I am old enough to have lived through several - isms . Capitalism combined with feudalism, Jews with yellow stars, forced labors, Jewish ghettos, anti-Jewish propaganda, then the disappearance of said Jewish groups, Nazi controls. Then Soviet occupation. At the age of 13 being almost raped by a Soviet officer . My Mom's presence of mind saving me. Another uprising in 1956. Just could not take it any longer. Escaped to the US. Breathing FREE.
God am I happy to be here! Hungary is again leaning to the far right. How can any person survive under these circumstances and remain sane is beyond me. I am a Democrat and a VERY HAPPY naturalized Us citizen
This is a very compelling testimony, Eva. Unfortunately, authoritarianism and bigotry are not only for Germans, Italians, or Hungarians. It is a universal temptation that creeps up as soon as leaders have given up on the political project defining their country. When leaders don't lead, the crowd turns to demagogues.
Philippe, I was moved by your reply to Eva and merely would add, here at home, that presently Democratic governors, more so than our elected representatives in DC, appear to be leading the charge against the deep and pervasive corruption that has settled upon the republic.
Barbara, I live in Wash. D.C. and watch national politics like a hawk, especially in troubled times. The Democrats in the House have been working faithfully to enact Voting Rights Protections, enact the Human Resources side of Biden's Build Back Better plan (kindergarten for all from 3yr olds to first grade; affordable child care; free community college education). The also voted to codify women's health protections (including right to chose). The critical environmental law changes. There are 48 Democratic Senators supporting them. Only 2 Democratic Senators are holding up the entire Biden agenda: Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema. The work has been done. The legislation has been written. We just need 2 more cooperative Senators, and we need to keep the House of Representatives. The Republicans and 2 Democratic senators are holding up progress on the proposed legislation for these priority issues. Please keep your focus on electing more Democrats so we can get past the Manchin / Sinema road block. Then things will get done. Thanks.
Elizabeth, Though I don’t reside in DC, I’m well aware of every piece of legislation that has passed in the House and has remained stalled in the Senate, largely because of Manchin and Sinema. That said, using the budget reconciliation package (BBB)—which would have helped to remedy the country’s grotesque inequalities of wealth and income—as an iterative example, what follows is the response I repeatedly have pressed for since reconciliation failed to pass in the Senate.
I repeatedly prevailed upon both Biden and Democratic leadership to go make the argument in West Virginia, and also in the red parts of Mississippi and Alabama, and in other states and say, “This is what we have tried to deliver and these folks have voted against it.” Simply put, Dems have to be willing to engage in war. One can’t play fair with people who don’t play fair. The other side has shown that it will do whatever is necessary to attain power. Therefore, Democratic leadership has got to say, “America, when they didn’t care about you, we did.”
Imagine the impact if everyday people across the country were asked, “Who do you want here—somebody who doesn’t want to cut the price of insulin or those who do?” “Doesn’t want to expand the child tax credit or those who do?” “Doesn’t want to provide affordable quality childcare and universal Pre-K or those who do?” “Doesn’t want to invest in housing, in eldercare, and in climate or those who do?” My point, and note I haven’t covered what Biden and the Party have accomplished, is that Democrats have an extraordinary narrative if only they would deliver it.
Postscript for Elizabeth: I write to note that for months I repeatedly have prevailed upon Senate Democrats to pass whichever BBB provisions can gain support from 50 Senators and present the legislation to voters as a downpayment of more to come if Dems hold the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats. As you know, the provisions already have passed in the House. We’re just waiting on the Senate.
As a final point, if I may fast-forward to earlier this week, I have encouraged the President to reconsider stating he merely would support modifying the filibuster to codify reproductive rights. Rather, I have urged him to demand a Senate rule change to restore this Constitutional right decided a half-century ago and later reaffirmed.
Barbara, you seem much more knowledgeable than I on these matters but I am quite convinced that if Democrats do not deliver the narrative you think they could, it is because their corporate donors do not finance lawmakers to see social reforms that would hurt their bottom line being passed. Get money out of politics and there will be, at long last, a genuine conversation in the country!
Well said Barbara! Yes, the Dems, as Robert Reich has said MANY times, NEED to tout this Adminstration's accomplishments and stop taking it on the chin by an opposition party that has, clearly, devolved into a non-party! There are FAR too many in this country that habitually check the R box in the voting booth due to many factors include intense negative partisanship and promoted by non-journalists on FOX, OAN and other networks.
Great insight! Demagoguery doesn't look complicated; something that requires attention; something you have to think and act upon; nurture, etc., takes more effort. Yes, demagogues want to keep it simple, no questions please, or you are ostracized ....or worse,
Ain't it the truth. Demagogues don't have much to offer anyone but still want the acclamation. Look at Putin, attacking another country, claiming it is his. That takes a lot of gall and complete control over the people who just might say "no."
Awhile ago, the GOP was briefly viewed as powerless. They were unable to deliver tax cuts to their dark-money backers. Gentlemen like Romney & McCain could not win, despite dark-money, evangelicals and gun-lovers. Then, Putin saw a way to weaken NATO & democracies by propping up Trump, who encouraged the KKK to remove their robes, and for them and the skinhead racists to become PROUD boys. Thus, the GOP achieved the long-sought tax cuts
Suppose the "money backers" threw up an invisible shield to protect Trump?
Suppose the NATO gambit by Trump was done to set it up for Putin? He sure knows a lot about "divide and conquer". Look at how it's making inroads among Americans.
Phillipe, agreed and interestingly I first heard this prophetic insight from a staunch Atheist (Christopher Hitchens - Hitch). He observed that when countries, cultures move from a democratic societal structure to one heavily influenced by institutional religion, they become ripe for Autocracy, Dictatorship, etc. Although there have been some benevolent Autocrats and Dictators, they are a small minority compared to those that are primarily seeking power, control, and influence over the world (Hitler and Stalin, on steroids).
I would be interested to hear from others, in response to Robert's article on the militant Christian (Evangelicals, Fundamentalists?) fervor being spread throughout the country, whether there is still any hope/faith that any form of parlance is possible?
When we think about it, hasn't God always been the best pretext to discriminate among people and persecute others? Whether there is a god or not, us, humans, should never refer to the absolute as something we know.
Of course there is a god. In fact there are over 4000 god's. I believe in a tea cup circling around Uranus which was Bertrand Russell's idea of a good god. Can you prove that God does not exist? God is most often an excuse the kill you neighbors. Look around you and remember - You never expect the Spanish inquision OR the American one sponsored by the Catholic bishops of America.
I've long thought we have an energy source. Wayne Dyer attempted an apt description of our "Source" and making a connection is up to us individually. It's evident mankind needs God--a Big Daddy-- and this is where the high positioned (egoist) human exploits that premise in order to control. Followers don't seem to detect they are being exploited. After all, it is in the name of God.
Yup, since recorded time, religion served to control ....but then, before democratic experiments, it served to keep what could've been anarchy and chaos in check(?) We seem go be going backward when we now have so much to work with in light of the tremendous advancements in government function which are not followed well because of-- Oops, forgot--too many egos in the game. In an ideal world, one ego could work but how in the world can that be achieved out of so many biased ego's vying for power--some more warped than others! If a democratically structured government were followed sincerely, that could be the same or better.
Tyrants and despots love disorganized government-overthrowing attempts that leave a power vacuum they can take advantage of. Many revolutions go badly. The French Revolution had its Reign of Terror. Lenin took advantage of the Bolshevik Revolution. (With Hitler's help,) Franco took advantage of weakness in the Spanish left. Some of the Arab Spring revolutions didn't work out well
You remind me that I have long been troubled by an idea about revolution. This model fits well to so many revolutions, including the American Revolution. The model expounded by Lenin in "What Is To Be Done?" in 1904 (contemplating the role of the professional revolutionary), that revolutions are often not the bright package that is used to hoodwink the masses. I have been bothered by this idea of a pernicious revolution; try as I might, I have not been able to fathom its deeper meaning.
The Bolshevik Revolution is the clearest example of a revolution that has two parts - the Hammer, and then the Sickle. The Nazi Revolution is an example as well. Lenin and Hitler were well aware of the theory of the Hammer and Sickle. In this way, they were political grandmasters of subterfuge.
The first part is quite seductive, for everyone is given a Hammer, and told to exult in the smashing. Anything that is orderly must be smashed, as it is a tool of the Old Ways of the Tsar, or the ways of the enemies of Germany which crippled the beloved Fatherland.
Smash!
Smash up everything which stands in the way of the People's Revolution! Everything that shackles the Aryan People! Smash! Smash the Demon-crats in America, the RINO's, the servants of the Deep State! Don't worry that your ideas sound crazy - just keep smashing!
And all the factions of resentfulness stand shoulder-to-shoulder, brothers all! There is no plan about what comes after the delirious Present - just smash!
And pretty soon, everything that is useful as well as wicked in the society is smashed. The Tsar is smashed - and so are the railcars that bring the food to Moscow, the water-works which bring fresh water and flush the toilets and do not care whether the people are Red or White. Everything is now a mess, and the people change from the orgy of destruction to the fear for survival.
Then comes the Sickle. Whether it is the Night of the Long Knives, when the Brownshirts (Sturmabteilung or SA) were destroyed by the SS, or the Great Purge, when the Old Bolsheviks were liquidated by Stalin - all the flowers which were encouraged to grow the tallest, have their heads lopped off in the harvest. Once everything is smashed, very few can bring order to the rubble; and these comrades in charge no longer smile benevolently on the masses. They want obedience, or else. After the Russian Civil War ended in 1922, if you wanted what the Bolshevik leadership could give, you danced to their tune. The war on the rich peasants turned into a war on the peasants. At first, you had a hundred cattle, you were a rich peasant. Later, it was if you had two potatoes. Share one, you selfish counterrevolutionary! The Ukraine "shared" its harvest - all of it - and endured the starvation of the Holodomor, because the Ukrainians were insufficiently subservient. No more Power to the People, but Power to the Lackeys.
The MAGA boys and the fat pastors who are the deceivers of their flock, the minutemen and Proud Boys are not beloved by their leaders; in fact, they are the very ones who are most troublesome and will be eliminated in the purge. Now that they are smashing everything, they are encouraged and admired. But when it is time for the Sickle, they are the first to go. They are a threat. When the American Bolsheviks come for their guns, money, lands and lives, they will be irate, like the SA were irate - "Hey now, we are the vanguard of your revolution!" A rifle butt to the mouth or a bullet through the heart, and they realize that Hammer Time is over, and terror has come for them too.
But I see this in many revolutions - the Soviets and Mao's China, Nazi Germany and even a whisper of it behind the scenes after the American Revolution (how dare I say that!)
Are we caught up in another iteration of this model, the Double Revolution, the Hammer and the Sickle, cunningly played out behind the scenes, with puppets like Tucker and Hannity and such dancing in the first act, and vanishing in the second?
I do not like my model of the Double Revolution, but I think it is a real, Machiavellian scheme that uses the people of the Arab Spring or the Bolshevik Revolution to bring the people into a new dystopia. I agree - many revolutions go badly. They are designed that way.
So, could I understand our last president (and expected his 'base") to start "smashing? Reason I ask, is that that while myRepublican friends don't want a Democrat run country, don't offer what they see as a replacement. Conversation never gets there. ???
Yes, and that’s kind of you to read my overly-long chatter. YES! They smash all the institutions of American government-and then ask how will we survive.
How about the French Revolution that ended feudalism? Eggs must be broken to make an omlet. The American revolution was bloody and innocents died on both sides.
Well stated. As history has shown, the revolutionary can not be trusted. They must be eliminated for the good of the new order that rises. Never underestimate the power of denial.
Of course! I apologize if my post was worded confusingly. The part about Hitler was a parenthetical lead about him helping Franco.
Hitler didn't play a role in leading Franco to decide to launch his coup against the 'Godless' Spanish left, but he played a huge role in the speed of its success.
And, this assistance allowed Hitler to test his tanks and planes, to make them & his troops poised to overrun Poland, BeNeLux & France quickly (without any of the slow WWI trench stalemates)
Yes, but we are speaking of three different things, here. One is the now complete transformation of the Republican party into a fascistic organization, the likes of Mussolini or Franco's (except that the dear leader, in the Republican case, cannot probably lace his shoes on his own). Another is the totalitarian aspect of a revolution seen as the practical expression of the theory of everything. That was held at a time when science was considered necessarily univocal and was the ditch the French revolution fell into, as well as the communist one with its "dialectic materialism" fantasy. The third thing is a social revolution such as the Arab Spring. It did not fail because of being the emanation of some abstract theory about the system of the universe but simply because dictators don't like to govern with the people. The first two, authoritarianism and system thinking, have nothing to see with social upheavals, whether they succeed or not. Please, forgive the lecture.
Thank you. I love a good lecture. The commonality is that well-intentioned people may think their leaders do some very bad things, and should be overthrown, but power-hungry actors will try to exploit the power vacuums. Assange & some hackers believed Hillary was evil, no one could be worse, and she needed to be denied the Presidency. Oops!
Assange may have not helped HRC in 2016, but publishing the DNC's own emails proving that the organization had cheated against Bernie Sanders all along during the campaign was not necessarily meant to deter Democrats to vote for her. Unless, of course, you think that most of us are unable to make the political calculation that Hillary, however corrupt she might be, was a better bet than the other guy. Bernie campaigned vigorously for her after the primary and I am saddened that so many good people like you fell for the trick of pointing at the messenger and not at the message. Assange, by the way, is a publisher. No more, no less. That he is persecuted for it shows what type of regime we truly live under.
I note that the KGB and Putin hated and feared Hillary, and they worked deep behind the scenes to corrupt the election. The only dispute is whether Trump winked at Putin, or blatantly licked his hand. That’s the only point of disagreement. The rest is history.
I love Bernie's ideas. I just don't think he was electable in our unfair and voter-suppressed Electoral College paradigm and the right-wing, anti-socialist, anti-tax media bubble.
And, I strongly disagree with your assumption that most of >us< are able to think and to handle nuance. Who is >us<? While substack readers can, most voters in key Electoral-vote states cannot. And, fwiw, I think Teddy challenging Carter in the 1980 primary led enough Democrats to think that even Carter's own party doesn't like him, so why not vote for John Anderson?
I think these so called Christians are like the Taliban. Any people who claim ownership of God’s Word are operating on inflated egos and haven’t given God much consideration at all. It is the Russian Orthodox church that backs Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which has a Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Churches are in business to control people. They are not operated by the people, for the people. If people want to be controlled by a church let them join one.
Yes fault is on greedy, self-serving leaders. But in a Democracy, the people have the ability to elect their leaders. So the real culprits are the billionaire/corporate interest that fund all the successful 'divide and conquer' tactics; successfully pitting us against each other and against Government/Democracy- the only mechanism we, the people, can use to can keep the 0.001% in check.
FYI, I agree that Corporate magnates, and old, deep-wealth money are behind the take-over of democracy. They see an end-state goal and have means to get there, with cunning intelligence supporting them. But to identify them is one thing. To oppose them is a mistake in my thinking.
I believe there is another pathway that we are being pushed onto, and it's a good thing. We can't avoid the influences (forced or coerced), but we can put our energy into creating solutions that focus on new paradigms and put them into practice. I'm speaking of our beliefs, ideologies, habits, and behaviors. I can talk more to this, if anyone is interested.
I would agree with you if Religion hadn't already been corrupted. It has been losing its moral high ground, credibility and followers for some time now. Same issue- Selfishness... self-serving faulse leadership.
fyiurban ; I agree. Plus the Electoral College grotesquely misrepresents the actual votes and disenfranchises the majority, exactly opposite of what Democracy is all about.
More weapons in their assault! Gerrymandering, filibuster, lying stealing and cheating to pack the courts, considering corporations and their wealth as equal to "people" with regard to political contributions, making it easier for billionaire/corporate interests to infuse unlimited amounts of 'dark money' to influence politicians and all aspects of the political process, weakening governmental agencies ability to regulate corporations, weakening unions and other pro-labor efforts & institutions... I could go on and on!
fyiurban ; Support the Democrat running for Governor of Pennsylvania, because that is a very important state. There is a plan to give the state power to appoint electors and deny the popular vote. A Democrat Governor will not go along with that plan. The Republican candidate is an election denier who was at the Jan 6 attack. If Pennsylvania falls to this Democracy destroying plot, the other red states will follow suit, like dominoes. Pennsylvania is where our Democratic Republic started! Support for the Democrat candidate is important! Dirty money is our enemy!
I agree, many say the focus should be on local politics- that is the long game. In the short term, we have to Unite our voting power on the big ticket offices- governor, president because Rep. have already gerrymandered themselves into minority rule by carving out favorable districts where they have picked their voters rather than the voters picking them. This is why the are pushing State's rights (State power over Federal or local power) "Civil War" the same way the south did in an effort to preserve slavery. The supreme court is already scheduled to hear a case where Rep. seek to give state legislatures unchallenged power over election rules, inducing gerrymandering and all the other voter disenfranchisement efforts they espouse. From Wall Street Journal article- 'the Supreme Court announced that it would take up Moore v. Harper this fall, a case stemming from a ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Court that its state constitution prohibits extreme gerrymandering. In Harper, Republican legislative leaders asked the Supreme Court to rule that it is unconstitutional for state courts and constitutions to protect federal voting rights. In their view, only state legislatures should be able to determine election rules — absent intervention by Congress. By this logic, state legislatures, under the “independent state legislature theory,” could reject presidential election results they do not like....' By design, Rep will block policy they don't like when not in the majority and ram through policy they do like when in the majority (changing the rules to benefit their agenda), fearing the reality that they are and will remain a minority, their stop gap is the Supreme Court, where they can make policy based on court rulings and block Dems in congress with the filibuster and locking themselves into power with Gerrymandered seats .
I'm so glad you survived Eva. Having been through all that, it is unfair that you must face it again in the Country that used to be the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. I, too, am a Naturalized US Citizen and it breaks my heart to see the Country I chose to believe in overrun by a bunch of useless, greedy demagogues.
What a gift immigrants are to this country. It is too bad scared white men and the women who love them can't see it. They are so blinded by their warped Christian faith they buy into the stupid ideas like "replacement" and "they are taking away our rights." Well, scared white people. "They aren't taking away your rights. You are letting idiots make decisions for you and it is a guarantee you will lose and it won't be Democrats that do it to you. It will be the scared white "Christian" men you let lead you because they care nothing for you, only for what you can do for them. When your usefulness is done, they will toss you away like the trash they think you are.
Scared white men/women don't see that they themselves are the ones ceding their rights to greedy, power-hungry white men (maybe some women too, no gender-bias here, haha) who have no intention of giving them back.
That's >always< puzzled me. I don't think they're aware it all has something to do with the fundamentalist belief - from Revelation - concerning the rise of the antichrist, the ultimate destruction of Israel, and "the rapture" associated with the 2nd coming of Christ and the "end of days." They believe ol' Yehshua will come back - in the flesh - and conduct them all into heaven. Seen in that light, it may make their intention in supporting Israel clear. Israel is to be destroyed - if I have my memory straight in all that.
Yes: a middle school classmate used to lead sermons during our lunch period, outside, after we ate. I watched, curious to see what 'odd' things he said, and to understand why others were so attentive. (The state* of) Israel needs to exist for their prophecies. It's not that 'Israel' will be destroyed, it's that Jews will reject the 2nd coming, as it rejected the 1st, so Jews will be destroyed. (* I think he said it was the 'Greater', larger, state of Israel, including the Palestinian territories)
As a Jew and an atheist I find this ridiculous. Dangerous but absolutely insane. How can anyone make such a big deal out of made up stories? It boggles my mind.
I figured that's why southern politicians, who probably were children of KKK members who were inclined to hate Jews, suddenly became ardent backers of military aid to Israel
Due to the Church's historic frowning on money-lenders, and its followers' pogroms, Crusades, Inquisition and persecution against Jews, Jews needed to become discreet bankers to bribe benefactors (kings, earls, barons) to provide safety to their shtetls. Jewish bankers played whatever roles needed to help their people survive. In the US, they played a role in the slave trade & plantations. It wasn't until after the Confederacy lost, and Jewish bankers had no benefactors, that hatred, and jealousy of their wealth, became part of the KKK
The hell of it is, it's the Romans that killed him - not the Jews. Israel was Roman occupied territory at the time. Barabbas was a resistance patriot and Yehshua preached "No greater love than one man lays down his life for another." Both Barabbas and Yehshua had been convicted of insurrection against the Roman state. On a Roman holiday - whatever from that time of year - it was customary for the Romans to release a convicted criminal by public acclaim. The Jews chose to release the proven patriot and let Yehshua live - and die - by his own words. Otherwise, Yehshua was just a troublesome gadfly to the Sanhedrin, that wanted rid of him for heresies, by their orthodox reckoning - which was otherwise, no skin of the Roman nose. I've always wondered if Barabbas was among the Maccabees.
The Irony, here, is that the Romans took up his mantle and ultimately created the Roman church, while it never quite caught on with his fellow Jews, for whom he was a rabbi.
Amazing! Eva! You have seen the violence that can be perpetrated upon the people by those who would rule even though they offer nothing but their fear and brutality. I am glad you are here. I wish we could hear from more who have been there and can get the warning out.
The ideology of White Christian Nationalism is falsified in "The Flag + The Cross" by Yale Professor Philip Gorski, "Christians Against Christianity" by Biblical scholar Obery Hendricks, & "American Fascists" by Chris Hedges. If you are interested in a Christian vision that both glorifies God & enables ALL Americans to better flourish, read "A More Perfect Union" by Adam Russell Taylor, an excellent read. Republicans try to hijack Christianity for money & power, as "mere peddlers of God's word" who do not have God's word planted in "good soil" (Mark 4:1-20).
Frank, European political theory and American political theory just don't mix, never have, never will. The ideas that gave rise to each are very different, and trying to follow European political theory is a mistake and an affectation, including Marxism. We are different, always have been.
"You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I'd like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There's only an up or down: [up] man's old -- old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course."
"...And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man."
Who said this? When? The only hint I'll give is that this is an American speaking. First comment on AMERICAN politics from an AMERICAN perspective. Next, tell me which of the players are the greatest threat to the speaker's observations on liberty; and which of the players are barking the alert about TOTALITARIANSM, today, 2022.
Now what you got? Hands up, anyone. Who is this American speaker?
You want some reading homework - Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler, Democracy in America by de Tocqueville. Read the first soon; the latter is lengthy, but read it too - at least WHAT SORT OF DESPOTISM DEMOCRATIC NATIONS HAVE TO FEAR, Ch. 6
"It is indeed difficult to conceive how men who have entirely given up the habit of self-government should succeed in making a proper choice of those by whom they are to be governed; and no one will ever believe that a liberal, wise, and energetic government can spring from the suffrages of a subservient people."
I say that some Americans can't tell what reality is when someone whom they worship constantly bathes them in lies; and see, there is a group of people in America today who are slavish followers of the Leader who lies to them, and they cannot tell right from wrong. What group would that be, Frank?
So spare us the canned quotes from a hundred years ago about what "Liberal Democrats" are when the comparison is to a country now lost in misty memory, that collapsed under its own weight. The USSR is gone, and leads nobody. Who today is carrying its coat-tails?
Well, the benefit of getting older is being able to remember history. Whether you remember the truth, or instead substitute your happy thoughts, is up to you.
We must know that we are NOT the same country as when the speaker here shared his thoughts. We have shifted FAR towards the "right," and what was acceptable then is dismaying now.
One prime example - I remember "Nixon Shock" in 1971
The Cato Institute recalled the actions of their Republican President in horror: "President Richard Nixon showed us just how dangerous unchecked executive power can be to the free‐enterprise system. On Aug. 15, 1971, in a nationally televised address, Nixon announced, “I am today ordering a freeze on all prices and wages throughout the United States.” After a 90‐day freeze, increases would have to be approved by a “Pay Board” and a “Price Commission,” with an eye toward eventually lifting controls — conveniently, after the 1972 election."
If a President today were to announce that everywhere in the US, all wages and all prices, from your local gas pump to the grocery store to your job, whether Federal jobs and wages or in the private sector, were legally forbidden to change, I think there would be an uprising, and not of the Trumpian type. No wonder that the "centrist Republicans" disappeared - they won most of the things that they wanted during the Nixon days. The average Democrat supports what the conservative Republican of the 1960's wanted, so the Democratic Party dried up, too. Now we are frothing at the mouth about Transgender Elmo, and ignoring the further shifts to reactionary goals.
I will unmask the Masked Speaker to awestruck gasps (I hope) a little later.
I do on occasion watch CNN but I prefer PBS or BBC. As to Lenin and Marx, I did read Marx when I was in my 20's and was unimpressed. I did read about Lenin and Trotsky, but none of their personal writings. I learned enough about what they called Communism to realize what they offered was the same authoritarian imperialism as the Czarists, just with different actors. They had no more interest in the trials and tribulations of the common man then the trumpster has in working class, indeed the entire middle class, of the United States of America.
Frank, you are clearly outside your circle of competence. Democrats support moral or stakeholder capitalism which produces a more just economy in which ALL citizens can better flourish.
You are an ideologue, Frank. How can you say that in light of the empirical evidence found in "The Rise & Fall of Neoliberal Capitalism", or the reasoning in "Prosperity" by Colin Mayer? Economics is outside your circle of competence.
Please try not to be so silly. Asking for a recount is a legitimate tool, and nobody was surprised when TFG requested them. Starting 4 months ahead of the election to say that "If I lose, it will be because the election was rigged" is something else.
Recounts in 2000 and 2016 confirmed the results (thanks to the Supreme Court and "hanging chads" in 2000), both GORE and CLINTON (your nicknames are so sophomoric) CONCEDED, which allowed for a smooth transfer of power. Trump is still whinging.
PS: Neither Gore nor Clinton plotted to overturn the election. Nor did either behave like a spoiled little brat who didn't get a nice piece of chocolate cake for dessert.
Regarding Trump, the irony is it seems, that he has no care or interest in God or organised religion. He cares only for himself and personal gain. His followers are merely the means to obtain this. He is the quintessential grandiose narcissist.
Larry, yes and the same con man he was fifty years ago. My continual question is, what do the sheople that follow and support him think the end benefit is for them and the country. All the trumpster has done is 'make America hate again' and again.
You are so right, DW. Trump is so wrapped in himself he sees the crowd as his means to gaining even more acclamation but his followers just don't see it, or rather just won't see it. They like the excitement of being part of something loud and nasty. I think it gives purpose to otherwise lackluster lives and they don't actually have to do anything except wear MAGA hats and sometimes scream for Donnie at rallies. They can blame lots of people for their "pathetic" lives and still do nothing to make things better for themselves or anyone else.
Hey Sambizl, since we know the playbook, we should be able to stop the player. My problem is without silencing Trump legally, I am not sure how it is done. The media still cover him as though he matters and is not an unprosecuted criminal.
Knowing he’s a Hooligan of the Highest Order and knowing the playbook are vastly different things. Before I continue I want to make it known I am not very smart and don’t know the exact procedures but this is what I am going to write. He has many lawyers and many accountants. He has been playing the bankruptcy game for more than 30 years, i.e. starting a university getting government money to fund it then declaring bankruptcy to get cash into his bank accounts. He has divorced 2 times I believe, so he (when I say he that includes said lawyers and accounts) has experience keeping the seesaw weighed down on his side of the playground. All this points to him knowing how to get out of situations most people think he can’t get out of. So until he loses The War (not tiny battles) in court enough to where it truly makes a difference he will stay out of real trouble. POW or not he will always have a whole lot of hooligans ready to sit, fetch or attack on command.
These people are not in my opinion Americans. At least not in the sense of what the constitution guarantees as the rights of the American people. Everything they are doing is antithetical to the very idea of The American Dream.
These people are NOT Christian. They label themselves that. For myself, I prefer the term Christ follower. These fascist people worship money and power, not God. They do not love their neighbors as themselves. They do not care for others, those who are vulnerable. They have one standard for themselves and a different standard for others (racism, misogyny, etc.) They are the people Jesus called “white washed tombs”- dead, decayed, and unclean inside. They are nothing that my sweet mama taught me to be. They INTENTIONALLY hurt others. They will eventually destroy themselves, but not before doing as much damage as possible to as many people and institutions as possible.
As much as I respect President Biden, it is time we have a warrior to battle for democracy; we need our own Zelensky. We need to take the fight to the radical right, pseudo-conservatives. Put them on the defensive for their horrible, hurtful policies. And for God’s sake, stop saying “unprecedented,” meaning “We’ve never done it that way before.” Get a big enough majority to get rid of the filibuster and pass needed legislation and expand the court! Six judicial terrorists holding America hostage is unconscionable.
JennSh, you are so right. Praise those mammas and pappas who believe in treating others fairly, as brothers and sisters whom we need to love and care for, not abuse and use for our own benefit.
Well said, JennSH. We are unlikely to get a big enough majority if the mainstream media keeps saying that the Democrats will lose in November, thus having created a self-fulfilling prophecy. With so little time left, I don't see the Democrats doing anything to make people aware of the dangers that await if they lose. Will they EVER take control of the narrative?
I think we allow ourselves to believe everything we hear on the news implying the the Democratic Party will lose its majority in November. It will not happen if the progressive thinking masses get politically active and choose the correct leaders to represent them.
You can't vote for "correct leaders" unless they're running.
And, in states where Republicans may succeed in stealing the voting process, your vote may not count anyway.
The Roberts Supreme Court has allowed Big Business to buy elections. It has gutted voting rights. It's doing its level best to gut personal rights. The legislative branch, which has the authority to neutralize SCOTUS decisions, is clutching its collective pearls and being "alarmed" and "concerned." And the exec. branch is... well, I'm no longer sure exactly WHAT it's doing.
Since similar cases have been rejected all along, taking up Moore v. Harper is a pretty good signal of where this court is going, isn't it.
I don't see any other solution except to vote in such overwhelming numbers in November that the will of We The People is incontrovertible. And I don't see that happening either.
Imo a Big Oil windfall profits tax would be seen as a positive move. Dems won't do it.
I doubt it. To do so, they'd have to stand FOR something, not just against something, and when push comes to shove, Dems are beholden to corporate interests too.
Last week Biden proposed selling "up to" 10 oil drilling leases in the Gulf and Alaska. Trump wanted to sell dozens. Why is 10 better than dozens? Because it's fewer chances for disaster, and destroying the lands/waters and air will take longer?
Oil leases aren't about authoritarianism, but they are about what really runs the USA.
This is one of the problems normal Americans make when it comes to the Evangelical right wing. They honestly don't care about the American dream.
They want/are waiting for their god/jesus to establish his kingdom on earth. They don't feel bound by man's laws or government. They only believe they are bound by god/jesus laws.
These people are delusional religious fanatics. They are dangerous. This includes the Catholics.
Except they do not follow Jesus teachings. I am an atheist, but I respect the teachings of Jesus as good for mankind. I don't care that what he was purported to have said originated from a prior preacher, that teacher did not spread the idea of graciousness, kindness, an helpfulness. And those three "nesses" are of greater importance than all the greed the trumpsters can muster
All you need to do is look at the right wing Evangelicals, their wealth, their mega churches to understand where their priorities are and sadly their congregations choose not to see it....
The colonies had a "Great Awakening" contemporaneous with the French and Indian War, the Revolution and the drafting of the Constitution. Our Constitution was written mostly by Deists who did not mention the word God.
There was pressure from anti-federalists like Patrick Henry to establish a state religion, but it was rebuked. Ironically Henry opposed Baptists, who benefited the most from the Great Awakening. Numerically small before the outbreak of revival, Baptist churches experienced growth during the last half of the 18th century. But at that time, they were a minority and universally endorsed separation of church and state.
Fanatics often refer to the language of the Declaration of Independence, but the only time the Declaration was incorporated by reference into the Constitution by SCOTUS was in Dred Scott, which led to civil war.
Behind all these pernicious cults is the lust to co-opt all things to serve their own power. Behind the cult of Martyrdom is the epitaph “In the wrong place, at the wrong time, they tried to do the right thing.” The White Rose Society, among so many others, deserve this epitaph.
Yad Vashem commemorates the Ger Toshav in a time of horror. This, not modern American cults, is what it is all about.
"I would do anything, anything to protect my five grandchildren, including, as a last resort, shooting them if I had to to protect the lives of my grandchildren.”
I’m trying to wrap my head around what type of thinking, upbringing, life experience or whatever would bring someone to say such a horrid, absurd, insane thing- shooting them to protect them! What gives her the right to rob them of their lives? What incredible narcissism, lack of morality and sanity. I’m stunned!
Daniel, I was a sophomore in an international high school with my family overseas when the Vietnam war ended, and the war was simply not a daily presence in our lives there. It wasn't after I had graduated college and started working that I actually met people who had served there. It was while in my mid-twenties when I was hired by the Army Corps of Engineers that I had the opportunity to work with many veterans. Most did not discuss the war other than to say in which service or unit they served, whether it was bomber pilot, air calvary, maintenance and logistics. But to a man, they were the most respectful, courteous, humble people I knew. You have my sincere respect. I can just see them shaking their heads in sadness over Lesko's comment! It just sickens me!
My personal observation finds many less nut cases per capita among Catholics as compared to other branches of Christianity. Yes the church has some bad policies. I am not Catholic.
Perhaps. But how long would it be before they decided "America" must be restored to its former glory? MAGA! Follow that psycho-thinking to it's inevitable conclusion.
Oh geez, D, can’t we just imagine a better world for three seconds? I know what you mean but this kind of thinking is giving me endless acid reflux. Maybe I should stop reading Robert.
On the other hand, I'm only sharing the thoughts that devil me! I've got to live with >myself< with those notions. I should get a Nobel for that! LOL! ];-)>
LOL! Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind - for me - as well, particularly when I start being seen as snarky. Maybe my "nerves' gettin' bad," too!
It’s not you. It’s all of us. Granted, the dangers are extreme but this constant fear and negativity isn’t helping any of us. We need to acknowledge reality and get out there and fix things.
I wrote "Confessions of an Evangelical" on this Substack platform back in June, maybe May. I felt a little off-balance when I received hate-emails, unsubscribes, et cetera because I unveiled the truth. I WAS a Bible-thumping, arm waving evangelical and did not realize what happened to me until I was urged by my pastor to vote for Trump and lead a pro-life campaign, which I was against.
The passage you refer to in Ephesians is important because it is about warfare: Put on the armor of God to fight satan. If one is not BORN-AGAIN, and does not believe that Jesus is the son of God, one goes to hell. In their minds, this is the core truth. Judging others, women running to get licenses for their pistols, men carrying guns openly, and hatred, such hatred OF ANYONE WHO IS NOT LIKE THEM prevailed. I was edged out of the church because I was too feminist in my views, among other things. Evangelicals are MORE than one-third of this country. Think of the mega-churches with thousands in attendance every week, the televangelists reaching millions everyday. They read one book: the Bible. They believe the 'talking snake' metaphor and that the Bible is the literal written word of God. I left traumatized. I opted in to their madness, for reasons detailed in my essay. However, when I asked why guns, hate, and violence when Jesus taught the opposite and did not carry weapons, I was sent packing AND branded ... a whore.
These people are more than a cult. It is a reality of distorted, malevolent thinking and belief deeply ingrained in their hearts and minds. And, the brainwashing is terrifying. Go to an evangelical church on a Sunday morning and see what unfolds. Witness the madness that helps divide our nation today.
@Lee Anne. Your brief expose frightens me. You describe a true cult, writ large. I think an element of hope is that there may be a lot of folks like you for whom the "true believers" are repugnant and who may either withhold their votes or cross over and vote Democratic. What really scares my about your testimony is that it doesn't seem to me now that winning at the polls or even achieving a congressional majority will do much to change the way those folks think - we may still have the makings of a civil war.
Benjamin, thank you. My longer essay is more frightening. I just completed a podcast featuring Robert's post today and my comments. Sadly, I agree with you: They are readying for war. How can anyone deny this? In what form or how it will unfold, I do not know. However, I do not opt for fear yet I am a firsthand witness to these twisted beliefs of what was "extremist" just a short while ago and now SCOTUS is supporting their views and distorting, or destroying, our Constitution. Evangelicalism has infiltrated traditional churches, even Catholicism, et al. I, too, hope that Independents, our younger generation, and apathetic Democrats will vote. I also hope that even some Republicans will cross over.
I talk to people all over the country and they are now afraid to converse in public, for having coffee with friends at a local hangout no longer feels safe. If people unsubscribed from my Reflections ... those who have followed me for 10+ years ... then I did not know who among them were closet fundamentalists.
The chasm is wide and, yes, we may have, or are already at the edges of a civil war.
@Lee Anne. The chasm is wide and widening. A worry is that if we Democrats, centrists and disgusted former Republicans form a majority in Congress the extremists will be driven to more extremes. I don't really think of civil war in the way we had it in the 1860's - that involved both a defined geographical area AND a particular demographic. No, nowadays I dwell on how it was in Ireland and broader UK during the troubles...
Yes, there was Ireland under Anglican rule early 20th Century and then conservative rule under Thatcher. I agree that as sanity (Dems et al.) gains strength, there will be more furtive, threatening violence. Benjamin, families and friends are already divided and torn apart. It is happening now. The animus and name calling I see in "comments" won't help either. We need to keep writing, speaking not out of fear but strength. We are opting for truth, freedom, and non-violence. We will win but perhaps no longer in my lifetime.
I see from your later comment that you spent time in Northern Ireland? (Under protestant rule, as I understand.) Although not specifically relevant to Ireland, have you seen the movie "V for Vendetta" I keep urging people to see? The setting is a Britain already actively subjugated under a theocratic leader - not unlike ol' Tweety, himself. In the story, the theocracy rose to power in the wake of a biological attack they perpetrated and blamed on opposition party terrorists. (That would be the Democrats, here.) They claimed to be Britain's saviors. Parallel to the current wank-publican support of vigilante action and "good guys with guns," the ruling party uses roving gangs of "finger men." You say that: "In what form or how it will unfold, I do not know." "V for Vendetta" presents a possible model of how it will unfold - some sort of false-flag attack blamed on the opposition.
Thank you for the "V" recommendation. No time in Ireland, just referring to Anglican (Christian) rule during the early 1900s in Britain PLUS their Christian heel on the necks of India's people of which we know the story. We have no Gandhi to lead us out from under what's happening. We need one!
The movie has a compelling story of a "Count of Monte Cristo"-type anti-hero fighting alone in vengeance against those who performed biologic experiments on him - developing the biological weapon they used. The graphic novel, upon which the movie is based, is far darker, and V is not so much heroic as he is more like one kind of evil inevitably fighting another kind of evil, as Dame Judy Dench suggests in the opening of "The Chronicles of Riddick." A bit of thoughtful allegory. Enjoy, if that's the right word.
I hear ya'! I cited "The Troubles" in a comment yesterday on a modern example of what it was like throughout Europe and Britain throughout the 16th & 17th Centuries. At the moment, I'm interested in what's happening over the Irish border due to complications involving Brexit. What's your take on all that? Any thoughts?
I will read today. Thanks. They ARE talking snakes. They have eaten the apple, which symbolizes selfishness and narcissism. Of “good and evil” they believe “I am GOODNESS PERSONIFIED, and all who oppose ME are evil!” That’s snake-talk. The apple was a ruse, the morality story is that as infants in the Garden, we are helpless and harmless. As adults we acquire the power to do, and own the consequences. We can BECOME good or evil.
And as we mature, we see that our actions become more clearly right or wrong, good or evil, as weighed by our OWN conscience. To refute one’s OWN conscience and do what is told, is a fool’s gambit.
I keep saying that voters who support the wank-publicans have >no idea< what they stand to bring down on themselves and their children. You already know first-hand! Go in peace, friend.
I read your May "Confessions of an Evangelical". Thank you for your courage in telling it. For me, it brought to life the real-world repercussions of the "theological" treatises presented in the "Dominionism Rising" link provided in today's substack. For me, it was a terrifying picture of what we're heading towards, which in my mind, is governance by a Fundamentalist Christian Taliban. I added your podcast from today with the May "Confessions of an Evangelical" to the email I sent earlier today to my family with this same substack. I was very moved by your story, and loved the photography!
I think it's interesting that the usual quotes about spreading Christianity, killing those who disagree, etc., all seem to spring from the books of the bible that were allegedly written by Paul of Tarsus, after his delusional episode on the road.
Saul of Tarsus was known to the Roman Stoics, and apparently respected as a philosopher. He was considered by some to be quite brilliant. Then he had his reality break while traveling.
His subsequent letters, organizing a new religion, absolutely contradict the statement that is credited to Jesus that his "kingdom is not of this earth."
Consequently, I've started to consider the evangelicals as "Paulians" and not Christians. Perhaps some renaming is in order.
I love it and this is brilliant. Jesus was a Jew and the name (word) Christ followed after his death. The patriarchies ran off the rails and wrapped him up like an ice cream sundae. I always had problems with Paul because he became an ascetic, maybe brilliant but not certain, and as a woman, well, I found him to be a misogynist. There is the "historical" Jesus and the "post-Easter" Jesus. I am no longer Christian but there are those who are sincere about their faith, see the metaphors and allegories, and try to abide by the teachings of Jesus. That said, there is nothing he taught that was not said by the Buddha 600 years prior to Jesus' birth. Jesus was a great man, a mystic, who 'got it.' He understood how to connect with the Divine in our cosmos. That said, there were, and are today, others as well. Gandhi said "I love your Jesus but don't think much of your Christians."
The "kingdom" comment (I think) is conflated with parts of the Book of Revelations?
I am a believer in Christ, but I hate the term “ Christian.” That term is more indicative of hate and disrespect than it is love. Gandhi was right; I don’t think much of Christians.
I weep for what Christians have done to Jesus. He was love, compassion, non-violent, a mystic and healer, and more. I know Jesus is within me together with other spiritual ancestors. I turn to him most often in prayer and meditation. But, I stay away from fundamentalist, fervent Christians. But we are becoming, rapidly, a white Christian nation and that was the point of Robert's post today. Can you even imagine Jesus condoning guns, violence, hatred, racism? No, their Christianity has nothing to do with the love, understanding, and compassion Jesus taught.
Exactly. Jesus would not recognize the religion named after him, that has. no compassion, no taking care of those who need care, none of what he taught.
I like that you've noticed the parallel with Buddhism in his teaching. I noticed that while I was abroad in the Far East studying the religion and culture of the region as a college project in the early '70s. It was kind'a funny. I regularly got snagged by customs for contraband, only for them to exclaim after their rummage: "Books ‽" Red faces invariably followed! LOL!
Recall the mystery of how after his "Bar Mitzvah" - which is what the story of him instructing the rabbis in the Temple was all about; what a Bar Mitzvah >is< - he drops out of the story then shows up again when he was 30. I'm convinced he spent time either in India, or studying with Essenes who may have had contact with India. Whatever he was doing, 17 years is long enough to have had some kind of Indian contact - even on foot in a pilgrimage. It's the whole business about love that's telling, although lovingkindness is a Jewish principle - to my understanding. Nevertheless, it's all just a speculation. Just sayin'.
Thanks for that observation. I've always considered Paul a prat. You've provided background I wasn't aware of. From your perspective, Paul comes off a bit more a Caligula-type figure, who survived a near fatal brain fever of some sort, recovering with a massive personality disruption. Before his collapse, Caligula was quite popular, looked after the citizenry, and was beloved among the army who nicknamed Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus "little boots," that is, Caligula, because as a child he used to like to play dress-up as a centurion among them, complete with little boots. His father was the Roman general Germanicus, given that name for his success in what at the time was called "Germania."
Lee Ann, thank you for sharing your journey. It should be valuable to all of us. That Born Again Christianity IS a cult. You had a line over which you refused to cross. I’m glad you realized what was happening and left.
I w as once part of a group that became a cult. I hope more people will follow your path. Cults are full of frightened people lashing out at others.
Cult people are dangerous people. Compassion is not in cults like this.
Thank you for your comment. As a “recovering Catholic” to use Michael Moore’s term, I avoid all religious organizations and I don’t know anyone who is evangelical. Your description of the life inside is illuminating and terrifying. There are two mega-churches in my immediate area and I always shuddered at the thought of being in one, especially after the senseless dogma and ritual of my own catholic upbringing.
Vote as if your life depends on because it just may. Give money to Democratic candidates til it hurts. Give directly to their campaigns by check and not credit card so they get all your donation
More important--volunteer to get out the vote! Join Swing Left, Swing Blue Alliance, Field Team 6 or other organizations that organize phonebanks and canvassing. Get out there, by phone or (hallelujah) in person, and talk to people about voting, and about volunteering themselves. I've been doing it for a year now (starting with the 2021 VA state elections) and find it fascinating, have had many illuminating conversations with a wild variety of Democrats in swing states and am bonded with the 2 groups I phonebank with.
I do Vote Forward too-did some in 2020 and have signed up for @ least 120 by October and may do more. I came up w/ about 7 points as to why voting is important.
Giving money to democrats is like throwing it into a black hole. How can citizens compete with Wall Street, big oil and big pharma. They own dems and republicans.
Thank you for your well written article. I am anxious about the future of this country. Surely fighting a war with these unhinged people is not the answer, even though it seems like that is what they are seeking. If somehow the haters could be turned against each other, perhaps that would satisfy their seeming need for violence and domination?? As most everyone who grew up during Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter times, what is happening in our country today seems like a horrific Halloween movie.
What always happens when preditors run out of Prey? They prey on each other and call it the survival of the fittest. " Look to long into the Abiss and the Abiss looks int you." Nietza's warnign regarding his writings.
Sadly, it may come to pass that fighting a war with these clowns may be more a survival necessity than an answer, where only questions will be left amid the rubble.
How terrifying but true! We need massive numbers of people to vote for progressive Democrats this fall and try to shut down this ideology of a Christian nation.
OMG....can anyone say Fascism? Never in my lifetime have I seen such hate and vitriol directed to one side of the political divide. It's astounding that people are cheering this on. But since none of them had to live through Nazi Germany, I guess it feels great to have people tooting your horn.
I hope they feel the same when someone they love goes to the camps.
Just as Timothy Snyder suggested in The Road to Unfreedom. Trump is a Putin wannabe. And Putin (and others) helped him to destroy democracy. I’m still just very surprised and disappointed at the number of people who supported overthrowing democracy. As the documentary shows, Trump wants to create a dynasty… do all of his minions really think he’s going to have a special place for them?
When the Soviet Union fell, I had the uncomfortable sense it was the cleverest Soviet ploy yet. And who is the Russian president now, but a former KGB operative. Just sayin'.
I don't think collapse of the Soviet Union was a ploy to get Putin in office. It was a disaster ten times worse than the Great Depression in the USA. People were starving in the former USSR. It was a massive robbery by oligarchs and Putin of the people of Russia.
This is about more than holding on to power--that is one goal, but there is a bigger goal guiding Trump-- he didn't steal boxes of records, eat paper and fill the plumbing of the White House with paper because of the insurrection the whole world watched happen live.
He did all of that to hide what we don't know---yet. He was certain he would maintain power and never have to face accountability for ALL that we still haven't discovered. It's coming out, and when it does come to light, it will make the Insurrection look like a cake walk.
That is the motive for keeping the Big Lie going... is to cover his big ass!
@Kimberlee. I think exactly like you do. Dirty money from Russia, kick backs from those he pardoned, stealing from campaign funds and from special purpose funds (same as Bannon and "the wall". I'm sure there is worse that I am too naive to imagine. Worst of all for old bone spur, tax evasion!
I think the majority will vote in the midterms. I can't see how this loud, vocal minority can prevail, they are so obvious and obnoxious! The people can't fail to see how much unfreedom is being promulgated by the right! I will be watching the Jan 6th committee on July 12th.
Boris Badinoff (Rocky & Bullwinkle) seems to think they're formidable. He's referring to >himself!< (I would conclude the cartoonists felt the same way. There's much sophisticated thinking in those earlier cartoons meant for bright kids to file back for future reference. Never underestimate the power of a kids' show!)
Yes, but as a person whose family sprinkled Yiddish all around, I’m pretty sure a schnook is not the same thing as an evil bastard. A schnook is just a jerk.
We need to be able to laugh, I guess. But will most Americans put up with the three stooges added to the other activist Judges that were already on the 'Supreme' Court? If there is no remedy we will see some real 'unrest' as they like to call it. I think America will vote.
But who do you think are swayed by and serve an evil bastard? Badinoff served Fearless Leader! (Remember when those post-Kennedy presidents were referred contemptuously as "Fearless Leader?")
But don't underestimate the majority of voters either! This is America and most people are educated enough to know a very bad deal when they see it! Unless they live under a rock I can't see how the majority can miss the implications of what is happening in our Court and the swing states, and who is responsible for it.
Voting alone will not be enough to stop slide towards fascism. Direct action is required and a mass movement to overthrow this form of capitalism. Why should 1% of population live like pharos of ancient Egypt?
I'd like to know if abortion bans in individual states can be challenged as being discriminatory against women - since those same states don't have similar laws banning vasectomies and other male reproductive healthcare surgeries?
Oooh, that’s interesting. Of course the whackos probably think vasectomies go against the Bible or some damn thing too. Still, nice out of the box thinking. I also think there should be a national law that requires men to support any child they beget. Test their DNA if you have to but make it compulsory.
This group has successfully, over the years, claimed that its opposition is actually the one guilty of what it is doing, subverting our democracy, as a way to deflect and distract criticism from its actions.
I wondered how long it would take for people to catch on that they began their assault with the accusation of rigged elections, and immediately set out - in plain sight, mind you - attempting to rig the elections using their accusation as an excuse!
These are dangerous times for the world. Similar nonsense is being spouted by right wing 'christians' in Europe though, thankfully, we don't have citizens armed to the teeth...
Good you're noticing what's been happening globally. I observed "we've just entered dangerous times" to a friend of mine the night ol' Tweety was elected. I agree.
I am old enough to have lived through several - isms . Capitalism combined with feudalism, Jews with yellow stars, forced labors, Jewish ghettos, anti-Jewish propaganda, then the disappearance of said Jewish groups, Nazi controls. Then Soviet occupation. At the age of 13 being almost raped by a Soviet officer . My Mom's presence of mind saving me. Another uprising in 1956. Just could not take it any longer. Escaped to the US. Breathing FREE.
God am I happy to be here! Hungary is again leaning to the far right. How can any person survive under these circumstances and remain sane is beyond me. I am a Democrat and a VERY HAPPY naturalized Us citizen
Eva Foreman
This is a very compelling testimony, Eva. Unfortunately, authoritarianism and bigotry are not only for Germans, Italians, or Hungarians. It is a universal temptation that creeps up as soon as leaders have given up on the political project defining their country. When leaders don't lead, the crowd turns to demagogues.
Philippe, I was moved by your reply to Eva and merely would add, here at home, that presently Democratic governors, more so than our elected representatives in DC, appear to be leading the charge against the deep and pervasive corruption that has settled upon the republic.
Barbara, I live in Wash. D.C. and watch national politics like a hawk, especially in troubled times. The Democrats in the House have been working faithfully to enact Voting Rights Protections, enact the Human Resources side of Biden's Build Back Better plan (kindergarten for all from 3yr olds to first grade; affordable child care; free community college education). The also voted to codify women's health protections (including right to chose). The critical environmental law changes. There are 48 Democratic Senators supporting them. Only 2 Democratic Senators are holding up the entire Biden agenda: Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema. The work has been done. The legislation has been written. We just need 2 more cooperative Senators, and we need to keep the House of Representatives. The Republicans and 2 Democratic senators are holding up progress on the proposed legislation for these priority issues. Please keep your focus on electing more Democrats so we can get past the Manchin / Sinema road block. Then things will get done. Thanks.
Elizabeth, Though I don’t reside in DC, I’m well aware of every piece of legislation that has passed in the House and has remained stalled in the Senate, largely because of Manchin and Sinema. That said, using the budget reconciliation package (BBB)—which would have helped to remedy the country’s grotesque inequalities of wealth and income—as an iterative example, what follows is the response I repeatedly have pressed for since reconciliation failed to pass in the Senate.
I repeatedly prevailed upon both Biden and Democratic leadership to go make the argument in West Virginia, and also in the red parts of Mississippi and Alabama, and in other states and say, “This is what we have tried to deliver and these folks have voted against it.” Simply put, Dems have to be willing to engage in war. One can’t play fair with people who don’t play fair. The other side has shown that it will do whatever is necessary to attain power. Therefore, Democratic leadership has got to say, “America, when they didn’t care about you, we did.”
Imagine the impact if everyday people across the country were asked, “Who do you want here—somebody who doesn’t want to cut the price of insulin or those who do?” “Doesn’t want to expand the child tax credit or those who do?” “Doesn’t want to provide affordable quality childcare and universal Pre-K or those who do?” “Doesn’t want to invest in housing, in eldercare, and in climate or those who do?” My point, and note I haven’t covered what Biden and the Party have accomplished, is that Democrats have an extraordinary narrative if only they would deliver it.
Postscript for Elizabeth: I write to note that for months I repeatedly have prevailed upon Senate Democrats to pass whichever BBB provisions can gain support from 50 Senators and present the legislation to voters as a downpayment of more to come if Dems hold the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats. As you know, the provisions already have passed in the House. We’re just waiting on the Senate.
As a final point, if I may fast-forward to earlier this week, I have encouraged the President to reconsider stating he merely would support modifying the filibuster to codify reproductive rights. Rather, I have urged him to demand a Senate rule change to restore this Constitutional right decided a half-century ago and later reaffirmed.
Thank you very much for your replies. They are valuable & informative. You're clearly deeply attuned to all of these issues. Thanks again.
Barbara, you seem much more knowledgeable than I on these matters but I am quite convinced that if Democrats do not deliver the narrative you think they could, it is because their corporate donors do not finance lawmakers to see social reforms that would hurt their bottom line being passed. Get money out of politics and there will be, at long last, a genuine conversation in the country!
Well said Barbara! Yes, the Dems, as Robert Reich has said MANY times, NEED to tout this Adminstration's accomplishments and stop taking it on the chin by an opposition party that has, clearly, devolved into a non-party! There are FAR too many in this country that habitually check the R box in the voting booth due to many factors include intense negative partisanship and promoted by non-journalists on FOX, OAN and other networks.
Good points.
We also need sensible (not courageous; it shouldn’t be necessary) Republican lawmakers to stand up for truth, democracy and the good of the country.
Great insight! Demagoguery doesn't look complicated; something that requires attention; something you have to think and act upon; nurture, etc., takes more effort. Yes, demagogues want to keep it simple, no questions please, or you are ostracized ....or worse,
Ain't it the truth. Demagogues don't have much to offer anyone but still want the acclamation. Look at Putin, attacking another country, claiming it is his. That takes a lot of gall and complete control over the people who just might say "no."
The GOP base loves what Trump delivered!
Awhile ago, the GOP was briefly viewed as powerless. They were unable to deliver tax cuts to their dark-money backers. Gentlemen like Romney & McCain could not win, despite dark-money, evangelicals and gun-lovers. Then, Putin saw a way to weaken NATO & democracies by propping up Trump, who encouraged the KKK to remove their robes, and for them and the skinhead racists to become PROUD boys. Thus, the GOP achieved the long-sought tax cuts
Suppose the "money backers" threw up an invisible shield to protect Trump?
Suppose the NATO gambit by Trump was done to set it up for Putin? He sure knows a lot about "divide and conquer". Look at how it's making inroads among Americans.
Putin is the new Red Czar!
Putin thinks that NATO will give up and just go away. Then he can put pressure on the Baltic States and all the former Soviet block nations.
I hope he is wrong
Phillipe, agreed and interestingly I first heard this prophetic insight from a staunch Atheist (Christopher Hitchens - Hitch). He observed that when countries, cultures move from a democratic societal structure to one heavily influenced by institutional religion, they become ripe for Autocracy, Dictatorship, etc. Although there have been some benevolent Autocrats and Dictators, they are a small minority compared to those that are primarily seeking power, control, and influence over the world (Hitler and Stalin, on steroids).
I would be interested to hear from others, in response to Robert's article on the militant Christian (Evangelicals, Fundamentalists?) fervor being spread throughout the country, whether there is still any hope/faith that any form of parlance is possible?
When we think about it, hasn't God always been the best pretext to discriminate among people and persecute others? Whether there is a god or not, us, humans, should never refer to the absolute as something we know.
Of course there is a god. In fact there are over 4000 god's. I believe in a tea cup circling around Uranus which was Bertrand Russell's idea of a good god. Can you prove that God does not exist? God is most often an excuse the kill you neighbors. Look around you and remember - You never expect the Spanish inquision OR the American one sponsored by the Catholic bishops of America.
I've long thought we have an energy source. Wayne Dyer attempted an apt description of our "Source" and making a connection is up to us individually. It's evident mankind needs God--a Big Daddy-- and this is where the high positioned (egoist) human exploits that premise in order to control. Followers don't seem to detect they are being exploited. After all, it is in the name of God.
Yup, since recorded time, religion served to control ....but then, before democratic experiments, it served to keep what could've been anarchy and chaos in check(?) We seem go be going backward when we now have so much to work with in light of the tremendous advancements in government function which are not followed well because of-- Oops, forgot--too many egos in the game. In an ideal world, one ego could work but how in the world can that be achieved out of so many biased ego's vying for power--some more warped than others! If a democratically structured government were followed sincerely, that could be the same or better.
Tyrants and despots love disorganized government-overthrowing attempts that leave a power vacuum they can take advantage of. Many revolutions go badly. The French Revolution had its Reign of Terror. Lenin took advantage of the Bolshevik Revolution. (With Hitler's help,) Franco took advantage of weakness in the Spanish left. Some of the Arab Spring revolutions didn't work out well
You remind me that I have long been troubled by an idea about revolution. This model fits well to so many revolutions, including the American Revolution. The model expounded by Lenin in "What Is To Be Done?" in 1904 (contemplating the role of the professional revolutionary), that revolutions are often not the bright package that is used to hoodwink the masses. I have been bothered by this idea of a pernicious revolution; try as I might, I have not been able to fathom its deeper meaning.
The Bolshevik Revolution is the clearest example of a revolution that has two parts - the Hammer, and then the Sickle. The Nazi Revolution is an example as well. Lenin and Hitler were well aware of the theory of the Hammer and Sickle. In this way, they were political grandmasters of subterfuge.
The first part is quite seductive, for everyone is given a Hammer, and told to exult in the smashing. Anything that is orderly must be smashed, as it is a tool of the Old Ways of the Tsar, or the ways of the enemies of Germany which crippled the beloved Fatherland.
Smash!
Smash up everything which stands in the way of the People's Revolution! Everything that shackles the Aryan People! Smash! Smash the Demon-crats in America, the RINO's, the servants of the Deep State! Don't worry that your ideas sound crazy - just keep smashing!
And all the factions of resentfulness stand shoulder-to-shoulder, brothers all! There is no plan about what comes after the delirious Present - just smash!
And pretty soon, everything that is useful as well as wicked in the society is smashed. The Tsar is smashed - and so are the railcars that bring the food to Moscow, the water-works which bring fresh water and flush the toilets and do not care whether the people are Red or White. Everything is now a mess, and the people change from the orgy of destruction to the fear for survival.
Then comes the Sickle. Whether it is the Night of the Long Knives, when the Brownshirts (Sturmabteilung or SA) were destroyed by the SS, or the Great Purge, when the Old Bolsheviks were liquidated by Stalin - all the flowers which were encouraged to grow the tallest, have their heads lopped off in the harvest. Once everything is smashed, very few can bring order to the rubble; and these comrades in charge no longer smile benevolently on the masses. They want obedience, or else. After the Russian Civil War ended in 1922, if you wanted what the Bolshevik leadership could give, you danced to their tune. The war on the rich peasants turned into a war on the peasants. At first, you had a hundred cattle, you were a rich peasant. Later, it was if you had two potatoes. Share one, you selfish counterrevolutionary! The Ukraine "shared" its harvest - all of it - and endured the starvation of the Holodomor, because the Ukrainians were insufficiently subservient. No more Power to the People, but Power to the Lackeys.
The MAGA boys and the fat pastors who are the deceivers of their flock, the minutemen and Proud Boys are not beloved by their leaders; in fact, they are the very ones who are most troublesome and will be eliminated in the purge. Now that they are smashing everything, they are encouraged and admired. But when it is time for the Sickle, they are the first to go. They are a threat. When the American Bolsheviks come for their guns, money, lands and lives, they will be irate, like the SA were irate - "Hey now, we are the vanguard of your revolution!" A rifle butt to the mouth or a bullet through the heart, and they realize that Hammer Time is over, and terror has come for them too.
But I see this in many revolutions - the Soviets and Mao's China, Nazi Germany and even a whisper of it behind the scenes after the American Revolution (how dare I say that!)
Are we caught up in another iteration of this model, the Double Revolution, the Hammer and the Sickle, cunningly played out behind the scenes, with puppets like Tucker and Hannity and such dancing in the first act, and vanishing in the second?
I do not like my model of the Double Revolution, but I think it is a real, Machiavellian scheme that uses the people of the Arab Spring or the Bolshevik Revolution to bring the people into a new dystopia. I agree - many revolutions go badly. They are designed that way.
So, could I understand our last president (and expected his 'base") to start "smashing? Reason I ask, is that that while myRepublican friends don't want a Democrat run country, don't offer what they see as a replacement. Conversation never gets there. ???
Yes, and that’s kind of you to read my overly-long chatter. YES! They smash all the institutions of American government-and then ask how will we survive.
How about the French Revolution that ended feudalism? Eggs must be broken to make an omlet. The American revolution was bloody and innocents died on both sides.
Yes! That’s why I am so confused about revolutions. I have an idea about the false revolutions, but not the big picture.
Well stated. As history has shown, the revolutionary can not be trusted. They must be eliminated for the good of the new order that rises. Never underestimate the power of denial.
Lenin had nothing to do with Hitler. By the time Hitler came on the scene Lenin was dead.
Of course! I apologize if my post was worded confusingly. The part about Hitler was a parenthetical lead about him helping Franco.
Hitler didn't play a role in leading Franco to decide to launch his coup against the 'Godless' Spanish left, but he played a huge role in the speed of its success.
And, this assistance allowed Hitler to test his tanks and planes, to make them & his troops poised to overrun Poland, BeNeLux & France quickly (without any of the slow WWI trench stalemates)
Yes, but we are speaking of three different things, here. One is the now complete transformation of the Republican party into a fascistic organization, the likes of Mussolini or Franco's (except that the dear leader, in the Republican case, cannot probably lace his shoes on his own). Another is the totalitarian aspect of a revolution seen as the practical expression of the theory of everything. That was held at a time when science was considered necessarily univocal and was the ditch the French revolution fell into, as well as the communist one with its "dialectic materialism" fantasy. The third thing is a social revolution such as the Arab Spring. It did not fail because of being the emanation of some abstract theory about the system of the universe but simply because dictators don't like to govern with the people. The first two, authoritarianism and system thinking, have nothing to see with social upheavals, whether they succeed or not. Please, forgive the lecture.
Thank you. I love a good lecture. The commonality is that well-intentioned people may think their leaders do some very bad things, and should be overthrown, but power-hungry actors will try to exploit the power vacuums. Assange & some hackers believed Hillary was evil, no one could be worse, and she needed to be denied the Presidency. Oops!
Assange may have not helped HRC in 2016, but publishing the DNC's own emails proving that the organization had cheated against Bernie Sanders all along during the campaign was not necessarily meant to deter Democrats to vote for her. Unless, of course, you think that most of us are unable to make the political calculation that Hillary, however corrupt she might be, was a better bet than the other guy. Bernie campaigned vigorously for her after the primary and I am saddened that so many good people like you fell for the trick of pointing at the messenger and not at the message. Assange, by the way, is a publisher. No more, no less. That he is persecuted for it shows what type of regime we truly live under.
I note that the KGB and Putin hated and feared Hillary, and they worked deep behind the scenes to corrupt the election. The only dispute is whether Trump winked at Putin, or blatantly licked his hand. That’s the only point of disagreement. The rest is history.
I love Bernie's ideas. I just don't think he was electable in our unfair and voter-suppressed Electoral College paradigm and the right-wing, anti-socialist, anti-tax media bubble.
And, I strongly disagree with your assumption that most of >us< are able to think and to handle nuance. Who is >us<? While substack readers can, most voters in key Electoral-vote states cannot. And, fwiw, I think Teddy challenging Carter in the 1980 primary led enough Democrats to think that even Carter's own party doesn't like him, so why not vote for John Anderson?
I think these so called Christians are like the Taliban. Any people who claim ownership of God’s Word are operating on inflated egos and haven’t given God much consideration at all. It is the Russian Orthodox church that backs Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which has a Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Churches are in business to control people. They are not operated by the people, for the people. If people want to be controlled by a church let them join one.
I want churches out of our government.
These right wing white supremecists scare me
And this iteration of SCOTUS is all in favor of a theocracy...as proven by their declaration that women shouldn't be able to control their own bodies.
Yes fault is on greedy, self-serving leaders. But in a Democracy, the people have the ability to elect their leaders. So the real culprits are the billionaire/corporate interest that fund all the successful 'divide and conquer' tactics; successfully pitting us against each other and against Government/Democracy- the only mechanism we, the people, can use to can keep the 0.001% in check.
FYI, I agree that Corporate magnates, and old, deep-wealth money are behind the take-over of democracy. They see an end-state goal and have means to get there, with cunning intelligence supporting them. But to identify them is one thing. To oppose them is a mistake in my thinking.
I believe there is another pathway that we are being pushed onto, and it's a good thing. We can't avoid the influences (forced or coerced), but we can put our energy into creating solutions that focus on new paradigms and put them into practice. I'm speaking of our beliefs, ideologies, habits, and behaviors. I can talk more to this, if anyone is interested.
I would agree with you if Religion hadn't already been corrupted. It has been losing its moral high ground, credibility and followers for some time now. Same issue- Selfishness... self-serving faulse leadership.
fyiurban ; I agree. Plus the Electoral College grotesquely misrepresents the actual votes and disenfranchises the majority, exactly opposite of what Democracy is all about.
More weapons in their assault! Gerrymandering, filibuster, lying stealing and cheating to pack the courts, considering corporations and their wealth as equal to "people" with regard to political contributions, making it easier for billionaire/corporate interests to infuse unlimited amounts of 'dark money' to influence politicians and all aspects of the political process, weakening governmental agencies ability to regulate corporations, weakening unions and other pro-labor efforts & institutions... I could go on and on!
fyiurban ; Support the Democrat running for Governor of Pennsylvania, because that is a very important state. There is a plan to give the state power to appoint electors and deny the popular vote. A Democrat Governor will not go along with that plan. The Republican candidate is an election denier who was at the Jan 6 attack. If Pennsylvania falls to this Democracy destroying plot, the other red states will follow suit, like dominoes. Pennsylvania is where our Democratic Republic started! Support for the Democrat candidate is important! Dirty money is our enemy!
I agree, many say the focus should be on local politics- that is the long game. In the short term, we have to Unite our voting power on the big ticket offices- governor, president because Rep. have already gerrymandered themselves into minority rule by carving out favorable districts where they have picked their voters rather than the voters picking them. This is why the are pushing State's rights (State power over Federal or local power) "Civil War" the same way the south did in an effort to preserve slavery. The supreme court is already scheduled to hear a case where Rep. seek to give state legislatures unchallenged power over election rules, inducing gerrymandering and all the other voter disenfranchisement efforts they espouse. From Wall Street Journal article- 'the Supreme Court announced that it would take up Moore v. Harper this fall, a case stemming from a ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Court that its state constitution prohibits extreme gerrymandering. In Harper, Republican legislative leaders asked the Supreme Court to rule that it is unconstitutional for state courts and constitutions to protect federal voting rights. In their view, only state legislatures should be able to determine election rules — absent intervention by Congress. By this logic, state legislatures, under the “independent state legislature theory,” could reject presidential election results they do not like....' By design, Rep will block policy they don't like when not in the majority and ram through policy they do like when in the majority (changing the rules to benefit their agenda), fearing the reality that they are and will remain a minority, their stop gap is the Supreme Court, where they can make policy based on court rulings and block Dems in congress with the filibuster and locking themselves into power with Gerrymandered seats .
power and money reward the Demagogues, as the Court paved the way for this.
I'm so glad you survived Eva. Having been through all that, it is unfair that you must face it again in the Country that used to be the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. I, too, am a Naturalized US Citizen and it breaks my heart to see the Country I chose to believe in overrun by a bunch of useless, greedy demagogues.
What a gift immigrants are to this country. It is too bad scared white men and the women who love them can't see it. They are so blinded by their warped Christian faith they buy into the stupid ideas like "replacement" and "they are taking away our rights." Well, scared white people. "They aren't taking away your rights. You are letting idiots make decisions for you and it is a guarantee you will lose and it won't be Democrats that do it to you. It will be the scared white "Christian" men you let lead you because they care nothing for you, only for what you can do for them. When your usefulness is done, they will toss you away like the trash they think you are.
Scared white men/women don't see that they themselves are the ones ceding their rights to greedy, power-hungry white men (maybe some women too, no gender-bias here, haha) who have no intention of giving them back.
The thing is Christianity itself is s dogmatic and authoritarian. People adhere to these rules and nonsensical beliefs and go to war and kill people.
The American Taliban
Bingo! I wonder why they can't see that dictatorships never work out well for *anyone.*
👏👏👏
Amen.
It's unsettling to find so many of our fromm cousins allied with the same people who would, if in power, consider a final solution for us.
Daniel Solomon ; Yes, They are outing themselves! It is very clear what they are!
Blatant is beautiful. Kind of
That's >always< puzzled me. I don't think they're aware it all has something to do with the fundamentalist belief - from Revelation - concerning the rise of the antichrist, the ultimate destruction of Israel, and "the rapture" associated with the 2nd coming of Christ and the "end of days." They believe ol' Yehshua will come back - in the flesh - and conduct them all into heaven. Seen in that light, it may make their intention in supporting Israel clear. Israel is to be destroyed - if I have my memory straight in all that.
Yes: a middle school classmate used to lead sermons during our lunch period, outside, after we ate. I watched, curious to see what 'odd' things he said, and to understand why others were so attentive. (The state* of) Israel needs to exist for their prophecies. It's not that 'Israel' will be destroyed, it's that Jews will reject the 2nd coming, as it rejected the 1st, so Jews will be destroyed. (* I think he said it was the 'Greater', larger, state of Israel, including the Palestinian territories)
As a Jew and an atheist I find this ridiculous. Dangerous but absolutely insane. How can anyone make such a big deal out of made up stories? It boggles my mind.
Christianity is a made up story having nothing at all to do with the teachings of Jesus.
I figured that's why southern politicians, who probably were children of KKK members who were inclined to hate Jews, suddenly became ardent backers of military aid to Israel
Funny thing I believe the VP of the Confederacy was a Jew.
The KKK came after the South lost.
Due to the Church's historic frowning on money-lenders, and its followers' pogroms, Crusades, Inquisition and persecution against Jews, Jews needed to become discreet bankers to bribe benefactors (kings, earls, barons) to provide safety to their shtetls. Jewish bankers played whatever roles needed to help their people survive. In the US, they played a role in the slave trade & plantations. It wasn't until after the Confederacy lost, and Jewish bankers had no benefactors, that hatred, and jealousy of their wealth, became part of the KKK
The more formal treatments I've come across are silent on Alexander H. Stephens' religion:
https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/alexander-h-stephens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_H._Stephens
https://www.britannica.com/event/Hampton-Roads-Conference
https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/energy-government-and-defense-magazines/alexander-h-stephens
The one informal site that handles the question of religion directly suggests something altogether different:
https://www.answers.com/Q/What_was_Alexander_Hamilton_Stephens%27_religion
Thanks for suggesting that little project.
>EXACTLY!<
The hell of it is, it's the Romans that killed him - not the Jews. Israel was Roman occupied territory at the time. Barabbas was a resistance patriot and Yehshua preached "No greater love than one man lays down his life for another." Both Barabbas and Yehshua had been convicted of insurrection against the Roman state. On a Roman holiday - whatever from that time of year - it was customary for the Romans to release a convicted criminal by public acclaim. The Jews chose to release the proven patriot and let Yehshua live - and die - by his own words. Otherwise, Yehshua was just a troublesome gadfly to the Sanhedrin, that wanted rid of him for heresies, by their orthodox reckoning - which was otherwise, no skin of the Roman nose. I've always wondered if Barabbas was among the Maccabees.
The Irony, here, is that the Romans took up his mantle and ultimately created the Roman church, while it never quite caught on with his fellow Jews, for whom he was a rabbi.
Thank you for the memory assist. I knew that what are otherwise faithful Jewish ultimately get it in the neck!
Amazing! Eva! You have seen the violence that can be perpetrated upon the people by those who would rule even though they offer nothing but their fear and brutality. I am glad you are here. I wish we could hear from more who have been there and can get the warning out.
Thank you Ruth!
All the best, Eva
The ideology of White Christian Nationalism is falsified in "The Flag + The Cross" by Yale Professor Philip Gorski, "Christians Against Christianity" by Biblical scholar Obery Hendricks, & "American Fascists" by Chris Hedges. If you are interested in a Christian vision that both glorifies God & enables ALL Americans to better flourish, read "A More Perfect Union" by Adam Russell Taylor, an excellent read. Republicans try to hijack Christianity for money & power, as "mere peddlers of God's word" who do not have God's word planted in "good soil" (Mark 4:1-20).
We are glad to have you, Ms. Foreman! ANY sane individual is more than welcome in this countryty of OURS. [sic]
Of all people, your fear of what you see happening here should set off sirens in your head. Or could you be subconsciously closing your eyes to it?
Thank you Eva for being here in America and speaking out.
I'm glad you're here, Eva. Thanks for sharing your story.
I’m glad you’re here!!!
Frank, European political theory and American political theory just don't mix, never have, never will. The ideas that gave rise to each are very different, and trying to follow European political theory is a mistake and an affectation, including Marxism. We are different, always have been.
"You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I'd like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There's only an up or down: [up] man's old -- old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course."
"...And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man."
Who said this? When? The only hint I'll give is that this is an American speaking. First comment on AMERICAN politics from an AMERICAN perspective. Next, tell me which of the players are the greatest threat to the speaker's observations on liberty; and which of the players are barking the alert about TOTALITARIANSM, today, 2022.
Now what you got? Hands up, anyone. Who is this American speaker?
You want some reading homework - Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler, Democracy in America by de Tocqueville. Read the first soon; the latter is lengthy, but read it too - at least WHAT SORT OF DESPOTISM DEMOCRATIC NATIONS HAVE TO FEAR, Ch. 6
"It is indeed difficult to conceive how men who have entirely given up the habit of self-government should succeed in making a proper choice of those by whom they are to be governed; and no one will ever believe that a liberal, wise, and energetic government can spring from the suffrages of a subservient people."
I say that some Americans can't tell what reality is when someone whom they worship constantly bathes them in lies; and see, there is a group of people in America today who are slavish followers of the Leader who lies to them, and they cannot tell right from wrong. What group would that be, Frank?
So spare us the canned quotes from a hundred years ago about what "Liberal Democrats" are when the comparison is to a country now lost in misty memory, that collapsed under its own weight. The USSR is gone, and leads nobody. Who today is carrying its coat-tails?
Thank you, Steve, for this eloquent, beautifully researched comment. It is people like you we need as leaders
Well, the benefit of getting older is being able to remember history. Whether you remember the truth, or instead substitute your happy thoughts, is up to you.
We must know that we are NOT the same country as when the speaker here shared his thoughts. We have shifted FAR towards the "right," and what was acceptable then is dismaying now.
One prime example - I remember "Nixon Shock" in 1971
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock )
The Cato Institute recalled the actions of their Republican President in horror: "President Richard Nixon showed us just how dangerous unchecked executive power can be to the free‐enterprise system. On Aug. 15, 1971, in a nationally televised address, Nixon announced, “I am today ordering a freeze on all prices and wages throughout the United States.” After a 90‐day freeze, increases would have to be approved by a “Pay Board” and a “Price Commission,” with an eye toward eventually lifting controls — conveniently, after the 1972 election."
If a President today were to announce that everywhere in the US, all wages and all prices, from your local gas pump to the grocery store to your job, whether Federal jobs and wages or in the private sector, were legally forbidden to change, I think there would be an uprising, and not of the Trumpian type. No wonder that the "centrist Republicans" disappeared - they won most of the things that they wanted during the Nixon days. The average Democrat supports what the conservative Republican of the 1960's wanted, so the Democratic Party dried up, too. Now we are frothing at the mouth about Transgender Elmo, and ignoring the further shifts to reactionary goals.
I will unmask the Masked Speaker to awestruck gasps (I hope) a little later.
You obviously live in a cocoon of your own making, Do yourself a favor, turn off Fox and the trumpsters and READ some real history.
I do on occasion watch CNN but I prefer PBS or BBC. As to Lenin and Marx, I did read Marx when I was in my 20's and was unimpressed. I did read about Lenin and Trotsky, but none of their personal writings. I learned enough about what they called Communism to realize what they offered was the same authoritarian imperialism as the Czarists, just with different actors. They had no more interest in the trials and tribulations of the common man then the trumpster has in working class, indeed the entire middle class, of the United States of America.
Frank, you are clearly outside your circle of competence. Democrats support moral or stakeholder capitalism which produces a more just economy in which ALL citizens can better flourish.
You are an ideologue, Frank. How can you say that in light of the empirical evidence found in "The Rise & Fall of Neoliberal Capitalism", or the reasoning in "Prosperity" by Colin Mayer? Economics is outside your circle of competence.
What a crock. How old are you?
Oh, I doubt that. But a centenarian blogger would be noteworthy (even if his opinions indicate that his brain has turned to mush in his old age).
I never saw anyone who objected to the legitimate transfer of power until 2020. That's an authoritarian gambit.
No, I don't. You ASSume.
Please try not to be so silly. Asking for a recount is a legitimate tool, and nobody was surprised when TFG requested them. Starting 4 months ahead of the election to say that "If I lose, it will be because the election was rigged" is something else.
Recounts in 2000 and 2016 confirmed the results (thanks to the Supreme Court and "hanging chads" in 2000), both GORE and CLINTON (your nicknames are so sophomoric) CONCEDED, which allowed for a smooth transfer of power. Trump is still whinging.
PS: Neither Gore nor Clinton plotted to overturn the election. Nor did either behave like a spoiled little brat who didn't get a nice piece of chocolate cake for dessert.
Regarding Trump, the irony is it seems, that he has no care or interest in God or organised religion. He cares only for himself and personal gain. His followers are merely the means to obtain this. He is the quintessential grandiose narcissist.
Larry, yes and the same con man he was fifty years ago. My continual question is, what do the sheople that follow and support him think the end benefit is for them and the country. All the trumpster has done is 'make America hate again' and again.
You are so right, DW. Trump is so wrapped in himself he sees the crowd as his means to gaining even more acclamation but his followers just don't see it, or rather just won't see it. They like the excitement of being part of something loud and nasty. I think it gives purpose to otherwise lackluster lives and they don't actually have to do anything except wear MAGA hats and sometimes scream for Donnie at rallies. They can blame lots of people for their "pathetic" lives and still do nothing to make things better for themselves or anyone else.
Exactly. If your life is empty get up and do something worthwhile. Good grief!
Like storm the Capitol? Be careful what you recommend, here. These folks are living in an alternate reality of alternate facts.
I said “worthwhile.”
What sane person can possibly guess what's considered worthwhile in an alternate reality driven by alternate facts ‽
Oops! We are bordering on being judge mental. L O L
LOL! ];-)>
I think you've got it completely surrounded!
YES, why people cannot see through that is what frightens me.
Imo it's because they only "know" what Faux News tells them.
He's certainly an entertaining carnival barker, whose guiding principle is P.T. Barnum's observation that: "There's one born every minute!"
Lets make some hats.
That is how it's always been done. Trump is following suit from the last 10's of 1,000's of years ago.
He's an evil genius who sends a dog whistle to racists' collective subconscious.
He isn’t a genius at all. He’s just evil.
You don’t have to be a genius. You just have to hire them. And if they (i.e. Giuliani) turn out to be numb skulls, then you hire someone else.
Yeah, I was just trying to get people to stop calling him a genius, because he’s anything but.
A "copycat killer"...
Hey Sambizl, since we know the playbook, we should be able to stop the player. My problem is without silencing Trump legally, I am not sure how it is done. The media still cover him as though he matters and is not an unprosecuted criminal.
Ridicule. There’s a comedian on Instagram who calls himself Middle Age Riot. He’s very good at ridiculing these thugs. We need more like him.
Trumpkins probably don't watch people like him.
Knowing he’s a Hooligan of the Highest Order and knowing the playbook are vastly different things. Before I continue I want to make it known I am not very smart and don’t know the exact procedures but this is what I am going to write. He has many lawyers and many accountants. He has been playing the bankruptcy game for more than 30 years, i.e. starting a university getting government money to fund it then declaring bankruptcy to get cash into his bank accounts. He has divorced 2 times I believe, so he (when I say he that includes said lawyers and accounts) has experience keeping the seesaw weighed down on his side of the playground. All this points to him knowing how to get out of situations most people think he can’t get out of. So until he loses The War (not tiny battles) in court enough to where it truly makes a difference he will stay out of real trouble. POW or not he will always have a whole lot of hooligans ready to sit, fetch or attack on command.
Yes…why keep covering him….because it sells.
These people are not in my opinion Americans. At least not in the sense of what the constitution guarantees as the rights of the American people. Everything they are doing is antithetical to the very idea of The American Dream.
These people are NOT Christian. They label themselves that. For myself, I prefer the term Christ follower. These fascist people worship money and power, not God. They do not love their neighbors as themselves. They do not care for others, those who are vulnerable. They have one standard for themselves and a different standard for others (racism, misogyny, etc.) They are the people Jesus called “white washed tombs”- dead, decayed, and unclean inside. They are nothing that my sweet mama taught me to be. They INTENTIONALLY hurt others. They will eventually destroy themselves, but not before doing as much damage as possible to as many people and institutions as possible.
As much as I respect President Biden, it is time we have a warrior to battle for democracy; we need our own Zelensky. We need to take the fight to the radical right, pseudo-conservatives. Put them on the defensive for their horrible, hurtful policies. And for God’s sake, stop saying “unprecedented,” meaning “We’ve never done it that way before.” Get a big enough majority to get rid of the filibuster and pass needed legislation and expand the court! Six judicial terrorists holding America hostage is unconscionable.
I prefer the well-established term: >heretics<.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
JennSh, you are so right. Praise those mammas and pappas who believe in treating others fairly, as brothers and sisters whom we need to love and care for, not abuse and use for our own benefit.
This is one of those rare times I wish I could hit the ❤ button more than once.
I love your definition of Christ Followers, they sound alot like the pantheists I know.
I prefer the term Christ warper or distorter. If they truly followed Christ they wouldn’t act like this.
Another moniker I came across that truly describes these folks: C.I.N.O. (Christians In Name Only)
👏👏👏
Well said, JennSH. We are unlikely to get a big enough majority if the mainstream media keeps saying that the Democrats will lose in November, thus having created a self-fulfilling prophecy. With so little time left, I don't see the Democrats doing anything to make people aware of the dangers that await if they lose. Will they EVER take control of the narrative?
I think we allow ourselves to believe everything we hear on the news implying the the Democratic Party will lose its majority in November. It will not happen if the progressive thinking masses get politically active and choose the correct leaders to represent them.
You can't vote for "correct leaders" unless they're running.
And, in states where Republicans may succeed in stealing the voting process, your vote may not count anyway.
The Roberts Supreme Court has allowed Big Business to buy elections. It has gutted voting rights. It's doing its level best to gut personal rights. The legislative branch, which has the authority to neutralize SCOTUS decisions, is clutching its collective pearls and being "alarmed" and "concerned." And the exec. branch is... well, I'm no longer sure exactly WHAT it's doing.
And then there's this-the Moore v. Harper case set to come before SCOTUS in October's session: https://www.governing.com/next/the-supreme-court-case-that-could-end-american-democracy?utm_campaign=Newsletter%20-%20GOV%20-%20Daily&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=218684267&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_uil_XNoL9NrC8B5cwOUToIBFDO-IsCZBN78PKaU-QzZ157LGsIpo6FmvO2BaPZfxDp2rqM1nHJNyG6ZIKxqP6stVBduJXywgFcXbliM2AQQduBOw&utm_content=218684267&utm_source=hs_email&fbclid=IwAR3L_ed8BslXQtNxAkLcsZdTY5GzukU1QvYOeoBN7BoFDJRvMRqEbtF8Eyo
Since similar cases have been rejected all along, taking up Moore v. Harper is a pretty good signal of where this court is going, isn't it.
I don't see any other solution except to vote in such overwhelming numbers in November that the will of We The People is incontrovertible. And I don't see that happening either.
Imo a Big Oil windfall profits tax would be seen as a positive move. Dems won't do it.
It seems like that is becoming a bigger "if" every day.
I doubt it. To do so, they'd have to stand FOR something, not just against something, and when push comes to shove, Dems are beholden to corporate interests too.
Last week Biden proposed selling "up to" 10 oil drilling leases in the Gulf and Alaska. Trump wanted to sell dozens. Why is 10 better than dozens? Because it's fewer chances for disaster, and destroying the lands/waters and air will take longer?
Oil leases aren't about authoritarianism, but they are about what really runs the USA.
You are so right. I applaud your thinking
Thankyou for having the courage to call this out so clearly and consisley.
Well thought out & pr
This is one of the problems normal Americans make when it comes to the Evangelical right wing. They honestly don't care about the American dream.
They want/are waiting for their god/jesus to establish his kingdom on earth. They don't feel bound by man's laws or government. They only believe they are bound by god/jesus laws.
These people are delusional religious fanatics. They are dangerous. This includes the Catholics.
Except they do not follow Jesus teachings. I am an atheist, but I respect the teachings of Jesus as good for mankind. I don't care that what he was purported to have said originated from a prior preacher, that teacher did not spread the idea of graciousness, kindness, an helpfulness. And those three "nesses" are of greater importance than all the greed the trumpsters can muster
All you need to do is look at the right wing Evangelicals, their wealth, their mega churches to understand where their priorities are and sadly their congregations choose not to see it....
The colonies had a "Great Awakening" contemporaneous with the French and Indian War, the Revolution and the drafting of the Constitution. Our Constitution was written mostly by Deists who did not mention the word God.
There was pressure from anti-federalists like Patrick Henry to establish a state religion, but it was rebuked. Ironically Henry opposed Baptists, who benefited the most from the Great Awakening. Numerically small before the outbreak of revival, Baptist churches experienced growth during the last half of the 18th century. But at that time, they were a minority and universally endorsed separation of church and state.
Fanatics often refer to the language of the Declaration of Independence, but the only time the Declaration was incorporated by reference into the Constitution by SCOTUS was in Dred Scott, which led to civil war.
Behind all these pernicious cults is the lust to co-opt all things to serve their own power. Behind the cult of Martyrdom is the epitaph “In the wrong place, at the wrong time, they tried to do the right thing.” The White Rose Society, among so many others, deserve this epitaph.
Yad Vashem commemorates the Ger Toshav in a time of horror. This, not modern American cults, is what it is all about.
Arizona Republican Debbie Lesko, said:
"I would do anything, anything to protect my five grandchildren, including, as a last resort, shooting them if I had to to protect the lives of my grandchildren.”
I’m trying to wrap my head around what type of thinking, upbringing, life experience or whatever would bring someone to say such a horrid, absurd, insane thing- shooting them to protect them! What gives her the right to rob them of their lives? What incredible narcissism, lack of morality and sanity. I’m stunned!
Jim Tedford ; She most likely considers herself Pro Life too.
I know that mentality. People who would kill their child rather than see them with "the other."
I'm a Vietnam veteran. Consider search and destroy missions. We blew them up to "save the village."
Daniel, I was a sophomore in an international high school with my family overseas when the Vietnam war ended, and the war was simply not a daily presence in our lives there. It wasn't after I had graduated college and started working that I actually met people who had served there. It was while in my mid-twenties when I was hired by the Army Corps of Engineers that I had the opportunity to work with many veterans. Most did not discuss the war other than to say in which service or unit they served, whether it was bomber pilot, air calvary, maintenance and logistics. But to a man, they were the most respectful, courteous, humble people I knew. You have my sincere respect. I can just see them shaking their heads in sadness over Lesko's comment! It just sickens me!
My personal observation finds many less nut cases per capita among Catholics as compared to other branches of Christianity. Yes the church has some bad policies. I am not Catholic.
The traditional Protestant sects, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans etc. far outnumber the evangelicals and few of them believe the BS.
I hope you’re right.
I keep banging-on that they're neo-Confederates - right down to discussions in some "red states" of secession.
Yes, exactly. And as far as I’m concerned, let them go. We’d be much better off without them.
Perhaps. But how long would it be before they decided "America" must be restored to its former glory? MAGA! Follow that psycho-thinking to it's inevitable conclusion.
Oh geez, D, can’t we just imagine a better world for three seconds? I know what you mean but this kind of thinking is giving me endless acid reflux. Maybe I should stop reading Robert.
You may appreciate this: https://youtu.be/VTuwNI3eYKs
Well, I wasn’t born with it but I’ve sure got it now.
On the other hand, I'm only sharing the thoughts that devil me! I've got to live with >myself< with those notions. I should get a Nobel for that! LOL! ];-)>
Perhaps there’s a happy medium. We all need to vent but we need to counter that or we’ll all sink into depression.
LOL! Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind - for me - as well, particularly when I start being seen as snarky. Maybe my "nerves' gettin' bad," too!
It’s not you. It’s all of us. Granted, the dangers are extreme but this constant fear and negativity isn’t helping any of us. We need to acknowledge reality and get out there and fix things.
Robert, thank you! I feel vindicated.
I wrote "Confessions of an Evangelical" on this Substack platform back in June, maybe May. I felt a little off-balance when I received hate-emails, unsubscribes, et cetera because I unveiled the truth. I WAS a Bible-thumping, arm waving evangelical and did not realize what happened to me until I was urged by my pastor to vote for Trump and lead a pro-life campaign, which I was against.
The passage you refer to in Ephesians is important because it is about warfare: Put on the armor of God to fight satan. If one is not BORN-AGAIN, and does not believe that Jesus is the son of God, one goes to hell. In their minds, this is the core truth. Judging others, women running to get licenses for their pistols, men carrying guns openly, and hatred, such hatred OF ANYONE WHO IS NOT LIKE THEM prevailed. I was edged out of the church because I was too feminist in my views, among other things. Evangelicals are MORE than one-third of this country. Think of the mega-churches with thousands in attendance every week, the televangelists reaching millions everyday. They read one book: the Bible. They believe the 'talking snake' metaphor and that the Bible is the literal written word of God. I left traumatized. I opted in to their madness, for reasons detailed in my essay. However, when I asked why guns, hate, and violence when Jesus taught the opposite and did not carry weapons, I was sent packing AND branded ... a whore.
These people are more than a cult. It is a reality of distorted, malevolent thinking and belief deeply ingrained in their hearts and minds. And, the brainwashing is terrifying. Go to an evangelical church on a Sunday morning and see what unfolds. Witness the madness that helps divide our nation today.
@Lee Anne. Your brief expose frightens me. You describe a true cult, writ large. I think an element of hope is that there may be a lot of folks like you for whom the "true believers" are repugnant and who may either withhold their votes or cross over and vote Democratic. What really scares my about your testimony is that it doesn't seem to me now that winning at the polls or even achieving a congressional majority will do much to change the way those folks think - we may still have the makings of a civil war.
Benjamin, thank you. My longer essay is more frightening. I just completed a podcast featuring Robert's post today and my comments. Sadly, I agree with you: They are readying for war. How can anyone deny this? In what form or how it will unfold, I do not know. However, I do not opt for fear yet I am a firsthand witness to these twisted beliefs of what was "extremist" just a short while ago and now SCOTUS is supporting their views and distorting, or destroying, our Constitution. Evangelicalism has infiltrated traditional churches, even Catholicism, et al. I, too, hope that Independents, our younger generation, and apathetic Democrats will vote. I also hope that even some Republicans will cross over.
I talk to people all over the country and they are now afraid to converse in public, for having coffee with friends at a local hangout no longer feels safe. If people unsubscribed from my Reflections ... those who have followed me for 10+ years ... then I did not know who among them were closet fundamentalists.
The chasm is wide and, yes, we may have, or are already at the edges of a civil war.
@Lee Anne. The chasm is wide and widening. A worry is that if we Democrats, centrists and disgusted former Republicans form a majority in Congress the extremists will be driven to more extremes. I don't really think of civil war in the way we had it in the 1860's - that involved both a defined geographical area AND a particular demographic. No, nowadays I dwell on how it was in Ireland and broader UK during the troubles...
Yes, there was Ireland under Anglican rule early 20th Century and then conservative rule under Thatcher. I agree that as sanity (Dems et al.) gains strength, there will be more furtive, threatening violence. Benjamin, families and friends are already divided and torn apart. It is happening now. The animus and name calling I see in "comments" won't help either. We need to keep writing, speaking not out of fear but strength. We are opting for truth, freedom, and non-violence. We will win but perhaps no longer in my lifetime.
I see from your later comment that you spent time in Northern Ireland? (Under protestant rule, as I understand.) Although not specifically relevant to Ireland, have you seen the movie "V for Vendetta" I keep urging people to see? The setting is a Britain already actively subjugated under a theocratic leader - not unlike ol' Tweety, himself. In the story, the theocracy rose to power in the wake of a biological attack they perpetrated and blamed on opposition party terrorists. (That would be the Democrats, here.) They claimed to be Britain's saviors. Parallel to the current wank-publican support of vigilante action and "good guys with guns," the ruling party uses roving gangs of "finger men." You say that: "In what form or how it will unfold, I do not know." "V for Vendetta" presents a possible model of how it will unfold - some sort of false-flag attack blamed on the opposition.
Thank you for the "V" recommendation. No time in Ireland, just referring to Anglican (Christian) rule during the early 1900s in Britain PLUS their Christian heel on the necks of India's people of which we know the story. We have no Gandhi to lead us out from under what's happening. We need one!
The movie has a compelling story of a "Count of Monte Cristo"-type anti-hero fighting alone in vengeance against those who performed biologic experiments on him - developing the biological weapon they used. The graphic novel, upon which the movie is based, is far darker, and V is not so much heroic as he is more like one kind of evil inevitably fighting another kind of evil, as Dame Judy Dench suggests in the opening of "The Chronicles of Riddick." A bit of thoughtful allegory. Enjoy, if that's the right word.
My mother was from N. Ireland. Nobody there forgets anything and grudges go back 400 years.
I hear ya'! I cited "The Troubles" in a comment yesterday on a modern example of what it was like throughout Europe and Britain throughout the 16th & 17th Centuries. At the moment, I'm interested in what's happening over the Irish border due to complications involving Brexit. What's your take on all that? Any thoughts?
Once false move and the "hard men" will be out on the streets again. The hatred is just below the surface and can boil over in a flase.
Just as an update, I just saw that some monument in GA was blown up and some wank-publican is blaming liberal terrorists. Just sayin'.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-guidestones-blown-up-explosion/
I don't see anything on the web saying who is blaming whom. I just heard that on local broadcast news.
I will read today. Thanks. They ARE talking snakes. They have eaten the apple, which symbolizes selfishness and narcissism. Of “good and evil” they believe “I am GOODNESS PERSONIFIED, and all who oppose ME are evil!” That’s snake-talk. The apple was a ruse, the morality story is that as infants in the Garden, we are helpless and harmless. As adults we acquire the power to do, and own the consequences. We can BECOME good or evil.
And as we mature, we see that our actions become more clearly right or wrong, good or evil, as weighed by our OWN conscience. To refute one’s OWN conscience and do what is told, is a fool’s gambit.
I love it, Steve! Thank you for responding...
I keep saying that voters who support the wank-publicans have >no idea< what they stand to bring down on themselves and their children. You already know first-hand! Go in peace, friend.
I do, indeed, know. And I will continue to speak out where and when I am able ...
I read your May "Confessions of an Evangelical". Thank you for your courage in telling it. For me, it brought to life the real-world repercussions of the "theological" treatises presented in the "Dominionism Rising" link provided in today's substack. For me, it was a terrifying picture of what we're heading towards, which in my mind, is governance by a Fundamentalist Christian Taliban. I added your podcast from today with the May "Confessions of an Evangelical" to the email I sent earlier today to my family with this same substack. I was very moved by your story, and loved the photography!
I think it's interesting that the usual quotes about spreading Christianity, killing those who disagree, etc., all seem to spring from the books of the bible that were allegedly written by Paul of Tarsus, after his delusional episode on the road.
Saul of Tarsus was known to the Roman Stoics, and apparently respected as a philosopher. He was considered by some to be quite brilliant. Then he had his reality break while traveling.
His subsequent letters, organizing a new religion, absolutely contradict the statement that is credited to Jesus that his "kingdom is not of this earth."
Consequently, I've started to consider the evangelicals as "Paulians" and not Christians. Perhaps some renaming is in order.
I love it and this is brilliant. Jesus was a Jew and the name (word) Christ followed after his death. The patriarchies ran off the rails and wrapped him up like an ice cream sundae. I always had problems with Paul because he became an ascetic, maybe brilliant but not certain, and as a woman, well, I found him to be a misogynist. There is the "historical" Jesus and the "post-Easter" Jesus. I am no longer Christian but there are those who are sincere about their faith, see the metaphors and allegories, and try to abide by the teachings of Jesus. That said, there is nothing he taught that was not said by the Buddha 600 years prior to Jesus' birth. Jesus was a great man, a mystic, who 'got it.' He understood how to connect with the Divine in our cosmos. That said, there were, and are today, others as well. Gandhi said "I love your Jesus but don't think much of your Christians."
The "kingdom" comment (I think) is conflated with parts of the Book of Revelations?
Paulians is perfect!
I am a believer in Christ, but I hate the term “ Christian.” That term is more indicative of hate and disrespect than it is love. Gandhi was right; I don’t think much of Christians.
I weep for what Christians have done to Jesus. He was love, compassion, non-violent, a mystic and healer, and more. I know Jesus is within me together with other spiritual ancestors. I turn to him most often in prayer and meditation. But, I stay away from fundamentalist, fervent Christians. But we are becoming, rapidly, a white Christian nation and that was the point of Robert's post today. Can you even imagine Jesus condoning guns, violence, hatred, racism? No, their Christianity has nothing to do with the love, understanding, and compassion Jesus taught.
Exactly. Jesus would not recognize the religion named after him, that has. no compassion, no taking care of those who need care, none of what he taught.
I like that you've noticed the parallel with Buddhism in his teaching. I noticed that while I was abroad in the Far East studying the religion and culture of the region as a college project in the early '70s. It was kind'a funny. I regularly got snagged by customs for contraband, only for them to exclaim after their rummage: "Books ‽" Red faces invariably followed! LOL!
Recall the mystery of how after his "Bar Mitzvah" - which is what the story of him instructing the rabbis in the Temple was all about; what a Bar Mitzvah >is< - he drops out of the story then shows up again when he was 30. I'm convinced he spent time either in India, or studying with Essenes who may have had contact with India. Whatever he was doing, 17 years is long enough to have had some kind of Indian contact - even on foot in a pilgrimage. It's the whole business about love that's telling, although lovingkindness is a Jewish principle - to my understanding. Nevertheless, it's all just a speculation. Just sayin'.
Absolutely right!
Christ means "anointed."
He was also a vehement sexist.
Agree. Agree. And agree!
Thanks for that observation. I've always considered Paul a prat. You've provided background I wasn't aware of. From your perspective, Paul comes off a bit more a Caligula-type figure, who survived a near fatal brain fever of some sort, recovering with a massive personality disruption. Before his collapse, Caligula was quite popular, looked after the citizenry, and was beloved among the army who nicknamed Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus "little boots," that is, Caligula, because as a child he used to like to play dress-up as a centurion among them, complete with little boots. His father was the Roman general Germanicus, given that name for his success in what at the time was called "Germania."
When things go wrong in a Christian society the Jews always get the blame.
And it was the Romans who killed Jesus.
Actually, it was fellow Jews who killed Jesus. You know the crusaders killed as many Jews as Muslims.
Lee Ann, thank you for sharing your journey. It should be valuable to all of us. That Born Again Christianity IS a cult. You had a line over which you refused to cross. I’m glad you realized what was happening and left.
I w as once part of a group that became a cult. I hope more people will follow your path. Cults are full of frightened people lashing out at others.
Cult people are dangerous people. Compassion is not in cults like this.
Thank you for your comment. As a “recovering Catholic” to use Michael Moore’s term, I avoid all religious organizations and I don’t know anyone who is evangelical. Your description of the life inside is illuminating and terrifying. There are two mega-churches in my immediate area and I always shuddered at the thought of being in one, especially after the senseless dogma and ritual of my own catholic upbringing.
Vote as if your life depends on because it just may. Give money to Democratic candidates til it hurts. Give directly to their campaigns by check and not credit card so they get all your donation
More important--volunteer to get out the vote! Join Swing Left, Swing Blue Alliance, Field Team 6 or other organizations that organize phonebanks and canvassing. Get out there, by phone or (hallelujah) in person, and talk to people about voting, and about volunteering themselves. I've been doing it for a year now (starting with the 2021 VA state elections) and find it fascinating, have had many illuminating conversations with a wild variety of Democrats in swing states and am bonded with the 2 groups I phonebank with.
Also Vote Forward. Write letters to voters and buy your stamps before July 10th when postage costs rise yet again.
I do Vote Forward too-did some in 2020 and have signed up for @ least 120 by October and may do more. I came up w/ about 7 points as to why voting is important.
Help register more democrats. Contact Mervis Reissig
merv4peace@gmail.com
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Giving money to democrats is like throwing it into a black hole. How can citizens compete with Wall Street, big oil and big pharma. They own dems and republicans.
Donate to progressives only. That’s what I’m doing.
And voting for Republicans is definitely not the choice. I go with the leader evil.
Thank you for your well written article. I am anxious about the future of this country. Surely fighting a war with these unhinged people is not the answer, even though it seems like that is what they are seeking. If somehow the haters could be turned against each other, perhaps that would satisfy their seeming need for violence and domination?? As most everyone who grew up during Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter times, what is happening in our country today seems like a horrific Halloween movie.
What always happens when preditors run out of Prey? They prey on each other and call it the survival of the fittest. " Look to long into the Abiss and the Abiss looks int you." Nietza's warnign regarding his writings.
Easter Island, as an example?
We have had these eruptions of fascism before like in the 1920's when the KKK had millions of members and marched in Washington, D. C.
Sadly, it may come to pass that fighting a war with these clowns may be more a survival necessity than an answer, where only questions will be left amid the rubble.
How terrifying but true! We need massive numbers of people to vote for progressive Democrats this fall and try to shut down this ideology of a Christian nation.
It's time to promote the label of "Regressive Republicans"
It describes their overall agenda in direct opposition to the Progressive Democrats.
OMG....can anyone say Fascism? Never in my lifetime have I seen such hate and vitriol directed to one side of the political divide. It's astounding that people are cheering this on. But since none of them had to live through Nazi Germany, I guess it feels great to have people tooting your horn.
I hope they feel the same when someone they love goes to the camps.
The miopic binary thinkers see and hear only that which stirs their ire.
Just as Timothy Snyder suggested in The Road to Unfreedom. Trump is a Putin wannabe. And Putin (and others) helped him to destroy democracy. I’m still just very surprised and disappointed at the number of people who supported overthrowing democracy. As the documentary shows, Trump wants to create a dynasty… do all of his minions really think he’s going to have a special place for them?
First wife Ivanna said the only book he read was the speeches of Hitler.
When the Soviet Union fell, I had the uncomfortable sense it was the cleverest Soviet ploy yet. And who is the Russian president now, but a former KGB operative. Just sayin'.
I don't think collapse of the Soviet Union was a ploy to get Putin in office. It was a disaster ten times worse than the Great Depression in the USA. People were starving in the former USSR. It was a massive robbery by oligarchs and Putin of the people of Russia.
Oh I agree. I was just sayin'.
It is always amazing to me how difficult it is to recognize the use of fear, oppression ,and the worst for our future that is portrayed by these
“Leaders of the faith”.
They want to repeat the human history of the most painful times as their vision.
I am ashamed to hear anything that Mark Robinson says. Why do people follow this path to hell on earth?
Vote them out ! Vote them gone ! Win without violence and guns and wars.
This is about more than holding on to power--that is one goal, but there is a bigger goal guiding Trump-- he didn't steal boxes of records, eat paper and fill the plumbing of the White House with paper because of the insurrection the whole world watched happen live.
He did all of that to hide what we don't know---yet. He was certain he would maintain power and never have to face accountability for ALL that we still haven't discovered. It's coming out, and when it does come to light, it will make the Insurrection look like a cake walk.
That is the motive for keeping the Big Lie going... is to cover his big ass!
@Kimberlee. I think exactly like you do. Dirty money from Russia, kick backs from those he pardoned, stealing from campaign funds and from special purpose funds (same as Bannon and "the wall". I'm sure there is worse that I am too naive to imagine. Worst of all for old bone spur, tax evasion!
I think the majority will vote in the midterms. I can't see how this loud, vocal minority can prevail, they are so obvious and obnoxious! The people can't fail to see how much unfreedom is being promulgated by the right! I will be watching the Jan 6th committee on July 12th.
Never underestimate the power of a schnook - or a whole mob of schnooks!
Schnooks are so much more benign than these thugs, D.
Boris Badinoff (Rocky & Bullwinkle) seems to think they're formidable. He's referring to >himself!< (I would conclude the cartoonists felt the same way. There's much sophisticated thinking in those earlier cartoons meant for bright kids to file back for future reference. Never underestimate the power of a kids' show!)
Yes, but as a person whose family sprinkled Yiddish all around, I’m pretty sure a schnook is not the same thing as an evil bastard. A schnook is just a jerk.
We need to be able to laugh, I guess. But will most Americans put up with the three stooges added to the other activist Judges that were already on the 'Supreme' Court? If there is no remedy we will see some real 'unrest' as they like to call it. I think America will vote.
I think you’re right. I certainly hope so. I’m writing my fingers to the bone to reach voters.
But who do you think are swayed by and serve an evil bastard? Badinoff served Fearless Leader! (Remember when those post-Kennedy presidents were referred contemptuously as "Fearless Leader?")
I have an idea. Let’s talk about Boris Johnson instead of this. How long before the Tories fall, eh?
But don't underestimate the majority of voters either! This is America and most people are educated enough to know a very bad deal when they see it! Unless they live under a rock I can't see how the majority can miss the implications of what is happening in our Court and the swing states, and who is responsible for it.
Fingers crossed, Laurie.
Voting alone will not be enough to stop slide towards fascism. Direct action is required and a mass movement to overthrow this form of capitalism. Why should 1% of population live like pharos of ancient Egypt?
I'd like to know if abortion bans in individual states can be challenged as being discriminatory against women - since those same states don't have similar laws banning vasectomies and other male reproductive healthcare surgeries?
Some of the whackos on SCOTUS will say that 14th Amendment due process and equal protection do no apply to the states.
The Florida Constitution provides for a right of privacy. Need to check other state constitutions.
We once again ignore "The Supremacy Clause."
Oooh, that’s interesting. Of course the whackos probably think vasectomies go against the Bible or some damn thing too. Still, nice out of the box thinking. I also think there should be a national law that requires men to support any child they beget. Test their DNA if you have to but make it compulsory.
This group has successfully, over the years, claimed that its opposition is actually the one guilty of what it is doing, subverting our democracy, as a way to deflect and distract criticism from its actions.
I wondered how long it would take for people to catch on that they began their assault with the accusation of rigged elections, and immediately set out - in plain sight, mind you - attempting to rig the elections using their accusation as an excuse!
Projection all the way.
It's "he who casts the first stone wins!" thinking. Unfortunately, it seems to work - at least for the shorter term.
They have not 'won' yet!
It will turn. It always does.
To quote a friend of mine: "fingers crossed!"
These are dangerous times for the world. Similar nonsense is being spouted by right wing 'christians' in Europe though, thankfully, we don't have citizens armed to the teeth...
Good you're noticing what's been happening globally. I observed "we've just entered dangerous times" to a friend of mine the night ol' Tweety was elected. I agree.