There are many reasons why the country is divided and I believe the main culprits are in leadership positions! We should never forget this man’s bravery to protect his country.
Michael Fanone joined the United States Capitol Police during the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. A few years later, he joined the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, remaining a member for approximately 20 years. During the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, Fanone was assaulted by rioters—dragged down the Capitol steps, beaten with pipes, stunned with a Taser, and threatened with his own gun. Fanone suffered burns, a heart attack, and traumatic brain injuries. As a result he was forced into early retirement. On June 21, 2023 he said to the judge:
"Your honor, we must all join in the fight against Donald Trump and the destructive, divisive movement he has come to represent, we must offer him no safe harbor and to his enablers — whether in business, in politics and the media — give no quarter. In the fight to preserve our Republic, there can be no spectators. Any compassion or empathy I felt toward those who laid siege to our Capitol, whose actions I felt were at least in part influenced by their leader, Donald Trump, and his lies, has been eroded — eroded by the attacks directed at me and my family by supporters of Donald Trump and the right-wing media."
Michael Fanone is one of the true heroes on January 6. I can’t find strong enough words to express how the Capitol Police heroes who defended our Capitol on that day of insurrection from those America traitors incited by their own Commander in Chief Donald J. Trump must feel!
I believe this insurrection to be in the same category with the International Terrorists who organized, planned, and successfully bombed our wonderful city of New York on September 11.
I believe that Donald J. Trump, any of his administration, any of his planners, organizers, donor contributors to trump’s insurrection, any of his “friends”, colleagues, Senators, Representatives, fake electors, attorneys, judges, appointed Attorney Generals, any other politician or activist, including the wife of a Supreme Court Justice, billionaire donors to trump’s insurrection should be classified as traitors, prosecuted, removed from office and never be permitted to run for any office ever again!
I have only visited the Washington D.C. 3 times and was totally in awe of pillar of American Democracy! How could any decent critical thinking, respectful American citizen do this to our Capitol?
I wasn’t there and I am still completely disappointed, devastated, disgusted, and ashamed that Americans could be fooled to permit a liar, grifter, thief, conspiracy theorists, narcissistic sociopath, and most of all Traitor, use entertainment and lies to destroy our Democracy solely for his own personal power and personal financial interests. Trump has NO regard or respect for our Constitution, Rule of Law, or any institutions, except for his own personal retribution or revenge for personal exploitation!
I’m disappointed that Americans won’t vote the Fascist Republican Party out of power and change Laws or Amendments to the Constitution. The loopholes that have made it so easy for trump and his MAGA Fascist Republicans to manipulate all the laws or use the best lawyers or crooked lawyers, for trump to operate totally above the law. NO ONE should be permitted to be above the law and that should include President! Our Constitution has made it easy for trump to become the Dictator/traitor that he always wanted to be!
I want to end with the positive note that there are so many brillant, intelligent, professional American Public Servants like Robert Reich that are true Public Servants to the American Democratic Experience ! They are fighting like hell to get the information out to Americans that are interested in saving our Democratic Republic and Rule of Law, Constitution, and freedom!
To be fair, LESS THAN 30% of OUR countryty view "godking" Bunkerboy and his masters favorably! [sic] (Let's be honest here: that dimwitted man-child is OWNED by dozens of "people.")
Their party is breathing about as well as when Trump was diagnosed with covid-19.
If polls were actually printed out, they would be not even be worthy of being used as toilet paper.
That said WHY do I keep seeing these polls which say that if the election were held TODAY, the SHITler would beat Biden if that <30% figure is correct?!?!
Is it totally, and ONLY due to the racist/fascist imbalance caused by the Electoral College, and the undeserved power it gives that shitbilly minority in those few swing states??
There's a reason those printed polls would be less useful than toilet paper, David. They ask the wrong people the wrong questions, and the media uses the wrong criteria to publicize them.
For example, the ever-popular "approval ratings" polls make no distinction about the reason for approval or disapproval of a candidate or office-holder. If I think President Biden should be pushing harder for universal health care, my response to the poll counts the same as someone who believes Mr. Biden should be impeached.
Likewise, polls measuring degree of satisfaction with a Biden-Trump re-match consistently report that more than half the population doesn't want those candidates. What's missed is that a significant number of Republicans don't want Trump, another significant number of Republicans also don't want Biden because they're afraid he'll win. And most Democrats don't want Trump because, well, because he shouldn't be anywhere near our electoral process. Add it all up, and the press reports "widespread dissatisfaction with both candidates."
Finally, the electoral college is not always the demon it's made out to be. And in the matter of polling, the only numbers that matter on election day are the swing-state totals. Nation-wide polls ignore this entirely. If Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio and a few others all tilt Democratic (as they seem to be trending now), you can expect a landslide victory for Biden-Harris in 2024 no matter who the Republican candidate is.
I wanted to add to my comment that I have been to Arlington more times than the National Mall! The biggest disgrace that trump, the elected officials, insurrectionists, or anyone who disrespects our Democratic Republic, Constitution, Rule of Law, peaceful transfer of power and Democracy needs to be taken to Arlington to physically view the sacrifice these men and women and their families did for our freedom!
I like your comment. And I liked our Professor’s reflection that gets down to the root levels of people...where, in the end, it matters. I am now in my 70s. I know I have a few more elections then, well,...I won’t be participating. I now live in Texas in a small community. We are not without our differences. But at the neighbor level, we watch out for one another. One neighbor, who has more chickens than she can handle, shares her eggs; another, honey from bee hives. If a tree falls, neighbors come out and cut the tree or cover a roof. It is a community. Do we all agree on issues? No, but we listen...respectfully. We know we are not clones of one another.
As I view things at the macro level of state and national news and politics, I often wonder as to who is benefiting from the rancor, stirring the pot of dissension, focusing on issues that divide rather than unite? I think I know the answer. There are more things that unite us as a people than divide us, but profit and rancor derived from division seems to be the focus of...”leaders” and our media outlets. I wish it weren’t so. As each year passes now, those who sow dissent have less relevance for me.
With all due respect, as Hitler’s madness began taking hold in Germany I am sure that the Jews found relative safety and camaraderie in their own communities until they began disappearing. We are witnessing those same wheels of approaching fascism in our country presently.
I believe as long as I am alive it is my obligation to say my piece through my vote - even though I know the outcome may be dismal. But, each individual vote is not an insignificant action. We saw that in 2020 when Biden was elected, and again in 2022 as the predicted red wave never occurred. I am of the opinion that 2024 my be our last valid presidential democratic election and we need everyone all in on this one, so that we give ourselves an opportunity to vote democratically in ALL future elections.
At 68 years of age and retired, I am going down kicking and screaming as I have found opportunities to volunteer time and effort to preserving the Democratic life we have in the U.S. The education I have been receiving from leaders such as the Professor, Steve Schmidt, Joyce Vance, Midas Touch Network, and Lincoln Project is outstanding and inspiring. Never Give Up!
I agree with about the growing fascism in this country. The best way to fight it is at the ballot box. Everyone no matter how hard your state legislators are making it for you to vote get out and do it otherwise we may all lose our voting rights if those wanting to own this country get their way.
Keep a steady eye on actions of your state governing bodies. I live in a trifecta state, and my vote is considerably weakened. Yet another law involving voter suppression was silently passed as part of the state budget, which was rammed through at the last minute. Laws passed by my Blue city in this Red state are rendered unenforcible.
I don't see any further options. They don't respond to voter communication, protests are ongoing, but we get to vote soon on a law that will further limit voter power. By their own rule, the coming election is illegal but they are holding it anyway at significant expense. The local newspaper has been sounding the alarm for weeks, clarifying the wording in the law. I will vote, and remind my neighbors to do the same.
Trisha it sounds like you live in Ohio like I do by your comments but I could be wrong. Since the republicans have gerrymandered our whole system they seem to feel like that they can do anything that they want regardless of what their voters are saying. They have done a good job at trying to suppress us but come August (and hopefully beyond) we will tell them exactly what we think/want. If I am wrong about what state you are in (sorry for the assumption) then I can tell you that I feel your pain and you are not alone.
This sounds like trifecta Missouri, liberal college towns surrounded by much more conservative small rural towns. Having retired here from a blue state, I'm rather discouraged every time I vote.
I put a couple thoughts about what to do in a longer note. Options can include going all in on constitutional amendment processes (straightforward, but a long-haul prospect of course). Also it seems valuble - but complicated and not exactly straightforward - to find a way to collect and reflect back to people what it is that the majority really can come to consensus about. Thoughts?
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country. There are many fascists now in local, state and federal governments and even the so-called US supreme Court. We have six there right now. How can I tell? They all lied to get their jobs and are lying to us today. That's what fascism is all about the big lie and running black money to fascists (Citizens United) The supporters of the christo-fascist party are Nazis, white supremacists, gun toting militia members, haters and bigots of all kinds. They truly are deplorable. Are you one of them? Even if you voted for tRump are you really holding hands with one of the above?
The American Fascist party members in the house of representatives are now locking arms and doing the fascist lockstep for all to see and singing America über alles "above everyone else" I forget who said it but this is the frightwing’s pretzel logic.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping out fascists from government. We are the new anti-fascist party. Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat. Third parties are anathema right now. Don't vote third party. That is a vote for fascism.
As long as you want freedom you are anti-fascist already anyway so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for members of the LGBT communities. It is good for your dogs and your cats. It is good for all Americans black, white, brown, Indian, - every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
If you don’t believe this is a good idea then speak up. What is your idea of what to do?
The short version What do we do about this?
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country.
What can we do to fight back finally? We have to start being outspoken and we need to be active in every corner of America.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping fascists out of the government. We are the new anti-fascist party.
Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat.
As long as you want freedom, you are anti-fascist already so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
T-rump is alive, we have No Guarantees. You don’t need to trust me, but I wish you take heed to my following factual statement: I was living in south Florida for many years & there were early rumblings about a Stolen Election & Gerrymandering down there. Neighbors were complaining about stolen mailboxes & ballots. One day, I was crossing a very busy intersection. Lo & Behold, a massive open- sided U.S. Mail truck over- loaded with signed ballots, drove right in front of me. This was a clear case of Gerrymandering, orchestrated my Mr.T & his buddy DeJoy,the Postmaster General. Don the Con struck again & didn’t get caught. WAKE UP AMERICA 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Thanks for sharing that, Roberta. My parents are from Nicaragua. My daughter registered to vote on the same day her husband did. The only difference on her registration was that she checked: Latina or Hispanic. Her husband got a ballot. She did not.
Jaime, you should be shouting this from the highest mountain, Post it on Facebook, or disseminate this information wherever possible. If we continue to be silent, we will end up like Nazi Germany. WAKE UP, AMERICA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸.
Roberta, you are too kind. If it were only me, yes. She however is finding her way with her ethnicity. Her disappointment has not yet found a voice beyond her father.
I liked your comment and positive information. I am also in my 70s and frightfully scared of losing our freedoms and our Democracy. I am even more concerned for my children, grandchildren and future generations. I’m appalled that the divisions and differences created by Fascism is being accepted and indoctrinated all in the name of religious doctrine!
I believe fascism has always been a covert factor in the American psyche. Especially within those having political and/or corporate power. One must not forget the huge support for Adolph Hitler during his early years of organizing the Nazi Party. Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford come to mind. IBM was also a major factor having trained the Germans in the 1930's how their cardex system works. Ever wonder how the Germans had lists of names and addresses so quickly after they occupied a country? Huge rallies throughout the US right up until and after WWll was declared by Great Britain and others. One only has to research the writings of Joe Kennedy Sr, Ambassador to the UK, to realize this. Corporate figures during the Roosevelt era were selling iron ore to Japan even after December 7th, until Roosevelt promised to jail the whole lot if they didn't stop. Apparently a lot of the war material used by the Japanese during the battle of Guadalcanal was the manufactured result of raw iron sold to Japan by the USA. Many European countries after WWll were hunting war criminals with many remaining at large because the US was hiding them to assist in obtaining information about the USSR, fearing communism more than fascism.
Perhaps this current crisis will awaken Americans to the fact that fascism is alive and well, especially the Evangelical religious right, and use the complacent, democratic process to eliminate it once and for all.
Nice summation- Sinclair Lewis' excellent work It Can't Happen Here was prescient for our current age, because American fascism has raised its head again. Only with the benefit of a rear-view-mirror can we see that the paranoia about communism and containment led directly to Vietnam and a losing quagmire of cold war conflict with innocent Vietnamese caught in the middle.
Thank you for the detailed historical information. Information transparency provides us with facts and knowledge which are priceless even if history is not what we would like it to have been.
Thank you, Sandra. I worry too about my children and grandchildren. But mindful of what we share with them, I remain hopeful. They, like us, will have their challenges but there is a resilience in the human spirit. My parents were Nicaraguan immigrants who sought a better world for their children and grandchildren. They succeeded.
The real culprit to Democracy is GREED. Fortunately the vast majority of Americans are not greedy. Unfortunately those who are already have 70% of the wealth and are able to buy politicians like Trump et al, media which supports fascism, Why to they support fascism, because fascism supports them - Fascism gives control to the dictator, his circle of enablers, the military AND the corporate oligarchy - if you're greedy, what's not to love?
The term Socialism is used to spread misinformation for the benefit of the Fascist Republican Party to remain in power! How well it has worked for the blinded cult MAGA followers to call Americans who have rights, freedoms, and empathy for ALL Americans as Socialists. I come from Immigrants who came to this country with a couple of personal items and the clothes on their backs. They worked hard for every penny, paid their fair share of taxes, expected to draw their Social Security which they paid into without Republicans trying to take the SS Trust Funds and help make up their large tax breaks for their billionaires , corporations, donors, and pad their personal coffers with lobbying money.
My parents earned their money from hard honest work and not by grifting, lying, stealing, breaking every law to pay no taxes and operating totally above the law! Didn’t hear a word from the Fascist Republicans when trump and his Republican administration ran up the deficit $7.8 trillion did we? But as soon as a Democrat takes over and tries to fix the Republicans pure financial mess, the Republicans lie and deflected the deficit on the Democrat spending! I also don’t want to hear that it was because of the Pandemic which was more lies and deflection! Trump and his administration denied that there was a pandemic solely due his chances of re-election. Millions of people died due to his misinformation and anti vaccine Republican propaganda!
The Muricun NAZI Party (formerly known as the Republican Party) has succeeded in making "liberal", "socialism", "fair taxation", "equality", and "progressive" into dirty filthy, feared and gut-wrenchingly reactionary words to a large swath of this land.
They yes, even try to 'dirty up' Social Security and Medicare by purposely labeling them as "entitlements" AS IF their recipients did NOT actually pay into them and EARN THEM, and implying that they want and expect them GRATIS because they are 'entitled' to get them merely for being alive after 65, or being disabled.
These 4th Reich fascists truly are pieces of shit, just like the putrid orange turd fuehrer they worship so devoutly.
I've been reading Democracy in Chains and find that it is sharing a story on repeat of those of means finding ways to manipulate the masses to act against their own interests. In particular to act in ways that prioritize the economic interests of the rich while simultaneously reducing their own political freedoms. Highly recommend this work.
First of all, my parents & many relatives came to this country with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They all worked very
hard and gave us beautiful lives - WITHOUT GRIFTING or taking an illicit penny from anyone. We now have crooks & cons & cheats to deal with. WE NEED TO GET RID OF OUR POLITICIANS. I pray it’s not too late.
We live in a hype-consumer driven society where materialism is exalted. It's easy to fall into "keeping up with the Jones's" and many of us do. US politics and US corporate culture generally reward greed, power, and a lack of empathy. It's no wonder narcissistic, amoral, and sociopathic "leaders" control the levers of power. Either we vote them out and make sweeping changes reinstating the guardrails of Democracy or we become another authoritarian nation ruled instead of represented by its leaders.
Now here is the crux of the situation which is why Americans are stupid. Education.
With education (which is good) one would now the difference between socialism/liberal socialism and left. But propaganda has been used in the USA SO well that being a 'socialist is the same as communist.
And to add to a perspective from education, the educated might notice that even Communism as originally envisioned by Marx (for Republicans- “No not Groucho!”) it was an admirable social scheme, however IMO unworkable being how human nature is.
Carl, I had to smile at your observation. I am not unaware of my neighbors’ leanings. I arrived from California. But, while my wife and I provide a degree of...humor, there is no hubris among us as we live our lives. We are all trying to just live our lives with a focus on the things and values that matter to individuals.
Thank you for this thoughtful and evocative description of your community. It doesn't over simplify things - and it doesn't suggest that reliance on neighbors can solve all problems - but there is a lot that a community can accomplish. I'm heartened by your words.
I had an idea, and then wrote a book about it, how if we truly made use of the power of computers, we could eliminate all leaders and could institute true and actual democracy. It can be found at gettingtozerowaste.com. Our system of gov't has only been around for a little more than 200 years. Even in just human history, that is barely a trial run. It doesn't have to continue forever.
I agree. Michael Fanone should've been American (Man) of the Year. He's a true hero.
Two things have created this massive political divide: jerrymandering and irresponsibe, fake journalism. As I've stated, when a district is "safe red," the candidates push the extreme positions for name recognition and fundraising. The silver lining is that these extremists are often out of touch with level-headed independents who can swing the district/state. For this reason, I'm not worried about extreme candidates.
Regarding the course of action to counter the extremism, we need to call out the irresponsible journalism that enables the extremists. We need honesty and accountability in journalism. The big liar from NY, Rop George Santos. who won the seat in Congress shows just how bad some reporting is, and how voters are manipulated by poor (fake) journalism.
This didn't happen overnight. Somehow, the GOP took the moral high ground, despite trying to end the ACA without an alternative. This is one example of many instances of their immoral platform stances. Don't get me started...
They have also taken the freedom banner and wave it at every opprtunity. Considering their disregard for privacy, this is astonishing. If you ask me, candidates should seek to take the moral high ground and discuss freedom from big government in the doctors' offices and other private matters.
...another hero is Eugene Goodman, who risked his one safety by diverting a group of rioters from entering the Senate chamber taking them on a wild goose chase. to where other officers were waiting.
One can argue that it is a relative term, because it depends on who is using it, and where they are coming from. It has a very different meaning from what I think of compared to say, tfg. I guarantee that it means something very special and important to most people in this country.
If your talking about a big blowhard like Donald Trump draping himself in as many flags as possible while being more loyal to Vladimir Putin and the Saudi Prince and Viktor Orban and all the fascists and calling our prisoners of war 'losers' and active duty serving in our military 'suckers' : that is NOT patriotism! He and others like him are not patriots!
Au contraire, it means everything. How many have we had? Quite a few, Paul Revere, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton (also known for stupidity in getting himself killed unnecessarily), the list would be very long.
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country. There are many fascists now in local, state and federal governments and even the so-called US supreme Court. We have six there right now. How can I tell? They all lied to get their jobs and are lying to us today. That's what fascism is all about the big lie and running black money to fascists (Citizens United) The supporters of the christo-fascist party are Nazis, white supremacists, gun toting militia members, haters and bigots of all kinds. They truly are deplorable. Are you one of them? Even if you voted for tRump are you really holding hands with one of the above?
The American Fascist party members in the house of representatives are now locking arms and doing the fascist lockstep for all to see and singing America über alles "above everyone else" I forget who said it but this is the frightwing’s pretzel logic.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping out fascists from government. We are the new anti-fascist party. Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat. Third parties are anathema right now. Don't vote third party. That is a vote for fascism.
As long as you want freedom you are anti-fascist already anyway so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for members of the LGBT communities. It is good for your dogs and your cats. It is good for all Americans black, white, brown, Indian, - every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
If you don’t believe this is a good idea then speak up. What is your idea of what to do?
The short version What do we do about this?
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country.
What can we do to fight back finally? We have to start being outspoken and we need to be active in every corner of America.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping fascists out of the government. We are the new anti-fascist party.
Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat.
As long as you want freedom, you are anti-fascist already so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
He sits in his marble chair stern and unrelenting in his resolve, while tears of sadness well up and trickle down hardened cheeks that have long since lost their blush. What he sees is a country unimagined while life's energy still pulsed through his veins. He was a simple but at the same time a complex man that faced difficult times during his life, times that are still with us to an extent. He spoke of a nation divided and it's future, unfortunately we seem to be living the results of his vision. He gave Donald Trump some sage advice, "Better to be thought a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Abraham Lincoln saw a world filled with many social injustices and a people suffering because of them. As President he endeavored to do what was best for the country and its people. He may not have died on a military battle field but he perished in battle none the less. Lincoln made the ultimate sacrifice, one that burned his spirit into the hearts of good people everywhere. Divided not hardly, teetering a bit maybe while we adjust our priorities waiting for Trump to pass into a place where he will carry no relevance, political or other wise.
In the BLM riots funded by the Democrat party there were 20 deaths and over 2 billion in damage. In the Trump election fraud protests there were no police or other civilian deaths. Only two unarmed female Trump protestors were killed by Capital Police (no one was charged). Pelosi and the Mayor of DC rejected Trump's request for National Guard to protect everyone. This was an intelligence operation. The FBI is its largest operation ever has gone after these protestors and arrested over 600 people. True the Vote identified over 800,000 illegal votes at drop boxes. The 2020 Election was massively fraudulent and this is gradually being realized by all US citizens.
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country. There are many fascists now in local, state and federal governments and even the so-called US supreme Court. We have six there right now. How can I tell? They all lied to get their jobs and are lying to us today. That's what fascism is all about the big lie and running black money to fascists (Citizens United) The supporters of the christo-fascist party are Nazis, white supremacists, gun toting militia members, haters and bigots of all kinds. They truly are deplorable. Are you one of them? Even if you voted for tRump are you really holding hands with one of the above?
The American Fascist party members in the house of representatives are now locking arms and doing the fascist lockstep for all to see and singing America über alles "above everyone else" I forget who said it but this is the frightwing’s pretzel logic.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping out fascists from government. We are the new anti-fascist party. Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat. Third parties are anathema right now. Don't vote third party. That is a vote for fascism.
As long as you want freedom you are anti-fascist already anyway so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for members of the LGBT communities. It is good for your dogs and your cats. It is good for all Americans black, white, brown, Indian, - every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
If you don’t believe this is a good idea then speak up. What is your idea of what to do?
The short version What do we do about this?
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country.
What can we do to fight back finally? We have to start being outspoken and we need to be active in every corner of America.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping fascists out of the government. We are the new anti-fascist party.
Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat.
As long as you want freedom, you are anti-fascist already so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
Lord Dalberg-Acton (First Baron); another great history tricky question. "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Now I knew the quote, but I did not know that Lord Acton was "the famous 19th Century liberal." I could spend all morning just researching him. [John Emerich Edward Dalberg, January 10, 1834, Naples].
There is so much more to learn even at my age in my 70s. I just wish that I had my unbelievable memory that I had in my younger years that I took for granted but am extremely thankful and grateful that I still posses In a lesser form.
We two are in our 70s, later 70s. We know how you feel and the one thing my wife and I have discussed is we were wrong thinking that we would stay young forever. And we wish we had given more empathy to our parents as they aged. Because children never see their parents as getting old..
I am 30 years behind you, but am trying to increase the empathy in general for the parental figures still alive in my life. How we treat the elderly is scary. How my SO and his brother handled their 86 year old mom getting dementia, broke my heart. Watching the last year of her life was so painful. My father, an ex-marine, ex psychiatrist, current Parkinsons patient,and traumatic brain injured, is now on the same path, and my SO doesn't seem to relate the mistakes he made with his mom, to do anything helpful or redeemable for my dad. Its so sad. I won't let my dad die alone in pain in an assisted living. Even if I cannot care for him exclusively forever, even if he doesn't know I am his daughter anymore, I will still do the best I can for him as long I can. The stress of aging and knowing your children won't give 2 craps what happens to you, is so stressful I would think. I have to to do better. That is what love is about.
Laura, at least you are cognizant of your actions. You can't control other people. The love of my life, Jim Richter, is 85; he is suffering from IPF (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis). Diagnosed 3-years ago and we both thought death was right around the corner. My second husband, Keith White, SSF, and i were married for 8 year back in early 80's. He was the most fun, the happiest guy, an impossible guy; so loving, so kind and gentle. We were written up in Herb Caen's column 8-23-81 if you can find it (you have to dig a bit in archives). Keith told me his wish was to be mentioned by Herb (who was a very big deal in SF for many years). I wrote a quick blurb to Herb, he liked it. I knew when it was being published in Sunday paper. Keith made his normal trip down to Pacifica bakery for coffee and my bran muffin; I scanned the pink section and there it was. I anxiously waited for him to sit down and start reading. He was such a character, he insisted on buying two papers, yes, two papers, him and hers. He did not want to share!
He was a quick reader, like me, and he started to cry--he was very sensitive and emotional. I was 36 and he was 44; SF in those days was glorious. I lived in the City working for Moses Lasky et al. Met keith in 1981 and moved into his house in Pacifica; Fun years at the Cliff house, the Pink Elephant, Top of the Mark, the Big Four, Geary Street, Ocean Highway, Seacliff...I still thrilled at living in California. Keith was from LA and typical Californian--nothing impressed him but intelligence, good manners, kindness to animals. He got that with me, in spades. He had gone to USC to be an architect; got very close to graduating and then walked away. He wanted to do cars; he was a great colorist. He moved to Bay Area, opened up his body shop in South San Francisco. When we first met and he picked me up on Vallejo St. with VW camper (his line was he was on to do some biking in Calistoga and he would drive me up to Calistoga where i was going to try to warm up from cold and foggy SF--I had booked weekend at vegetarian spa; I went everywhere on Grey Line tours. By the time we got on ramp to Golden Gate Bridge, I had to ask him to stop with cracks because my stomach was hurting. We stopped in Marin for coffee at McDonalds and I had to say "I don't do McDonalds." I was such a snob. Seems like yesterday.
When I remarked on old Thunderbird that passed us on bridge, Keith told me he knew I would never get away from him!
I also thought that. I have worked hard, exercised, and eat all the right foods, nothing in excess except hard work.
The Covid- 19 pandemic and the political threat of our Democracy has taken its toll! I have a lot of drive, energy,,and fight in me but recently struggling with a health issue.
I’m trying to get my personal things in better order, sell property that I don’t need, creating a more efficient transition, a better perspective and communicate to my children. They also are hard working, fast paced individuals. I’m trying to show them the obvious, share some perspectives, and my wisdom !
Yes, not all that long ago I was told that I looked HALF my age (or at least half of what everyone else my age looked like).
No; smoking, drinking of alcohol, drug use (recreational or legal script), EVER.
I am eating decently and get lots of aerobic endurance exercise.
But despite all of that, nowadays, at close to 70 not so much. :(
Yes, it is due to worry and stress (and lack of good sleep) about fascism taking over this land, and the 4th REICH scum in power hellbent on taking away my Social Security/Medicare (which I would die out on the streets without) since I did not 'invest wisely' (or at all for that matter, since I have NO trust whatsoever in those degenerate gambling with everyone elses' coin, Wall Street asswipes).
I therefore MUST rely on my EARNED BENEFITS in order to survive economically. I am not alone in this, albeit probably in a vast minority on here (I am guessing?).
Where do you live, Sandra? How old are you? I'm not prying, just curious. BTW, I had never heard of this singer Amy Bell with Rod Stewart--playing while I was reading your post.
My Mom (Jean born in 1917) was a gypsy (she was bipolar too), I have been able to walk away from possessions, relationships, no problem. I have been fortunate because once in awhile I do engage "risky behavior."
Of course not risky for men.. I've never had a problem re the risky stuff, so my judgment not too bad. However, I agonize over said behavior. To a woman, when I confide in my much younger women friends, they always chastise me as women born after 1990 seem to have no qualms about much.
I'm a unique person no question. I am quite attractive still; I guess it's my outgoing personality that impresses people (that's what I've been told). Oh, big surprise, intermingling with attorneys for over 40-years that I can hold my own in a conversation; I'm polished, etc. David at TTC was managing partner at some point and, being Canadians, we both went overboard with political correctness; well DNS still the epitome of what a human being should be like (with Barbara's influence, of course). I have a rebel streak in me, thanks to feisty grandfather, Alex. He was a Scot, small in stature, but a giant amongst men--he ended up supervising engineers in Hfx., had an office right down at the piers. Story is he came to Canada on his own, around 1890 or so, at age 13? (home town: connected with my great-grandfather, Robert Donaldson who had a nice looking daughter Vera. Granddad Donaldson was recruiting down at the piers in Hfx., looking for Scots to help work at Experimental Farm in Nappan).
Alex married Vera Donaldson and then WWI broke out. Dad joined tjhe 85th Batallion of Nova Scotia highlanders, was at Passchendale, got gassed , and eventually had a family of 5; they left Hfx. for Windsor where he helped with the Ambassador Bridge. "Dad" had a real moral fiber; he didn't speak much but when I had skating accident and went flying over barbed wire fence in pond right in front of our house, it was Dad who ministered to me. I remembered sitting in kitchen and he was rubbing Menard's liniment on my right knee which had ballooned up in just a short time (if you could survive smell of Menard's, chances are you would survive). Vile stuff.
Dad was kind, he was gentle and he said to me once "are you sure the teacher wants you to learn all the state capitals and capitals?" I lied of course. I must have been 10--what kid has a mind like that? Why was Mum, my maternal grandmother, not rubbing my knee?
Write me privately, I'm on Facebook and 520-833-0772). I can help you get a better perspective of YOUR life. You wake up one morning and think, like me, wait a minute, here I am closer to 80 than 70 and I'm letting people push me around. I'm smarter than almost 95% of people I interact with; that Canadian upbringing has help me back...just like Marlon in The Waterfront, "I coulda been a contender." What an actor; what a delicious looking guy; like Evis, impossibly handsome.
Bill, way to go. I have friends who are in late 80's; dear friend here, Mae Youngman, just had her 90th and is busy planning 91 party! One can change one's attitude, one just has to think about it long and hard. Sourpuss or life of the party? or just talking with a displaced person and giving him or her encouragement. We all think about ourselves too much. I'm not religious, I dislike organized religion intensely. But all my life I've tried to follow St. Francis and the Golden Rule. It's all paid off because I've helped many people through the years and I feel a calmness about me; one has to be altruistic, some people just aren't.
Professor Reich failed to mention the most important accomplishment passed by Minnesota’s legislature and signed into law. As part of their sweeping Democracy for the People Act, it will now be illegal for partially or wholly foreign owned corporations from being ably to fund elections!!!! This means that 98% of the S&P 500 will be disqualified from polluting Minnesota’s politics with corporate money! It will greatly reduce big money in politics and help restore good government.
We are working to pass AB83 in California. It is identical legislation to what Minnesota just passed and it has become a 2 year bill. Help us pass it at moneyoutvotersin.org
And help end corporate rule with movetoamend.org We can stop the Fascists from dividing the USA. Please check out these two organizations and consider helping. We need democracy now to be able to save our planet!
The SCOTUS screwed our Country when they allowed corporations, religious billionaires, gun lobbyists etc to contribute mega $ to politicians and without allowing their names to be broadcast. It's early, hope I got that right.
For our safety we have speed limits. No matter how much money to you to are limited by the speed limit. Perhaps a donation limit would be appropriate. One percent of all income donated to anyone or organization.
Gary we had donation limits, until Citizens United was decision by SCOTUS in 2010. Allowing corporations to make and PAC's to make donations in millions of dollars in dark money to candidates. This ruling must be overturned to bring us back to a normal playing field.
It will be tough to turn that around unless we get enough people to vote to do so. Sadly, so many of our voting citizens do not vote in their own best interest because they are being fooled by the exact people who are doing them and this country so much harm with all the $$$$$ they donate to the people who have only their own interests in mind.
Voter Education would help but how to do that escapes me.
I worry about this especially now because of the efforts to manipulate the Civic Standards within different states. In Florida, where Richard Corcoran hired Hillsdale College people to re-write Florida Civic standards the end product requires students to explain why the US government is the best form possible - and they describe our government as a constitutional republic. The standard they replaced asked students to compare and contrast multiple different systems.
I wish I had the brains to figure out how to do that.
Sometimes I think we are going backward- devolving- instead of evolving.
I blame that personally on both the education sytem and the food giants ruining our food supply with all the wrong additives. Salt, sugar and fat- all addictive. once again $$$$$
The corporation could donate 1%. That puts all of us on a comparable footing. Only is a few extreme cases does a corporation exceed the 1% is my guess.
That message was from a bot or an impersonator, a scammer/crook of some kind. It was not from Berkeley Prof. Robert Reich, the owner of this substack. Why would he post a comment that asks people to text him at all, let alone at a number with a North Georgia area code (770)??? The real Prof. Reich should get Substack to delete that fake account.
I got an email like from our professor, at first I was honored that he would want to communicate directly with me, I thought it must have been something I wrote in the various Substack's that I subscribe too in order to support the writers that I like to read. I couldn't remember writing anything in reply to what he wrote today, but that doesn't mean that I didn't write a comment. I thought I would look around in the comments to todays essay, and came upon this thread. Thanks, I might have tried to text that #. I'm computer literate and try to be careful which is why I decided look around in the comments again tonight, it would have been easy to fall for that scam, I wonder if it was AI.
If you notice, that fake comment is repeated multiple times identically further down the main comment line. I suspect it was a garden-variety bot...it doesn’t look smart enough to be AI.
One would hope that there is a movement to call a specific and limited Article V constitutional convention to ratify an amendment to clean money out of politics. That was done to get the direct election of senators and worked to end the log jam in Congress to refer the amendment to the States.
A constitutional convention is a terrifying thought, with nearly half the country insane with evangelical bullsit and gun fanaticism. Anti gay rights, oppression of women and stupidity. Now is most definitely not the time.
Not really. The call can be limited to a specific action and be void if the delegates exceed the call. This notion of a run away convention is not supported by the history of Article V or past practice, including the proposed amendment for direct election of senators.
Also remember, there is still high threshold of states need for ratification--38. Some runaway situation would never achieve that number.
The choice has become relatively clear--either let groups like the move to amend be basically fund raising organs for politicians or get real action. We have had enough of the groups on the left complaining and complaining but not using the tools that can do the job.
Your position would be accurate we’re we not in truly unprecedented times. What many on the fascist right propose is a complete re-writing of the Constitution. While I tend to agree it’s a long shot, consider the fact that the con artist dumpty was given a less than 20% chance of winning the office, so little that he didn’t bother to prepare to take office. And now the execrable sexual predator is the top choice for a party that takes governing so un seriously that they cannot, and can’t be bothered to even propose a platform.
You’re talking about traditional behavior. We are not there.
The other side is (quietly?) working diligently to call a Constitutional Convention in order to SHRED and obliterate our current Constitution, and adapt their given racist, Christofascsit NAZI Manifesto in it's place.
Maybe that is why Dr. Gilbert specified a "limited" convention??
Checked several websites. They all indicate that the amendment for direct election of Senators was proposed and ratified via the normal process, not by an Article V constitutional convention. There has never been an Article V convention in our history. Or am I misunderstanding your comment?
A useful quote from the article: "The states turned to the convention provision of Article V to force Congress's hand. Between 1893 and 1911, some thirty states called for a convention to propose an amendment requiring direct election, only one short of the thirty-one needed to trigger the convention process."
The entirety of elected officials are gorging at the trough of money in politics. Until it gets real that there will be a constitutional amendment stopping the process, nothing will happen.
Thank you very much for your reply to my comment! I learned something today. The law review article seems an excellent read! Will do so when I get some time off from caregiving duties.
Much appreciated again - the review article (or at least page 234, is on my list now. I've got a post - much less detailed in form and not backed by your knowledge that suggests that at the state level constitutional amendments are perhaps the only real way forward (particularly in trifecta red states). Will be interested to check out your substack.
Many red states have direct democracy voter initiatives that would bypass the state legislature. That would be a preferred route even in blue states because it would build awareness and interest in democracy.
Thanks - I found information on another substack related to your work that covers cooperative educational models. Will also work to get myself up to speed on direct democracy voter initatives.
It would be interesting to see how the flow of big money divides into the campaign coffers of Democrats and Republicans. My guess is that by far the biggest and most decisive comes from the billionaires of Silicon Valley and goes into the Democratic campaign chests. Prof. Reich should do an analysis to give some data to his claims.
The reason why I submitted this comment about Michael Fanone is because if not for his bravery and the bravery of many others these so called Republican leaders who took the oath to protect and defend our Constitution and our country might have lost their lives that day. Yet they continue to stoke division instead of working with their fellow Democrats in Congress to make a more perfect America!
We were very close to losing our democracy. Someone in the know explained that if not for a whole series of failures by those conspirators to overturn the election & valiant efforts of those defending our Constitution, it is almost certain the seditionists would've prevailed. If any one of those events had turned out differently, Trump could've remained in power.
Sadly, I believe your source is correct. The six or so Secret Security agents from his detail, who recently appeared before 1/6 grand jury, will no doubt reveal, just how perilous his return to 1600 would be! Which must surely mean, he has to be charged? Otherwise, the dry-run will be just that, & next time, he will succeed in the undoing.
The fucking problem, fuck, fuck, fuck. Why the fuck some of my friends, and a few family members still almost worshipping Donald J. Trump? I was thinking about his comments on Inauguration Day: roughly, that he felt he could stand in middle of Fifth Avenue and kill someone and get away with it. Remember that day when the Trump family came down that staircase and Trump was looking like the pompous toad (as my friend Pat calls him) that he is. He's much more than that, he's the most dangerous person in the country, a very real threat to our democracy and he doesn't see it and neither do his followers. I wonder if Roy Cohn would see it or that creep Roger Stone. I blame Norman Vincent Peale and Trump's parents. From an early age Trump felt omnipotent and it's stuck.
Yes he is! I share your frustration, but console myself with the system as it exists, as grinding as it is! Your friends & relatives will possibly never change their opinions, in large part because of what it might say about them.......they have chosen this low-life degenerate as their standard bearer & he is naked & without substance or utility. The legal system will surely uncover all that we don't know about his lawlessness & corruption....The fever may or may not break, but good Americans will not allow this odious cretin back into 1600. Will there be a way back to decency for those that swallowed his schtick hook, line & sinker? I hope so, but won't hold my breath!
Well, thanks for commiserating with me. I think, unfortunately, you are dead wrong. Don't console yourself thinking the system, the legal system will "surely uncover all that we don't know." I'm almost 78, I don't have the years left to wait for court system. "Good Americans will not allow this odious cretin back into 1600?" You must be a priest or more naive than me even. Maybe a dreamer!
Actually what Trump said, “I could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose a single follower.” From the Republican primary polls, this is the only truthful thing he ever said. His followers are either stupid or evil.
There was a reason for my tears in Tucson in November 2016 that's for sure. I'm not given to tears so easily these days; I gave that all up when my Cyclothymia and Anhedonia (lack of emotion) reared their ugly heads.
I on the other hand am observing more and more Americans running around confused and indignant and angering other Americans. It is more than messy out here at this point. Thank goodness I'm in California instead of Texas. Some friends that I do have in Texas are telling me that the civil war, an actual civil war with guns, is getting ready to start. The democratically blue cities and the red urban areas are starting to load their cannons and aim them at each other. Naturally the Christo- fascists are ready to win that war. After a 6 pack they are quite enameled with their ability to cause fear and if need be death.
That is a sorry state of the union or as they call it in Texas the state of the. Confederacy.
We on the other hand need to stop the madness and get back to democracy.
That is interesting considering the one blue spot in Austin is almost the only place you will find people in that state who do not support or like him.
Pence is a lawyer he knew what was legal but conferred with many other lawyers to make sure if he could get by with doing what trump wanted without being held accountable! The spineless Evangelical was only covering his ass! Remember enablers of trump like Pence are just as guilty in my eyes as the trump. Also, Pence will still support trump if he is the Republican nominee even though trump and his insurrectionists tried to hang Pence and kill his family! All fir the love of the Federalist Society, Heritage Society, Evangelicals, and the all mighty Republican Party!
Yes, it's so true. Everything is fragile these days, if you are a thinker; it's why most people are digging into the sand even deeper--too difficult and painful to realize what is happening to the whole world.
When I was a young child there was a toy that us kids loved to amuse ourselves with. It really was two toys but that's neither here nor there. The points of amusement were two little dogs that had magnets attached to their feet. When the poles of the magnets were properly aligned the dogs would be attracted to each other but if you tried to put the pups together when the poles were either North to North or South to South they repelled each other. Our political system has suffered a polar shift in it's alignment. There is no mutual consensus concerning anything in either of the two houses. All of our ideas stand in direct confrontation to what we used to understand as being unacceptable and not in the country's best interest. In order to operate cohesively, the North needs South and the South needs North. We used to think and operate as a single entity, that's where we gained our strength and determination. But ever since Trump entered the fray the political arena has been in a state of bedlam, to put it mildly. Stupidity and ignorance are the new forces that do all the attracting where logic and understanding have left the room. How do we find a leader with a magnetic personality that can realign the poles back to where they were before Trump fell in love with A/C-D/C's song "Highway -To- Hell." Because that's precisely where he wants to take this country.
If I were 20 years younger and native born, I swear I would be tempted to run for President if I had a base. I could do better than 75% of people currently in Congress (esp. Jim Jordan who really, really annoys me).
M.--Jordan is an idiot but he always has been, Comer isn't far behind. Then throw in Boebert
and Greene with a good helping of scented Santos and its a wonder this country is even operational. I guess the rest of us will just sit here and "Biden" our time waiting for something good to happen.
For me worst about Jordan; he downright lied re his involvement in facts re sexual scandal in wrestling world; no one pinned him down about it. He lied, lied, lied, but I guess most people do.
M.-- Jordan is the epitome of a non-com that has trouble thinking because he spends all day sitting on what he feels is a good substitution for what he should never use to think with.
He was referred by the Jan 6 committee for refusing to comply with a subpoena.
At a minimum, he should have been interviewed by the FBI regarding allegations that he was part of the Green Bay sweep.
Although he is chair of the Judiciary Committee, he has never been licensed to practice law.
Yesterday, SCOTUS ruled that the statute of limitation of his sexual abuse case began later than what Ohio State was arguing, making him exposed to lawsuits.
Thanks, it's so good to vent. But with July 4th coming up quickly I'm reflecting on Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mercer, George M. Cohan, all the men and women who gave their lives to this country to preserve democracy, all through our wars. Trumpster for sure would not have done what FDR did. Churchill would have been told to go fuck himself. The U.S. would have remained isolationist, goodness knows what the world would have become. Shades of Joe Kennedy, Charles Lindberg, Neville Chamberlain, ex King Edward (David) who married "what's her name" (Wallis Simpson).
M.--Edward married Homer's cousin Wallis. And Neville was so proud of the agreement he struck with Trump's buddy. What a mess, it's a wonder we made it past all the fools that were hell bent on making the alternative a reality.
JKT--It seems you have me by about 8 years or so but we both understand the mess our political system is being subjected to because of the quality, or lack there of, found in the individuals seated in our two houses. Voters are electing children afflicted with sever mental challenges that would disqualify them from attending a local PTA meeting. Boebert and Greene are little more than an embarrassment to this country and our over all image. Sad.
He suffers - and us too, as a result - from self-deluding narcissism. He needs to be removed from any position of influence. The wheels of justice turn slowly.
You better believe it, baby. What is most concerning to me, being back in Canada these last 4-years and spending most of my adult life in California and Arizona is that in 2019 I came back to Canada to a country I did not recognize. I recognized the wishy washy Canadians for sure, but not the other things I was astonished to see. It's all gone down hill so quickly. I am very alarmed due to Canada's open door policy. Also, almost a year ago, while walking towards the Detroit River to observe the annual fireworks demonstration, I out of the blue stopped a person on Ouellette Avenue, because of his dress and demeanor, and asked him if he had a few minutes to chat (I must have been channeling Edward R. Murrow or someone). He reluctantly, gruffly said okay--he had what I thought was a thick Polish accent (but I think it ended up he was from Ukraine). He was very forthright, rough around the edges. I was taken aback when he said he supported Russia wholeheartedly in the war re Ukraine; it all went back to WWII. I had to reach into my memory banks and managed to sort of save myself. I have friends from eastern Europe and I know how grudges go, but honestly. There's a lot of bad blood in that whole area, not to mention Serbia, etc. Scary, scary people. It's in their DNA.
Many of my ancestors were from what was known in the past as Galicia (the area around the far eastern border of Poland, present day Ukraine, and even parts of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire).
They NEVER would have supported a fascist dictator like; Putin, Stalin before him, or any of the NAZI partisans in that area trying to help out (S)Hitler with his evil genocide during WW2.
My governor and all of the Republican representatives of my home state have lied, cheated and manipulated its people in the name of religion for years and it’s still working. Children have died because of their ignorance and control of the gun laws. Citizens die daily because they won’t provide them medical care. They won’t allow abortions yet they don’t want to feed or educate the children. I love my home state. It is beautiful, but it gets uglier every year I watch the gerrymandering and the evil that continues for money and power. I hate Republicans because of this. It gets worse every year. I’m a Democrat living in a red state, but I don’t want to move. It’s my home and I was born here. It is so sad because it didn’t use to be this way and it shouldn’t be this way now.
To Betty and all who are living in states that are passing laws to hurt people: If I were you, and I wanted to remain in my home despite the bleak situation, here is what I would do. Although it may not be the time to effect change in your state, you can have a huge impact in places where our postcard-writing and phone-banking army is on the move. Your neighbors won't know if you are on the phone mobilizing voters in Wisconsin, Ohio, Arizona, Georgia, Virginia or writing postcards to infrequent voters in any of those states, and making a significant difference. Some eighty million eligible voters stayed home in 2020! Some of those millions need a little help in the form of reminders and clear logistical information. Having a brief conversation with them about their voting plan can aim them in the right direction. Apparently, receiving a hand written postcard encouraging them to vote, reminding them that there is an upcoming election has an impact. I do it every day because it gives me an opportunity to move the needle, if only by a few votes at a time. Being proactive is a meaningful antidote to oppression (and depression). I hope you join us.
Now children, let's remember the Golden Rule and Peace Prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. Let's not let the Trumpster have satisfaction over our frustration--he has turned so many of us into hate mongers.
children? while the prayer is nice, it does not give any recommendations as to how to do it. I have no problem with hatred and anger as emotions. They often motivate us to stand up for what is most democratic and helps to clarify just who the real enemy is.
Okay, Linda, I see what's happening. I'm old and you are young. "Children" is just an euphemism for us old-timers. I think you are not understanding me while I am not understanding you--totally acceptable, but how to educate the younger generation re what is on horizon? My generation, born after WWII ended, in the late 1940's, had a tough time in that the world was trying to recover from a devastating world war (Europe, including England, Africa, Italy, Singapore, China, Japan and other countries I can't think of right now. The "baby boomers" were of necessity thinkers, no media to suggest we should address fact that Mom didn't hug us enough, etc. I'm not belittling life at all today; I think it's great that people have more understanding of their feelings and there is help.
I just want to point out how I believe we should start communicating with this young generation which us old-timers puzzle over (of course happens to a degree every 25 years ago). However, now that things move in a nano second, technology wise, etc.,
I'm sort of chuckling, but serious too, over how things are shaking out. I think artificial intelligence (AI) is scary, very scary but I see where younger people accept AI more, it is modern and what's the big deal after all. You say "motivate us to stand up for what is most democractic and helps to clarify just who the real enemy is." Yikes, I didn't realize how inept us old people have been in trying to communicate with you (assuming you were born after 1990).
I'm simply observing that we were not given any recommendations as to how to live withut hatred and anger. I get your motivation isue. ;
My family are all Democrats and so are my friends. I could not or would not hang out with someone who voted for Trump, but I was talking about the Republican politicians representing my state.
Like it or not, the republican party has embraced extremism and has been moving further to the right on the political spectrum for many years. It’s at the point where people who remain affiliated with the republican party will be assumed to be extremists.
I’m not saying it’s a good or a bad thing to be associated with republican extremism, I’m saying that’s how people think. We don’t hear or read any moderating rhetoric from republicans anymore.
I didn't think of them that way until past few weeks. Now it is known to me that they really really are voting for fascists and they know they're voting for fascists so I can't think of them as anything else but fascists. For this reason I have to call them out. It's no fun but sometimes only cold water in someone's face can wake them up. If they're dead of course, dead to the world that is, even cold water won't work.
I’m not sure whether or not my brother supports trump but pretty sure his wife does. We don’t talk politics and when he trash talks Biden, I end the conversation.
If it espouses fascist ideology, puts fascists into power, hates; Jews, people of color, the whole LGBTQ++ spectrum, 'libtards', socialists, any and all 'others', etc., celebrates (S)Hitler's effing birthday, thinks that the 1/6 Putschers are 'patriots and heroes', walks and talks like a fascist, IT IS A FASCIST. ;)
This is a key issue. People love our homes and communities and don't want to be forced to leave. This gives power to the GOP. It's necessary to find a way to give meaning, hope of success, long term plan to Democrats in red states.
In many states there are few if any billionaires. There are no big cities. Although we consider them to be rural, in reality most of the population live in small towns where the school district and county government are the main employers. Virtually everyone in the state was a net loser from the Trump tax cuts. A high percentage of the population survive on government benefits. When kids graduate from school they head elsewhere because there is no future for them. Although they aren't really rubes they listen to country music. Watch only Fox. Are heavily Protestant.
It's just that thinking about the effects of climate change that are already baked in for the next minimum 200 years and probably more, all our assumptions are based on a structure that is already toast.
Actually, most of the (younger at least) MAGAt wannabe NAZIS most likely listen to Death Metal/'Screamo' over any (even 'patriotic' or rightwingnut themed) country music.
I listen to what many on here would consider 'country' music, albeit NOT the usual, Sinclair/Clear Channel station type, Smashville/Nashvegas top 40 crap that many of those older SCUMpers might listen to regularly. ;)
We can give them faith first by calling out Republicans and second by winning elections. That will give them faith. That will give them knowledge that there is a future.
I love Dolly and she is definitely a Democrat, but she does not get involved in politics. The closest she has come in expressing her views is her new single…an amazing song. Too many deplorables come to Dollywood so she keeps her mouth shut. She did comment on the ignorance of the drag queen debacle. Our representatives don’t know how to read the Constitution!
Betty, have you talked to Democratic leadership in your state to see what initiatives they have to fight back? You should not have to move from the place you were born, the place that holds memories and value.
Yes! Working with them now and donating as I can, but unfortunately the red moronic cult is very overpowering. I’m not leaving my home. It’s just so frustrating!
Sounds like my state, Tennessee. The governor refused funds to help AIDS patients. My state representative was ripped away from me through gerrymandering. My son lost his US Representation when Nashville was divided into three districts joined with red rural areas. I’m not sure my representative would be mine in a fairer division. I love going to his FB page and seeing his constituents attack him on every post, yet we are still stuck with this spineless Trump supporter. As a Jew, he didn’t even question Trump’s dinner guests. He just falls in line.
There were many wealthy industrialist Jews in Germany who supported (S)Hitler (early on) in his taking of power, due to his seemingly pro-big business/industry stance.
They all learned their lessons the hard way, and it amazes (and disgusts) me just how many American fellow tribal members wholeheartedly, and vociferously support the current orange SHITler, and it's party of abject FASCISM, simply because they are duped into believing that it supports Israel for Israel's sake (and not to fulfill some sort of asinine 'end times' Rapture BS to appease the Christofascists). :( :(
I reside in a Republican trifecta state (Utah)...Democrats here have taken to joining the Republican party in order to be able to vote in Republican primaries for moderate Republican candidates...We then vote Democrat in the general elections...
Same in North Carolina - we do still have a Democratic governor by some miracle, but Democrats are registering as Republicans in order to vote against the most rabid Republican candidates in primaries, then voting as Democrats in general elections.
That IS sad- all the old rules seem to be off the table now. I don’t know how pollsters and political analysts can draw any credible conclusions with all of these deceptive approaches going on!
Oh, absolutely, if ever there was a scary state, it's Texas. No one in that state will ever agree that they stole the whole damn country from Mexico and that Davy Crockett et al. who died at Alamo were nothing less than Gods. I just re-read Mitchener's "Texas," which in no means defines my views (just magnifies them).
Ohio is trying to keep us from doing this very thing. They are trying to get rid of our ability to switch parties once registered. They of course won’t listen to the people because it is all about power and money.
Same here in North Carolina. People who have strong Democratic values register as Republican in primaries to vote against the most extreme Republican candidates but then vote Democrat in general elections. Alas, we’re still a
I am doing what i can to promote the Democratic party, but surrounded by Fascist MAGA wingnuts. They are totally dedicated to TUMP and the Fascist./NAZI GQP. Other Democrats are few and far in between in the county i live in.
John, I do believe Florida has more Democratic voters than most people know about. Many of us choose to not talk about our politics because you never know when you will come across a rabid Trumper who would do you harm for nothing more than a Biden sticker on your car.
FEAR. FEAR is what these Christo-fascists want. They want to create that fear All over America. This is why they passed most liberal gun laws. They want to make everyone fear them and thus make the people that fear obey them. But you don't need to worry about that though it' all in the Bible so don't you know.
There's only one way to handle a bully and most of us know what that is. The question is are we courageous enough to handle the bully in the way the bully needs to be handled. The christo- fascists know how to handle the people they think are bullies, the people they are told are bullies, and the people they are told are lying to everybody - Democrats.
What we need in this country is to disallow lying. Lying would hurt someone somewhere somehow is not something that's free speech. It does not fall under the first amendment. Anyone that lies or spreads relies or rumors must be penalized and even jailed if need be.
The media should call out lies left and right. I would like to watch politics on TV where they do nothing but spend an hour calling out Liars for their lies. And I don't care who those Liars are or what they're lying about I just care about the fact that they're wires. Call them out. Call out every liar that you know is lying. Fact check everything that you hear and call out liars.
Yes, they are soooo proud of their goon squad, fascist brown shirt threat of violence and destruction FEAR which they love to try to instill in all of us 'libtards'.
It makes me quite wary of HOW TF the prosecution is ever going to get a fair jury in that blood red, SCUMPster loving area, despite the 'open and shut' airtight case against their putrid orange fuehrer.
Then, can justice ever be served, even if that religiously sycophantic to her fascist savior, rightwing judge does actually rule in an even moderately unbiased manner (as regards actual sentencing).
My parents live there- they moved to Washington to be closer to family, and they hated it! “These people are nuts!” - at age 90 they moved back to Florida, and they’re happy as pigs in poo.
I believe pigs in poo would be very unhappy. If you've ever seen how pigs live, they are very clean, so if a pig is in poo, that is a tragedy, and they would be extremely unhappy.
Same here in Georgia. More especially with our Fascist governor, Brian Kemp. Not bad as DeSatan, but he is getting there with his voter suppression crap.
I came from a 'mixed/purple/swing' part of Pennsyltucky (Bucks County) back to (mostly) bright blue Joyzee.
I used to go to some events in the middle to northwestern part of The Keystone State, but NOT anymore, as it has gotten sooo effing MAGAt Q'aNAZI toxic there, with their 'Putsch' Perry insurrectionist rep, that yes, I fear for my life in that area.
You are not responsible for the actions of other people, only your own. If you vote for candidates who support democracy and against voter suppression, you can be proud of that. If it's too scary to speak out because you fear for your personal safety, be kind to yourself.
I disagree re "be knd to yourself." We can't do that because it smacks of conduct of Germans and others re 1930's on when Germany busy building camps to kill people. We have to speak up, as loudly as possible. Simply put, "we" are almost responsible for our future.
M. You have to understand the rabidness of some of these MAGA's. It is not worth anyone's life or safety to stand up to someone who would do you harm. Our best bet is to keep ourselves safe and do the things we can, such as voting, manning phone banks, sending postcards, helping others to get to the voting booths, and talking to our own kids about what is going on. Without those who stayed and helped get Jews out of Europe, or hid them in their own homes, the war could have turned out very differently.
Boy, I'm dog tired and I should't respond but I will. "It is not worth anyone's life or safety to stand up to someone who would do you harm. Our best bet is to keep ourselves safe and do the things we can...." Michele, Michele what can I say to you? Not worth anyone's life to stand up to evil a/k/a Mr. Trump and MAGA followers? With July 4th coming up very soon, I hope you reflect on your thoughts.
One can still be patriotic for the 4th of July and not think it is wise for singular, lone people to stand up to someone who would do actual physical harm to them. Organizing, going to protests, and all of the things I mentioned above are necessary. While some of these could end in violence, it isn't a lone person standing up to someone who could very well shoot them. In no way did my comment say to not stand up to Trump and other politicians of his ilk. As for the 4th...I will reflect on what my family has given in terms of military service to this country. I'm not one to be shamed for saying that people should do what they can to keep themselves safe while still working towards a better country. I live in Florida, should I expect every LGBTQ+ person to put their lives at very real risk here in order to meet someone else's ideals of what it means to strive for a better tomorrow. One last thing, I see you have lot's of condemnation to those who do not fight back to your standards.... WHAT exactly are you doing to carry the fight forward.
Thank you. I had a Substack Democratic idiot tell me to “get off my ass and change Tennessee.” As if I can control these idiots! You can only knock on so many doors or pass out so much literature. I promise I worked to defeat Blackburn! We are never to be blamed by “Old Man.”
Deep shame is what my family felt while watching the documentary "You've Been Trumped" about the sadistic cruelty of tRump against the environment and people of an area in Scotland where he was building a golf course and huge time-share debacle. Some of the people who were being run-over by tRump would say the word "Americans" as if it were a dirty word. My family and I were speaking to the TV, saying, "We're so sorry. We hate him, too."
It's like the shame and anger we felt when seeing him elbow his way to the front of the group at a gathering of government leaders in Europe, literally pushing others out of his way. It's like the shame we felt when he treated elderly Queen Elizabeth similarly. The list of times tRump brought shame, embarrassment and anger to America is too long to continue.
As to Florida and the shame you feel, it's a strange place, isn't it. It is beyond me how Desantis or tRump have ANY appeal anywhere, but right now, I'm mostly worried about "Judge" and tRump fan-girl Cannon "doing a favor though" for the mob boss who "brung her to the dance."
Seeing the craziness first hand since moving to Florida last October, I can totally sympathize. However, instead of feeling shame, I plan to use my vote and my husband and son will use their votes to add to the Blue voters in this backwards state. Though do be sure to keep safe as we both know a majority of the GOP here are Trump delusionists.
I’m not so sure your state is as red as people think. There has been serious vote tampering there. My sisters 2016 vote for Clinton mysteriously disappeared from the records.
My dear friend Betty Owen who worked at Garan Lucow in Detroit for almost 5 decades is now retired partly in Florida...we just remarked last night that Betty and Gary found Florida deteriorating rapidly due to De Santis. [People in Ontario esp. like Florida retirement because it's a straight shot from Windsor-Detroit area. Maybe we can convince Jerry Seinfeld to come out of retirement and do "Seinfeld II." It wouldn't be the same without George's make believe parents: Jerry Stiller (a genius) and the woman who played his mother. I think I watch two episodes a day still, and I find these two episodes on all across Canada (on the marvelous CTV network).]
Arsekansas would like you to know that our return to the stone age is not desirable for anyone with all their teeth and/or not named Huckabee. Why 78% or so of the state wanted a bigoted Neanderthal from a crime family running it I can't guess.
My family moves to Europe next summer. I am taking no chances of Drumpf ever having say in our lives again.
Options are nice. Any Thoughts on banking in Switzerland shielding wealth drawn from the pulp of humans being put into the meat grinder of war though - for centuries?
I mean I'm not happy about it, however show me a country without bad things in their past, and I will show you either a fabrication, a third-world country, or a country free less than a hundred years. I am more interested in it's present and future, which both look good.
Further, whatever their past, I - and to the best of my knowledge, my ancestors - were not personally involved and I wouldn't know what reparations to make if they were.
Perhaps it's a smidge callous and selfish to take that viewpoint, but I do it for the safety of my family and the future of the children. I like to think my motives are pure, even if I am not.
I get it. Just one of my lifelong things that outrage me. And you’re right, no country is immune from charges of atrocities, including the one I hyphenate my name with - out of deep connection.
And I think America's atrocities against the natives are a still greater sin in any case. I have always clung to my European ancestry and done everything I could to avoid ever using the term "American" for myself.
Then I thought - why live somewhere I am ashamed of? I want a lot of things to change in this country, but if they aren't going to, why force it? I can just fuck off to somewhere more to my liking.
The idea was practically met with applause. I suppose everyone had been thinking it on some level. Tired of worrying about guns and Drumpf and redneck thugs murdering trans folks and all this. So we'll have a proper fucking off.
Crap education, lots of inbreeding, science denial, and having almost no Democrats in the government. In essence, this is what most or all of red states would be like without blue state oversight.
Put significant leashes on corporations and Very Big Money. Pass a law that corporations are not people. Adequately fund the IRS so they are empowered to counter the manufacture of tax avoidances created by the tsunami of attorney (gangs) intent on screwing the public by enabling corporations to be tax free. Break apart all monopolies. Break apart Big Banks. Establish public banking in US Post Offices.Put a cap on wealth accumulation and a ratio of CEO - worker pay. Make the internet a federal utility. Do everything possible to inhibit the occurrence of obscene wealth gaps. Reinstate the draft.
I think this is to reinforce individual responsibility on a national level. However, I have an alternative. Instead of the draft, what about universal service? All citizens must commit to x-years of service (which may be deferred in part for those extending education); however, I do not think military service itself should be required. Instead, there will be a number of different services that would satisfy the requirement, such as: enforcement, emergency medical, fire/etc response, search/rescue, safety, etc.
I read somewhere that during the Vietnam war people felt invested because it was their children, their neighbors, their brothers and fathers and uncles dying. That’s what the draft does. I hated it as I worried about my brothers but it also made me pay attention and feel the war personally. I like the idea of universal service.
I haven't gotten anything done; good thing I'm a really fast typist. Thinking, thinking. What are we to do, the democrats (small "d")? How can we turn the tide, Even if in my dreams Trumpster kicked the bucket in his sleep his followers are empowered due to lies of those idiots Jim Jordan, Rand Paul, De Santis, et al. I'm on the border re Chris Christie, he could very well be the dark horse in the race. I just told friend Jim that i also liked Will Hurd (so far).
I agree that corporations should not be equated as people. However, I think that it is important that corporation have the same civil rights and protections as people. But corporations do not have a right to vote, and should not have a right to lobby.
I think much of the problem can be eliminated if you forbid lobbyists from receiving income and/or compensations other than costs for room, board, and prehaps travel (especially local). Likewise, ALL campaign financing should be prohibited. The costs for financing should come exclusively from an allowance distirbuted equally between all candidates.
Corporations should have the same 'civil rights' as people!?? On what planet? They are not human beings! They have no skin color or real cultural heritage they don't rent apartments to live in. They don't go to school...etc. or breathe.
I don't thing it is a good idea to completely cap weaalth accumulation. However, I do think that taxation should target wealth. That is, it should be more difficult to attain greater amounts of wealth. In particular, inherited wealth should either be prohibited (inheritences limited to physical items) or highly taxed (fixed 90%-95% rates on inheritence).
Mikkelsen: I disagree about limits on wealth. Nobody needs to be a billionaire. It gives too much power and allows ownership of too much land access to water and other resources gives ability to buy/ control and bribe representatives and judges.
Thank you for this and more importantly for you work on behalf of part of my chosen family,
As often happens, I wake up in what is the middle of the night to me, read your thoughts, and end up spending sometime responding. Since I don't like a state that has a republican trifecta perhaps you don't want me to comment, ... so I will keep my comments brief.
It seems to me that a civil war happens when people are willing to kill other people living in their country over ideology. The "Civil War" in the United States of America happened not because a majority of people living in the "confederate" states believed that the Election of Lincoln as president was wrong or somehow illegitimate but because people who commanded people with weapons, ordered those people to use those weapons.
The civil war was mostly about money and a way of life. Plantation owners in the south depended upon slaves working the land in order to maintain the plantation owners’ livelihood and lifestyle. Freeing the slaves destroyed the economy in the south and made black people a symbol of all that was lost.The north won the war, at the cost of the plantation owners’ wealth and way of life and the south never completely got over it. The hostility, desperation
and sudden loss of wealth and status lives on in their
descendants, even though they may not consciously realize why they’re racists. It’s a resentment handed down through the generations. I don’t condone the hostility & resentment, I abhor it. I’m simply communicating the facts as I know them.
I think that’s a big part of what happened Laurie.
People who were white had to more or less stick together. Sort of like, “If you’re not with us, you’re against us,” kind of like what’s going on today.
Republican extremism forced people to pick a side--
it’s a manipulation, but I doubt the people being manipulated realize it.
They didn't like Yankee armies trampling though their fields (and stealing their food), occupying their cities and towns, and insulting their women (especially the black soldiers). I read several books written by Southerners (almost all women) about life in the South during the Civil War, and this feeling of "go away, leave us alone to run our own affairs, Yankees are a bunch of brutes" comes through very strongly. It seemed to me that the women were more hard core supporters of Cause than the men. At least this is MHO.
Very well put. I feel facts a little more complicated than stated, but it is very true that the south is one step away from raising its ugly head re racism again. I'll never forget the Freedom Fighters, the three who lost their lives by way of cold-blooded murder. I do believe that the murderers' families have not strayed far from core. I loved BlackkKlansman. Spike Lee can be brilliant.
very well put, Fred. As I said earlier, let's stop pussy footing around. It's time to make a stand and declare our own war against "them." If that doesn't happen and we don't quell Trumpster and his followers right now, right this week, we are too late to stem.
My work takes me into many more homes than the average. When the household members are FOX news watchers, I've noticed that they tend to leave the TV on in the background, many, all day long. To my simple mind, this equates out to a subtle or steady brainwashing.The divisiveness and bias created by a biased, corporately controlled media tends to be a subject relegated to secondary conversation. It truely needs to be seriously dealt with. The fomenting of the lies, the bias, the hatred of the scary 'other' is their product. As with monies in our political process, this topic will never be seriously dealt with. Why? Because those latched on to those MONIES and that POWER ain't letting go of that big juicy tittie ! A society is a macrocosm of the individual. And we as individuals, with any degree of a decent upbringing are warned of the pitfalls of the human paradigm. Conversely, the corporate citizen holds them near and dear as a closely held set of instructions. Without serious attention to the root causes of our national divisiveness ; those free flowing monies, that corrupted media, the systemic, fomenting of that fear and loathing, the barrage of the mis and dis information resulting in a dumbed down, controllable electorate, the divide will deepen and worsen. Without a conscious and concerted effort to deal with the root causes, nothing will change.
The KKK, NRA, GOP & FOX are all subversive terrorist organizations. They each work in tandem to promote & realize fascism. In another time or another country they would all have been outlawed for the sake of preserving a unified democratic republic.
Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine & Truth in Advertising (which includes political advertising) would go a long way to reining in the lies & disinformation spewed out by Fox.
Fox news offers them so much, compared to ordinary news. In olden days NBC etc used to be all about diplomatic missions, dry war stuff-- much more technical. I think Fox News was the first news many people ever watched. Constant combat, veiled slurs and innuendoes against people the viewers didn't even realize they disliked! Fox convinced them that these people (Democrats and eggheads!) despised them and were so arrogant. And for Blacks-- I remember on Obama's first Thanksgiving, the newperson said in the evening, "Well, President Obama wasn't eating Humble Pie THIS Thanksgiving!" And described the menu in an annoyed voice. Fox articulated a worldview for them akin to that "silent majority" stereotype that was so self-serving and disgusting, as if it was a virtue to suffer and say nothing, which I don't think it is. Anyway they should have realized that "silent majority" refers to the people in the cemetery, before they (Spiro Agnew I think it was) dragged it out of the 19th C. In this way instead of feeling they were obscure people, they were flattered to think of themselves as merely forgotten by the callous sophisticates in a really unjust way, and allowed to watch those same people get dragged through the mud every day on their screens. I know this is probably obvious but I saw it all happen and I just have to get it off my chest. TY!
While Democratic states are generally better, they are far from ideal. For example: it sucks to be poor in America regardless of which state you are in. Perhaps less sucky in Democratic states. In other words, the US has poor social infrastructure compared to other wealthy countries regardless of political party.
Moreover, I'm not sure that Democratic states are better in terms of policing either. The tough on crime nonsense is bipartisan. The location of a police department has impact on the quality of police, e.g. Oakland, CA police department, Atlanta cop city, ....
I really can't understand how homelessness, poverty, economic injustice & inequality can be so widely tolerated & ignored, even in blue states. Eliminating it should be both a national & state priority. There's so much we could do: a much more progressive income tax, wealth tax, universal basic income, universal healthcare, campuses for homeless people that provide food, shelter, healthcare, education & job training...
We don't even have Democrats on the ballot for many offices where we live although we are in a Democratic trifecta state. My fifth grade teacher in 1961 told us we lived in an area of many social experiments due to the demographics called the "Rockford Institute." According to Wikipedia, it wasn't founded until 1976 by Howard. I believe that many of the voter suppression and for-profit mechanisms built into public-private services as well as special assessments, etc. were tested here before being implemented elsewhere. We are now stuck with LaHood. I think I remember his father was associated with the John Birch society. Our republican state senator is in the insurance business and sits on the Illinois insurance committee. Does that seem like a conflict of interest?
I think the underlying reason for the tolerance of the intolerable is racism. The others should not benefit from my hard work. That's what they never had to deal with in progressive Northern Europe (except for recently).
There's a rooted fear of moving money around, in the minds of conservatives. Whether they're poor conservatives or rich conservatives. Otherwise some decent conservatives might be able to see food stamps for what they are! And all that. And affirmative action. Remember Santorum having his bizarre moment-- his private thoughts became audible that time on a microphone when he said in an exasperated voice "We can't have our money going to Blahhhh people,' then he turned his head away I think. It was a cri de coeur! We can't!
How long nowadays do you think the young will put up with the restraints and bans imposed by old, incapable of moving forward and adapting individuals?
The way I see the "hard-core" Republicans is like a dying breed... they are about to disappear and they know it ! That's why they are trying sooo oh so hard to hold onto the reigns of power... It's almost sad what is happening to them 😊
As I said...the Future belongs to the young people (and I am not talking about the ones "young at heart" ) ......
Yes, but some of us "sold out" and joined the "lawyers, guns and money" power elite (I think we called it "The Man"). Remember Jerry Rubin? Sadly, some of today's young people will probably do the same!
I remember in 1964 when Democrat Lyndon Johnson badly beat Republican Barry Goldwater for the Presidency, there were many predictions from so-called "experts" that the Republican Party was soon to be extinct. Supposedly, many Americans were turning against it. The Republicans actually got much stronger! There will always be a conservative party, because there will always be conservatives. What we need to do is defeat the MAGA nuts who have seized control of the party and return it to sanity! My two cents...
We certainly have spoiled their future prospects with the way we've prioritized corporate profits over everything else by destroying the environment, doing virtually nothing to prevent, mitigate or adapt to climate chaos, & permitting the erosion of our democratic rights.
It isn't "WE", it's those who make the major decisions and hold the power. Those who set the agenda and even own the Supreme Court! the (should be illegally) Obscenely
I live in Mini-Me Ohio. We are following in lock step with Florida. 20 years ago the voters approved discontinuing property taxes to fund our schools. The Republicans ignored the voters wishes AND the Ohio Supreme Court orders.. .4X over the last 20 years. And the Courts do nothing about being ignored. They've gerrymandered us so that a Democrat can't win any election- the exception being Sherrod Brown who was elected in 2006...but the Republicans have targeted his demise for the next election. Jim Jordan is from Ohio and can act like the idiot he is because his district was custom made (gerrymandered) for his guaranteed lifetime appointment. Ohio is working on book banning and not allowing gender affirmed care but the worst of it is the abortion issue. We currently are under court order to continue to allow abortions, however the Republicans have decided to raise the citizen approved bills to require a 60% approval instead of the 50% we've had forever and to get the votes to do so they recreated a Special Election in August that will cost the tax payers $20 million dollars. They had just removed allowing August elections in December, 2022 because of low turnout and cost ; but because an abortion bill similar to Kansas was going to be on our November elections and polls indicated we had 59% approval they decided they had to try for voter approval of 60%. You should also understand that the Ohio House and Senate would still be held to 50% +1 approval. One legislator said that they should be determining all bill approval anyway, because "Ohioans don't know what they want". Our legislature has been taken over by extremists on the right, and even though our population is purple. our State representation is bright, bright red and our courts ineffective.
Professor Reich, thank you for writing this insightful commentary.
I am isolated politically as a far left progressive living in Florida. DeSantis is fascistic, a culture warrior exploiting fear and hatred.
Non-binary are vilified and excluded from societal protections.
Since we have no international boarder he used public money to send his supporters airplane to Texas to kidnap by trickery some refugees whom he had flown to Martha’s Vineyard and dumped.
He is creating his own State National Guard under his control.
He had passed a six week abortion ban.
He has empowered self-selected individuals power to ban books in schools and public libraries. He has intimidated librarians.
He redistributed to eliminate a black predominant safe Democratic congressional seat.
He attacked the Disney Corporation in a vendetta to kill “WOKE”!
He has never defined woke but it appears to be descriptive of the concept of sensitivity to social injustice.
Although by referendum the electorate restored voting rights to liberated felons he passed legislation requiring payment of judicially imposed monetary penalties to become eligible. Voter registration offices issued identification cards to ineligible, unsuspecting felons. When they voted he had them arrested with much fanfare and public notice. Courts have regularly dismissed these cases with no governmental notice to the public.
My district elected Anna Paulina Luna to congress. One of her campaign posters features her holding aloft two military firearms. She is a well down stream replacement to long-time Republican C. W. (Bill) Young. He was a person with some credibility and gravitas. She is devoid of such virtues.
This screed is entirely factual and far from complete. Sigh.
Ugh! I do sympathize with your very unfortunate situation.. That LUNAtic who falsely represented herself in the election same way as Santos did, was the one who proposed that shameful censure of Schiff. Sheer LUNAcy!
Yeah, Vlad the Effing Impaler is losing a war (and the 'face' he holds soooo sacred!) HE started against a free, democratic nation to impose HIS will on them (and to loot everything there for himself and his POS oligarchs), yet he worries about what is being said about him and his orange boyfriend on a substack! LOFL
My only disagreement is your conclusion, Professor. You can not change their minds by talking. The only way they change is if something in their life slaps them across the face- an illness that insurance won’t pay for, causes bankruptcy; a beloved child/grandchild comes out; involvement in a shooting; a young woman dies from complications related to a pregnancy that cannot be terminated…..I’m in the trifecta of NJ. I often feel that my national votes don’t count for shit- but I keep doing it anyway!
In fact, I cannot even vote out MAGAt shithead rep Kean, as he is in the adjacent district. :(
But, I CAN; knock doors, make calls, write postcards, and picket his office in Bridgewater.
Just like the duplicitous, self-proclaimed "non-partisan <-(LOFL!) problem solver" SCUMp voting/supporting Lyin' Brian Fitzpatrick installed (for life it seems :( ) in the PA-01 district from where I moved, ol' Tommy Kean Jr. REFUSES to hold ANY town halls at all.
They are BOTH deathly afraid of what they would be asked if they did have an open, unfiltered, unvetted forum, by their respective constituencies, especially by those who did NOT put them into power. ;)
There are many reasons why the country is divided and I believe the main culprits are in leadership positions! We should never forget this man’s bravery to protect his country.
Michael Fanone joined the United States Capitol Police during the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. A few years later, he joined the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, remaining a member for approximately 20 years. During the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, Fanone was assaulted by rioters—dragged down the Capitol steps, beaten with pipes, stunned with a Taser, and threatened with his own gun. Fanone suffered burns, a heart attack, and traumatic brain injuries. As a result he was forced into early retirement. On June 21, 2023 he said to the judge:
"Your honor, we must all join in the fight against Donald Trump and the destructive, divisive movement he has come to represent, we must offer him no safe harbor and to his enablers — whether in business, in politics and the media — give no quarter. In the fight to preserve our Republic, there can be no spectators. Any compassion or empathy I felt toward those who laid siege to our Capitol, whose actions I felt were at least in part influenced by their leader, Donald Trump, and his lies, has been eroded — eroded by the attacks directed at me and my family by supporters of Donald Trump and the right-wing media."
These are the words of a True American Patriot!
Michael Fanone is one of the true heroes on January 6. I can’t find strong enough words to express how the Capitol Police heroes who defended our Capitol on that day of insurrection from those America traitors incited by their own Commander in Chief Donald J. Trump must feel!
I believe this insurrection to be in the same category with the International Terrorists who organized, planned, and successfully bombed our wonderful city of New York on September 11.
I believe that Donald J. Trump, any of his administration, any of his planners, organizers, donor contributors to trump’s insurrection, any of his “friends”, colleagues, Senators, Representatives, fake electors, attorneys, judges, appointed Attorney Generals, any other politician or activist, including the wife of a Supreme Court Justice, billionaire donors to trump’s insurrection should be classified as traitors, prosecuted, removed from office and never be permitted to run for any office ever again!
I have only visited the Washington D.C. 3 times and was totally in awe of pillar of American Democracy! How could any decent critical thinking, respectful American citizen do this to our Capitol?
I wasn’t there and I am still completely disappointed, devastated, disgusted, and ashamed that Americans could be fooled to permit a liar, grifter, thief, conspiracy theorists, narcissistic sociopath, and most of all Traitor, use entertainment and lies to destroy our Democracy solely for his own personal power and personal financial interests. Trump has NO regard or respect for our Constitution, Rule of Law, or any institutions, except for his own personal retribution or revenge for personal exploitation!
I’m disappointed that Americans won’t vote the Fascist Republican Party out of power and change Laws or Amendments to the Constitution. The loopholes that have made it so easy for trump and his MAGA Fascist Republicans to manipulate all the laws or use the best lawyers or crooked lawyers, for trump to operate totally above the law. NO ONE should be permitted to be above the law and that should include President! Our Constitution has made it easy for trump to become the Dictator/traitor that he always wanted to be!
I want to end with the positive note that there are so many brillant, intelligent, professional American Public Servants like Robert Reich that are true Public Servants to the American Democratic Experience ! They are fighting like hell to get the information out to Americans that are interested in saving our Democratic Republic and Rule of Law, Constitution, and freedom!
To be fair, LESS THAN 30% of OUR countryty view "godking" Bunkerboy and his masters favorably! [sic] (Let's be honest here: that dimwitted man-child is OWNED by dozens of "people.")
Their party is breathing about as well as when Trump was diagnosed with covid-19.
If polls were actually printed out, they would be not even be worthy of being used as toilet paper.
That said WHY do I keep seeing these polls which say that if the election were held TODAY, the SHITler would beat Biden if that <30% figure is correct?!?!
Is it totally, and ONLY due to the racist/fascist imbalance caused by the Electoral College, and the undeserved power it gives that shitbilly minority in those few swing states??
There's a reason those printed polls would be less useful than toilet paper, David. They ask the wrong people the wrong questions, and the media uses the wrong criteria to publicize them.
For example, the ever-popular "approval ratings" polls make no distinction about the reason for approval or disapproval of a candidate or office-holder. If I think President Biden should be pushing harder for universal health care, my response to the poll counts the same as someone who believes Mr. Biden should be impeached.
Likewise, polls measuring degree of satisfaction with a Biden-Trump re-match consistently report that more than half the population doesn't want those candidates. What's missed is that a significant number of Republicans don't want Trump, another significant number of Republicans also don't want Biden because they're afraid he'll win. And most Democrats don't want Trump because, well, because he shouldn't be anywhere near our electoral process. Add it all up, and the press reports "widespread dissatisfaction with both candidates."
Finally, the electoral college is not always the demon it's made out to be. And in the matter of polling, the only numbers that matter on election day are the swing-state totals. Nation-wide polls ignore this entirely. If Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio and a few others all tilt Democratic (as they seem to be trending now), you can expect a landslide victory for Biden-Harris in 2024 no matter who the Republican candidate is.
.
As the old Yiddish (or does it go back long before that??) adage goes; 'From your mouth to...' ;)
Allevai!
@JerryWeiss - I appreciate that characterization of how we get to widespread dissatisfaction...sometimes things can be true without being accurate!
And that 30% seems to be armed to the teeth which makes them very dangerous. I'm going with the JDL motto of "never again "
I wanted to add to my comment that I have been to Arlington more times than the National Mall! The biggest disgrace that trump, the elected officials, insurrectionists, or anyone who disrespects our Democratic Republic, Constitution, Rule of Law, peaceful transfer of power and Democracy needs to be taken to Arlington to physically view the sacrifice these men and women and their families did for our freedom!
YES, and fighting the EXACT, PRECISE, evil ideology (fascism) which they ALL want to impose on U.S.!
It didnt register for the shameless TFG.
https://www.vox.com/2020/9/4/21422733/atlantic-trump-military-suckers-losers-explained
Write On my friend!
I like your comment. And I liked our Professor’s reflection that gets down to the root levels of people...where, in the end, it matters. I am now in my 70s. I know I have a few more elections then, well,...I won’t be participating. I now live in Texas in a small community. We are not without our differences. But at the neighbor level, we watch out for one another. One neighbor, who has more chickens than she can handle, shares her eggs; another, honey from bee hives. If a tree falls, neighbors come out and cut the tree or cover a roof. It is a community. Do we all agree on issues? No, but we listen...respectfully. We know we are not clones of one another.
As I view things at the macro level of state and national news and politics, I often wonder as to who is benefiting from the rancor, stirring the pot of dissension, focusing on issues that divide rather than unite? I think I know the answer. There are more things that unite us as a people than divide us, but profit and rancor derived from division seems to be the focus of...”leaders” and our media outlets. I wish it weren’t so. As each year passes now, those who sow dissent have less relevance for me.
With all due respect, as Hitler’s madness began taking hold in Germany I am sure that the Jews found relative safety and camaraderie in their own communities until they began disappearing. We are witnessing those same wheels of approaching fascism in our country presently.
I believe as long as I am alive it is my obligation to say my piece through my vote - even though I know the outcome may be dismal. But, each individual vote is not an insignificant action. We saw that in 2020 when Biden was elected, and again in 2022 as the predicted red wave never occurred. I am of the opinion that 2024 my be our last valid presidential democratic election and we need everyone all in on this one, so that we give ourselves an opportunity to vote democratically in ALL future elections.
At 68 years of age and retired, I am going down kicking and screaming as I have found opportunities to volunteer time and effort to preserving the Democratic life we have in the U.S. The education I have been receiving from leaders such as the Professor, Steve Schmidt, Joyce Vance, Midas Touch Network, and Lincoln Project is outstanding and inspiring. Never Give Up!
I agree with about the growing fascism in this country. The best way to fight it is at the ballot box. Everyone no matter how hard your state legislators are making it for you to vote get out and do it otherwise we may all lose our voting rights if those wanting to own this country get their way.
Keep a steady eye on actions of your state governing bodies. I live in a trifecta state, and my vote is considerably weakened. Yet another law involving voter suppression was silently passed as part of the state budget, which was rammed through at the last minute. Laws passed by my Blue city in this Red state are rendered unenforcible.
what can you do to fight this?
I don't see any further options. They don't respond to voter communication, protests are ongoing, but we get to vote soon on a law that will further limit voter power. By their own rule, the coming election is illegal but they are holding it anyway at significant expense. The local newspaper has been sounding the alarm for weeks, clarifying the wording in the law. I will vote, and remind my neighbors to do the same.
Trisha it sounds like you live in Ohio like I do by your comments but I could be wrong. Since the republicans have gerrymandered our whole system they seem to feel like that they can do anything that they want regardless of what their voters are saying. They have done a good job at trying to suppress us but come August (and hopefully beyond) we will tell them exactly what we think/want. If I am wrong about what state you are in (sorry for the assumption) then I can tell you that I feel your pain and you are not alone.
This sounds like trifecta Missouri, liberal college towns surrounded by much more conservative small rural towns. Having retired here from a blue state, I'm rather discouraged every time I vote.
I put a couple thoughts about what to do in a longer note. Options can include going all in on constitutional amendment processes (straightforward, but a long-haul prospect of course). Also it seems valuble - but complicated and not exactly straightforward - to find a way to collect and reflect back to people what it is that the majority really can come to consensus about. Thoughts?
So What do we do about this?
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country. There are many fascists now in local, state and federal governments and even the so-called US supreme Court. We have six there right now. How can I tell? They all lied to get their jobs and are lying to us today. That's what fascism is all about the big lie and running black money to fascists (Citizens United) The supporters of the christo-fascist party are Nazis, white supremacists, gun toting militia members, haters and bigots of all kinds. They truly are deplorable. Are you one of them? Even if you voted for tRump are you really holding hands with one of the above?
The American Fascist party members in the house of representatives are now locking arms and doing the fascist lockstep for all to see and singing America über alles "above everyone else" I forget who said it but this is the frightwing’s pretzel logic.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping out fascists from government. We are the new anti-fascist party. Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat. Third parties are anathema right now. Don't vote third party. That is a vote for fascism.
As long as you want freedom you are anti-fascist already anyway so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for members of the LGBT communities. It is good for your dogs and your cats. It is good for all Americans black, white, brown, Indian, - every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
If you don’t believe this is a good idea then speak up. What is your idea of what to do?
The short version What do we do about this?
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country.
What can we do to fight back finally? We have to start being outspoken and we need to be active in every corner of America.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping fascists out of the government. We are the new anti-fascist party.
Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat.
As long as you want freedom, you are anti-fascist already so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
Thank you. I prefer to call them The American Taliban.
Vote Blue unless you want to end up like Afghanistan...
I am serious.
I beg to differ. As long
T-rump is alive, we have No Guarantees. You don’t need to trust me, but I wish you take heed to my following factual statement: I was living in south Florida for many years & there were early rumblings about a Stolen Election & Gerrymandering down there. Neighbors were complaining about stolen mailboxes & ballots. One day, I was crossing a very busy intersection. Lo & Behold, a massive open- sided U.S. Mail truck over- loaded with signed ballots, drove right in front of me. This was a clear case of Gerrymandering, orchestrated my Mr.T & his buddy DeJoy,the Postmaster General. Don the Con struck again & didn’t get caught. WAKE UP AMERICA 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Thanks for sharing that, Roberta. My parents are from Nicaragua. My daughter registered to vote on the same day her husband did. The only difference on her registration was that she checked: Latina or Hispanic. Her husband got a ballot. She did not.
Jaime, you should be shouting this from the highest mountain, Post it on Facebook, or disseminate this information wherever possible. If we continue to be silent, we will end up like Nazi Germany. WAKE UP, AMERICA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸.
Roberta, you are too kind. If it were only me, yes. She however is finding her way with her ethnicity. Her disappointment has not yet found a voice beyond her father.
What???? A mail truck drove in front of you??? Gerrymandering??? What???
Thank you, Deb, for your reply. Less relevance does not imply no relevance. I am still in the arena.
I liked your comment and positive information. I am also in my 70s and frightfully scared of losing our freedoms and our Democracy. I am even more concerned for my children, grandchildren and future generations. I’m appalled that the divisions and differences created by Fascism is being accepted and indoctrinated all in the name of religious doctrine!
I believe fascism has always been a covert factor in the American psyche. Especially within those having political and/or corporate power. One must not forget the huge support for Adolph Hitler during his early years of organizing the Nazi Party. Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford come to mind. IBM was also a major factor having trained the Germans in the 1930's how their cardex system works. Ever wonder how the Germans had lists of names and addresses so quickly after they occupied a country? Huge rallies throughout the US right up until and after WWll was declared by Great Britain and others. One only has to research the writings of Joe Kennedy Sr, Ambassador to the UK, to realize this. Corporate figures during the Roosevelt era were selling iron ore to Japan even after December 7th, until Roosevelt promised to jail the whole lot if they didn't stop. Apparently a lot of the war material used by the Japanese during the battle of Guadalcanal was the manufactured result of raw iron sold to Japan by the USA. Many European countries after WWll were hunting war criminals with many remaining at large because the US was hiding them to assist in obtaining information about the USSR, fearing communism more than fascism.
Perhaps this current crisis will awaken Americans to the fact that fascism is alive and well, especially the Evangelical religious right, and use the complacent, democratic process to eliminate it once and for all.
Nice summation- Sinclair Lewis' excellent work It Can't Happen Here was prescient for our current age, because American fascism has raised its head again. Only with the benefit of a rear-view-mirror can we see that the paranoia about communism and containment led directly to Vietnam and a losing quagmire of cold war conflict with innocent Vietnamese caught in the middle.
Thank you for the detailed historical information. Information transparency provides us with facts and knowledge which are priceless even if history is not what we would like it to have been.
Yes
Thank you, Sandra. I worry too about my children and grandchildren. But mindful of what we share with them, I remain hopeful. They, like us, will have their challenges but there is a resilience in the human spirit. My parents were Nicaraguan immigrants who sought a better world for their children and grandchildren. They succeeded.
I think you would fit nd the book Braiding Sweetgrass. hopeful for democracy and our species
Thanks for the suggestion.
The real culprit to Democracy is GREED. Fortunately the vast majority of Americans are not greedy. Unfortunately those who are already have 70% of the wealth and are able to buy politicians like Trump et al, media which supports fascism, Why to they support fascism, because fascism supports them - Fascism gives control to the dictator, his circle of enablers, the military AND the corporate oligarchy - if you're greedy, what's not to love?
Excuse me the US people are greedy.
If a Democratic leader described your community environment as a standard most Republican leaders would call it “socialism.”
The term Socialism is used to spread misinformation for the benefit of the Fascist Republican Party to remain in power! How well it has worked for the blinded cult MAGA followers to call Americans who have rights, freedoms, and empathy for ALL Americans as Socialists. I come from Immigrants who came to this country with a couple of personal items and the clothes on their backs. They worked hard for every penny, paid their fair share of taxes, expected to draw their Social Security which they paid into without Republicans trying to take the SS Trust Funds and help make up their large tax breaks for their billionaires , corporations, donors, and pad their personal coffers with lobbying money.
My parents earned their money from hard honest work and not by grifting, lying, stealing, breaking every law to pay no taxes and operating totally above the law! Didn’t hear a word from the Fascist Republicans when trump and his Republican administration ran up the deficit $7.8 trillion did we? But as soon as a Democrat takes over and tries to fix the Republicans pure financial mess, the Republicans lie and deflected the deficit on the Democrat spending! I also don’t want to hear that it was because of the Pandemic which was more lies and deflection! Trump and his administration denied that there was a pandemic solely due his chances of re-election. Millions of people died due to his misinformation and anti vaccine Republican propaganda!
The Muricun NAZI Party (formerly known as the Republican Party) has succeeded in making "liberal", "socialism", "fair taxation", "equality", and "progressive" into dirty filthy, feared and gut-wrenchingly reactionary words to a large swath of this land.
They yes, even try to 'dirty up' Social Security and Medicare by purposely labeling them as "entitlements" AS IF their recipients did NOT actually pay into them and EARN THEM, and implying that they want and expect them GRATIS because they are 'entitled' to get them merely for being alive after 65, or being disabled.
These 4th Reich fascists truly are pieces of shit, just like the putrid orange turd fuehrer they worship so devoutly.
Totally right on target! I could not explain it nearly as well as you do!
I've been reading Democracy in Chains and find that it is sharing a story on repeat of those of means finding ways to manipulate the masses to act against their own interests. In particular to act in ways that prioritize the economic interests of the rich while simultaneously reducing their own political freedoms. Highly recommend this work.
First of all, my parents & many relatives came to this country with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They all worked very
hard and gave us beautiful lives - WITHOUT GRIFTING or taking an illicit penny from anyone. We now have crooks & cons & cheats to deal with. WE NEED TO GET RID OF OUR POLITICIANS. I pray it’s not too late.
Me too!
We live in a hype-consumer driven society where materialism is exalted. It's easy to fall into "keeping up with the Jones's" and many of us do. US politics and US corporate culture generally reward greed, power, and a lack of empathy. It's no wonder narcissistic, amoral, and sociopathic "leaders" control the levers of power. Either we vote them out and make sweeping changes reinstating the guardrails of Democracy or we become another authoritarian nation ruled instead of represented by its leaders.
Now here is the crux of the situation which is why Americans are stupid. Education.
With education (which is good) one would now the difference between socialism/liberal socialism and left. But propaganda has been used in the USA SO well that being a 'socialist is the same as communist.
And to add to a perspective from education, the educated might notice that even Communism as originally envisioned by Marx (for Republicans- “No not Groucho!”) it was an admirable social scheme, however IMO unworkable being how human nature is.
Carl, I had to smile at your observation. I am not unaware of my neighbors’ leanings. I arrived from California. But, while my wife and I provide a degree of...humor, there is no hubris among us as we live our lives. We are all trying to just live our lives with a focus on the things and values that matter to individuals.
Thank you for this thoughtful and evocative description of your community. It doesn't over simplify things - and it doesn't suggest that reliance on neighbors can solve all problems - but there is a lot that a community can accomplish. I'm heartened by your words.
I had an idea, and then wrote a book about it, how if we truly made use of the power of computers, we could eliminate all leaders and could institute true and actual democracy. It can be found at gettingtozerowaste.com. Our system of gov't has only been around for a little more than 200 years. Even in just human history, that is barely a trial run. It doesn't have to continue forever.
I agree. Michael Fanone should've been American (Man) of the Year. He's a true hero.
Two things have created this massive political divide: jerrymandering and irresponsibe, fake journalism. As I've stated, when a district is "safe red," the candidates push the extreme positions for name recognition and fundraising. The silver lining is that these extremists are often out of touch with level-headed independents who can swing the district/state. For this reason, I'm not worried about extreme candidates.
Regarding the course of action to counter the extremism, we need to call out the irresponsible journalism that enables the extremists. We need honesty and accountability in journalism. The big liar from NY, Rop George Santos. who won the seat in Congress shows just how bad some reporting is, and how voters are manipulated by poor (fake) journalism.
This didn't happen overnight. Somehow, the GOP took the moral high ground, despite trying to end the ACA without an alternative. This is one example of many instances of their immoral platform stances. Don't get me started...
They have also taken the freedom banner and wave it at every opprtunity. Considering their disregard for privacy, this is astonishing. If you ask me, candidates should seek to take the moral high ground and discuss freedom from big government in the doctors' offices and other private matters.
You are right. Unfortunately, Michael Fanone’s life is forever changed & we need to be cognizant of his bravery & sacrifice.
...another hero is Eugene Goodman, who risked his one safety by diverting a group of rioters from entering the Senate chamber taking them on a wild goose chase. to where other officers were waiting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0PrHDzacKE
Absolutely, Mr. Fanone is a true American patriot (and I vaguely remembered your name too).
Please stop writing these words: true American patriot.
It means nothing!
One can argue that it is a relative term, because it depends on who is using it, and where they are coming from. It has a very different meaning from what I think of compared to say, tfg. I guarantee that it means something very special and important to most people in this country.
Suckered by the word Patriot.
If your talking about a big blowhard like Donald Trump draping himself in as many flags as possible while being more loyal to Vladimir Putin and the Saudi Prince and Viktor Orban and all the fascists and calling our prisoners of war 'losers' and active duty serving in our military 'suckers' : that is NOT patriotism! He and others like him are not patriots!
Speak for yourself!
This is what I am doing.
Au contraire, it means everything. How many have we had? Quite a few, Paul Revere, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton (also known for stupidity in getting himself killed unnecessarily), the list would be very long.
So What do we do about this?
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country. There are many fascists now in local, state and federal governments and even the so-called US supreme Court. We have six there right now. How can I tell? They all lied to get their jobs and are lying to us today. That's what fascism is all about the big lie and running black money to fascists (Citizens United) The supporters of the christo-fascist party are Nazis, white supremacists, gun toting militia members, haters and bigots of all kinds. They truly are deplorable. Are you one of them? Even if you voted for tRump are you really holding hands with one of the above?
The American Fascist party members in the house of representatives are now locking arms and doing the fascist lockstep for all to see and singing America über alles "above everyone else" I forget who said it but this is the frightwing’s pretzel logic.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping out fascists from government. We are the new anti-fascist party. Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat. Third parties are anathema right now. Don't vote third party. That is a vote for fascism.
As long as you want freedom you are anti-fascist already anyway so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for members of the LGBT communities. It is good for your dogs and your cats. It is good for all Americans black, white, brown, Indian, - every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
If you don’t believe this is a good idea then speak up. What is your idea of what to do?
The short version What do we do about this?
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country.
What can we do to fight back finally? We have to start being outspoken and we need to be active in every corner of America.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping fascists out of the government. We are the new anti-fascist party.
Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat.
As long as you want freedom, you are anti-fascist already so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
He sits in his marble chair stern and unrelenting in his resolve, while tears of sadness well up and trickle down hardened cheeks that have long since lost their blush. What he sees is a country unimagined while life's energy still pulsed through his veins. He was a simple but at the same time a complex man that faced difficult times during his life, times that are still with us to an extent. He spoke of a nation divided and it's future, unfortunately we seem to be living the results of his vision. He gave Donald Trump some sage advice, "Better to be thought a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Abraham Lincoln saw a world filled with many social injustices and a people suffering because of them. As President he endeavored to do what was best for the country and its people. He may not have died on a military battle field but he perished in battle none the less. Lincoln made the ultimate sacrifice, one that burned his spirit into the hearts of good people everywhere. Divided not hardly, teetering a bit maybe while we adjust our priorities waiting for Trump to pass into a place where he will carry no relevance, political or other wise.
In the BLM riots funded by the Democrat party there were 20 deaths and over 2 billion in damage. In the Trump election fraud protests there were no police or other civilian deaths. Only two unarmed female Trump protestors were killed by Capital Police (no one was charged). Pelosi and the Mayor of DC rejected Trump's request for National Guard to protect everyone. This was an intelligence operation. The FBI is its largest operation ever has gone after these protestors and arrested over 600 people. True the Vote identified over 800,000 illegal votes at drop boxes. The 2020 Election was massively fraudulent and this is gradually being realized by all US citizens.
I am surprised that your post was allowed on Reich’s cool-Aid drinking after party.
Thank you for your post Michael Fanone is a true Patriot who was assaulted by cowards that tRump attracts to himself like a moths to a flame
So What do we do about this?
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country. There are many fascists now in local, state and federal governments and even the so-called US supreme Court. We have six there right now. How can I tell? They all lied to get their jobs and are lying to us today. That's what fascism is all about the big lie and running black money to fascists (Citizens United) The supporters of the christo-fascist party are Nazis, white supremacists, gun toting militia members, haters and bigots of all kinds. They truly are deplorable. Are you one of them? Even if you voted for tRump are you really holding hands with one of the above?
The American Fascist party members in the house of representatives are now locking arms and doing the fascist lockstep for all to see and singing America über alles "above everyone else" I forget who said it but this is the frightwing’s pretzel logic.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping out fascists from government. We are the new anti-fascist party. Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat. Third parties are anathema right now. Don't vote third party. That is a vote for fascism.
As long as you want freedom you are anti-fascist already anyway so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for members of the LGBT communities. It is good for your dogs and your cats. It is good for all Americans black, white, brown, Indian, - every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
If you don’t believe this is a good idea then speak up. What is your idea of what to do?
The short version What do we do about this?
Some Americans are voting for the Christo- fascist party. This is now an extremely strange cult-like phenomenon in this country.
What can we do to fight back finally? We have to start being outspoken and we need to be active in every corner of America.
The Democratic Party is now making a change. The Democratic Party has become the anti-fascist party. We stand for your rights. We stand for democracy. We stand for civil rights. We stand for women's rights. We stand for workers’ rights. We stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. How do we do this? By kicking out or keeping fascists out of the government. We are the new anti-fascist party.
Join us if you are a republican, conservative, democrat or independent in the fight against fascism. If you are a man, woman, rich or poor, voter or non-voter join us. Vote for a Democrat.
As long as you want freedom, you are anti-fascist already so Vote blue because it is totally good for you and it is totally good for America. It is good for your children. It is good for your grandchildren. It is good for women and men. It is good for every single American. Want to vote against Christo-fascism? Vote for a Democrat.
We can do this together. Whoever you are Vote for a democrat and change Americas current trajectory to Democracy.
Here, here!
Lord Dalberg-Acton (First Baron); another great history tricky question. "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Now I knew the quote, but I did not know that Lord Acton was "the famous 19th Century liberal." I could spend all morning just researching him. [John Emerich Edward Dalberg, January 10, 1834, Naples].
There is so much more to learn even at my age in my 70s. I just wish that I had my unbelievable memory that I had in my younger years that I took for granted but am extremely thankful and grateful that I still posses In a lesser form.
We two are in our 70s, later 70s. We know how you feel and the one thing my wife and I have discussed is we were wrong thinking that we would stay young forever. And we wish we had given more empathy to our parents as they aged. Because children never see their parents as getting old..
I am 30 years behind you, but am trying to increase the empathy in general for the parental figures still alive in my life. How we treat the elderly is scary. How my SO and his brother handled their 86 year old mom getting dementia, broke my heart. Watching the last year of her life was so painful. My father, an ex-marine, ex psychiatrist, current Parkinsons patient,and traumatic brain injured, is now on the same path, and my SO doesn't seem to relate the mistakes he made with his mom, to do anything helpful or redeemable for my dad. Its so sad. I won't let my dad die alone in pain in an assisted living. Even if I cannot care for him exclusively forever, even if he doesn't know I am his daughter anymore, I will still do the best I can for him as long I can. The stress of aging and knowing your children won't give 2 craps what happens to you, is so stressful I would think. I have to to do better. That is what love is about.
Laura, at least you are cognizant of your actions. You can't control other people. The love of my life, Jim Richter, is 85; he is suffering from IPF (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis). Diagnosed 3-years ago and we both thought death was right around the corner. My second husband, Keith White, SSF, and i were married for 8 year back in early 80's. He was the most fun, the happiest guy, an impossible guy; so loving, so kind and gentle. We were written up in Herb Caen's column 8-23-81 if you can find it (you have to dig a bit in archives). Keith told me his wish was to be mentioned by Herb (who was a very big deal in SF for many years). I wrote a quick blurb to Herb, he liked it. I knew when it was being published in Sunday paper. Keith made his normal trip down to Pacifica bakery for coffee and my bran muffin; I scanned the pink section and there it was. I anxiously waited for him to sit down and start reading. He was such a character, he insisted on buying two papers, yes, two papers, him and hers. He did not want to share!
He was a quick reader, like me, and he started to cry--he was very sensitive and emotional. I was 36 and he was 44; SF in those days was glorious. I lived in the City working for Moses Lasky et al. Met keith in 1981 and moved into his house in Pacifica; Fun years at the Cliff house, the Pink Elephant, Top of the Mark, the Big Four, Geary Street, Ocean Highway, Seacliff...I still thrilled at living in California. Keith was from LA and typical Californian--nothing impressed him but intelligence, good manners, kindness to animals. He got that with me, in spades. He had gone to USC to be an architect; got very close to graduating and then walked away. He wanted to do cars; he was a great colorist. He moved to Bay Area, opened up his body shop in South San Francisco. When we first met and he picked me up on Vallejo St. with VW camper (his line was he was on to do some biking in Calistoga and he would drive me up to Calistoga where i was going to try to warm up from cold and foggy SF--I had booked weekend at vegetarian spa; I went everywhere on Grey Line tours. By the time we got on ramp to Golden Gate Bridge, I had to ask him to stop with cracks because my stomach was hurting. We stopped in Marin for coffee at McDonalds and I had to say "I don't do McDonalds." I was such a snob. Seems like yesterday.
When I remarked on old Thunderbird that passed us on bridge, Keith told me he knew I would never get away from him!
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/idiopathic-pulmonary-fibrosis
I also thought that. I have worked hard, exercised, and eat all the right foods, nothing in excess except hard work.
The Covid- 19 pandemic and the political threat of our Democracy has taken its toll! I have a lot of drive, energy,,and fight in me but recently struggling with a health issue.
I’m trying to get my personal things in better order, sell property that I don’t need, creating a more efficient transition, a better perspective and communicate to my children. They also are hard working, fast paced individuals. I’m trying to show them the obvious, share some perspectives, and my wisdom !
Yes, not all that long ago I was told that I looked HALF my age (or at least half of what everyone else my age looked like).
No; smoking, drinking of alcohol, drug use (recreational or legal script), EVER.
I am eating decently and get lots of aerobic endurance exercise.
But despite all of that, nowadays, at close to 70 not so much. :(
Yes, it is due to worry and stress (and lack of good sleep) about fascism taking over this land, and the 4th REICH scum in power hellbent on taking away my Social Security/Medicare (which I would die out on the streets without) since I did not 'invest wisely' (or at all for that matter, since I have NO trust whatsoever in those degenerate gambling with everyone elses' coin, Wall Street asswipes).
I therefore MUST rely on my EARNED BENEFITS in order to survive economically. I am not alone in this, albeit probably in a vast minority on here (I am guessing?).
Where do you live, Sandra? How old are you? I'm not prying, just curious. BTW, I had never heard of this singer Amy Bell with Rod Stewart--playing while I was reading your post.
My Mom (Jean born in 1917) was a gypsy (she was bipolar too), I have been able to walk away from possessions, relationships, no problem. I have been fortunate because once in awhile I do engage "risky behavior."
Of course not risky for men.. I've never had a problem re the risky stuff, so my judgment not too bad. However, I agonize over said behavior. To a woman, when I confide in my much younger women friends, they always chastise me as women born after 1990 seem to have no qualms about much.
I'm a unique person no question. I am quite attractive still; I guess it's my outgoing personality that impresses people (that's what I've been told). Oh, big surprise, intermingling with attorneys for over 40-years that I can hold my own in a conversation; I'm polished, etc. David at TTC was managing partner at some point and, being Canadians, we both went overboard with political correctness; well DNS still the epitome of what a human being should be like (with Barbara's influence, of course). I have a rebel streak in me, thanks to feisty grandfather, Alex. He was a Scot, small in stature, but a giant amongst men--he ended up supervising engineers in Hfx., had an office right down at the piers. Story is he came to Canada on his own, around 1890 or so, at age 13? (home town: connected with my great-grandfather, Robert Donaldson who had a nice looking daughter Vera. Granddad Donaldson was recruiting down at the piers in Hfx., looking for Scots to help work at Experimental Farm in Nappan).
Alex married Vera Donaldson and then WWI broke out. Dad joined tjhe 85th Batallion of Nova Scotia highlanders, was at Passchendale, got gassed , and eventually had a family of 5; they left Hfx. for Windsor where he helped with the Ambassador Bridge. "Dad" had a real moral fiber; he didn't speak much but when I had skating accident and went flying over barbed wire fence in pond right in front of our house, it was Dad who ministered to me. I remembered sitting in kitchen and he was rubbing Menard's liniment on my right knee which had ballooned up in just a short time (if you could survive smell of Menard's, chances are you would survive). Vile stuff.
Dad was kind, he was gentle and he said to me once "are you sure the teacher wants you to learn all the state capitals and capitals?" I lied of course. I must have been 10--what kid has a mind like that? Why was Mum, my maternal grandmother, not rubbing my knee?
Write me privately, I'm on Facebook and 520-833-0772). I can help you get a better perspective of YOUR life. You wake up one morning and think, like me, wait a minute, here I am closer to 80 than 70 and I'm letting people push me around. I'm smarter than almost 95% of people I interact with; that Canadian upbringing has help me back...just like Marlon in The Waterfront, "I coulda been a contender." What an actor; what a delicious looking guy; like Evis, impossibly handsome.
https://www.ef.com/wwen/english-resources/english-quotes/famous/
https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube%2C+the+eagles%2C+tequila+sunrise&rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA915CA915&oq=youtube%2C+the+eagles%2C+tequila+sunrise&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTEyMDQxajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:cfd387ad,vid:bZxhQJC9hWk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w46bWxS9IjY
I turned 90 last month and still raring to go. Never give up Sandra.
Bill, way to go. I have friends who are in late 80's; dear friend here, Mae Youngman, just had her 90th and is busy planning 91 party! One can change one's attitude, one just has to think about it long and hard. Sourpuss or life of the party? or just talking with a displaced person and giving him or her encouragement. We all think about ourselves too much. I'm not religious, I dislike organized religion intensely. But all my life I've tried to follow St. Francis and the Golden Rule. It's all paid off because I've helped many people through the years and I feel a calmness about me; one has to be altruistic, some people just aren't.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI1Gst7pEqc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8OqwZvEorI
Professor Reich failed to mention the most important accomplishment passed by Minnesota’s legislature and signed into law. As part of their sweeping Democracy for the People Act, it will now be illegal for partially or wholly foreign owned corporations from being ably to fund elections!!!! This means that 98% of the S&P 500 will be disqualified from polluting Minnesota’s politics with corporate money! It will greatly reduce big money in politics and help restore good government.
We are working to pass AB83 in California. It is identical legislation to what Minnesota just passed and it has become a 2 year bill. Help us pass it at moneyoutvotersin.org
And help end corporate rule with movetoamend.org We can stop the Fascists from dividing the USA. Please check out these two organizations and consider helping. We need democracy now to be able to save our planet!
The SCOTUS screwed our Country when they allowed corporations, religious billionaires, gun lobbyists etc to contribute mega $ to politicians and without allowing their names to be broadcast. It's early, hope I got that right.
Right on!!!!!
For our safety we have speed limits. No matter how much money to you to are limited by the speed limit. Perhaps a donation limit would be appropriate. One percent of all income donated to anyone or organization.
Gary we had donation limits, until Citizens United was decision by SCOTUS in 2010. Allowing corporations to make and PAC's to make donations in millions of dollars in dark money to candidates. This ruling must be overturned to bring us back to a normal playing field.
It will be tough to turn that around unless we get enough people to vote to do so. Sadly, so many of our voting citizens do not vote in their own best interest because they are being fooled by the exact people who are doing them and this country so much harm with all the $$$$$ they donate to the people who have only their own interests in mind.
Voter Education would help but how to do that escapes me.
I worry about this especially now because of the efforts to manipulate the Civic Standards within different states. In Florida, where Richard Corcoran hired Hillsdale College people to re-write Florida Civic standards the end product requires students to explain why the US government is the best form possible - and they describe our government as a constitutional republic. The standard they replaced asked students to compare and contrast multiple different systems.
Other details here:
https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/revamped-florida-civics-education-aims-for-patriotism-will-it-catch-on-elsewhere/2022/07
Agreed we need them back.
I wish I had the brains to figure out how to do that.
Sometimes I think we are going backward- devolving- instead of evolving.
I blame that personally on both the education sytem and the food giants ruining our food supply with all the wrong additives. Salt, sugar and fat- all addictive. once again $$$$$
The corporation could donate 1%. That puts all of us on a comparable footing. Only is a few extreme cases does a corporation exceed the 1% is my guess.
Agreed
Was Professor Reich’s acct. hacked?
Yes. He’s not sending a cross and asking you to text him. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Dear? ♥️
Does the number mean we can text you or was that for a specific person?
That message was from a bot or an impersonator, a scammer/crook of some kind. It was not from Berkeley Prof. Robert Reich, the owner of this substack. Why would he post a comment that asks people to text him at all, let alone at a number with a North Georgia area code (770)??? The real Prof. Reich should get Substack to delete that fake account.
I got an email like from our professor, at first I was honored that he would want to communicate directly with me, I thought it must have been something I wrote in the various Substack's that I subscribe too in order to support the writers that I like to read. I couldn't remember writing anything in reply to what he wrote today, but that doesn't mean that I didn't write a comment. I thought I would look around in the comments to todays essay, and came upon this thread. Thanks, I might have tried to text that #. I'm computer literate and try to be careful which is why I decided look around in the comments again tonight, it would have been easy to fall for that scam, I wonder if it was AI.
If you notice, that fake comment is repeated multiple times identically further down the main comment line. I suspect it was a garden-variety bot...it doesn’t look smart enough to be AI.
One would hope that there is a movement to call a specific and limited Article V constitutional convention to ratify an amendment to clean money out of politics. That was done to get the direct election of senators and worked to end the log jam in Congress to refer the amendment to the States.
A constitutional convention is a terrifying thought, with nearly half the country insane with evangelical bullsit and gun fanaticism. Anti gay rights, oppression of women and stupidity. Now is most definitely not the time.
Agreed. Terrifying is the word.
Not really. The call can be limited to a specific action and be void if the delegates exceed the call. This notion of a run away convention is not supported by the history of Article V or past practice, including the proposed amendment for direct election of senators.
Also remember, there is still high threshold of states need for ratification--38. Some runaway situation would never achieve that number.
The choice has become relatively clear--either let groups like the move to amend be basically fund raising organs for politicians or get real action. We have had enough of the groups on the left complaining and complaining but not using the tools that can do the job.
Your position would be accurate we’re we not in truly unprecedented times. What many on the fascist right propose is a complete re-writing of the Constitution. While I tend to agree it’s a long shot, consider the fact that the con artist dumpty was given a less than 20% chance of winning the office, so little that he didn’t bother to prepare to take office. And now the execrable sexual predator is the top choice for a party that takes governing so un seriously that they cannot, and can’t be bothered to even propose a platform.
You’re talking about traditional behavior. We are not there.
THANK YOU!!
Yes, sadly, we are in a time were the "unprecedented" occurs as if it is 'normal business as usual', to the total detriment. of us all.
I appreciate the suggestion here - I look forward to reading up further and getting myself more familiar with the details. Thanks.
EXACTLY!
The other side is (quietly?) working diligently to call a Constitutional Convention in order to SHRED and obliterate our current Constitution, and adapt their given racist, Christofascsit NAZI Manifesto in it's place.
Maybe that is why Dr. Gilbert specified a "limited" convention??
(Although HOW does one actually control that?!?)
Checked several websites. They all indicate that the amendment for direct election of Senators was proposed and ratified via the normal process, not by an Article V constitutional convention. There has never been an Article V convention in our history. Or am I misunderstanding your comment?
True, but the amendment did not happen until all but one State passed the proposal for an Article V convention. Take a look at page 234 of this law review article: https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1487&context=mulr
A useful quote from the article: "The states turned to the convention provision of Article V to force Congress's hand. Between 1893 and 1911, some thirty states called for a convention to propose an amendment requiring direct election, only one short of the thirty-one needed to trigger the convention process."
The entirety of elected officials are gorging at the trough of money in politics. Until it gets real that there will be a constitutional amendment stopping the process, nothing will happen.
Thank you very much for your reply to my comment! I learned something today. The law review article seems an excellent read! Will do so when I get some time off from caregiving duties.
Much appreciated again - the review article (or at least page 234, is on my list now. I've got a post - much less detailed in form and not backed by your knowledge that suggests that at the state level constitutional amendments are perhaps the only real way forward (particularly in trifecta red states). Will be interested to check out your substack.
Many red states have direct democracy voter initiatives that would bypass the state legislature. That would be a preferred route even in blue states because it would build awareness and interest in democracy.
Thanks - I found information on another substack related to your work that covers cooperative educational models. Will also work to get myself up to speed on direct democracy voter initatives.
I thank you Dr Gilbert.
Page 235 especially has given me at least some comfort.
Referring anything to the states now is dangerous due to the Fascist Republican Supermajority!
To get a different perspective on saving the planet, I thought nk you might enjoy reading, Braiding Sweetgrass
It would be interesting to see how the flow of big money divides into the campaign coffers of Democrats and Republicans. My guess is that by far the biggest and most decisive comes from the billionaires of Silicon Valley and goes into the Democratic campaign chests. Prof. Reich should do an analysis to give some data to his claims.
Encouraging … at last.
Well, Prof. Reich, what do you say to that mumble jumble? Democracy for the People Act? from Minnesota?
Was your account hacked?
The reason why I submitted this comment about Michael Fanone is because if not for his bravery and the bravery of many others these so called Republican leaders who took the oath to protect and defend our Constitution and our country might have lost their lives that day. Yet they continue to stoke division instead of working with their fellow Democrats in Congress to make a more perfect America!
Your comment reminded me, that democracy, is protected one person at a time, each of us counting toward the defence. Thank you
We were very close to losing our democracy. Someone in the know explained that if not for a whole series of failures by those conspirators to overturn the election & valiant efforts of those defending our Constitution, it is almost certain the seditionists would've prevailed. If any one of those events had turned out differently, Trump could've remained in power.
Sadly, I believe your source is correct. The six or so Secret Security agents from his detail, who recently appeared before 1/6 grand jury, will no doubt reveal, just how perilous his return to 1600 would be! Which must surely mean, he has to be charged? Otherwise, the dry-run will be just that, & next time, he will succeed in the undoing.
The fucking problem, fuck, fuck, fuck. Why the fuck some of my friends, and a few family members still almost worshipping Donald J. Trump? I was thinking about his comments on Inauguration Day: roughly, that he felt he could stand in middle of Fifth Avenue and kill someone and get away with it. Remember that day when the Trump family came down that staircase and Trump was looking like the pompous toad (as my friend Pat calls him) that he is. He's much more than that, he's the most dangerous person in the country, a very real threat to our democracy and he doesn't see it and neither do his followers. I wonder if Roy Cohn would see it or that creep Roger Stone. I blame Norman Vincent Peale and Trump's parents. From an early age Trump felt omnipotent and it's stuck.
Yes he is! I share your frustration, but console myself with the system as it exists, as grinding as it is! Your friends & relatives will possibly never change their opinions, in large part because of what it might say about them.......they have chosen this low-life degenerate as their standard bearer & he is naked & without substance or utility. The legal system will surely uncover all that we don't know about his lawlessness & corruption....The fever may or may not break, but good Americans will not allow this odious cretin back into 1600. Will there be a way back to decency for those that swallowed his schtick hook, line & sinker? I hope so, but won't hold my breath!
Well, thanks for commiserating with me. I think, unfortunately, you are dead wrong. Don't console yourself thinking the system, the legal system will "surely uncover all that we don't know." I'm almost 78, I don't have the years left to wait for court system. "Good Americans will not allow this odious cretin back into 1600?" You must be a priest or more naive than me even. Maybe a dreamer!
Actually what Trump said, “I could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose a single follower.” From the Republican primary polls, this is the only truthful thing he ever said. His followers are either stupid or evil.
And don't forget most likely poorly educated, uneducated or greedy.
Actually his followers are just like him
Why not BOTH, like the little shrubbie they all fiercely supported before their worshiped demagogue SHITler.
Today’s seditionists appear to want the whole pie.
There was a reason for my tears in Tucson in November 2016 that's for sure. I'm not given to tears so easily these days; I gave that all up when my Cyclothymia and Anhedonia (lack of emotion) reared their ugly heads.
I on the other hand am observing more and more Americans running around confused and indignant and angering other Americans. It is more than messy out here at this point. Thank goodness I'm in California instead of Texas. Some friends that I do have in Texas are telling me that the civil war, an actual civil war with guns, is getting ready to start. The democratically blue cities and the red urban areas are starting to load their cannons and aim them at each other. Naturally the Christo- fascists are ready to win that war. After a 6 pack they are quite enameled with their ability to cause fear and if need be death.
That is a sorry state of the union or as they call it in Texas the state of the. Confederacy.
We on the other hand need to stop the madness and get back to democracy.
My Texas Republican friends hate Trump.
That is interesting considering the one blue spot in Austin is almost the only place you will find people in that state who do not support or like him.
Houston/Harris County is blue.
I don't see how. If Pence had refused to certify the votes, that would have been the beginning, not the end.
So he’s a hero for doing the right thing and despised by the right. 🙄
Pence is a lawyer he knew what was legal but conferred with many other lawyers to make sure if he could get by with doing what trump wanted without being held accountable! The spineless Evangelical was only covering his ass! Remember enablers of trump like Pence are just as guilty in my eyes as the trump. Also, Pence will still support trump if he is the Republican nominee even though trump and his insurrectionists tried to hang Pence and kill his family! All fir the love of the Federalist Society, Heritage Society, Evangelicals, and the all mighty Republican Party!
Yes. I can’t believe the support he still holds for trump. Why?
No!
Note the sarcastic eye roll.
Yes, it's so true. Everything is fragile these days, if you are a thinker; it's why most people are digging into the sand even deeper--too difficult and painful to realize what is happening to the whole world.
When I was a young child there was a toy that us kids loved to amuse ourselves with. It really was two toys but that's neither here nor there. The points of amusement were two little dogs that had magnets attached to their feet. When the poles of the magnets were properly aligned the dogs would be attracted to each other but if you tried to put the pups together when the poles were either North to North or South to South they repelled each other. Our political system has suffered a polar shift in it's alignment. There is no mutual consensus concerning anything in either of the two houses. All of our ideas stand in direct confrontation to what we used to understand as being unacceptable and not in the country's best interest. In order to operate cohesively, the North needs South and the South needs North. We used to think and operate as a single entity, that's where we gained our strength and determination. But ever since Trump entered the fray the political arena has been in a state of bedlam, to put it mildly. Stupidity and ignorance are the new forces that do all the attracting where logic and understanding have left the room. How do we find a leader with a magnetic personality that can realign the poles back to where they were before Trump fell in love with A/C-D/C's song "Highway -To- Hell." Because that's precisely where he wants to take this country.
If I were 20 years younger and native born, I swear I would be tempted to run for President if I had a base. I could do better than 75% of people currently in Congress (esp. Jim Jordan who really, really annoys me).
M.--Jordan is an idiot but he always has been, Comer isn't far behind. Then throw in Boebert
and Greene with a good helping of scented Santos and its a wonder this country is even operational. I guess the rest of us will just sit here and "Biden" our time waiting for something good to happen.
For me worst about Jordan; he downright lied re his involvement in facts re sexual scandal in wrestling world; no one pinned him down about it. He lied, lied, lied, but I guess most people do.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/14/politics/disabato-jim-jordan-ohio-state-abuse-scandal-cnntv/index.html
M.-- Jordan is the epitome of a non-com that has trouble thinking because he spends all day sitting on what he feels is a good substitution for what he should never use to think with.
He was referred by the Jan 6 committee for refusing to comply with a subpoena.
At a minimum, he should have been interviewed by the FBI regarding allegations that he was part of the Green Bay sweep.
Although he is chair of the Judiciary Committee, he has never been licensed to practice law.
Yesterday, SCOTUS ruled that the statute of limitation of his sexual abuse case began later than what Ohio State was arguing, making him exposed to lawsuits.
Most Liars lie that's true. But let's not guess that most people do. Who are these most people?
98% politicians, 80% family members; some husbands and boyfriends.
Not most people. Most elected Republicans.
Thanks, it's so good to vent. But with July 4th coming up quickly I'm reflecting on Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mercer, George M. Cohan, all the men and women who gave their lives to this country to preserve democracy, all through our wars. Trumpster for sure would not have done what FDR did. Churchill would have been told to go fuck himself. The U.S. would have remained isolationist, goodness knows what the world would have become. Shades of Joe Kennedy, Charles Lindberg, Neville Chamberlain, ex King Edward (David) who married "what's her name" (Wallis Simpson).
https://nypost.com/2018/02/10/wallis-simpsons-marriage-to-edward-viii-was-shockingly-miserable/
M.--Edward married Homer's cousin Wallis. And Neville was so proud of the agreement he struck with Trump's buddy. What a mess, it's a wonder we made it past all the fools that were hell bent on making the alternative a reality.
Let us not forget 'Father' Charles Coughlin either. ;)
As an eighty two year old I’ve sadly come to the conclusion that there are more incompetents than ever, particularly in congress.
JKT--It seems you have me by about 8 years or so but we both understand the mess our political system is being subjected to because of the quality, or lack there of, found in the individuals seated in our two houses. Voters are electing children afflicted with sever mental challenges that would disqualify them from attending a local PTA meeting. Boebert and Greene are little more than an embarrassment to this country and our over all image. Sad.
You mean "GYM" Jordan, correct?
As stated before, HYPOCRISY is one of THE most admired, and desired traits to these fascist POS wannabe NAZIS.
He suffers - and us too, as a result - from self-deluding narcissism. He needs to be removed from any position of influence. The wheels of justice turn slowly.
Michael--If only they would roll over the swill that lies beneath them. Oh to hear that lovely crunching sound.
Maybe way, way TOO slowly (or at least way too late?) to 'save' U.S. from fascist despotism. :(
You better believe it, baby. What is most concerning to me, being back in Canada these last 4-years and spending most of my adult life in California and Arizona is that in 2019 I came back to Canada to a country I did not recognize. I recognized the wishy washy Canadians for sure, but not the other things I was astonished to see. It's all gone down hill so quickly. I am very alarmed due to Canada's open door policy. Also, almost a year ago, while walking towards the Detroit River to observe the annual fireworks demonstration, I out of the blue stopped a person on Ouellette Avenue, because of his dress and demeanor, and asked him if he had a few minutes to chat (I must have been channeling Edward R. Murrow or someone). He reluctantly, gruffly said okay--he had what I thought was a thick Polish accent (but I think it ended up he was from Ukraine). He was very forthright, rough around the edges. I was taken aback when he said he supported Russia wholeheartedly in the war re Ukraine; it all went back to WWII. I had to reach into my memory banks and managed to sort of save myself. I have friends from eastern Europe and I know how grudges go, but honestly. There's a lot of bad blood in that whole area, not to mention Serbia, etc. Scary, scary people. It's in their DNA.
Not DNA. Many of us have Ukrainian blood without being like that. Nature loses to nurture.
Many of my ancestors were from what was known in the past as Galicia (the area around the far eastern border of Poland, present day Ukraine, and even parts of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire).
They NEVER would have supported a fascist dictator like; Putin, Stalin before him, or any of the NAZI partisans in that area trying to help out (S)Hitler with his evil genocide during WW2.
My governor and all of the Republican representatives of my home state have lied, cheated and manipulated its people in the name of religion for years and it’s still working. Children have died because of their ignorance and control of the gun laws. Citizens die daily because they won’t provide them medical care. They won’t allow abortions yet they don’t want to feed or educate the children. I love my home state. It is beautiful, but it gets uglier every year I watch the gerrymandering and the evil that continues for money and power. I hate Republicans because of this. It gets worse every year. I’m a Democrat living in a red state, but I don’t want to move. It’s my home and I was born here. It is so sad because it didn’t use to be this way and it shouldn’t be this way now.
To Betty and all who are living in states that are passing laws to hurt people: If I were you, and I wanted to remain in my home despite the bleak situation, here is what I would do. Although it may not be the time to effect change in your state, you can have a huge impact in places where our postcard-writing and phone-banking army is on the move. Your neighbors won't know if you are on the phone mobilizing voters in Wisconsin, Ohio, Arizona, Georgia, Virginia or writing postcards to infrequent voters in any of those states, and making a significant difference. Some eighty million eligible voters stayed home in 2020! Some of those millions need a little help in the form of reminders and clear logistical information. Having a brief conversation with them about their voting plan can aim them in the right direction. Apparently, receiving a hand written postcard encouraging them to vote, reminding them that there is an upcoming election has an impact. I do it every day because it gives me an opportunity to move the needle, if only by a few votes at a time. Being proactive is a meaningful antidote to oppression (and depression). I hope you join us.
I’ve done that. Thanks!
I agree with you, Betty. I hate Rethuglicans too. They are treasonous, domestic terrorists. Donald TUMP and Ron DeSatan are the very worst of them.
Now children, let's remember the Golden Rule and Peace Prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. Let's not let the Trumpster have satisfaction over our frustration--he has turned so many of us into hate mongers.
https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/prayer/traditional-catholic-prayers/saints-prayers/peace-prayer-of-saint-francis/
children? while the prayer is nice, it does not give any recommendations as to how to do it. I have no problem with hatred and anger as emotions. They often motivate us to stand up for what is most democratic and helps to clarify just who the real enemy is.
Okay, Linda, I see what's happening. I'm old and you are young. "Children" is just an euphemism for us old-timers. I think you are not understanding me while I am not understanding you--totally acceptable, but how to educate the younger generation re what is on horizon? My generation, born after WWII ended, in the late 1940's, had a tough time in that the world was trying to recover from a devastating world war (Europe, including England, Africa, Italy, Singapore, China, Japan and other countries I can't think of right now. The "baby boomers" were of necessity thinkers, no media to suggest we should address fact that Mom didn't hug us enough, etc. I'm not belittling life at all today; I think it's great that people have more understanding of their feelings and there is help.
I just want to point out how I believe we should start communicating with this young generation which us old-timers puzzle over (of course happens to a degree every 25 years ago). However, now that things move in a nano second, technology wise, etc.,
I'm sort of chuckling, but serious too, over how things are shaking out. I think artificial intelligence (AI) is scary, very scary but I see where younger people accept AI more, it is modern and what's the big deal after all. You say "motivate us to stand up for what is most democractic and helps to clarify just who the real enemy is." Yikes, I didn't realize how inept us old people have been in trying to communicate with you (assuming you were born after 1990).
I'm simply observing that we were not given any recommendations as to how to live withut hatred and anger. I get your motivation isue. ;
How sad to lump ALL republicans as treasonous, domestic terrorists. They just aren't.
Consider any family/friends who call themselves Republicans if you have any. Is that how you think of them?
My family are all Democrats and so are my friends. I could not or would not hang out with someone who voted for Trump, but I was talking about the Republican politicians representing my state.
Like it or not, the republican party has embraced extremism and has been moving further to the right on the political spectrum for many years. It’s at the point where people who remain affiliated with the republican party will be assumed to be extremists.
I’m not saying it’s a good or a bad thing to be associated with republican extremism, I’m saying that’s how people think. We don’t hear or read any moderating rhetoric from republicans anymore.
They aren’t Republicans anymore. They are cowards. They’ve allowed the cult to take over and worship the orange sociopath.
I didn't think of them that way until past few weeks. Now it is known to me that they really really are voting for fascists and they know they're voting for fascists so I can't think of them as anything else but fascists. For this reason I have to call them out. It's no fun but sometimes only cold water in someone's face can wake them up. If they're dead of course, dead to the world that is, even cold water won't work.
I’m not sure whether or not my brother supports trump but pretty sure his wife does. We don’t talk politics and when he trash talks Biden, I end the conversation.
If it espouses fascist ideology, puts fascists into power, hates; Jews, people of color, the whole LGBTQ++ spectrum, 'libtards', socialists, any and all 'others', etc., celebrates (S)Hitler's effing birthday, thinks that the 1/6 Putschers are 'patriots and heroes', walks and talks like a fascist, IT IS A FASCIST. ;)
It’s hard not, too. My brother has fallen into a cult.
he didn’t. He referred to Rethuglicans
This is a key issue. People love our homes and communities and don't want to be forced to leave. This gives power to the GOP. It's necessary to find a way to give meaning, hope of success, long term plan to Democrats in red states.
In many states there are few if any billionaires. There are no big cities. Although we consider them to be rural, in reality most of the population live in small towns where the school district and county government are the main employers. Virtually everyone in the state was a net loser from the Trump tax cuts. A high percentage of the population survive on government benefits. When kids graduate from school they head elsewhere because there is no future for them. Although they aren't really rubes they listen to country music. Watch only Fox. Are heavily Protestant.
Yet they are Republican trifecta states.
I personally think that the red state population needs a religious epiphany. Kentucky has a Democratic governor who is a lay Disciples of Christ preacher. https://governor.ky.gov/About-Us/Pages/Governor-Andy-Beshear.aspx
Clone him to the Dakotas, most of the south, and most Republican trifectas are toast.
Good points.
It's just that thinking about the effects of climate change that are already baked in for the next minimum 200 years and probably more, all our assumptions are based on a structure that is already toast.
Actually, most of the (younger at least) MAGAt wannabe NAZIS most likely listen to Death Metal/'Screamo' over any (even 'patriotic' or rightwingnut themed) country music.
I listen to what many on here would consider 'country' music, albeit NOT the usual, Sinclair/Clear Channel station type, Smashville/Nashvegas top 40 crap that many of those older SCUMpers might listen to regularly. ;)
... we need him cloned for FL, too. If I could afford to move outta here, I would. But no guarantees that next state (or country) won’t go fascist ...
We can give them faith first by calling out Republicans and second by winning elections. That will give them faith. That will give them knowledge that there is a future.
I agree completely..I’m in Fla., so you can imagine
My condolences.
So sorry! 😩
So Betty, what state are we talking about? There are so many to choose from.
Home of the Tennessee Three
So proud of them! When you read their story you will see how disgusting the Republicans are here using Jesus to do their evil.
Attack bigots with fire, brimstone, TVA, Social Security and Medicare.
IMHO if you enlist Dolly, you can flip the state.
I love Dolly and she is definitely a Democrat, but she does not get involved in politics. The closest she has come in expressing her views is her new single…an amazing song. Too many deplorables come to Dollywood so she keeps her mouth shut. She did comment on the ignorance of the drag queen debacle. Our representatives don’t know how to read the Constitution!
Dolly for governor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QJXsmDBS8k
Right here with you, Betty! It’s disgusting how Lee refused our much needed money for healthcare.
Betty, have you talked to Democratic leadership in your state to see what initiatives they have to fight back? You should not have to move from the place you were born, the place that holds memories and value.
Yes! Working with them now and donating as I can, but unfortunately the red moronic cult is very overpowering. I’m not leaving my home. It’s just so frustrating!
Betty, I must live in the same state you do.
Sounds like my state, Tennessee. The governor refused funds to help AIDS patients. My state representative was ripped away from me through gerrymandering. My son lost his US Representation when Nashville was divided into three districts joined with red rural areas. I’m not sure my representative would be mine in a fairer division. I love going to his FB page and seeing his constituents attack him on every post, yet we are still stuck with this spineless Trump supporter. As a Jew, he didn’t even question Trump’s dinner guests. He just falls in line.
There were many wealthy industrialist Jews in Germany who supported (S)Hitler (early on) in his taking of power, due to his seemingly pro-big business/industry stance.
They all learned their lessons the hard way, and it amazes (and disgusts) me just how many American fellow tribal members wholeheartedly, and vociferously support the current orange SHITler, and it's party of abject FASCISM, simply because they are duped into believing that it supports Israel for Israel's sake (and not to fulfill some sort of asinine 'end times' Rapture BS to appease the Christofascists). :( :(
It sure wasn’t. When I first moved to Tennessee, we had a Democratic governor and two Democratic Senators.
I reside in a Republican trifecta state (Utah)...Democrats here have taken to joining the Republican party in order to be able to vote in Republican primaries for moderate Republican candidates...We then vote Democrat in the general elections...
I'm only surprised that the practice hasn't caught on and become more widespread. Good for you, Utah! "When you can't lick 'em, dick 'em!"
Same in North Carolina - we do still have a Democratic governor by some miracle, but Democrats are registering as Republicans in order to vote against the most rabid Republican candidates in primaries, then voting as Democrats in general elections.
We’ve seen the opposite, here. Republicans vote for the most easily defeatable Dem. 😢
That IS sad- all the old rules seem to be off the table now. I don’t know how pollsters and political analysts can draw any credible conclusions with all of these deceptive approaches going on!
They can’t. GenZs and Millennials don’t answer polls and vote overwhelmingly blue. That’s why the 2022 polls were so wrong.
Much as I would like to do the same in Texas, there are no moderate Republicans here. I truly hope it works for Utah.
Oh, absolutely, if ever there was a scary state, it's Texas. No one in that state will ever agree that they stole the whole damn country from Mexico and that Davy Crockett et al. who died at Alamo were nothing less than Gods. I just re-read Mitchener's "Texas," which in no means defines my views (just magnifies them).
Ohio is trying to keep us from doing this very thing. They are trying to get rid of our ability to switch parties once registered. They of course won’t listen to the people because it is all about power and money.
Same here in North Carolina. People who have strong Democratic values register as Republican in primaries to vote against the most extreme Republican candidates but then vote Democrat in general elections. Alas, we’re still a
Well, "our" only recourse: vote, vote, vote and do it again more often!
THIS is another way to try and change things without putting yourself in danger from Trump's delusional cult members.
I live in Florida. My shame is nearly unbearable.
You shouldn't be ashamed if you don't vote for or contribute to the GOP. Do what you can to promote the Democratic party.
I am doing what i can to promote the Democratic party, but surrounded by Fascist MAGA wingnuts. They are totally dedicated to TUMP and the Fascist./NAZI GQP. Other Democrats are few and far in between in the county i live in.
John, I do believe Florida has more Democratic voters than most people know about. Many of us choose to not talk about our politics because you never know when you will come across a rabid Trumper who would do you harm for nothing more than a Biden sticker on your car.
FEAR. FEAR is what these Christo-fascists want. They want to create that fear All over America. This is why they passed most liberal gun laws. They want to make everyone fear them and thus make the people that fear obey them. But you don't need to worry about that though it' all in the Bible so don't you know.
There's only one way to handle a bully and most of us know what that is. The question is are we courageous enough to handle the bully in the way the bully needs to be handled. The christo- fascists know how to handle the people they think are bullies, the people they are told are bullies, and the people they are told are lying to everybody - Democrats.
What we need in this country is to disallow lying. Lying would hurt someone somewhere somehow is not something that's free speech. It does not fall under the first amendment. Anyone that lies or spreads relies or rumors must be penalized and even jailed if need be.
The media should call out lies left and right. I would like to watch politics on TV where they do nothing but spend an hour calling out Liars for their lies. And I don't care who those Liars are or what they're lying about I just care about the fact that they're wires. Call them out. Call out every liar that you know is lying. Fact check everything that you hear and call out liars.
Yes, they are soooo proud of their goon squad, fascist brown shirt threat of violence and destruction FEAR which they love to try to instill in all of us 'libtards'.
It makes me quite wary of HOW TF the prosecution is ever going to get a fair jury in that blood red, SCUMPster loving area, despite the 'open and shut' airtight case against their putrid orange fuehrer.
Then, can justice ever be served, even if that religiously sycophantic to her fascist savior, rightwing judge does actually rule in an even moderately unbiased manner (as regards actual sentencing).
My parents live there- they moved to Washington to be closer to family, and they hated it! “These people are nuts!” - at age 90 they moved back to Florida, and they’re happy as pigs in poo.
I believe pigs in poo would be very unhappy. If you've ever seen how pigs live, they are very clean, so if a pig is in poo, that is a tragedy, and they would be extremely unhappy.
Same here in Georgia. More especially with our Fascist governor, Brian Kemp. Not bad as DeSatan, but he is getting there with his voter suppression crap.
Florida is one state I no longer visit. Texas too!
I just don't like the odds...
I came from a 'mixed/purple/swing' part of Pennsyltucky (Bucks County) back to (mostly) bright blue Joyzee.
I used to go to some events in the middle to northwestern part of The Keystone State, but NOT anymore, as it has gotten sooo effing MAGAt Q'aNAZI toxic there, with their 'Putsch' Perry insurrectionist rep, that yes, I fear for my life in that area.
You are not responsible for the actions of other people, only your own. If you vote for candidates who support democracy and against voter suppression, you can be proud of that. If it's too scary to speak out because you fear for your personal safety, be kind to yourself.
I disagree re "be knd to yourself." We can't do that because it smacks of conduct of Germans and others re 1930's on when Germany busy building camps to kill people. We have to speak up, as loudly as possible. Simply put, "we" are almost responsible for our future.
M. You have to understand the rabidness of some of these MAGA's. It is not worth anyone's life or safety to stand up to someone who would do you harm. Our best bet is to keep ourselves safe and do the things we can, such as voting, manning phone banks, sending postcards, helping others to get to the voting booths, and talking to our own kids about what is going on. Without those who stayed and helped get Jews out of Europe, or hid them in their own homes, the war could have turned out very differently.
Boy, I'm dog tired and I should't respond but I will. "It is not worth anyone's life or safety to stand up to someone who would do you harm. Our best bet is to keep ourselves safe and do the things we can...." Michele, Michele what can I say to you? Not worth anyone's life to stand up to evil a/k/a Mr. Trump and MAGA followers? With July 4th coming up very soon, I hope you reflect on your thoughts.
One can still be patriotic for the 4th of July and not think it is wise for singular, lone people to stand up to someone who would do actual physical harm to them. Organizing, going to protests, and all of the things I mentioned above are necessary. While some of these could end in violence, it isn't a lone person standing up to someone who could very well shoot them. In no way did my comment say to not stand up to Trump and other politicians of his ilk. As for the 4th...I will reflect on what my family has given in terms of military service to this country. I'm not one to be shamed for saying that people should do what they can to keep themselves safe while still working towards a better country. I live in Florida, should I expect every LGBTQ+ person to put their lives at very real risk here in order to meet someone else's ideals of what it means to strive for a better tomorrow. One last thing, I see you have lot's of condemnation to those who do not fight back to your standards.... WHAT exactly are you doing to carry the fight forward.
Here here!
Thank you. I had a Substack Democratic idiot tell me to “get off my ass and change Tennessee.” As if I can control these idiots! You can only knock on so many doors or pass out so much literature. I promise I worked to defeat Blackburn! We are never to be blamed by “Old Man.”
Deep shame is what my family felt while watching the documentary "You've Been Trumped" about the sadistic cruelty of tRump against the environment and people of an area in Scotland where he was building a golf course and huge time-share debacle. Some of the people who were being run-over by tRump would say the word "Americans" as if it were a dirty word. My family and I were speaking to the TV, saying, "We're so sorry. We hate him, too."
It's like the shame and anger we felt when seeing him elbow his way to the front of the group at a gathering of government leaders in Europe, literally pushing others out of his way. It's like the shame we felt when he treated elderly Queen Elizabeth similarly. The list of times tRump brought shame, embarrassment and anger to America is too long to continue.
As to Florida and the shame you feel, it's a strange place, isn't it. It is beyond me how Desantis or tRump have ANY appeal anywhere, but right now, I'm mostly worried about "Judge" and tRump fan-girl Cannon "doing a favor though" for the mob boss who "brung her to the dance."
Yes. When I traveled outside our country, I told everyone yes, I’m from America, but no I didn’t vote for Trump.
The last time I was in the end I told everybody I was Hungarian. That's before Orban became a right-wingy-dinging
Seeing the craziness first hand since moving to Florida last October, I can totally sympathize. However, instead of feeling shame, I plan to use my vote and my husband and son will use their votes to add to the Blue voters in this backwards state. Though do be sure to keep safe as we both know a majority of the GOP here are Trump delusionists.
I’m not so sure your state is as red as people think. There has been serious vote tampering there. My sisters 2016 vote for Clinton mysteriously disappeared from the records.
My dear friend Betty Owen who worked at Garan Lucow in Detroit for almost 5 decades is now retired partly in Florida...we just remarked last night that Betty and Gary found Florida deteriorating rapidly due to De Santis. [People in Ontario esp. like Florida retirement because it's a straight shot from Windsor-Detroit area. Maybe we can convince Jerry Seinfeld to come out of retirement and do "Seinfeld II." It wouldn't be the same without George's make believe parents: Jerry Stiller (a genius) and the woman who played his mother. I think I watch two episodes a day still, and I find these two episodes on all across Canada (on the marvelous CTV network).]
I don't blame you personally! Just so you know.
Proud to be a Minnesotan! Those pesky mosquitoes don’t look so bad when you see what our blue trifecta has accomplished up here in Lake Wobegon.
ha, ha, ha
Arsekansas would like you to know that our return to the stone age is not desirable for anyone with all their teeth and/or not named Huckabee. Why 78% or so of the state wanted a bigoted Neanderthal from a crime family running it I can't guess.
My family moves to Europe next summer. I am taking no chances of Drumpf ever having say in our lives again.
If Trump is elected the impact on European counties will be severe. There is no escape.
Oh sure. But he won't have any SAY. He won't be writing executive orders for my family. He won't outlaw anything we do or read. Fuck that guy.
Also, we plan on Switzerland. He is welcome to fuck with their 500+ years of neutrality at his own peril.
Options are nice. Any Thoughts on banking in Switzerland shielding wealth drawn from the pulp of humans being put into the meat grinder of war though - for centuries?
I mean I'm not happy about it, however show me a country without bad things in their past, and I will show you either a fabrication, a third-world country, or a country free less than a hundred years. I am more interested in it's present and future, which both look good.
Further, whatever their past, I - and to the best of my knowledge, my ancestors - were not personally involved and I wouldn't know what reparations to make if they were.
Perhaps it's a smidge callous and selfish to take that viewpoint, but I do it for the safety of my family and the future of the children. I like to think my motives are pure, even if I am not.
I get it. Just one of my lifelong things that outrage me. And you’re right, no country is immune from charges of atrocities, including the one I hyphenate my name with - out of deep connection.
And I think America's atrocities against the natives are a still greater sin in any case. I have always clung to my European ancestry and done everything I could to avoid ever using the term "American" for myself.
Then I thought - why live somewhere I am ashamed of? I want a lot of things to change in this country, but if they aren't going to, why force it? I can just fuck off to somewhere more to my liking.
The idea was practically met with applause. I suppose everyone had been thinking it on some level. Tired of worrying about guns and Drumpf and redneck thugs murdering trans folks and all this. So we'll have a proper fucking off.
how about that university that Sara Huckabee Sanders attended as well as her Dad. Must be a neo-Nazi hidden stronghold.
Could be. But with those two I suspect they were simply incapable of learning except what their grandpappies taught them at their kneel X years ago.
But please give us your best guesses - why? What's the matter with Arkansas?
Crap education, lots of inbreeding, science denial, and having almost no Democrats in the government. In essence, this is what most or all of red states would be like without blue state oversight.
Plus: It's the home of the corporatocracy of Walmart!
Put significant leashes on corporations and Very Big Money. Pass a law that corporations are not people. Adequately fund the IRS so they are empowered to counter the manufacture of tax avoidances created by the tsunami of attorney (gangs) intent on screwing the public by enabling corporations to be tax free. Break apart all monopolies. Break apart Big Banks. Establish public banking in US Post Offices.Put a cap on wealth accumulation and a ratio of CEO - worker pay. Make the internet a federal utility. Do everything possible to inhibit the occurrence of obscene wealth gaps. Reinstate the draft.
We need to enforce separation of church & state & establish an equivalent separation between corporation & state.
Yes, like corporations don't get to be people. Nor buy votes
Never going to happen due to deep south's commitment to whatever they call two-faced Bible Belt morals.
I was with you until you said, "reinstate the draft." Why?
I think this is to reinforce individual responsibility on a national level. However, I have an alternative. Instead of the draft, what about universal service? All citizens must commit to x-years of service (which may be deferred in part for those extending education); however, I do not think military service itself should be required. Instead, there will be a number of different services that would satisfy the requirement, such as: enforcement, emergency medical, fire/etc response, search/rescue, safety, etc.
We once had the Peace Corps, in a more enlightened time. Is it still around?
Yes. It operates in 60 countries. This could also be an option for the kind of service I am suggesting.
I read somewhere that during the Vietnam war people felt invested because it was their children, their neighbors, their brothers and fathers and uncles dying. That’s what the draft does. I hated it as I worried about my brothers but it also made me pay attention and feel the war personally. I like the idea of universal service.
There was a big divide like today. College students got deferments.
And then they were thrown in.
And when they returned they were vilified by those who got deferments.
There is no sense forcing a peace lover into war with a gun he can’t shoot due to his upbringing.
Perhaps because citizen soldiers keep an army democratic.
Only if those citizen soldiers have a meaningful say.
Not really; scary history behind men who serve in the draft--not like in the U.S.
I haven't gotten anything done; good thing I'm a really fast typist. Thinking, thinking. What are we to do, the democrats (small "d")? How can we turn the tide, Even if in my dreams Trumpster kicked the bucket in his sleep his followers are empowered due to lies of those idiots Jim Jordan, Rand Paul, De Santis, et al. I'm on the border re Chris Christie, he could very well be the dark horse in the race. I just told friend Jim that i also liked Will Hurd (so far).
Oh, I missed that. It seems out of place with the rest of the post.
I agree that corporations should not be equated as people. However, I think that it is important that corporation have the same civil rights and protections as people. But corporations do not have a right to vote, and should not have a right to lobby.
I think much of the problem can be eliminated if you forbid lobbyists from receiving income and/or compensations other than costs for room, board, and prehaps travel (especially local). Likewise, ALL campaign financing should be prohibited. The costs for financing should come exclusively from an allowance distirbuted equally between all candidates.
Corporations should have the same 'civil rights' as people!?? On what planet? They are not human beings! They have no skin color or real cultural heritage they don't rent apartments to live in. They don't go to school...etc. or breathe.
Oh, they rent apartments alright! At 3 times the value of what their worth and they own the schools now as in "Charter schools".
I don't thing it is a good idea to completely cap weaalth accumulation. However, I do think that taxation should target wealth. That is, it should be more difficult to attain greater amounts of wealth. In particular, inherited wealth should either be prohibited (inheritences limited to physical items) or highly taxed (fixed 90%-95% rates on inheritence).
Mikkelsen: I disagree about limits on wealth. Nobody needs to be a billionaire. It gives too much power and allows ownership of too much land access to water and other resources gives ability to buy/ control and bribe representatives and judges.
Good luck!
Professor
Thank you for this and more importantly for you work on behalf of part of my chosen family,
As often happens, I wake up in what is the middle of the night to me, read your thoughts, and end up spending sometime responding. Since I don't like a state that has a republican trifecta perhaps you don't want me to comment, ... so I will keep my comments brief.
It seems to me that a civil war happens when people are willing to kill other people living in their country over ideology. The "Civil War" in the United States of America happened not because a majority of people living in the "confederate" states believed that the Election of Lincoln as president was wrong or somehow illegitimate but because people who commanded people with weapons, ordered those people to use those weapons.
I am afraid that is happening now.
It hurts my heart.
The civil war was mostly about money and a way of life. Plantation owners in the south depended upon slaves working the land in order to maintain the plantation owners’ livelihood and lifestyle. Freeing the slaves destroyed the economy in the south and made black people a symbol of all that was lost.The north won the war, at the cost of the plantation owners’ wealth and way of life and the south never completely got over it. The hostility, desperation
and sudden loss of wealth and status lives on in their
descendants, even though they may not consciously realize why they’re racists. It’s a resentment handed down through the generations. I don’t condone the hostility & resentment, I abhor it. I’m simply communicating the facts as I know them.
But most of the people of the old south were not plantation owners, so what moved all those poor people of the old south to support the Cause?
Maybe the 'blame game'? Get uneducated people to hate their 'inferiors' ; those who look different and had a lot to learn? Indoctrination of sorts.
I think that’s a big part of what happened Laurie.
People who were white had to more or less stick together. Sort of like, “If you’re not with us, you’re against us,” kind of like what’s going on today.
Republican extremism forced people to pick a side--
it’s a manipulation, but I doubt the people being manipulated realize it.
They didn't like Yankee armies trampling though their fields (and stealing their food), occupying their cities and towns, and insulting their women (especially the black soldiers). I read several books written by Southerners (almost all women) about life in the South during the Civil War, and this feeling of "go away, leave us alone to run our own affairs, Yankees are a bunch of brutes" comes through very strongly. It seemed to me that the women were more hard core supporters of Cause than the men. At least this is MHO.
Interesting.
Hide 'neath a hood and kill with no shame!?
Very well put. I feel facts a little more complicated than stated, but it is very true that the south is one step away from raising its ugly head re racism again. I'll never forget the Freedom Fighters, the three who lost their lives by way of cold-blooded murder. I do believe that the murderers' families have not strayed far from core. I loved BlackkKlansman. Spike Lee can be brilliant.
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/mississippi-burning
https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2013-06-21/ty-article/.premium/1964-kkk-kills-3-activists-in-mississippi/0000017f-ed86-d4cd-af7f-edfe12470000
very well put, Fred. As I said earlier, let's stop pussy footing around. It's time to make a stand and declare our own war against "them." If that doesn't happen and we don't quell Trumpster and his followers right now, right this week, we are too late to stem.
My work takes me into many more homes than the average. When the household members are FOX news watchers, I've noticed that they tend to leave the TV on in the background, many, all day long. To my simple mind, this equates out to a subtle or steady brainwashing.The divisiveness and bias created by a biased, corporately controlled media tends to be a subject relegated to secondary conversation. It truely needs to be seriously dealt with. The fomenting of the lies, the bias, the hatred of the scary 'other' is their product. As with monies in our political process, this topic will never be seriously dealt with. Why? Because those latched on to those MONIES and that POWER ain't letting go of that big juicy tittie ! A society is a macrocosm of the individual. And we as individuals, with any degree of a decent upbringing are warned of the pitfalls of the human paradigm. Conversely, the corporate citizen holds them near and dear as a closely held set of instructions. Without serious attention to the root causes of our national divisiveness ; those free flowing monies, that corrupted media, the systemic, fomenting of that fear and loathing, the barrage of the mis and dis information resulting in a dumbed down, controllable electorate, the divide will deepen and worsen. Without a conscious and concerted effort to deal with the root causes, nothing will change.
The KKK, NRA, GOP & FOX are all subversive terrorist organizations. They each work in tandem to promote & realize fascism. In another time or another country they would all have been outlawed for the sake of preserving a unified democratic republic.
Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine & Truth in Advertising (which includes political advertising) would go a long way to reining in the lies & disinformation spewed out by Fox.
Prosecuting Jan 6 conspirators may be an object lesson and lead to breaking up white nationalist groups that promote violence.
Here in Baghdad By the Sea and throughout Florida Proud Boys have infiltrated the Republican Party.
If they can herd us like cattle we will be treated that way!
👌👍 AND THEY DO ! !
Fox news offers them so much, compared to ordinary news. In olden days NBC etc used to be all about diplomatic missions, dry war stuff-- much more technical. I think Fox News was the first news many people ever watched. Constant combat, veiled slurs and innuendoes against people the viewers didn't even realize they disliked! Fox convinced them that these people (Democrats and eggheads!) despised them and were so arrogant. And for Blacks-- I remember on Obama's first Thanksgiving, the newperson said in the evening, "Well, President Obama wasn't eating Humble Pie THIS Thanksgiving!" And described the menu in an annoyed voice. Fox articulated a worldview for them akin to that "silent majority" stereotype that was so self-serving and disgusting, as if it was a virtue to suffer and say nothing, which I don't think it is. Anyway they should have realized that "silent majority" refers to the people in the cemetery, before they (Spiro Agnew I think it was) dragged it out of the 19th C. In this way instead of feeling they were obscure people, they were flattered to think of themselves as merely forgotten by the callous sophisticates in a really unjust way, and allowed to watch those same people get dragged through the mud every day on their screens. I know this is probably obvious but I saw it all happen and I just have to get it off my chest. TY!
While Democratic states are generally better, they are far from ideal. For example: it sucks to be poor in America regardless of which state you are in. Perhaps less sucky in Democratic states. In other words, the US has poor social infrastructure compared to other wealthy countries regardless of political party.
Moreover, I'm not sure that Democratic states are better in terms of policing either. The tough on crime nonsense is bipartisan. The location of a police department has impact on the quality of police, e.g. Oakland, CA police department, Atlanta cop city, ....
I really can't understand how homelessness, poverty, economic injustice & inequality can be so widely tolerated & ignored, even in blue states. Eliminating it should be both a national & state priority. There's so much we could do: a much more progressive income tax, wealth tax, universal basic income, universal healthcare, campuses for homeless people that provide food, shelter, healthcare, education & job training...
I totally agree.
While the GOP makes me angry, what makes me really despair is the sentiment expressed on Nextdoor in what should be a very blue area.
For example, folks seem more troubled by having to see homeless people than the actual program of homelessness.
And, as for criminals: animals, shoot them, remove limbs, lock them up for ever, ...
So sad 🤦🏾♂️
We don't even have Democrats on the ballot for many offices where we live although we are in a Democratic trifecta state. My fifth grade teacher in 1961 told us we lived in an area of many social experiments due to the demographics called the "Rockford Institute." According to Wikipedia, it wasn't founded until 1976 by Howard. I believe that many of the voter suppression and for-profit mechanisms built into public-private services as well as special assessments, etc. were tested here before being implemented elsewhere. We are now stuck with LaHood. I think I remember his father was associated with the John Birch society. Our republican state senator is in the insurance business and sits on the Illinois insurance committee. Does that seem like a conflict of interest?
I think the underlying reason for the tolerance of the intolerable is racism. The others should not benefit from my hard work. That's what they never had to deal with in progressive Northern Europe (except for recently).
There's a rooted fear of moving money around, in the minds of conservatives. Whether they're poor conservatives or rich conservatives. Otherwise some decent conservatives might be able to see food stamps for what they are! And all that. And affirmative action. Remember Santorum having his bizarre moment-- his private thoughts became audible that time on a microphone when he said in an exasperated voice "We can't have our money going to Blahhhh people,' then he turned his head away I think. It was a cri de coeur! We can't!
The Future belongs to the young people!!
How long nowadays do you think the young will put up with the restraints and bans imposed by old, incapable of moving forward and adapting individuals?
The way I see the "hard-core" Republicans is like a dying breed... they are about to disappear and they know it ! That's why they are trying sooo oh so hard to hold onto the reigns of power... It's almost sad what is happening to them 😊
As I said...the Future belongs to the young people (and I am not talking about the ones "young at heart" ) ......
Oh, dear. Roxana, we were once young people who created a social and cultural revolution. And we got beat by the lawyers, guns and money. Remember?
Yes, but some of us "sold out" and joined the "lawyers, guns and money" power elite (I think we called it "The Man"). Remember Jerry Rubin? Sadly, some of today's young people will probably do the same!
If you don't make ends meet, you will meet your end.
I remember in 1964 when Democrat Lyndon Johnson badly beat Republican Barry Goldwater for the Presidency, there were many predictions from so-called "experts" that the Republican Party was soon to be extinct. Supposedly, many Americans were turning against it. The Republicans actually got much stronger! There will always be a conservative party, because there will always be conservatives. What we need to do is defeat the MAGA nuts who have seized control of the party and return it to sanity! My two cents...
We certainly have spoiled their future prospects with the way we've prioritized corporate profits over everything else by destroying the environment, doing virtually nothing to prevent, mitigate or adapt to climate chaos, & permitting the erosion of our democratic rights.
It isn't "WE", it's those who make the major decisions and hold the power. Those who set the agenda and even own the Supreme Court! the (should be illegally) Obscenely
Wealthy!
I live in Mini-Me Ohio. We are following in lock step with Florida. 20 years ago the voters approved discontinuing property taxes to fund our schools. The Republicans ignored the voters wishes AND the Ohio Supreme Court orders.. .4X over the last 20 years. And the Courts do nothing about being ignored. They've gerrymandered us so that a Democrat can't win any election- the exception being Sherrod Brown who was elected in 2006...but the Republicans have targeted his demise for the next election. Jim Jordan is from Ohio and can act like the idiot he is because his district was custom made (gerrymandered) for his guaranteed lifetime appointment. Ohio is working on book banning and not allowing gender affirmed care but the worst of it is the abortion issue. We currently are under court order to continue to allow abortions, however the Republicans have decided to raise the citizen approved bills to require a 60% approval instead of the 50% we've had forever and to get the votes to do so they recreated a Special Election in August that will cost the tax payers $20 million dollars. They had just removed allowing August elections in December, 2022 because of low turnout and cost ; but because an abortion bill similar to Kansas was going to be on our November elections and polls indicated we had 59% approval they decided they had to try for voter approval of 60%. You should also understand that the Ohio House and Senate would still be held to 50% +1 approval. One legislator said that they should be determining all bill approval anyway, because "Ohioans don't know what they want". Our legislature has been taken over by extremists on the right, and even though our population is purple. our State representation is bright, bright red and our courts ineffective.
Jeannie I am right with in Ohio and didn’t see your post before I did mine. Big sigh!
Same in Florida
Professor Reich, thank you for writing this insightful commentary.
I am isolated politically as a far left progressive living in Florida. DeSantis is fascistic, a culture warrior exploiting fear and hatred.
Non-binary are vilified and excluded from societal protections.
Since we have no international boarder he used public money to send his supporters airplane to Texas to kidnap by trickery some refugees whom he had flown to Martha’s Vineyard and dumped.
He is creating his own State National Guard under his control.
He had passed a six week abortion ban.
He has empowered self-selected individuals power to ban books in schools and public libraries. He has intimidated librarians.
He redistributed to eliminate a black predominant safe Democratic congressional seat.
He attacked the Disney Corporation in a vendetta to kill “WOKE”!
He has never defined woke but it appears to be descriptive of the concept of sensitivity to social injustice.
Although by referendum the electorate restored voting rights to liberated felons he passed legislation requiring payment of judicially imposed monetary penalties to become eligible. Voter registration offices issued identification cards to ineligible, unsuspecting felons. When they voted he had them arrested with much fanfare and public notice. Courts have regularly dismissed these cases with no governmental notice to the public.
My district elected Anna Paulina Luna to congress. One of her campaign posters features her holding aloft two military firearms. She is a well down stream replacement to long-time Republican C. W. (Bill) Young. He was a person with some credibility and gravitas. She is devoid of such virtues.
This screed is entirely factual and far from complete. Sigh.
I lament.
Ugh! I do sympathize with your very unfortunate situation.. That LUNAtic who falsely represented herself in the election same way as Santos did, was the one who proposed that shameful censure of Schiff. Sheer LUNAcy!
So move?
Is this really Robert Reich?
I doubt it! Some RW hacker, I'll bet. Maybe Robert should be notified?
A Putinbot maybe?
Who could tell these daze? The inmates run the interwebs!
Yeah, Vlad the Effing Impaler is losing a war (and the 'face' he holds soooo sacred!) HE started against a free, democratic nation to impose HIS will on them (and to loot everything there for himself and his POS oligarchs), yet he worries about what is being said about him and his orange boyfriend on a substack! LOFL
I would think he would check the comments and see there’s some idiot on his post…
I agree Mary! The area code is a Georgia exchange and we know he lives in LA, as the show is filmed on Sony's lot in Culver city, Ca.
I don't social network. If you are, send RR a tweet to see what's up?
No
My only disagreement is your conclusion, Professor. You can not change their minds by talking. The only way they change is if something in their life slaps them across the face- an illness that insurance won’t pay for, causes bankruptcy; a beloved child/grandchild comes out; involvement in a shooting; a young woman dies from complications related to a pregnancy that cannot be terminated…..I’m in the trifecta of NJ. I often feel that my national votes don’t count for shit- but I keep doing it anyway!
Same here (in Joyzee).
In fact, I cannot even vote out MAGAt shithead rep Kean, as he is in the adjacent district. :(
But, I CAN; knock doors, make calls, write postcards, and picket his office in Bridgewater.
Just like the duplicitous, self-proclaimed "non-partisan <-(LOFL!) problem solver" SCUMp voting/supporting Lyin' Brian Fitzpatrick installed (for life it seems :( ) in the PA-01 district from where I moved, ol' Tommy Kean Jr. REFUSES to hold ANY town halls at all.
They are BOTH deathly afraid of what they would be asked if they did have an open, unfiltered, unvetted forum, by their respective constituencies, especially by those who did NOT put them into power. ;)