Day 928

Day 928 Monday July 22, 2019

469 Days until the 2020 election and 551 days until the Inauguration

A week or so ago I heard that Megan Rapinoe’s brother had been in jail for years for drugs. Maximum security, tattoos, heroin, the whole bit. I had to ask myself, “Is this what he wanted? Is our approach to drugs in this country working?”

I remember seeing a picture in Time, in their issue on the new drug crisis, a woman was shooting up under a porch and the caption said, “No one growing up says they want to be a drug addict.” (or something to that effect.)

Years ago I remember reading that England was treating drug addiction as a sickness, not a crime. I haven’t heard much about how that program is doing.

I heard an interview on Public Radio. The woman who’s book was taken as the basis for “Orange is the New Black” wrote a memoir of her taking money to England for a friend. The money was drug money. She knew it. Ten years later there was a knock on her door and she spent a year in jail at Danbury (up the street from where I grew up.) One count of money laundering – one year? Wow, I wondered, If that holds for the president he’s looking at a long time in jail just for his money laundering activities.

How long can this charade go on? How long can Trump and the Republicans ignore, cheat, lie, steal, and rig? Is there an end to it or is this the end?

Some don’t like that Rapinoe wouldn’t stand for the National Anthem or didn’t want to go to the White House. That it didn’t show respect. WTF? Show respect? Look at who is in the White House!!! Respect? (Remember that NFL ad where a coach is at a press conference and says, “Playoffs?” Like “Are you kidding me?”) Respect?

I’ll say this I would guess that Melanie’s parents, who became U.S. citizens on a “we need these people because they are so valuable to our country’s well being” program, know more about the U.S. Constitution than the current president.

The four women in Congress that Trump has attacked certainly know more than Trump.

I think what is playing out in this country right now is a discussion, a dialogue, which asks, “Is this what you want this country to be? How’s it working out for you?”

There seem to be three sides to the discussion: modest changes and tweaks, real change, and “Let’s go back to the way it never was.”

Some might say real change is radical change and they’d be correct in so far as the little things haven’t helped. Is it time to really do something? I think so. Under Trump we’ve seen the conservative, right wing, business establishment Republican vision for this country. “How’s that working out for you?”

Not so good? 

Okay, so what are your choices? Cop out (Libertarian, Green, etc.), Democratic establishment, Democratic progressive. The establishment view is “play it safe.” I ask, “How’s that worked out in the past?” I’d say – not so good.

What would the last alternative be? Progressive ideas. The ones that Franklin Roosevelt championed. He wasn’t a progressive as much as a scientist, a political/social scientist. He twiddled. He tried things. Some worked; some didn’t. Isn’t it time to try some things? I mean, playing it safe hasn’t worked out so well. Neither has letting the Russians, I mean the Republicans,  done much.

Speaking of not doing much. I had quoted John Boehner as saying that in his twenty five years in Congress he never saw the Republicans put forward a health care plan. John Dean had responded to a Republican Congressman who was trying to make fun of him that Nixon did have a health care plan. This is true. Nixon’s plan moved us from doctors ripping us off to HMOs ripping us off. 

So? When I look at the play it safe crowd, I don’t see a hue and cry from the land for it. Republican Lite is what that has sometimes been called. I don’t think it’s where the country is at, nor do I think it is what we need. We need to get back to solving problems. We’ve got a big one staring us in the face and it’s called climate change. 

The Squad, the four Congresswomen that Trump attacked, understand this. Trump does not, or doesn’t care enough to do anything about it.

Dealing with that issue alone is not going to be easy, and baby steps isn’t going to cut it. We need big bold action. That isn’t called playing it safe. It is called “Dealing With Reality.”

469 Days until the 2020 election and 551 days until the Inauguration

PS The author with some of his “new friends” the Barong Puppets.