This is my very FIRST contribution to Daily Kos, and I hope I can reach some of my fellow Kossacks.
Like many of you, I have been in and out of being completely catatonic following the disaster that November 8th was. As with every presidential election, I was glued to CNN’s coverage the entire afternoon and night as the polls started to come in. As the night ran on, and the nightmare we all feared started to turn into a reality, I found myself alternating between extreme fear, and outlandish rage and fury. I reached a breaking point at about 9:00 PST, turned the TV off, and went to bed, because it was obvious that the unthinkable had happened, and I simply couldn’t take it anymore.
I was angry. I was scared. I was distraught. I was dumbfounded how so many of my fellow Americans were sucked into his ignorant, shallow, populism; a populism that lacked any substance or real policy. It was obvious that a large chunk of our population just didn’t care about fact, or truth, or reality, and instead simply wanted to scapegoat their own problems and shortcomings onto other people.
As the weeks have dragged on since that awful day, we have seen just how Orange Dump is assembling his administration and cabinet, and we are getting a VERY clear picture on just what kind of policies he will implement. The people he is surrounding himself with and putting into positions of power clearly demonstrate the dark direction he wants to take our country. Any check we might have hoped for from so called moderate Republicans will never exist, as they are now too scared to stand up to him, for fear of being marked as traitors by right wing propaganda machines that are now firmly in Orange Dump’s pocket, like Breitbart and Fox “News”, and subsequently having their cushy jobs in jeopardy.
Republicans have not had this much of a strangle hold on the country since the 1920s. However, this is the upside mentioned in the title. This is a source of of light and hope. For at least 2 years, the people of this country will see complete, unchecked Republican rule. For the most part, we have seen either watered down Democrat policy, or watered down Republican policy. We have not seen pure, uncensored, unchecked Republican policy about to run rampant, for nearly 100 years.
The next 2 years will be a grand social experiment, that will truly give the American people an eyeful of how much pure Republican policy will hurt them, and fail them. I will not list all the ways that the American people will be hurt; all of you reading this will already know.
I am a native and lifelong Californian, and we too performed a similar grand social experiment. The only difference is that it was the complete opposite; total Democrat control. A staunch Democrat governor, with Democrat super majorities throughout the state legislature, senate, and judiciary. A nod to Bill Maher for his segment on this a while back, California is proof positive that Democrat policies, when completely unhindered WORK; at least a hell of a lot better than Republican policies. We are the total anti-thesis to everything Republican. California is the world’s 5th largest economy. We raised taxes considerably on the most wealthy. We turned a horrific budget deficit into a very healthy surplus. We enacted strict regulations to protect worker’s rights and our environment. We let illegal immigrants get driver's licenses and allow them to work, because they contribute BILLIONS to our economy, and they do the jobs most citizens refuse to do. We value education and ensure we provide adequate funding for it. We treat all our citizens equally, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or religious belief.
California is EVERYTHING that Republicans DESPISE, and yet our state is booming in ways Red states couldn’t even begin to comprehend or even imagine. We must hold up California against the rest of the country, as Orange Dump’s policies ravage the population and cause great harm and suffering to so many people. When their healthcare is taken away from them, or when women have their medical decisions made for them, or when people are punished for exercising their right to protest and speak out, or when people are targeted and treated like second class citizens because of their sexual orientation, or their religious beliefs, we must be there to stand up and make it apparent, that THIS is what total Republican domination looks like.
Is it going to be bad? Yes. Are many people going to be hurt in some way? Yes. It will be tragic. It will be heart wrenching. But sometimes a lesson must be learned in a hard and harsh way, and that is exactly what will happen in the next 2 years. The American people will see just what pure unhindered Republican policies will do to their lives, and they will come to the realization that casting their vote for Orange Dump was perhaps the gravest mistake they will ever make.
And THAT my friends, is the spark of light and hope we must hold onto in this dark time. That the next 2 years will enable to people of this country to come to the realization, “NEVER AGAIN!”