It seems like every aspect of our national life is divided. I can't watch the news as much anymore because it is so disheartening. I have followed the news closely since 2016 and it's difficult for me to accept how things have gotten so deeply divided and so outlandishly insane. From the court case rulings to conspiracy theorists, to the violence and the pandemic--our country is suffering. Biden is doing the best he can and the bills that passed are going to give our country a boost. If we could just reallocate some of that military spending, that would help greatly. It seems that so much is going on and everything is an existential threat in some way to each person for whatever reason. I fear for our nation and I fear for myself. I don't want to live in a country that is led by Donald Trump.
Throughout our history, the wealthy elites have incited racial animus to maintain their power. This is nothing new in our country. I think Trump's election was in part a backlash to the fact that a Black man was elected and reelected president. According to Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, Trump's star rose in the Republican Party when he began vociferously promoting so-called birtherism, the notion that President Obama was not born in this country, and was therefore illegitimate. The wealthy Republican elites also don't like Black people demanding equal treatment. As police are starting to be held to account for gratuitous violence against Black people, White Supremacist thugs with guns are becoming a convenient tool to keep Black people in their place.
President Biden and other Democratic Party leaders could find a compelling way to call out wealthy elitist Republicans on their persistent playing the race card to maintain power and accumulate more and more wealth. Instead, the Democratic Party establishment has decided to make progressives the bogeymen. The New York Times published an interview yesterday with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She said that she and other progressives were explicitly commanded by party leaders to stay away from the 2021 Virginia elections. They were then blamed for the losses.
Responsible citizens must be courageous & nonviolent to best combat the fear, violence, & racism of the GOP. Courage is grace under pressure. So we must gracefully pass the BBB Act, & then end the filibuster. This will be difficult, due to the millions GOP donors are giving to Manchin & Sinema. But this legislation is essential to win the 2022 elections. I do not even want to think of a United States with Kevin McCarthy as Speaker.
I don’t imagine anyone doesn’t want to see Dems get more aggressive. In this regard, I see an opening for Dems to take on BBB detractors. Dems should be prevailed upon to demand that its detractors explain not what they oppose, but what they are in favor of for their communities. For instance, are they for extending the child tax credit, for universal child care, for universal pre-K, for investments in housing, in elder care, in home and community-based care, in ACA subsidies, in climate, and so forth.
I fear if Dems don’t get more aggressive on a host of issues, that last Monday’s BIF signing ceremony could be the last opportunity of any President to stand in front of a bipartisan audience and say this is how Washington should work.
With things like the electoral college, gerrymandering, the filibuster, politicians for sale and a supreme court stacked with Trump stooges, the odds against America as we know it are strongly unfavorable.
The Democrats must win an overwhelming majority just to implement popular policies that the rich and powerful oppose.
The similarities to the rise of authoritarian fascism in Germany in 1932 are too strong to overlook.
Giving more money to Act Blue and Democratic candidates who accept corporate money and huge PAC money from unidentified donors is just a waste of money better spent locally.
Bernie, Mayor Pete. AOC and other progressive politicians will never be allowed to rise to meaningful positions of power. Should a fluke happen, it is likely they will be assassinated as was JFK, RFK, MLK and other politicians who have paid with their lives for their beliefs in a more perfect union.
The only viable solution is to start planning to leave the failing Disunited States. Take the money you are wasting on political contributions and start saving so you can escape the sinking ship.
Sorry to be so blunt and pessimistic but changing America is simply not possible.
Maybe if the country was slit up, there might be some hope, but that will never happen.
What's on trial right now in the back-to-back Arbery and Rittenhouse cases is not only the "self-defense" defense, but also vigilantism. The three men accused of Arbery's murder could easily have called police to investigate what they thought was suspicious activity. Instead, something (take a guess) motivated them to make a "citizens arrest." In that case, it was Arbery, not the murderer, who acted in self defense. Rittenhouse apparently wanted to prove his manhood by strutting around in a volatile protest and brandishing an assault rifle as a self-appointed security guard in Kenosha. There was no way that was going to end well. How many other racists, extremists, conspiracy theorists, pretend soldiers, and militia members will take it upon themselves to threaten people, provoke them, kill them, and claim they acted in self-defense? We might want to add flak jackets to our Christmas lists.
One of the Kardashian sisters sells cosmetics on the Internet. She has millions of followers. Greta Thumberg has hundreds of thousands. Humanity very much prefers to be distracted from reality. We are like the water spider, so light it can walk on the surface of the water. However, to reproduce, it has to pierce the water membrane an swim down to the bottom of the river to lay her eggs. So we will continue walking on the water as long as we can, living in distractions and illusions. The propaganda machine loves this human predisposition. We are in a bad way.
This may sound provocative to many but I do not think that the country is divided, at least not in the sense usually referred to. The Trump faultline does exist only because most people who form the Republican base are utterly misinformed. When polled about what is in the BBB without mentioning the bill itself, they overwhelming favor its proposed reforms. Most people know what they need. So, no, the country is not divided that much. What divides us is that some (or many) fall prey to the divide and conquer technique used throughout history by those who stoke fear and anger to profit from gullible masses.
As of today, this division in the U.S. will remain as long as "moderate" democrat reps will not be called out for being, in reality, bribed democrats (legally but bribed nevertheless) with a huge conflict of interest when it comes to representing the people. Trump or Murdoch are just fanning the flames of division. They could not be able to do it with such a facility if those who are supposed to be the good guys did their job and had the moral courage to stand for the truth. When someone fights for the American people instead of for the interests of corporate donors, people in Trump's country tend to trust him or her. Ask Bernie Sanders.
Our division is just superficial. Ignorance and stupidity can turn deadly but their primary enablers are those who refuse to get money out of politics.
There are many entities that benefit. Corporations, power hungry politicians and adversaries throughout the world, to name a few. Racists fear they're being replaced, religious zealots fear they're losing control of their flock and political influence and we can't forget hate groups that feel empowered by the fear they help create. We also must include people who perform racist, hate and discrimination against fellow Americans. Where will this end up, especially with a judicial system that is failing us, will depend on how the American people stand up and fight to change the atrocities happening here every day. We must act now.
There are divisions but they are exaggerated. I am an independent and the news media portray nothing about my interests. Everything is Dem vs Rep and only the extremes are reported. No poll shows where those of us who are not affiliated with a political party fit in the conversation. And we represent about 1/3 of the country. Division is also being exaggerated by the gerrymandering and voter suppression laws being passed. Those actions create an unjust distribution of votes and voter preferences. And also Democrats have contributed a lot to the division by being radical about policy. There is very little common ground in the party and that contributes to endless debates about how to move forward, how to progress. The one issue that all Dems should get behind, and Indies as well, is the influence of "big money" in our political system. Attack that, and a lot of the power to control the political agenda becomes minimized. Campaign contributions, lobbying and the connection to contributions, limitless terms, gains from insider info, all contribute to the Repugnants control and should be the first priority and anyone who sees themselves as a protector of our Democracy.
The Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment in 2008, which for the first time in over 200 years said the amendment was about individual gun rights and not "well regulated militias," also allows states to ban the carrying of guns in public places (pp, 55-56.) New York State is legally right to regulate this. I can't believe the colssal ignorance of the SCOTUS decison in this country, which also allows states to ban guns to felons and the mentally ill, to regulate gun sales, and to ban "dangerous weapons." The NRA and gun rights advocates are completely wrong on these issues.
The right wing of the Republican Party really studied Lenin’s vanguard party success during the Cold War. What they have developed within the Republican Party umbrella is a vanguard party model where the policy is developed hierarchically around laissez Faire economics and then transmitted to the people who emotionally need a right wing cause to explain why they can’t get ahead in society or to protect what they have against the people who might take it away who are obviously in this world minorities favored by liberals.
So the idea that we should come together presupposes common interests when what is really going on is that the middle stratum of the working class and even the sons and daughters of the educated white collar upper middle class are being declassed and are losing their entitlement to a bourgeois existence. This is the mass base for Fascism.
So without resolving the underlying economic problems you cannot get the unity you are looking for. You have to undermine the appeal of the highly organized billionaire funded technologically adept vanguard party organized right to those being ground up by modern capitalism.
So this is why reforms that restore the middle class as embodied in the original BBB are so important.
People do not naturally gravitate toward violence stirred up by right wing fanatics. But Washington Democrats are so corrupt they won’t get the message.
We need reforms now or we are definitely headed towards fascism. You can’t put lipstick on a pig and sell it to the public. What the donor class in Washington is doing to the Democratic Party needs to be recognized and stopped. Where are the party elders to make this happen before it’s too late?
I am very scared. Everyone seems to have a vocal, harsh opinion. How far is this country going to go before we fall off the edge? Do people really understand what the consequences will be?!?
It seems like every aspect of our national life is divided. I can't watch the news as much anymore because it is so disheartening. I have followed the news closely since 2016 and it's difficult for me to accept how things have gotten so deeply divided and so outlandishly insane. From the court case rulings to conspiracy theorists, to the violence and the pandemic--our country is suffering. Biden is doing the best he can and the bills that passed are going to give our country a boost. If we could just reallocate some of that military spending, that would help greatly. It seems that so much is going on and everything is an existential threat in some way to each person for whatever reason. I fear for our nation and I fear for myself. I don't want to live in a country that is led by Donald Trump.
Throughout our history, the wealthy elites have incited racial animus to maintain their power. This is nothing new in our country. I think Trump's election was in part a backlash to the fact that a Black man was elected and reelected president. According to Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, Trump's star rose in the Republican Party when he began vociferously promoting so-called birtherism, the notion that President Obama was not born in this country, and was therefore illegitimate. The wealthy Republican elites also don't like Black people demanding equal treatment. As police are starting to be held to account for gratuitous violence against Black people, White Supremacist thugs with guns are becoming a convenient tool to keep Black people in their place.
President Biden and other Democratic Party leaders could find a compelling way to call out wealthy elitist Republicans on their persistent playing the race card to maintain power and accumulate more and more wealth. Instead, the Democratic Party establishment has decided to make progressives the bogeymen. The New York Times published an interview yesterday with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She said that she and other progressives were explicitly commanded by party leaders to stay away from the 2021 Virginia elections. They were then blamed for the losses.
If McConnell won't allow any republican to vote with Dems, why are they even there?
Responsible citizens must be courageous & nonviolent to best combat the fear, violence, & racism of the GOP. Courage is grace under pressure. So we must gracefully pass the BBB Act, & then end the filibuster. This will be difficult, due to the millions GOP donors are giving to Manchin & Sinema. But this legislation is essential to win the 2022 elections. I do not even want to think of a United States with Kevin McCarthy as Speaker.
I don’t imagine anyone doesn’t want to see Dems get more aggressive. In this regard, I see an opening for Dems to take on BBB detractors. Dems should be prevailed upon to demand that its detractors explain not what they oppose, but what they are in favor of for their communities. For instance, are they for extending the child tax credit, for universal child care, for universal pre-K, for investments in housing, in elder care, in home and community-based care, in ACA subsidies, in climate, and so forth.
I fear if Dems don’t get more aggressive on a host of issues, that last Monday’s BIF signing ceremony could be the last opportunity of any President to stand in front of a bipartisan audience and say this is how Washington should work.
I share your comments!
a
If a person of your stature fears.... I am NOW TRULY WORRIED!
I am usually a positive person but we have reached a tipping point.
This just may be historically the "downside of capitalism" .., very sad.
The rich get richer ,.. more powerful, more corrupt.
History is full of nations that rise and fall.
"The grandeur that was Rome!"
With things like the electoral college, gerrymandering, the filibuster, politicians for sale and a supreme court stacked with Trump stooges, the odds against America as we know it are strongly unfavorable.
The Democrats must win an overwhelming majority just to implement popular policies that the rich and powerful oppose.
The similarities to the rise of authoritarian fascism in Germany in 1932 are too strong to overlook.
Giving more money to Act Blue and Democratic candidates who accept corporate money and huge PAC money from unidentified donors is just a waste of money better spent locally.
Bernie, Mayor Pete. AOC and other progressive politicians will never be allowed to rise to meaningful positions of power. Should a fluke happen, it is likely they will be assassinated as was JFK, RFK, MLK and other politicians who have paid with their lives for their beliefs in a more perfect union.
The only viable solution is to start planning to leave the failing Disunited States. Take the money you are wasting on political contributions and start saving so you can escape the sinking ship.
Sorry to be so blunt and pessimistic but changing America is simply not possible.
Maybe if the country was slit up, there might be some hope, but that will never happen.
What's on trial right now in the back-to-back Arbery and Rittenhouse cases is not only the "self-defense" defense, but also vigilantism. The three men accused of Arbery's murder could easily have called police to investigate what they thought was suspicious activity. Instead, something (take a guess) motivated them to make a "citizens arrest." In that case, it was Arbery, not the murderer, who acted in self defense. Rittenhouse apparently wanted to prove his manhood by strutting around in a volatile protest and brandishing an assault rifle as a self-appointed security guard in Kenosha. There was no way that was going to end well. How many other racists, extremists, conspiracy theorists, pretend soldiers, and militia members will take it upon themselves to threaten people, provoke them, kill them, and claim they acted in self-defense? We might want to add flak jackets to our Christmas lists.
One of the Kardashian sisters sells cosmetics on the Internet. She has millions of followers. Greta Thumberg has hundreds of thousands. Humanity very much prefers to be distracted from reality. We are like the water spider, so light it can walk on the surface of the water. However, to reproduce, it has to pierce the water membrane an swim down to the bottom of the river to lay her eggs. So we will continue walking on the water as long as we can, living in distractions and illusions. The propaganda machine loves this human predisposition. We are in a bad way.
This may sound provocative to many but I do not think that the country is divided, at least not in the sense usually referred to. The Trump faultline does exist only because most people who form the Republican base are utterly misinformed. When polled about what is in the BBB without mentioning the bill itself, they overwhelming favor its proposed reforms. Most people know what they need. So, no, the country is not divided that much. What divides us is that some (or many) fall prey to the divide and conquer technique used throughout history by those who stoke fear and anger to profit from gullible masses.
As of today, this division in the U.S. will remain as long as "moderate" democrat reps will not be called out for being, in reality, bribed democrats (legally but bribed nevertheless) with a huge conflict of interest when it comes to representing the people. Trump or Murdoch are just fanning the flames of division. They could not be able to do it with such a facility if those who are supposed to be the good guys did their job and had the moral courage to stand for the truth. When someone fights for the American people instead of for the interests of corporate donors, people in Trump's country tend to trust him or her. Ask Bernie Sanders.
Our division is just superficial. Ignorance and stupidity can turn deadly but their primary enablers are those who refuse to get money out of politics.
There are many entities that benefit. Corporations, power hungry politicians and adversaries throughout the world, to name a few. Racists fear they're being replaced, religious zealots fear they're losing control of their flock and political influence and we can't forget hate groups that feel empowered by the fear they help create. We also must include people who perform racist, hate and discrimination against fellow Americans. Where will this end up, especially with a judicial system that is failing us, will depend on how the American people stand up and fight to change the atrocities happening here every day. We must act now.
There are divisions but they are exaggerated. I am an independent and the news media portray nothing about my interests. Everything is Dem vs Rep and only the extremes are reported. No poll shows where those of us who are not affiliated with a political party fit in the conversation. And we represent about 1/3 of the country. Division is also being exaggerated by the gerrymandering and voter suppression laws being passed. Those actions create an unjust distribution of votes and voter preferences. And also Democrats have contributed a lot to the division by being radical about policy. There is very little common ground in the party and that contributes to endless debates about how to move forward, how to progress. The one issue that all Dems should get behind, and Indies as well, is the influence of "big money" in our political system. Attack that, and a lot of the power to control the political agenda becomes minimized. Campaign contributions, lobbying and the connection to contributions, limitless terms, gains from insider info, all contribute to the Repugnants control and should be the first priority and anyone who sees themselves as a protector of our Democracy.
The Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment in 2008, which for the first time in over 200 years said the amendment was about individual gun rights and not "well regulated militias," also allows states to ban the carrying of guns in public places (pp, 55-56.) New York State is legally right to regulate this. I can't believe the colssal ignorance of the SCOTUS decison in this country, which also allows states to ban guns to felons and the mentally ill, to regulate gun sales, and to ban "dangerous weapons." The NRA and gun rights advocates are completely wrong on these issues.
There is a way to look at this that makes sense.
The right wing of the Republican Party really studied Lenin’s vanguard party success during the Cold War. What they have developed within the Republican Party umbrella is a vanguard party model where the policy is developed hierarchically around laissez Faire economics and then transmitted to the people who emotionally need a right wing cause to explain why they can’t get ahead in society or to protect what they have against the people who might take it away who are obviously in this world minorities favored by liberals.
So the idea that we should come together presupposes common interests when what is really going on is that the middle stratum of the working class and even the sons and daughters of the educated white collar upper middle class are being declassed and are losing their entitlement to a bourgeois existence. This is the mass base for Fascism.
So without resolving the underlying economic problems you cannot get the unity you are looking for. You have to undermine the appeal of the highly organized billionaire funded technologically adept vanguard party organized right to those being ground up by modern capitalism.
So this is why reforms that restore the middle class as embodied in the original BBB are so important.
People do not naturally gravitate toward violence stirred up by right wing fanatics. But Washington Democrats are so corrupt they won’t get the message.
We need reforms now or we are definitely headed towards fascism. You can’t put lipstick on a pig and sell it to the public. What the donor class in Washington is doing to the Democratic Party needs to be recognized and stopped. Where are the party elders to make this happen before it’s too late?
I am very scared. Everyone seems to have a vocal, harsh opinion. How far is this country going to go before we fall off the edge? Do people really understand what the consequences will be?!?
Reading this blog, and the comments, I’m concerned that so many of us feel jaded and powerless right now.
How would you suggest everyday people mobilize and what would you suggest we do to counteract the movement against voters’ rights?
Thank you.
Christine