The Covid Failures of the GOP

 

A brief reflection on what really has brought us to this sorry state. Consider the Defense Production Act. The administration could have used the Act to provide ventilators early in the pandemic when hospitals were short of equipment. The Act could have been used to avoid shortages of hospital Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The Act could have been used to provide free N95 masks to everyone. The Act could have been used to provide free testing and contact tracing across the country. None of this happened.

 

Instead, the states were told that they were on their own. They had to compete in the private marketplace both here and around the world. Of course this led to price inflation and shortages which cost lives.

 

Was this callousness or cruelty? Perhaps. But I believe that it reveals most clearly the heart of the Republican project: A strong federal government must be destroyed. Weakening the federal level must be pursued no matter what. In their “winner take all” use of power since 2016, every positive service at the federal level has to be compromised.

 

Regulations must be eliminated. Taxes must be cut for the rich and for the big businesses. Advisory groups must be partisan. Civil servants must be partisan. The courts must be partisan. Their ideal is a perfect spoils system, where Republicans can stay in power forever, and Democratic ideas and representatives must be defeated.

 

This “small government” philosophy is the basis for the administration’s Covid failures. But it hides a deeper truth. Republicans are fine with big government, as long as they control it. For example, it is OK to send Federal troops into Democratic cities; it is OK to cripple the Post Office; it is OK to ban abortion across the country; it is OK to deny Federal funds to Democratic states and cities; and so on, an unending string of big government actions promoting Republican policies.

 

The real agenda is raw power, to be seized and held as long as possible. The rest of us, the 99%, just do not count. Just consider the growing Covid case numbers, and the increasing number of Covid deaths, to know the truth. Republicans don’t care about us, no matter what they might say.

 

A Democratic landslide will be the best vaccine against this evil. Vote!

 

Wednesday, 27 Oct 20

 

The Supreme Court Trap: Don’t Go There, Joe!

 

Packing the Supreme Court is a last-minute trap laid by the Republicans. The lazy press promotes this issue, playing “gotcha” rather than doing serious reporting.

 

If Biden says that he will not pack the Court, he guarantees that many achievements from the New Deal through civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, consumer and environmental protections, and Obamacare, will be severely compromised, if not eliminated by the right-wing activists now in the majority. He also would be guaranteeing that any of his new initiatives would be attacked and compromised in the courts. And, he might lose progressive support.

 

If Biden says that he intends to pack the Court, he opens the election up for Republican charges that he will appoint radical activists. This might hurt his chances for winning the election.

 

A classic lose-lose dilemma.

 

Instead, Biden should ask when Mitch McConnell plans to stop packing the courts. McConnell held up or slow-walked over 100 court nominations in Obama’s last years. He held up Obama’s Merrick Garland nomination to the Supreme Court, arguing that it should not proceed even to a hearing in a President’s last year. Of course, with Amy Comey Barrett, he now argues the opposite, proving that it is power, not principle, driving the Republicans. The Republicans treat any Democratic court nomination as illegitimate.

 

Biden needs to turn the question around and focus on Republican court packing. He and his surrogates need to re-educate the people on the history and the evils of Andrew Jackson’s spoils system1. “To the victor belong the spoils!” is the road to whiplash for the people every four years. We have done better, and we need to do better again. The people need steadiness, not extremism, in their government.

 

So, don’t go there, Joe! Don’t announce where you stand on this issue until after the election. The question itself is a trap.

 

Sunday, 19 Oct 20

1  See: https://www.britannica.com/topic/spoils-system

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Call Up The National Guard!

 

The Republicans have spent decades inventing new ways to suppress the vote. Gerrymandering, voter id laws, mass purges of registered voter lists, denying felons their right to vote, eliminating voter polling places in areas deemed to favor Democrats, particularly in minority communities, and reducing mail-in voting periods and absentee vote drop boxes, all are well-known examples. Now we have Republicans attacking mail-in voting directly, trying to force people concerned about Covid to vote in person. We even have California Republicans setting up fake vote drop boxes, presumably to capture early Democratic ballots.

 

Of course all of this is fundamentally un-American, compromising the Constitutional promise of one person - one vote. It is a naked grab for power.

 

While lawsuits defending the right to vote still are in the courts, it probably is too late in this election cycle to affect much of the Republican voting agenda.

 

Most recently, however, a new attack on voting rights has been launched by the President and his minions: encouraging right-wing militias, White supremacy groups, and many others of his extreme supporters to intervene directly in the vote. He has encouraged legions of “vote watchers” to show up on Election Day to intimidate and discourage voters.

 

It is likely that many of these groups will instigate violence at the polls. We do not have to believe that this will happen to prepare for the worst. States and localities need to prepare contingency plans, and strategic police deployments to protect the right to vote.

 

But this may not be enough. At this critical time, responsible Governors need to call up and deploy the National Guard to supplement local police. Doing this well in advance of Election Day, particularly in swing states, can discourage violence and voter intimidation at the polls.

 

Governors, call up the National Guard, NOW!

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Tuesday, 13 October 2020

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Anxiety

 

I have predicted a broad Democratic victory in November for a long time. Still, there are nights when it is hard to sleep. Wondering if the polls are wrong again. Wondering about some last minute surprise. Wondering if too many votes in the swing states will be disqualified or suppressed.

 

My comfortable bubble in Northern Virginia shields me from the real world outside of the Beltway. And the focus on a small number of swing states hides the action from the rest of us. (Itself an argument for a national election, by eliminating the electoral college.)

 

With such a limited vision, so many questions:

 

Why isn’t Biden doing two or three events a day?

 

Why isn’t Harris separately doing the same?

 

Why aren’t all the ex-Democratic candidates out every day speaking for Biden?

 

Why isn’t the campaign honing its vision to a small number of key issues, such as coronavirus action plans, preserving and expanding healthcare, leading police reform to produce safer cities and safer enforcement for all, providing economic stimulus and relief for small business and the rest of us who are not rich, restoring Federal agencies (EPA, FDA, Justice...) to serve the people again, and rebuilding foreign alliances for a safer world?

 

Why aren’t Republicans for Biden each holding daily local events in the suburbs?

 

Why aren’t the celebrities for Biden holding frequent online events?

 

Why aren’t the African-American leaders for Biden out in their communities getting out the vote?

 

Why aren’t LatinX for Biden out in their communities stumping for Biden?

 

Why aren’t women for Biden telephoning swing voters?

 

Why aren’t young voters for Biden out convincing their cynical peers to vote?

 

Why aren’t the ex-Trump officials for Biden giving hundreds of local interviews?

 

Why aren’t the rich Democratic backers paying the fees and fines for ex-felons in Florida, so hundreds of thousands more can vote?

 

Why aren’t the rich Democratic backers spending more on voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts?

 

Why aren’t all of these groups focusing more on the swing and flip states and Senate races?

 

Oh, you say all of this is happening outside of my bubble? Great! I’ll sleep better tonight...

 

Saturday, 19 September 2020

 

Translating TrumpSpeak, and Other Things

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When Donald was seven, he apparently mastered the art of name-calling. You’re bad. You’re ugly. You’re weak. You’re dumb. Later, he added a few words to his vocabulary. You’re a disgrace. You’re a failure. Others recognized that these all were empty words, empty space, and empty meaning. They grew up. He didn’t.

 

So, when you hear Donald today, note that he is not capable of filling the space in the empty words. Why are you a disgrace? No answer. Why are you a failure? No answer. No knowledge of any subjects, just labels.

 

What does Donald believe in, besides himself? One thread coils around his whole life: unrepentant racism. People of color are there to be insulted and kept down. Certainly a core belief. What else? Sexism. What else? Government is the enemy. What else? (Add your list here...)

 

Two abstract words: projection and attribution. Projection is taking my faults and attributing them to others. It also means taking your strengths and attributing them to myself. If I feel weak, I say you are weak. If I feel ugly, I say you are ugly. If I feel dumb, I say you are dumb. If I fear your intelligence, I say I am the smartest person in the room. If I fear your competence, I say I can do anything better than anyone.

 

Attribution also is the art of asserting that someone is whatever you think. I think you are crazy. I think you are evil. I think you are on a witch hunt. No evidence is necessary, because I am just saying that is the way you are, internally and forever. Guilty as charged.

 

Any of this sound familiar? Poor Donald. Dangerous Donald.

 

Attacking him is easy. Lampooning him is easy. Hyperventilating over what he says is easy. BUT he is not all there is to worry about, and it would be a mistake to think that rational, mature voters would not support him. Look past the smoke and mirrors at the levers pulled by the little man who would be the Wizard of Oz.

 

Donald is permitting and promoting the most radical Republican agenda ever. For example, packing the Supreme Court and every Federal court with ideologues. These judges do not respect the Constitution or the progress we have made since FDR.

 

They will vote against civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights (including the right to choose), LBGTQ rights, workers’ rights, immigration rights, health care, environmental protection, business taxes and business regulations. They will vote against goverment regulations across the board, including protections against unsafe drugs and unsafe products.

 

A Republican Congress will vote to finish the generational battle to eliminate corporate taxes altogether. They will vote to eliminate the Constitutional barrier to separation of church and state. They will vote to support guns until we return to the wild West, with shoot-outs in the streets. They will vote to support state gerrymandering and voter suppression, to ensure a Republican majority for years to come.

 

So, Donald’s enablers and supporters see many things they like. Anti-abortionists are happy with Donald. Big business is happy with Donald. White supremacists are happy with Donald. Conservative Christians are happy with Donald. Gun owners are happy with Donald. Conservatives of all stripes can find something to like in the agenda.

 

What Donald says or does is not that important to these people. It’s what he promotes and permits that ensures their support. The Democratic campaign must focus more on this radical agenda than on Donald.

 

Remember, only a huge voter registration and get-out-the-vote effort will defeat this coalition and preserve the hard-won progress we have made. The prime goal is victory for Biden and control of the Senate. Pay a little less attention to the little man behind the curtains...

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Tuesday, 1 Sep 2020