Yes, I’ve read Dan K’s diary claiming that Biden “Gets It”. Well, I happen to be one of those people who believe in the admonition that says, “Pay attention to what they do - not what they say”. Maybe some fruit will be borne from that directive from his staff mentioned in the diary - I certainly hope that’s the case - but track records together with the current climate just don’t bode well. To that point, I’m seeing more than the usual amount of aggrandized opinions on this site, thinking that 2022 could likely end up being a political landslide year for the Democratic candidates running for office. While it’s a healthy thing to be forward-looking with a positive, optimistic outlook, sometimes a level of over- ebullience gets in the way of reality. It seems to me that there are still a lot of people with selective amnesia, suffer from short-term memory loss or flat-out live in an alternative universe. Why?
You see, just a short seven months ago, we held an election in this country where a perverted fascist idiot with delusions of grandeur was selected to continue 4 more years of his psychotic destruction of our democracy by 48% of the people who voted in that election. For those of us slumped over in a corner of their room stoned on something, that’s TWO PERCENTAGE POINTS LESS THAN HALF OF THE VOTERS WHO CONSIDER THE QANON/TRUMP BRAND OF FASCISM DESIRABLE OVER A CONSTITUTIONALLY-MANDATED GOVERNMENT.
2 percentage points. The trend that the math supports isn’t encouraging. After over a half-million deaths from a pandemic disease that were a direct result of denial, misinformation, inaction, profiteering and vindictiveness by one man. And that doesn’t even begin to cover the rest of what came to light during those 4 hideous years: payoffs to prostitutes, tax fraud, pandering to international strong men, abandoning treaties, threatening our allies, financial destitution for the Middle Class, racist words and racist policies against immigrants and voting rights - 48% of the voters in this country wanted another 4 year-long continuation of all that. Which, as any thinking person could reasonably deduce, tells all one needs to know about the morals and kind of patriotism those voters actually have, as opposed to what they believe of themselves. And yet it seems that many among us are unwilling to understand the magnitude of that, nor are they willing to look at the current political situation right now and see with clear eyes the betrayal, the reticence and denial of a growing number of elected Democrats in Congress who ran their campaigns on Progressive issues and now walk, talk and sound like McConnell republican stooges.
Virtually nothing of legislative substance has been accomplished since January 20th, in spite of what the optimists are saying. Although this new administration’s first priority was getting the pandemic under control, they seem to have neglected the fact that healthy Trump supporters don’t care who or how they were saved from crippling illness or death - In their monochrome world they get to live another day to plan for another insurrection. Meanwhile all of Trump’s criminal cohorts are still roaming free; few indictments and no trials have begun. In spite of almost daily revelations about the depth of corruption and criminal activity going on in the previous administration, people are yawning instead of marching with torches and pitchforks. Minimum wage hike? DOA. Universal health care? Nope. Tuition forgiveness? It is to laugh. Voting rights and campaign reform? How dare they! Infrastructure legislation that puts people back to work, creates tax revenue and helps the environment? Why that’s socialist bullshit! - let the republicans negotiate down the spend until we can’t even fill a damned pot hole. Hell, now we’ve even got one legislator claiming that providing sick children with food, clothing, health care and a clean, safe place to live is Communism. The voting public could look again at the do-nothing, no accomplishment Democrats in Congress (no matter what the cause and who actually blocked the legislation) and come to the same damned conclusion they did in 2010 at the polls. That 48%, you’ll remember, might be powerfully stupid, but they’re also powerfully powerful when it comes to voting against their own self-interests.
So how does all that get reversed, and how is it overcome? Actually the solution is as simple as can be: embarrassment. Since we can’t wait 18 months more to prove the point, the only thing that seems to work for fence-sitting Democratic politicians is buck-naked embarrassment. Protests, flame emails, letters to editors, raising hell - from people on our side for the change we wanted. We as non-fascists need to have our own style of insurrection… to drive home the point that we don’t give a damn if they hurt some QAnon group’s widdle biddy feewings when they support and vote for progressive legislation; there’s medication to help them through their trauma. Use the damned Reconciliation Vote, Schumer! Like the soldier carrying the jackass in the mine field, sometimes the uncomfortable heavy lifting serves a greater purpose. Catch Feinstein while she’s taking her hourly nap, get it done while Sinema is out dying her hair and ramrod it through while Munchin is out playing strip-poker with McConnell. The word “bipartisan” should be regarded an insult to a person’s intelligence when it comes to dealing with any republican. And for god’s sake, stop trying to recruit Romney for votes - he’s going to run for president in 2024 again with his binders full of women. Time to use the same underhanded stunts and parliamentary tricks they’ve used to disembowel us for so long. And President Biden had better get on board with an aggressive, take no prisoners attitude before he costs America’s democracy another election.
In the end, getting progressive agendas ramrodded through a fascist - impregnated government won’t change the minds of every bogan who supports the republican cult, but it will make some inroads. All it takes is courage of one’s convictions, some intestinal fortitude and belief that doing the right thing is the right thing to do.