On Protesting, Looting, and Violence

Some years ago, a group of angry Massachusetts residents decided to raid several American transporters because of perceived socioeconomic inequities and as a result destroyed cargo that today would be valued at around two million dollars. The government’s official reaction was to pass and enforce onerous laws whose sole purpose was to punish the looters, discourage violence against private property, and show the American public who was boss. 

Were the violent acts of the looters and protesters in destroying private property morally wrong in and of themselves and was the government right in suppressing the violence to maintain public order and keep private property free from wanton destruction?

The situation described above is the Boston Tea Party in 1773.

NEWS FLASH

A recent national poll found that 44 percent of respondents who self-identified as Republicans believe that Bill Gates was plotting to use a coronavirus vaccine to implant microchips in our bodies. You’ve got to remember that those people may be your friends and neighbors and are probably going to vote in the coming national election. Yeah, scary thought.

https://news.yahoo.com/new-yahoo-news-you-gov-poll-shows-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-spreading-on-the-right-may-hamper-vaccine-efforts-152843610.html?campaign_id=93&emc=edit_fb_20200603&instance_id=19051&nl=frank-bruni&regi_id=69101849&segment_id=29978&te=1&user_id=703304aa2d007027e5576f260f40793b

Reflection in Pandemic Times

In these pandemic times, if we had eyes that functioned, what would they see? Would they see people protesting against public health measures put in place to protect everyone from illness, the collapse of our healthcare system, and possibly death? Would they see first responders and medical professionals in desperate need of artificially constrained supplies of PPE? Would they see what has been touted for decades as the WORLD’S BEST healthcare system falling flat on its face when confronted with a novel coronavirus it had known about for many weeks yet failed miserably to take appropriate steps? Would they see their only means of livelihood disappearing simply because people who chose to live in cities are dying at unacceptable rates while they prospered in their lower density rural and quasi-rural landscapes and yet were forced by dictatorial politicians to be unemployed? Would they see their freedoms taken from them by unconstitutional acts of the same officials? Would they see the damage done by covid-19 has been exacerbated by an incompetent government response, constraints on our civil liberties, and an escalating geopolitical war with China? Would they see that South Korea kicked our ass in “flattening the curve” while the CDC and the FDA sat around and choked the chicken? Or would they see the Trump Administration reacting swiftly and confidently to control the threat of a global pandemic?

It may be that another interpretation of what has transpired should be considered. Perhaps none of what is being “seen” depends on our vaunted organs of vision. Rather it may be that what is seen depends on the observers’ previously adopted ideological point of view and not on their eyes. I believe many hardline conservatives are predisposed to see one thing regarding the pandemic while people on the left are predisposed to see another. I believe what was seen depends in large measure on the filters positioned in front of our supposedly sighted organs, our eyes. I believe that it wasn’t the eyes that were in action but the filters we are loath to acknowledge and even more unwilling to understand.

The truth is few people are genuinely reflective about their condition in life or about the different filters that affect them in so many ways. Ever since Socrates/Plato uttered that famous dictum—The unexamined life is not worth living—some 2,400 years ago, it does little good to rail against that so very human a failure. Human reality is what it is and nothing we can do will change that. People who are reluctant/unwilling/unable to examine their lives and puzzle about how and why they might understand what is going on around them are the rule rather than the exception. Railing against armed people who hoist Confederate flags while protesting transgressions against their liberties regarding covid-19 guidelines is very much like railing against the weather. Nothing will be changed by either course of action. It is far better to try to communicate with those whose filters are not brightly colored by one and only one ideology than to try to reason with an ideologue. Forget it. It doesn’t work now and never will. Don't waste your time.

The best thing we can do is to put the famous dictum originated by Socrates/Plato to good effect in our own lives. It is critical to recognize the proposal that we all should reflect on how closely our ideals and behaviors coincide is not elitist but a way to live with a clear conscience even if our actions do not always sync seamlessly with our ideals. After all, no human is perfect; we are all flawed. We don’t have to drink the hemlock if our political ideals are not always mirrored in our every action.

Reflection is a journey, a way of life, not a destination that can be achieved. But it is a journey that is highly recommended, especially if you are trying to make sense of American politics in these pandemic times featuring crowds of armed,  marginalized folks waving Confederate flags who strongly prefer continued covid-19 suffering and death in the general population to their own unemployment.  

The Constitution Be Damned: FINALLY!!!

Yes, Trump's authority is ABSOLUTE. Yes, all of us commie/pinko/liberals and the dumb-shit Democrat governors are nothing but toilet paper The Donald uses to wipe his ass with. Yes, YES, and more YES. 

It's exactly why all the deplorable right-wing nuts voted for him in the first place. The country now has its KING, its DICTATOR, its MESSIAH to take us to the Promised Land where arch-conservative judges and justices rule with iron fists, a land free from corporate-destroying governmental regulations, a land free from immigrants and brown skin welfare cheats, a land where the President not longer has to hide his true ambitions. 

Thanks to the pandemic effects of CV-19, Trump finally has America exactly where he wants: in his democracy-killing python grip. He isn't going to let go without an epic struggle at the ballot box. Fasten your seat belts, folks, it's going to be a bumpy ride all the way to November. 

Critical National 2020 Elections

For the last year, nearly everything I've read about the coming national elections has been about how to defeat Trump and why that goal is so important. Perhaps that's a reflection of my leftist politics since it indicates I haven't paid much attention to articles extolling Trump's presidency (gag) and pumping up his re-election chances (super gag).

If you sit back and think about what has happened these past three plus years, it might be that the election of Democratic candidates for the Senate is at the very least as critical as kicking Trump back to New York City. I write that because of his many judicial, Supreme Court, Cabinet, and regulatory agency appointments. Unlike his Cabinet and agency appointments, judges and justices serve for life and Trump has appointed a ton of right-wingers to those positions. Some of those appointees will be with us for up to 40 and more years.

But even if Trump would be re-elected, God forbid, a Senate controlled by Democrats will limit his ability to appoint the worst of the conservative lot to the bench and to other prominent positions. And if you don't agree with that idea, simply consider Trump's recent announcement of his desire to appoint one of his White House attorneys as the Inspector General overseeing the two trillion-dollar covid-19 slush fund just passed by Congress. If that doesn’t give you pause, I’m not sure what would.

What I'd like you to consider is volunteering to work in the campaigns of Democratic candidates for the Senate. Yes, things right now prohibit such activities or constrain them drastically. But the current situation will not last forever. Plus, campaign contributions do not require you to leave the house or shake hands with potential voters, infected or not. I have no specific candidates in mind, only that they have the potential of defeating the sitting Republican Senator in whatever state you live.

Perhaps, during this period of extended time off from our "normal" lives, you might take time to consider how you could respond to this vital national issue. The last thing I want is for people to be so focused on defeating Trump that we lose the many battles for the Senate and have that rat bastard Mitch McConnell to deal with again.

Please think about what I'm proposing. I’m convinced electing Democratic candidates to the Senate is critical to our nation's future and that we all should be involved in trying to make a difference in this matter.

Today’s America: Unrelenting Demagoguery and Profiles in Cowardice

What are we, American citizens with little voice in the body politic other than the ability to vote, to think of events in today’s Washington? Especially, what are we to think about the actions and postures of Republican Senators regarding the impeachment of President Trump? Those questions are difficult, even gut-wrenchingly difficult, because we are all well-schooled in the powerful and seductive myths of America the Exceptional, America the Beautiful, America the Home of the Brave and Land of the Free. Yet, what we see happening in Washington gives the lie to those comforting myths.

I’m not interested in re-hashing the well-established facts about what President Trump did to merit impeachment. Without question, statements from his own mouth clearly establish his involvement in various nefarious acts. What I’m concerned about is the state of America as a political institution after three years of Trump’s unrelenting demagoguery and GOP Congressional profiles in cowardice as they turned sightless eyes to presidential perfidy.

If the authors of our founding documents and the famous Federalist Papers saw the effects of mindless partisanship and mind-numbingly brutal demagoguery, it was through a glass darkly. If they had been able to see clearly what their political system was capable of, they would have blanched at the thought of a Donald Trump aided by elected GOP sycophants and hastened to revise what they had written.

But that never happened. We are stuck with their blindness and with a political institution that seems to value partisanship over truth and factual reality. What to do? The situation is far from hopeless. Our eyes should be focused on unseating the Demagogue-In-Chief and as many of his GOP ass-kissers as we can and electing people who believe in the rule of law and in the People rather than in corporations.

The problem is a great many conservatives actively dislike or even detest Trump for the blatant asshole he is but will vote for him because he is appointing conservative judges/justices, is coming down hard on immigrants, and is reducing the regulatory duties of federal agencies; here you better be thinking clean air and clean water among many others. Those folks will never see the light of reason; we must ignore them and appeal to people who do. It will come down to one thing only: supporting and voting for a Democratic candidate who has a real chance to win in November.

If we want to change the current reality, all of us, and that means ALL OF US, have to get active in the coming political process. And that means NOW.

Ignoring the Deplorables

Remember when Hillary Clinton made that now infamous statement in a New York City campaign rally about half of Trump’s supporters belonging in a “basket of deplorables”? Here’s another important section of that statement about those supporters:

"They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic – Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he [Trump] has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America."

I don’t know about you but I instantly cringed when I heard Clinton’s speech despite agreeing with her characterization. My reaction was purely political; I strongly suspected it would damage Clinton and her campaign and felt she would have been better off if she had never said anything remotely like it.

But, from today’s perspective of seeing Trump as President for three years, you have to ask yourself: was Clinton wrong in her assessment? Are many of his supporters white nationalists, racists, sexists, homophobes, xenophobes, and right wing-nuts who are militantly anti-immigration? Obviously.

The question you should be asking yourself is, so what? What I mean is, if you are a student of American history you should not be surprised by Clinton’s characterization since it is right on target. Come on, slavery is a dark stain on our vaunted political system. You think slave owners and those Northern bankers and manufacturers who supported them weren’t racists? Immigrant Germans, Irish, Italians, Jews and many others in succeeding waves were reviled and treated like vermin by white Americans. Japanese, Chinese, East Asians, and others were denied the right of citizenship because they were not white. Women were denied the vote for nearly a hundred and fifty years and the Equal Rights Amendment still has very little chance of passing. African-Americans were systematically terrorized by state and local governments during Jim Crow while the federal government and judiciary turned their blind eyes elsewhere while favoring white Americans.

My point is simple. A substantial proportion of Americans have always been white nationalists, racists, sexists, homophobes, xenophobes, and right wing-nuts who are militantly anti-immigration. If Democrats are to be successful in defeating that rapscallion Trump, we have to stop looking at those deplorables and instead remember the other basket of people in Hillary Clinton’s statement at that rally in New York City:

"But . . . that "other" basket of people are people who feel the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures; and they're just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says, but — he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well."

It’s that other basket Democrats/liberals must focus on, not the deplorables whose minds are made up and most likely won’t be changed. My great fear is that the present leading presidential candidates have not fully grasped what I believe is the most salient point in this election: appealing to the liberal base will bring the same results as in 2016. And that spells disaster for this country.