This is kind of a David versus Goliath story, albeit contrary to biblical mythology, good may not necessarily win out over evil; but then one just never knows.
Begging the question, of course, is who will control the Senate (Republicans or Democrats) after the November election. Conventional wisdom would have you believe that the GOP will take control of the Senate, but as we all know, conventional wisdom can sometimes be wrong.
There are hundreds of individual stories in a few critical states — states that could decide the Senate's balance and change the outcome of this election — thus deciding who will control the Senate. The biggest, of course, is raising black voter turnout. But the 'five' infamous Christian supremes (all 'holier than thou' Roman Catholic jurists — Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, Alito and Roberts), far beyond a deiform ego of judicious modernity, relentlessly legally repress us to their conservative brand of judicial activism, which is their knowing the Christian Republican will of God. They have judicially suppressed the black and minority vote at every opportunity.
There is, however, also another compelling story. Though small in number, they could help to thwart the Republican odds in this election. This is a brief mention of one of those stories — the Indian Story.
Black Vote Seen as Last Hope for Democrats to Hold Senate
http://www.nytimes.com/...
The Indian Story
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Early in this election cycle I messaged a number of friends with a link to the NY Times 'Upshot' series, which was forecasting Republicans to take control of the Senate, and I noted my message as 'Read it & Weep.' With about one week before the election (November 4th), the Times is still prognosticating that the Republicans will take control of the Senate by a wide margin — 68% to 32% (odds continue to widen ~ Democrats fading; with only a week remaining, can the Democrats reverse the trendline). So what hope is there that a David or maybe even an Indian will ride to the rescue (RE: Samuel 21:15 ~ there were actually four battles against the Philistines). Perhaps we may have to move on to 2016 as our year to slay the evil Republicans (Philistines) before they take complete control over this country (White House and all).
Nate Silver, however, with his Senate forecast model launched earlier this month reference his 'FiveThirtyEight' website, paints a slightly closer race, although not by much (63% vs. 37%). Right now it shows Democrats with only about a 37% chance of holding-on to the Senate, with all states closer than presently being forecasted by the NY Times. While I think Mr. Silver's forecast is probably closer to the mark, it's still not very optimistic. In any case the race is not expected to narrow during the final week, we definitely need a David and Goliath scenario to arise, but from where — most likely from one of those few individual states where this race for the Senate could swing one way or the other.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
http://fivethirtyeight.com/...
http://fivethirtyeight.com/...
You might also want to read Malcolm Gladwell's new book 'David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants'; so maybe we might yet have in 2014 a David in the embodiment of the American Indian — the Yup'iks. The basis from which I'm drawing is the recent NYT op-ed by Timothy Egan titled 'Potlatch for Politicians' (linked previously - The Indian Story). For those who are not familiar with the term 'Potlatch' (myself included), it is a gift-giving feast practiced by indigenous peoples — hopefully, one to be delivered on November 5th to the Bros Koch, who have poured more secret money (Citizens United) into this midterm election than prayers to God; in particular, to do just that — to take control of the U.S. Senate.
http://www.amazon.com/...
Importantly, what many may not fully realize is that this midterm (Senate) election will be decided by a very small fraction of U.S. voters in perhaps four, or maybe even as few as two very competitive states. That's less than 3% of the U.S. population (320 million) — only about 10 million — about the size of a single city in some states. Being bi-coastal from two of the most populous states in the country (NY and California), it's quite disheartening to be sidelined, having my future decided by only a small minority of voters. But, like it or not, that's how our political system works. It's the way our founding fathers designed it to be.
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
Obviously, the Bros Koch and the other billionaires among them clearly understand this and are furiously pitching their false propaganda over and over to the very same minority of potential voters. Remember the adage, if you repeat something enough times it becomes true in the minds of the less informed — the electorate can indeed be a stupid beast — with, unfortunately, a very short memory as well. If only these voters would recall that these are the same despicable Republicans who have denied them healthcare — out of pure hatefulness and maliciousness they denied millions of Americans access to healthcare by 'not' implementing Medicare in the states they control. Of course, this became possible thanks to a loophole provided by the five ('5') ultra-conservative Roman Catholic brethren who dominate the Supreme Court with their 'holier than thou' Christian morality. They also opened the floodgates for the ultra-rich (i.e. Bros Koch) to buy elections through secret spending, while helping Republican politicians to suppress minority voting — a two-sided strategy of pure evil. All of this under the guise of these infamous 5 being good Christians; or is it truer to say good 'Republican' Christians!
http://www.nytimes.com/...
As Mitch McConnell says, "I Have More Money than I Can Count." Mitch has a very special relationship with Moneyed Lobbyists, many of who are Bros Koch funded.
http://www.motherjones.com/...
With 'Citizens United,' however, you can literally forget about being a Democrat or Republican because it's really a battle of the wealthy Oligarchs — for they now control our country and are slowly taking control of our elections too. If you're so inclined, a quite lengthy but insightful article titled 'How Billionaire Oligarchs are Becoming Their Own Parties' is worth reading. We are, in essence, becoming no more than the serfs of the very rich!
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Plutocrats Against Democracy
http://www.nytimes.com/...
The Republicans by rejecting the Medicaid expansion, denying essential healthcare to millions of Americans, simply have no excuse for what is, in fact, an 'extreme act of cruelty' — an act against humanity for which thousands of Americans die needlessly each year. What I will never understand about the ultra-wealthy, who have everything and have obviously purchased these Republican politicians to do their bidding, is why they would want to deny healthcare (sub-healthcare at that) to their less-able fellow Americans. Don't they already have more than enough money — more than enough of everything؟ I guess the simplest answer is — as Occam's razor dictates, when you have two or more competing theories that make similar predictions, the simpler one is usually the best — the wealthy simply never have enough — they never will!
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/...
http://www.nytimes.com/...
'And the Indians, the most underrepresented people in the country, could actually be the kingmakers for control of the Senate in this election — will they؟'
'The fact that all the money and manipulations of the Koch brothers could be undone by a handful of native voters living in some of the poorest and most remote parts of the land could be a wondrous tribute to our teetering democracy.'
The Indians of South Dakota and Alaska are poor and small in number — but a 'not' inconsequential voting cohort. Of those who will vote on Tuesday, their voices will in fact be loud and carry much weight in determining whether or not the ultra-wealthy can buy elections as the supremes had intended in affirming the invidious 'Citizens United.'
As I noted earlier, one of the two critical states that Egan presents with his Indian voting Democratic op-ed argument is South Dakota, where I think a snowball in hell would survive a more positive chance than the Democratic senatorial candidate being elected, even with all the Indians voting Democratic. This is due not only to Larry Pressler's Independent run for the Senate, taking votes primarily away from Democrat Rick Weiland, but also because of the Republican Party's insidious voter suppression tactics, directed at the minority — the Indian vote.
As the Republican white guys in their 'tainted' white cowboy hats circle the wagons, not to fend-off hostile Indians, but to prevent a minority group of poor South Dakota Indian voters from the Crow Creek Indian Reservation from voting at all. The Republicans are trying to suppress their vote by mandating that the Indians travel over 50 miles round-trip to the only voting site they're allowed to use-in Gann Valley. Gann Valley, a mini-town of fourteen (14) where the Republican county auditor, the ruling white resident of Gann, withdrew Federal funds, which were available to open a satellite office for early voting on the Reservation!
The 'forked-tongues' have spoken!
This is one of the worst blatant attempts in recent time to suppress the Native American vote! Where are the five supremes؟ (Oh, but then we know to whom their allegiance is given!)
http://thinkprogress.org/...
On the other hand I think Alaska is where there's more plausibility for an upset, if most all the Indians do indeed vote Democratic, although I still think it's a long shot with only a 29% probability. But then I would never have bet on David beating Goliath either! In any case my heart has always been with the David's of this world, but I must say the odds are not looking favorable.
Republicans, during the last few weeks of this election, are running full-boar on trying to frighten Americans in every way (Ebola, etc.) to vote the Republican line of pure fear — the 'Fear Factor.' Unfortunately, it appears to be working for them — they have nothing positive to offer the American people so they use fear. President Franklin Roosevelt put it best in his first inaugural address when he said, "The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself." In summary, the Republicans and their fear mongering is the most evil of all. Hopefully the Indians will be on the warpath!
I encourage you to watch a Maddow video on how this Republican fear mongering works. As the Republicans promote irrational non-scientific scare tactics using made-up disinformation in their response to Ebola, Ms. Maddow contrasts the response by responsible public health officials to the irresponsible panic-push of these Republicans who deliberately undermine confidence in public health authorities.
http://www.msnbc.com/...
Timothy Egan outlines in his latest NYT op-ed why we as voters are all so disgusted with our elected officials in general and in this midterm election in particular.
'The Disgust Election'
http://www.nytimes.com/...
So who will win the Senate; as I first wrote many months ago, 'Read it & Weep.' I'm despondent to say that despite the heroic efforts of many progressive voters, including the surrounded Indians at Crow Creek, the odds are with the Republicans. It's important to note, however, the Republican Party clearly could not have accomplished this potential takeover of the Senate without being enabled by the 'holier than thou' Christian supremes and their moneyed plutocrats. It is an invidious circuitous ring of evil!
If you'd like to know what a Republican Senate and House will look like, read it and weep: 'The catastrophes that a GOP-controlled Congress would bring'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
