I am actually more disillusioned now than I was during the Bush II years, because these days we are supposed to have the so-called adults in charge.
During the Bush years it was HELL, but at least we could comfort ourselves that it would be over in eight years. And besides, IF ONLY we could get some Democrats in control, we believed things would get better.
Ha.
Ok, things have gotten better, a little. But the cancer that manifested itself over the first decade of this century has metastasized. It now infects every level of our national governmental body.
What the Republican governors across the US are currently doing is appalling, and clearly on marching orders handed down by GOP authorities. I'm sure that each is being told not to worry if their states recall them, because a high-level government post awaits when federal control returns to their party. They are being promised the equivalent of a high place in heaven as reward for sacrificing the innocents. Theirs is a political jihad tantamount to religious terrorism.
Ronald Reagan said, "Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost." He didn't even say "may be"; he said "is". But even Ronald Reagan is too far to the left for the GOP anymore.
I recently got a letter from far right GOP wingnut Don Stenberg, who is gearing up to run against Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson again. In it he calls Nelson a liberal and paints him so far to the left that it would be laughable if it weren't so disturbing.
At the state government level it's just as bad.
Here in Nebraska, we are proud to be the only state in the nation with a unicameral, a uniquely and (supposedly) bipartisan single house of legislators running our state. We have just one set of representatives (we call them senators) who are elected by district. Now it's time to redraw those district lines and guess what? That's right, a move is afoot to make sure that the Democratic strongholds -- as if such a thing even exists in this state -- are divided and conquered.
But this is just all part of a systematic national effort to break down all democratic strongholds. That's "democratic" with a small d.
So now they are gerrymandering at the state level in one of the reddest states in the union. One that is, by state constitution, purposely designed to remain bipartisan. Because they can.
When cheap political stunts to guarantee that Nebraska state government remains in conservative hands are going on, it's evident that permanent national domination is the GOP goal. They don't want a viable two-party system, they want unchallenged, unlimited and entirely unAmerican unilateral control.
Moreover, they don't care how they get it.
If you have any awareness of the news at all, it is clear that the GOP has been hijacked by a heartless machine that is absolutely not constrained by reality or moral integrity of any kind. They aren't even following the rules of war; they are bombing the hospitals and shooting babies crawling around in the streets. And they are doing it via a dedication to the Big Lie theory that not only would have made Hitler envious, it would have shocked the infamous fuehrer.
On the other side, the Democratic party is completely shackled by an admirable, dogged and maddening adherence to morality and reason. And the far-right owners of the GOP know it. They know they can win the game by greasing the ball and corking the bats at a rate faster than rules and procedure will ever curtail. And they don't even care if they're caught red-handed; they'll just spin that to their own ends too, and keep going.
In fact, far from hiding their nefarious methods and motives, GOP wingnuts revel in flaunting them. They mock the referees and punch the umpires and openly celebrate their stolen victories, holding up the bloody heads of the vanquished to their brainwashed, bloodthirsty, wild-eyed supporters. It's barbaric.
My father is suffering from dementia, and his decline in the last year has been alarming. He used to be an intelligent man who graduated summa cum laude after only three years of college, and then passed the CPA exam on his first attempt. He was a business leader, a churchgoer and a philanthropist who put six children through college on one salary. He exercised, voted regularly, gave blood and coached little league; by all measures a solid American citizen. Now his brain is shriveled and he can no longer follow reasonable statements or recognize routine objects.
I am losing my dad, same as I am losing my country, a place where the prevailing standards for rational behavior used to comport with a modicum of common sense.
Back in 2006, I had a conversation with a local friend about what was happening to our country. She and her husband had just registered with the Democratic party because they were disaffected with the GOP, the party to which they had been lifelong members. Despite her concerns, my friend allowed that no matter what happens in this country, the pendulum always swings back, and we just have to be patient and things will go back to normal.
I told my friend that my concern wasn't the temporary rightward movement of the political pendulum, it was the permanent rightward shift of its pivot. This has moved to the right what we have always known as America's political center, our equilibrium position, well away from its original target. Indeed, the entire field of oscillation for our pendulum democracy has shifted right off the founder's map.
Clearly this is exactly what the radical right have intended all along, and they have achieved their goal in the national discourse. Now all that remains is to formalize it in our laws and political structures so that things stay that way for a very long time.
I was recently asked to attend a meeting to discuss the upcoming Nebraska state district gerrymandering. I want to go, provided I am not called into work by my boss. I just hope that our "Nebraska Democratic machine" will have some good news about what they are doing to stop this nonsense in my state. I'd love to help, but I am currently actively fighting threats to world peace, intolerance and the environment at local and international levels. And that's my short list. I simply cannot do everything.
And I need to go visit Dad.