Democracy on the ballot? Dude, we lost that election years ago
(Do people still say "dude"?)
American democracy, now comatose, has been slipping away for a long time. As we approach the 2022 midterms, think of democracy as dead man walking.
Filmmaker Michael Moore is predicting a Blue wave. Moore, as you may remember, predicted a Trump victory in 2016. I agreed with Moore back then, but not now.
Even an unlikely Blue wave would do little to breathe life into our dying democracy.
As for the Blue wave, Dems may have overplayed the abortion issue. Not to make light of it, but people vote their pocket books and inflation is digging deep into those pocket books.
It might be worth mentioning that even though the other side keeps harping on inflation, gas prices and crime, NOT ONE OF THEM has proffered a solution to any of it.
The other point that I’m loathe to make is that not all women are on the pro-choice train. There’s plenty of them holding up Abortion is Murder signs out there.
When the Founding Fathers penned the Constitution for a nascent country of 2.5 million people, whose nights were illuminated by moonlight and candles, it was impossible for them to foretell the state of the republic they formed 246 years and 330 million people into the future.
Men must have been more honorable in those days, as no safeguards - checks and balances notwithstanding - were actually embedded into the system. It mostly worked because people believed in it and, for the most part, operated within its guidelines.
With no great population disparities among the colonies, the 2-senator thing seemed pretty reasonable. Now 2 senators for the half-a-million people living in Wyoming seems grossly unfair to the 39 million Californians with the same representation in the U.S. Senate.
Since the inception of Social Security in 1935, American capitalists have coveted their riches and begrudged sharing any of it with the socialists who fought for a government that treated them fairly.
America's dramatic growth spurt occurred after WWII, when our government was committed to investments into infrastructure, education and health care. All that began unravelling with Ronald Reagan's trickle down economy (voodoo economics as Bush 41 called it) and a tax on Social Security.
Reagan helped his friend and donor, Rupert Murdoch gain American citizenship for the express purpose of buying up American media. In 1985 the Fairness Doctrine, requiring balanced news reporting was abolished and a year later the Fox Network was born.
It was about that time that corporate America began scooping up Republican politicians to mouth their talking points. Mitch McConnell cut his teeth on hyper partisanship and corporate greed and looked for ways to exploit weaknesses in our system of governance.
McConnell's theft of two SCOTUS seats from Democratic presidents was, in his own words, his proudest moments.
In 1996, a nefarious pact blossomed between Murdoch and the man hired to run the news department, Roger Ailes, whose mission was to bash and demonize Democrats.
As programming went from subtle to obvious to bald faced lies and carefully censored information, a nation of angry, aggrieved victims was born, with Democrats as the object of their rage.
I believe that people who watch Fox have been misinformed and mislead and that their leaders, especially Donnie, have taken advantage of that. They, on the other hand, believe that ALL Democrats (Libtards, Lefties, Socialists, etc) hate America and want to destroy it.
It's a new spin on an old trope: America, love it or leave it.
Today, Fox's TucKKKer Carlson openly embraces authoritarian Viktor Orban of Hungary and White supremacy.
You may remember Carlson's own attorneys claiming in official court documents that no reasonable person could believe TucKKKer's bullshit.
And yet, they do.
The Republican Party adopted no platform for the 2020 campaign, they already knew that lock step with Donnie Trump was their only option. Those who decried the violent insurrection of Jan 6, 2021 on the 6th and 7th were all about reframing it by the end of that week.
Whether it was the FBI, BLM, antifa, the media or just another Capitol tour, that most shocking and terrifying event in modern history was buried amidst the lies of a stolen election.
People who are worried about this or that state, this or that seat are missing the point. It is a quintessential example of not seeing the forest for the trees.
Whether a December runoff between idiot boy, Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock keeps the Senate evenly divided or, in the more likely event, Repugs wind up with 52 or 53 seats, the danger is the same.
Whether Dems are able to hold onto their House majority or the unthinkable (and likely) happens, bogging down the House with endless investigations and impeachments, the sound you will hear is the death rattle of American democracy.
Almost 300 election deniers are running for offices from state AGs to secretaries of state, governors, senators, congressmen and election officials.
Laws are in place that will allow state officials to toss out a presidential election not of their liking.
Kari Lake has already cast aspersions on the governors race in Arizona - which she will probably win- and has said that she will only endorse a Trump victory in 2024.
The numbnuts running for governor in Wisconsin pledged that if elected, no Democrat would ever again receive his state's 10 electoral votes.
Hundreds of lawsuits have already been filed challenging tomorrow’s election, mail in ballots and voter registration. This election will not go quietly into the night.
Republicans, whose only agenda is to suppress voters of color, cut Medicare, Social Security and taxes for the rich hate Democrats so much that they'd rather see a stupid, bad man in one of Georgia's Senate seats than an honorable, smart Democrat.
They hate Democrats so much, that they'd rather have a dictator in the White House than a Democrat or, God forbid, a Black man.
Jewish Repugs hate Dems so much they're willing to align themselves with Nazis, NONE of whom are very fine people.
Whatever happens tomorrow, I recommend watching the returns with a good bottle of over proof bourbon or Tequila with plenty of limes.
The real pain however, will come in 2024, and I can't think of an anesthetic capable of muting that anguish as democracy in America is officially laid to rest.