hey dave
I was surprised to hear just how much the east coast is hated out there in the fly over country...I knew the ..what...silent majority...had no love for the elites (?) but the degree...no...I realize now that this emotion has been carefully nurtured and intensified across several generations by now by the extreme right in general and fox news and hate radio specifically. I believe this began with ike...as the first republican president after fdr, he refused to attack social security and got called a commie by the birchites. he was more worried about logistics after a nuclear exchange with the ussr than killing a social program that helped keep the elderly out of poverty, hence the interstate road system and the taxes to pay for the construction and maintenance of these roads and just as an aside...every time I hear it said that the federal government does not one job create...I think to myself.. .that’s right.. the interstate system did not create one job. morons.
jump to today... over 60% of state governors and state legislatures are republican and that ain’t gonna change. think voter suppression and Gerry the mander. Indiana just purged 10% of its voter rolls. after the 2020 census and reapportionment of the house I believe the three left coast states will be blue along with a mostly blue northeast. every other state will be a third world shit hole run for the benefit and amusement of the 1 %. how is Kansas doing these days? oh… Hawaii is exempt ‘cause it is just an island in the ocean. the ag told me that.
no...after ike and lbj’s historic civil rights and voting rights legislation and goldwater’s epic defeat the long game was the only means for obtaining control of the governments: state and federal. year after year, for decades, constant propaganda and oceans of money eroding the foundations of the republic finds us today with the facts that corporations are people and money is free speech. indeed… our institutions won’t (didn’t) save us
occasionally I like to play this game: name the event that ended the republic.
eg. mitch McConnell wiping his undercarriage with the constitution by refusing to hold senate hearings for prez O’s supreme pick and the dems countermove of rolling over on their backs exposing their fat bellies and limp manhood. or, Sandra day oconnor casting the deciding vote that installed the cheney, bush,rumsfeld triumvirate.
stuff like that. it gets dark real fast.
so, as Edward r said many times, “ good luck and good night.”