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I really, really hope I'm wrong.
But is it over for the nigh two hundred-and-fifty-year-old experiment in democracy dubbed the United States of America? The Republicans long ago sold their withered souls in worship of their criminal cult leader. But that seems just fine with a majority of Americans, or at least a sufficient number to win the Electoral College and now possibly the popular vote as well. The Supreme Court seems to have been bought off by jokers with cavernous pockets. We now stand on the precipice of a theocracy with its help.
The ugly truth is the ultra-rich have purchased their pet politicians who only pretend to pay lip service to the citizens, who are likely sooner than later to be robbed of even the illusion of a proper democracy in order that even more wealth can be transferred from a future serf class into the pockets of preening neo-nobility. We will be allowed enough pocket money to fulfill our roles as consumers, but little else beyond that. I really hope those saps who bought the Republican lies like being peasants.
As the planet Earth is puking up humanity in general, we seem to not want to even go out with some dignity. We shall live a world thoroughly fracked but without enough potable water. The rising temps and the rising oceans will slowly but surely change the world in the centuries to come. Will man survive? Earth doesn't care. The Solar System cares even less. And the Universe doesn't even know of our existence.
I am an old man and while sad and more than a wee bit bitter to see this day arrive, I know that my children will really be the ones to suffer. All of this so a handful of fat old white men can cling to their power a few hours longer. The very order of the world, one fought for generations ago by regular men and women who sacrificed it all, will be transformed for the worse. Ironically, my daughter who teaches history is scheduled to teach about "The Shot Heard Around the World" today. The irony drips she said, as he teaches about the beginning of the nation on possibly the very day it began its ending.
The United States of America 1776-2024?
I really, really hope I'm wrong.
Rip Off
I hope you're wrong too, RJ.
ReplyDeleteOur best hope is that these greedy mopes will be satisfied by pillaging the public treasury and leave off with their more ghastly plans for the populace.
DeleteIronically, in the UK the word 'trump' is a synonym for a 'fart'. Apt, eh?
DeleteAs the sage Stan Lee said upon occasion -- 'Nuff Said!
DeleteI think the concept of "The West" is pretty much dead too or certainly close to dying. Only yesterday I was reading that India (now the world's 5th biggest economy) has aligned itself with China rather than The West and more and more countries owe their allegiance to China due to massive Chinese investment in those countries. China is the rising global power and everyone knows it. France's President Macron recently said that Europe needs to free itself from America's influence and I think he was probably right. The European Union is an economic superpower and will certainly fight back in any coming trade war with Trump (but we stupid Brits voted to leave the EU so we are defenceless against Trump).
ReplyDeleteTrump and Brexit rose from the same swamps -- racism. I've read that China's economy has stalled, but I think an alliance with India could spark it again. I agree that the European Union should prepare.
DeleteNot quite right, RJ. While some racists undoubtedly voted for Brexit, not everyone who did was a racist (and I say that as a non-voter). When you make statements like that, you're doing the same thing your opponents do. And if Brexit hasn't quite worked for the UK, it's only because it was never fully implemented and has been sabotaged from within as well as without.
DeleteIf that's not the case, that's sure how it's been presented in the reports I've seen. I have dog in the fight with Brexit, that's your guys' deal. But Nigel Farrage, the face of Brexit and then leader of the UKIP put forth those anti-Muslim ideas rather forcefully I gathered. That's at the same time Trump used that dread to gain his first term.
DeletePerhaps, but not everyone who voted for Brexit is a supporter of Farage or even Boris Johnstone. The people of the UK spoke and to describe and dismiss them all as racists simply isn't realistic.
DeleteI never said that. I said that the movement grew out of racism, not that everyone who ended supporting it was racist. You agree with me.
DeleteYou said that Brexit grew out of racism - I don't agree with you. I said that some who voted for Brexit were undoubtedly racists, but not everyone. You essentially equate Brexit and racism as the same thing - not true.
DeleteYou can insist on misquoting me, but it won't change things. To say something rose out of something else is not to suggest that what it developed into was identical. If you want to supplant "nationalism" or "nativism" for racism, I'm fine with that.
DeleteI'm not misquoting you, RJ, i'm taking what you said to it's logical conclusion. 'Tis you who are backpedaling. To say that Brexit (and Trump) grew from the same swamps - racism - is explicitly suggesting that Brexit was birthed by racism. You are equating one with the other, whether you meant to do so or not. So what you're now saying is that racism didn't lead to Brexit, which is what I originally said and I still say that. As for 'Nationalism', doesn't every country subscribe to that view?
DeleteYou are misquoting me, or at the very least misunderstanding me. This is my last word on this. (I know it's not yours.)
DeleteAnd, by golly, you're right about that. "Trump and Brexit rose from the same swamps - - racism." That's what I said you said because you said it, so how is that a misquote? It suggests that Brexit had a racist origin, that it was born from a racist ideology and that anyone who voted for Brexit did so for racist reasons. Maybe you didn't mean that, but it was the logical implication of what you said. Maybe you should consider your words more carefully in future.
DeleteI lied; I have something else to say. I'll use the words I choose to use. I have tolerated your trolling for years now. I've tried to keep things friendly even when you're rude, but we've crossed a line today. Fuck off! Was I clear enough?
DeleteRip, I was up all last night following the increasingly dreadful news, and I feel as you're feeling today. Even if sanity & decency somehow make a comeback before too long - and I wonder whether they will at this point - something good & vital about America has now been irreparably broken & lost, I fear. My wife & I don't have children, but we do have nephews & nieces - I have LGBTQ+ friends - so many people are going to suffer for the fears & bitter hatred & willfully gleeful ignorance that's given us the next four years. And that's assuming it will only be for four years.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, my wife & I have been reminding ourselves that we can't give in to despair - that we've got to maintain civilized life as best we can for ourselves & for those we care about - despair is one victory we can't give the greedy & the power-hungry. Not an easy task, I know. But the America we knew, however flawed & struggling to do better, seems to be gone. I never thought I'd feel that way, but I do this morning.
The first time his election was shock, and many excuses were made. At least Hillary needs to be let off the hook for giving us those years, it seems any woman would've served. People were reluctant to call the racism last time, but not so much this time. He and his lackeys help by being so up front about their woeful attitudes.
DeleteIt's certainly going to be an uncertain Presidency (again). Hopefully his staff will reign in his foreign policy extremes and not allow him to negotiate any ceasefire in Ukraine on Moscow's terms, I don't even want to think about the middle East or North Korea. Probably of more immediate concern is in the US tearing up any climate agreements ( he wants to build more American gas guzzler SUVs, drill for oil etc). If we escape that we can always look forward to his planned high tariffs on imports and potentially sparking an economic war.
ReplyDeleteGreat comic book cover though
Gas guzzling might be off the table since his new best friend is associated with Tesla. The need for greed will push them perhaps to keep those agreements intact this time.
DeleteThe comic book covers help me sort my feelings.
I hope you're wrong, too. But it is the reality we have to live in. Sadly. Still going back and forth between disbelief and sadness. What a stupid lot of people out there. Ignorant, stupid and so fucking smug thinking they are right. Gah.
ReplyDeleteThe United States is entering a new phase, and sadly it's one still rich in racism and misogyny. We are a long, long way from the world of Star Trek.
DeleteYes, it's more like the evil Mirror Universe these days. I wonder which corporate crony will get the contract to mass-produce agonizers for the public? But of course their entire agenda is one of ongoing agony for everyone but themselves.
DeleteIt's over on the federal level, at least for a very long time.
ReplyDeleteThe failure of the post-Clinton DNC (the federal level Democrats, not the party on the state and local levels) reached its end point: being repellant to too many of its voters. The DNC, under Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Conference of which he was the first leader, focused on being Republican special interest-friendly so as to be able attract some of those big bucks. That obviously required making sure not to do anything that would alienate Republicans. That obviously limits the ability to be an opposition party. That limitation gets covered up with BS and empty promises. The DNC for over thirty years has been dedicated to appearing to be but not actually be an opposition party.
Clinton comes to office after twelve years of Reagan and Bush and first accomplishment is NAFTA and a commitment to neoliberalism. (For those unfamiliar with the term, the tl;dr version is that states don't have control over business interests.)
The one big accomplishment by the Democrats since LBJ has been Obama's severely compromised and fragile ACA. What good it's accomplished has been the price of mass impoverishment of workers at the bottom. Small businesses cut back fulltime workers to 30 hour a week limits. More time required employers to buy health insurance and cutting hours eliminated that obligation.
Anyway, closer to now. Thanks to Democrats' support for neoliberalism all that great economy talk from Biden et al didn't, well, trickle down to a big bunch of workers. Neoliberalism features a continuing upward transfer of wealth.
Meanwhile, Biden et al boast about the economy and every time one goes food shopping, one's struck by insane prices. Those in turn reflect gouging and disruption in agriculture caused by global warming. Democrats can't credibly discuss either. The gougers are Republicans so that's per sé off limits. Likewise, few Democrats have any interest in doig anything about global warming because the Powers That Be have no issue with it.
Also mostly ignored is that SCOTUS has been a junta, not a court of law, for years.
And then we end up with Harris who starts with a lot of good will and ends her campaign as a Clintonite alt-Republican. Which, per sé, isn't something that excites voters.
So to coin a phrase: think local, act local. The federal level is closed to us. @026 and 28 will be complete farces.
I rather agree with much of your sentiment save in a few areas. I'm no expert, but they say that Biden actually broke from the long-time Neo-Liberal model and brought some of that "big government" splendor of early Democratic successes. Remember those checks, which get blamed for inflation, global warming and acne. We all took them. The need for a Covid recovery allowed that revision. That they didn't get the job done all the way is not their fault, they needed more time, and they now have been denied that time.
DeleteI know that lots of people talk about the price of eggs, and about the depravity in Gaza, and other reasons for the loss. The administration had real headwinds, but the core reason Harris lost in America is that she's a woman.
As for acting local. Totally agree. We have to build it again. I live in a state where that will be an especially large challenge.
Big is long term stuff that doesn’t last only a few years — Social Security, Medicare, regular increases to the minimum wage so it’s something of a living wage.
DeleteThe putative opposition party, with both the White House and Congress couldn’t pass the John Lewis act.
They seem to be cool with SCOTUS’ serial Supra-legal lawless decisions.
They’re cool, though, Congress-things engaging in insider trading.
They’re fine with the abuses of neoliberalism (the idea that as policy some entities are above the law, not to be policed).
I don’t think Harris lost on race and/or gender but on having nothing to offer. I think food prices were a big issue. But had she wanted, she couldn’t say anything about them except empty talk. They’re due to gouging and global warming-related disruption in agriculture. Discussing both means opposing DNC’s special interests.
And then we had the DCCC now doing their best to maximize revenue for the DNC even if cost a House majority.
IMO, the federal is lost to us, all the action has to focused on the state, local and personal levels.
There's a lot of work to do.
Delete