudo-Darwinian idea of "survival of the fittest." It seems to me a good democracy is a combination of the social contract where everyone has a place and can live a decent life and capitalism where ideas in business and service can flourish. Women and men need to be equally involved in both aspects at all levels. The government of such a democracy needs to reflect the diversity of the population. I get it that this is idealistic, but it is worth a try. A bunch of rich white child-men competing to see who can screw the people over fastest and for the most money is not my idea of a successful capitalist element of any society.
I agree! There is a possible world, a 'social democracy' that includes everyone, prosperous and cooperative with the necessary laws and regulations that protect without controlling. It's extremely difficult to find and maintain the best balance, but it doesn't have to be a choice between Fascism or Anarchy!
That’s what is confounding. We can try and understand motivations, but who are these people really? Deluded by their own ambition. In the deny, deny, deny Modus operandi. Backed into a corner and unwilling to lose face. Or just under the spell of plain every day greed, dishonesty, and a dance with a devil.
Some obviously hear that dog whistle to their racist collective subconscious.
Archana, I believe it is all of the above. I see ambition as a primary motivator, but then greed, the desire for more and more money and power, the realization that when they are in power, people listen to them far more than their actual achievements warrant. Then, there's the fear of recanting a position they have staunchly promoted, even if they didn't believe it. How does one acknowledge one has lied to the people about something they didn't believe in the first place. It makes some people start to wonder what else that "leader" has deceived them on. We have seen that even when Trump has turned on those fools, they cling to him as though they were drowning (Lindsay Graham and Ted Cruz are examples of this). How either retains support from the voters of their states is incomprehensible.
Indeed. Well articulated. Thank you
The problem is that the people who need to read this message, have been indoctrinated by the Trump cult, and refuse to listen to the real truth.
I know plenty who are not in the cult who won't listen and refuse to talk about it/him any more
The answers would likely be the same as those senators that took us on that damn fool’s crusade to Iraq based on dodgy evidence and faulty logic 20 years ago but fail to admit their error.
Greed can be rationalized, because they knew what they were really doing was wrong. Bush and 'Mr. Halliburton'. Too bad that not even one 'Pro Lifer' made a peep about the slaughter of thousands of innocent Iraqis. Hey, Pro Lifers ; Some of the women were pregnant! Why did you not march, or stand out in public places and churches with big signs?
Why would they admit their error when they can just go alter the record...?
Rishi ; Some day , if they prevail, they just might do that. And write a 'creation story' about their 'venerable 'leader'. Second coming of the Christ? Kim Jon Un has one.
"History is written by the victors" (attributed to Churchill. Not so sure.)
If they can write
That's where you may underestimate them. The ones running the con >can< write and >will< write the history, even if they don't prevail. That's why the problem isn't going to just go away. For example, people still read "Mein Kompf," and all the other bat-shit NAZI literature, >exactly because< it hasn't been burned.
Yes, quite; all of the doubts about our Commander In Chief's academic "bona fides" didn't mean much when he decided the balance of power would favor the executive: the 'Bush Doctrine' was authored without him ever needing to put pen to paper & the balance shifted away from Congress and the judiciary in turn (note the lack of success with AUMF repeal efforts going on twenty years now)...
Anyone remember Chomsky raising concerns about manufacture of language (a la "weapons of mass destruction", etc. etc.)?
I'm sure they will write their own views of history. We can't have book banning. Some who read it do so to actually study the evil that must be guarded against. It's something to learn from, hopefully, instead of having a repeat. I remember when it was reported that G.W. Bush had a relative who owned a book publishing place. There was concern that it would be monopolizing the printing (and writing content) of elementary and secondary school textbooks. Maybe even college level ! All at a handsome profit, of course.
If that's not Leonard Leo then it must be Grover Norquist.
; )
I thought it might be tRump!
Correct,. and since Iran and Iraq are and were immortal enemies that made it believable. Right?
When did believability >ever< limit FOX ‽
What a powerful and elegant piece of writing, Robert Reich. I hope the people you have named will have their “dark night of the soul” and come to support the Constitution and the principles of democracy before it’s too late. Thanks for all you do.
I hope you find a way to bring your powerful message to the attention of the people who are intended to hear it.
With any luck, they have spies to read this popular forum.
It'd only be for "opposition research" and "contraversion." Who d'ya think our parade of trolls are? That's why responding to them is self-defeating.
I could not resist my "doggie, find a nice bone to chew on" comment, but lately I ignore 'em.
Yes, Miland, perhaps Dr. Reich could have that one printed in the "NY Times" as an Op Ed piece. It might reach a few of the targeted folks who pride themselves of being informed from "both sides." They lie of course, but maybe their staff members might read it and some of the little people who bow and scrape to Baby Donnie might accidentally see it and let it into their nearly closed minds.
Your question makes me think about the age old problems of power and greed. Look no further than the lessons of literature. Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and the pigs, Napoleon, “four legs good, two legs bad.” And the lies. And that Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Is it human nature? It doesn’t have to be.
Irenie ; I agree that it seems to be 'human nature' if the humans in question have been taught that profit is everything ; the bottom line is the goal, no matter the means. Working together to 'survive and even thrive' is the only true progress. Treating others as you would want to be treated (when possible). Democracy may be messy, but the alternative does not seem to work well.
Agree, Laurie. But for the people Dr. Reich is addressing, authoritarianism is neat and tidy, it keeps the mass of Society in its place - at the bottom of the heap, and allows the 'rich and famous' to enjoy themselves in the luxury to which they are entitled. And some in that heap at the bottom have enabled them with their adoring envy.
Irenie, you are right, deliberate ignorance, lying, and corruption may be within humanity, but are not necessary parts of human nature. They, like so many other behaviors, grew when unchecked. We can and need to do better.
Mr. Reich, you forgot to ask one group of powerful people how they continue to support the Big Lie and Trump. The clergy. The people with with undue influence over their minions using God’s Law to justify their position and sermons. They aren’t going away.
Ed Meese, Ronald Reagan’s attorney general once commented to the effect that the Republican Party needed to take steps to ensure the “Reagan Revolution”, assuring the prerogatives of the haves, was protected against any democratic inspired efforts to dislodge it. Using justifications first posed to justify slavery and minority government provided by former Vice President, senator, and strident defender of slavery John C. Calhoun, and funded by oligarchs who despise taxes and majoritarian politics, the Republican Party has been doing just that ever since. The Party was stacking the courts, and rigging the electoral process long before Trump happened along. Knowing this is anyone really surprised the Big Lie would be in the Republican tool box? It’s just represents the next step in the process. Appealing to the consciences of these people as you have done by your question Dr. Reich, is a Labor of Sisyphus . You cannot be a Republican or vote Republican and lay claim to having one. At the end of the day it is all about power and the Lords of the Dark Money Universe, who really control the GOP , are determined to keep hold of it by any means necessary.