The Soiled 'Shining City on the HIll'

I seem to be experiencing an increasing level of anger and anxiety about just about everything recently.  Aside from the Corona virus and the resulting isolation (which has ramped my anxiety up more than I expected), the past four years have served to simply bust my psyche with the realizations that we are not all that we think we are in terms of 'that shining city on the hill' or the 'beacon of democracy' that we have been brainwashed into believing.  You can smile and tell me I am an alarmist, but I have news for you--you're deluding yourself  Let me depress you by noting the results of our recent history and our ranking in the global universe.  Consider the following..we are:

 

-the country with the most Corona virus cases in the world

-the country with the most Corona virus deaths in the world

            Have you ever asked yourself why or who's to blame for that?

-the US ranks 15th in providing health care among industrialized nations and ranks #1 with the   highest cost per capita for healthcare.  Who do you think profits from that situation?

-on the '2020 Freedom in the World' report  the US ranks 53rd among 84 countries sandwiched between Slovakia and Belize.

-on the '2020 Index of Economic Freedom' the US ranks 17th behind Lithuania

 

Let's consider our 'representative democracy':

 

We have a government that is run by Republican minority rule.  Do you think the founders of our country

intended that to be the case?   The Biden administration is trying to pass a Corona virus relief bill and not one single Republican is going to support it.  Not one single Republican is going to support an increased minimum wage initiative that would improve the lives of over 27 million Americans.  Is that what one would call national empathy?  The vast majority of current Republicans are still promoting the Big Lie about the election and are still kneeling for Donald Trump.  Why do you think that is?

 

The United States has a political party whose sole raison d'etre is to do as little as possible to improve the lot of the majority of citizens.  They spend all their time introducing bills in the state legislatures to impede voting, re-draw district lines to disenfranchise voters who do not agree with them, (primarily people of color), and promote disinformation that supports lying about important things like 'who won a national election', or who caused 15 million Texans to be without power and water for a week, or accusing Antifa of the Jan 6th attacks.

 

Somehow these people have a death grip on the ability of our country to honor the wishes of the citizens.  The Biden rescue plan has the approval of over 75% of the country in national polling and overwhelming support for the increase in the minimum wage.  And yet all these Republicans stand against these measures.  Ever ask yourself why?   The only way Democrats (who are actually the majority) can even attempt to get something done to help our citizens is to use a 'reconciliation' device in the legislative process to make it happen.  How sad.  Does it disturb you that all Republicans don't want to help our citizens?  

 

A part of our government that is the least representative of our people--The Senate--has a rule that requires a majority vote of 60% to pass anything.   70% of our population is electing only 30 of the 100 senators.  Somehow that doesn't seem right, does it?  Is that what majority rule means?  The supposed 'body of great deliberation' has not been deliberating anything for the past 4 years, and the guy who is now the minority leader still has control of everything because he has the Filibuster Rule to put his thumb on the scale.   This filibuster rule effectively gives his party the ability to stop everything the majority wants to do.  The founders did not create that rule, the Republicans did.

 

Every effort made to advance positive social or economic change is stymied by this party.  People in the Republican party have only one motive:  stay in power and cater to those who give them money.  They have no interest in supporting anything that would make American's lives easier or better.  They only have interest in lining their pockets, accumulating power and maintaining their ability to keep control.

 

Are you depressed yet? 

 

I am describing the people who stand up for overturning fair elections, rejecting the will of the people

and installing a man who clearly lost.  These are people for whom democracy is an empty shell and something to be ignored.  Democratic ideals and principles are ignored by them.  The rule of law is only good if it benefits them.  For example, consider their effort to prevent a Democratic president from appointing a Supreme Court justice 9 months before the election while they jam through a Republican nominee within 2 weeks of a national election.  How is that for hypocrisy?  Their infrastructure is cemented by a network of media outlets that they have cultivated and control, that spews their falsehoods incessantly and thrives on delivering lies and misinformation.  Why is that OK with them?

 

I can't listen to the news anymore because all these people who have no interest in making our lives better seem to fill the airways with false representations, accusations and specious reasons why the Democrats are responsible for everything because they are so 'radical'.  What is so radical about trying to put some cash relief in the hands of desperate citizens crushed by the virus?  What is so radical about trying to raise the standard of living by increasing the minimum wage so more money can be put into circulation to help the economy and most importantly feed their children?  What is so radical about trying to make sure everyone has the right to vote or have health care that is affordable?

 

So, don't let anyone, especially Republicans, lull you into believing in American excellence.  We are in tough shape.  With insurrectionists and domestic terrorists seeming to get a 'pass' from supporters of Trump and the Republican party, our republic is still in grave danger.  When the election of 2022 rolls around and these liars have monkeyed with the electoral system some more and possibly regain power, I fear we will continue our slide toward autocracy and fascism.  Make no mistake, the Republican party is the progenitor of autocracy and fascism.

 

How is your level of depression and anxiety now?  Hemlock anyone? 

Will Accountability Ever Come?

While it was certainly important that the impeachment trial end in a conviction, it was unlikely to end that way because the minds of 43 of the 'so-called' jurors were already made up.  But there is a larger end result which in the long run may be a better payoff.  The story crafted by the House prosecution team is the first complete and thorough analysis of what really happened on January 6th and why.  And no one can deny it is a 'shocker'.  Over time the gravity and weight of what happened will seep into the conscience of Americans.

 That story unfolded in front of the eyes of Congress, all of America and the world.  It is not possible to ignore or sugar coat that story.  As a video producer, my stock and trade is telling stories using exactly the media that the House team used in crafting their narrative.  This was a superb telling, complete with context, both temporal and physical.  Because it was so thoroughly crafted to include all the simultaneously occurring parts, it provides us with as complete a picture of the overall progression of events as is possible at this point in time.  Elements will be added over the coming months as new evidence is revealed and as investigations continue into the financing and planning of the attack, but for our country, the story has been shocking in its detail and impact.  It is impossible not to see the conspiracy, the pre-production work, the execution and projected result.  To paraphrase one of the Capitol police, who sat crying with his friend in the Rotunda after the rioters had been turned out,  "WTF man, is this America?"

 If you take just the two days of Senate presentation and package it as a 9-hour video series, it can be used in America's schools in revitalized civics courses as a primer on Democracy and how to maintain or lose it....it should be required study for all high school students. 

 

Another result is that there can be no doubt now as to the allegiance of those in the Congress who voted to acquit.  We can all witness the choice they have made.  We can see those whose allegiance is to democracy, the rule of law and the survival of our republic, and those who value only acquisition of power through any means including violence.  The question becomes clear:  Which America do we want?  "Those 43 senators, and all the rest in the House in the Republican party made a choice for all to see.  Cowed by Trump’s zealous base, they cravenly chose power and privilege over responsibility and principle.  These senators should be held accountable. Citizens who care about the future of this republic should come together, across lines of party and ideology, to vote out of office those who failed in their most important responsibility," said Katrina vanden Heuvel in the New York Times today.

 

What comes next?---no one really knows, but there are hints.

 

With the appearance of an investigation on the part of the Fulton County District Attorney in Georgia, there is a new resolute movement being born.  Since the dawning of realization about how close we came to a coup d'etat, there is new momentum to using the real tools of actual justice to begin to bring accountability.  Once Merrick Garland is confirmed as Attorney General, we hopefully will see a renewed interest in bringing criminal charges against those who incited insurrection in violation of federal statutes.  The US Attorney's Washington,DC office is investigating bringing local felony charges for incitement of violence against Trump or others....same thing for the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio with regard to some of the rioters.  A 'real' jury of unbiased jurors will attempt to return verdicts based on the actual facts and then send these people to prison.

 However Rep. Jamie Raskin was right:  without a definitive verdict in this trial and prohibition against holding any office in the future, the country is still at risk from Trump and his minions.  What happens if he runs again....and loses?  Will we see a repeat of the insurrection, only better organized and more violent?

 

What is clear beyond any doubt is that those in the Senate who voted to acquit, sanction violence as the answer to disagreement with the result of elections.  They reject the Constitution, continue to support the Big Lie that the election was fraudulent and are just fine ignoring the rule of law.  History will record their names and serve them a separate legacy and ignominy.

 

As to the future of the Republican Party?  My own sense is that it is irretrievably broken.  Trumpists will seek power again, but their members are hollow without souls.  Their legions are smaller and winning elections will be much harder.  And, of course, the country at large now sees their actions for what they really were.  The portion of the current Republican Party who still have souls will try to reconstitute somehow, but it may be too late to find redemption for their inaction and incompetence.  Even now there has been a large exodus of registered Republicans from the voting rolls nationwide.  Awareness has dawned for them.

 

I think awareness has dawned for all of us.  Let's hope that awareness leads to new resolve to protect our fragile democracy.

  

Trying to Define Themselves....

They struggle to explain their newfound notoriety and ask the media and the public to be patient while they 'try to define themselves'....

For the past several decades they have stood not for policy, but rather obstruction.  Their message is "how can I stop them from doing something; or how can I reverse or cancel what they have done."  Their positions were not empathetic to people's needs.  They were and are only concerned with those who contribute to them, and how they can maintain their power.

 

For the past 9 years they have mostly been concerned with rejecting everything Obama, including his nomination for a Supreme Court Justice even though they knew it was legally and morally wrong.  They have strived to spend as much as possible when in power and then whine incessantly about the 'deficit' and 'debt' when they are not.  Their focus and most significant accomplishments over the past 4 years were to pass a huge tax cut for the wealthy, increase our debt by over 1 trillion dollars, ignore any legislative action with the exception of filling our judicial system with right wing judges and find any way possible to stop Americans from accessing affordable health care.  They presided over the destruction of our institutions and blindly supported a lying autocrat as he systematically deconstructed our government.

 

Most recently, 147 of them rose to reject the results of our LEGAL national election, without any evidence other than their allegiance to a liar.  They supported the lie, and attempted to overturn the will of the people and abort the peaceful transition of power.

 

As soon as the election was over, in response to the overwhelming increase in new voters of color, they mobilized the state legislatures they control to introduce new statutes to further restrict and suppress voting and redraw new voting district borders to increase gerrymandering.  Over 106 new bills have been introduced since November 3rd in 28 state legislatures--3 times as many as the year before.

 

They sent to Congress new freshman members who advocate assassinating other members of Congress, advancing debunked conspiracy theories and who still support the lie that the election was stolen.  When a majority of the House revoked the committee assignments of the most vocal of them, all except 11 of the over 200 of them in the House rose to give her a round of applause when she stepped up to the microphone to lie about her past actions and statements.  A surprising number of them stood in support of the insurrection at the Capitol, and when the person who incited the insurrection was impeached, 45 of the 50 of them in the Senate said we should just 'move on' because the impeachment was unconstitutional.  It isn't.  None of them except 10 have supported accountability for inciting sedition and insurrection.  And when those 10 stood for principle against the insurrectionist, all the rest of them, including their supporters in the electorate have tried to censure and eject them from their elective office.

 

What images do names like Hawley, Green, Cruz, Gohmert, Boebert, Brooks, McCarthy, Gaetz, Scalise, Stefanik, Jordan, Nunes, and Tuberville conjur up in your minds?  And for me, the most disgusting name on this list is Rick Scott of Florida (lives in my hometown--how embarrassing!).

 

And they all ask for our patience as they try to define themselves?  I think they have done that rather well actually.

The New Republican Reality

I think it is time to take stock of who Republicans really are.  

 

We supposedly live in a democratic republic.  The founders of this great country formulated a Constitution that provides for progress on all major issues by the use of compromise.  Compromise is only possible when it is built on the foundation of all participants living and believing in the same reality.

 

And here is the rub--it has become apparent that basically the entire Republican party, including the Congress and the citizens who claim to be Republican are living in a different false reality.  The reality they are living in is one where the elected Democratic President is not the legitimate President.  In spite of the fact that there is overwhelming evidence that all the claims that Republicans have made concerning the election being stolen and there being widespread fraud are false, they still believe the Big Lie.  This Big Lie has been started, promoted, and repeated by former President Trump, his supporters and the sycophantic mass media(Fox, OANN, Newsmax, social media, etc) for the last year.  These Republicans firmly believe the Big Lie, or for whatever reason conspire to support it for cynical self promoting purposes.

 

What this results in is the inability to even approach compromise.  If 45% of the country doesn't accept the result of the election, then there is no starting point in their minds to even consider compromise.  Their reality therefore only accepts any method of denying the legitimacy of the current

government.  Taken to the extreme, which of course was the result of months of the Big Lie leading to the disaster of January 6th, it leads to the armed insurrection of the Capitol, the deaths of at least 6 people and serious injury of 146 people.

 

What is so incomprehensible is the abdication of their oaths of office on the part of 45 Republican Senators and over 150 Republican Congressmen in the House of Representatives.  They rose to deny the Electoral College results of the election...in effect supporting the insurrection and the denial of the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power.  Even after the riot that actually put the Vice President in mortal danger in addition to exposing their own vulnerability, they still rose to support the lie of the stolen election.  They essentially rejected the peaceful transfer of power--a hallmark of our system of government.

 

After a handful of legislators in the House rose to call out Trump for his incitement immediately after the mob riot, they now have backed away from their support of accountability.  Now 45 senators have denied the need for accountability for Trump by claiming the impeachment of Trump is unconstitutional--a process argument that ignores the need for accountability.

 

To be sure, Trump is really only the worst symptom of the Republican reality.  Republicans now continue to expend all their energy in support of a lie and fealty to a person who trades in incitement and insurrection. They believe that only in this way can they maintain their office and avoid being 'primaried' by Trump and the Republican base.  The current Republican party, (with the exception of 10 brave Republicans who voted for impeachment in the House), believes only in their own reality of poisonous extremism.  They are not interested in anything bi-partisan because they simply don't accept the results of the election.  By taking that position, they have abdicated their responsibility of their oaths of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

 

It is therefore impossible to actually move forward as a country when half the legislature and half the

populace reject the concept of democracy and the rule of law.  This is something relatively unseen for the past 170 years in the United States.  We haven't had a similar situation since the 1850s in the period leading up to the Civil War when supporting slavery was more important to half the country than the notion of preserving our democracy.

In that case, how do we proceed as a republic?

 

The only path left open to Constitutional patriots who must face the major problems of the pandemic, the economy and the restoration of democratic principles is to appeal to those Republicans who still have a moral compass and are able to accept the reality that the rest of us accept.   Those who stand with Adam Kinzinger and other Republicans who support https://www.country1st.com/ ; Liz Cheney and all those who value truth and democracy must partner with Democrats to try to save our republic.  The Trumpists who accept white supremacy, violent insurrection, and allegiance to a terribly flawed human being over allegiance to their country must be exposed and rejected for what they are.   If this new dangerous Republican party of Trump is allowed to regain power, democracy as we know it will disappear.