Day 636

Day 636 Sunday October 14, 2018     945 Days to Go

How did we get here?

It’s a good question. Especially, in times like this. Trump continues to shock and we continue not to be shocked.

I find myself asking, “Remember when?”

Remember when we used to solve problems?

Remember when we worked together?

Remember when we agreed on the facts, but might have disagreed on the solution?

I also remember that these strains of deceit, hatred, and bigotry were always with us, but there was an appeal to our better selves, to our goodness, to our rising above the din and drum. There was a sense of taking responsibility for others, for reaching out and helping. 

There was a time when we believed in hard work and that by so doing we would be rewarded. Now, it’s more about scheming, or cheating and not getting caught, and if you do get caught denying it. 

When did this all start? I’d wager that it’s always been there, but now it’s louder than ever. However, there have been some fundamental changes. One of them has been the ever presence of media. There have always been kooks, but now they’ve found a way to center stage. A moment in time was Newt Gingrich’s rise. CSPAN had a camera running on the floor of the House. Gingrich got in front of that camera and said outrageous things to an empty chamber. It was not heard except over the airwaves and from time to time it got replayed. His outrageousness earned him a name and finally the Republicans took over the House and Gingrich became Speaker. His idea? Well, not his, but the one he parroted was to not compromise, to not find common ground, but to oppose and push through some of the radical ideas he had been repeating. A common theme was to shrink government so that it would eventually disappear or be a shadow of itself. Whether he or, Ron Paul or his son Ran really believe this would happen is a matter of debate, but the intent of powerful, and by that I mean “rich,” forces was to shrink the federal government and move power to the states so that these rich interests could more easily manipulate the local state governments. The only use these people had of the Federal government was to keep a military force to prevent the country from being invaded and to use that force to be able to seize assets around the world, and in rare cases suppress local uprisings, that is if the local militias weren’t able to do it.

Reagan had tried this tactic and found the flaw in it. His econ/budget guy David Stockman – the conservative whiz-kid of the time pushed the idea of tax cuts and spending cuts. He got the tax cuts. Everyone liked that. But when it came to the spending cuts? Not so much. Therein lay the fallacy. Yes, people want stuff, but they don’t want to pay for it. California learned that lesson with a proposition that cut taxes on property owners. It was big news when it passed. It decimated the California higher education system, which up until that point had been one of the finest in the world. It went on to ruin California for decades. 

When they couldn’t get the cuts in social programs they wanted they took a different tactic. One we are seeing play out right now. Spend so much that the government will have no choice but to cut back. It’s a deeply cynical approach to governance. But when it comes to being cynical, snide, and hypocritical Newt and the Republicans have no shame or sense of decency. It was Newt who told one wife dying of cancer that he was divorcing her to marry his mistress. Didn’t Rudy do a similar thing? Then there is the Donald who not only kept trading for younger women but had affairs on the side. Let’s not forget the group of Republican Congressmen living in a townhouse in Washington D.C. owned by a “church” that used it as a place to bring their lovers while their wives were back home. All this went on while they railed against the Democrats for their unseemly behavior. So what if they had to go back to a defunct land deal? So what if it was the wife of a guy who had six blow jobs with an intern? 

You can bet that when the Democrats again take the White House these self same Republicans will be whining about the huge deficit. The one they created. On purpose.

 

I remember watching the U.N. Security Council meeting when our Ambassador to the U.N. Jeane Kirkpatrick played the audio recording to the audio intercept of the Soviet pilot before he shot down Korean airliner 007. The Soviets had denied and denied they had anything to do with shooting down that plane that had accidentally wandered into their air space. We even had the pilot being told to hurry up and do it before the plane left their territory. I remember how Kirkpatrick sat there as the tape played.

Do you think we’ll hear Khashoggi being killed and sawed up? 

Do you think our president or his son-in-law will take a stand for decency? For what we as a country have at least believed we stood for?

Fuck no.

This was brought about because of Trump’s allowing violence to be a hallmark of his presidency. Of his allowing people whom he disagreed with to be beaten up at his rallies. At his calling the press the enemy. Of his close palling around with dictators and henchmen around the world. Of his son-in-law’s close personal relationship with the ruling crown prince of Saudi Arabia, who for his chumminess got money to bail out his real estate businesses. Hey, the Saudis spent a lot of money at Donald’s hotels, bailing them out of having losses, aren’t they entitled to something? Fuck America. Go Donald! You the man!

Disgusting.

I fear the worldwide purge has begun.

945 Days to Go

PS Butterfly!