REPUBLICANS CHOOSE INSURRECTION AGAIN

 Let us begin this post by recognizing the devastation of the mass killing in San Jose, California.  Besides deep sadness for those killed, we grieve with their families who are left with the results of this attack.  Let us hope they are well-cared for by others in a position to do so, including government representatives.

It is unnerving that there is a context surrounding this and other incidents of violence and non-violence with the same overall purpose.  Let us explore that context.  It starts, not with Jan.6^th, but with the announcement by “entrepreneur” and real estate “developer” (and TV show host), Donald Trump, that he is running for President of the U.S.  What he said in that announcement should have provided clues to the context of this present moment.  He said (and I have interpreted)some revealing words and phrases:

·        “We don’t have victories anymore.  When was the last time anybody saw us beating, let’s say, China in a trade deal? They kill us. I beat China all the time.”  (Winning is everything; might is its intimate companion)

·        “The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems.” (Blame on others is rampant in Trump land and global issues are swept aside)

·        “When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” (Fear is primary in human activity; play to their fears to control their responses) (scapegoats are important to blaming others for one’s failures)

·        “It's coming from more than Mexico. It's coming from all over South and Latin America, and it's coming probably -- probably -- from the Middle East. But we don't know. Because we have no protection and we have no competence, we don't know what's happening. And it's got to stop, and it's got to stop fast.” (more fear; more prejudice; more religious intolerance to identify our enemies)

·        “I love the military, and I want to have the strongest military that we've ever had, and we need it more now than ever.” (might and power are essential for a strong man image)

·        “Last quarter, it was just announced our gross domestic product -- a sign of strength, right? But not for us. It was below zero. Whoever heard of this? It's never below zero.” (using non-measures of might to measure strength)

·        “And our real unemployment is anywhere from 18 to 20 percent. Don't believe the 5.6. Don't believe it” (cast doubt on the press, the government and government workers)

·        “A lot of people up there can't get jobs. They can't get jobs, because there are no jobs, because China has our jobs and Mexico has our jobs. They all have jobs.”  (divide and conquer)

·        “Our enemies are getting stronger and stronger by the way, and we as a country are getting weaker. Even our nuclear arsenal doesn't work” (blame previous administration for failures; equate with ‘enemies’)

·        “We have a disaster called the big lie: Obamacare” (attack all liberal policies as lies)

·        “Now, our country needs… a truly great leader, and we need a truly great leader now. We need a leader that wrote "The Art of the Deal." We need -- we need somebody…-that literally will take this country and make it great again” (the one strong Leader is of highest import not the People)

·        “We don’t need nice.” (violence and denigration are of great importance in takeover process)

·        “They're tired of spending more money on education than any nation in the world per capita, than any nation in the world… 25 countries are better than us in education.” (destroy education that is public-oriented)

·        “I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I'll build them very inexpensively, I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.”  (take belligerent action to keep others on the outside)

·        “Fully support and back up the Second Amendment” (violence wins again!)

·        “…education has to be local.”

·        “Rebuild infrastructure.  Nobody can do that like me. Believe me. It will be done on time, on budget, way below cost, way below what anyone ever thought” (the great Leader is the source of all matters related to the State)

His small audience then and his base now missed the context; they missed the hidden meanings; they missed the fascist elements lurking and ready to pounce.  They simply missed or dismissed the lies, the emphasis on military might, the scapegoating, the blame placed on everyone else especially politicians and rivals; the racism; the dependence on him alone; the nationalistic bombast; the emphasis on private education called ‘local’.  The need to be the Winner; the Leader and the Mighty is his motivation. The most important element perhaps was his opposition to public programs like healthcare and education.  This was the message of a man in search of autocratic power based on his knowledge, his agenda, his decisions – never mind the people except for the rich cronies he mentions throughout.  He basically told us who he was and what he was after – absolute power – and we missed it!

Let me now approach this topic of absolute power and might from another direction, demurring somewhat from the direction of leading Democrats.  I am afraid that Democrats, including Biden and Harris, are losing sight of what is happening and what needs to happen.  Our Democratic Party  is -- as it does so often -- dealing with policy issues when process issues, concentrated on government takeover, are what is happening, and exactly what must be urgently addressed.

In other words, what is going on in Arizona (and soon in other states like Georgia, Michigan, maybe Pennsylvania) is what is important, not how the COVID virus got started or where.  What is happening in Arizona with the fake “audit” of votes by 3^rd party contractors loyal to Trump is not unlike what is happening with the rise of gun violence and mass shootings, the attack on our Capitol on January 6^th and the attempts to unseat certain electoral officials in Georgia, Michigan, etc.

The Trump Republican Party is out to overturn the Biden government, and other Democrat-led governments at state and local levels.  They are all about process; policies are irrelevant.  They are all about overthrowing the existing government.  Very recently we heard from that ethically challenged congressman from Florida, Matt Gaetz, who made it entirely clear that the 2^nd amendment is there to make sure the people have the ability to overthrow their government if necessary.   Gaetz thus put his finger on the pulse of the context – it is all about the overthrow of not just the Biden administration, but of the very nature of democratic governing.

Meanwhile, Democrats are mired in ridiculous thoughts of bipartisanship, attempting to bring at least ten Republicans aboard their agenda train, to attempt to rid us of the Senate Rule about filibuster and cloture that requires 60 votes   The Republicans are secretly cheering their lack of action on the real issues of power and takeover. 

Republicans are winning that battle with their attacks on Democrats as socialists and commies, and by characterizing them as the source of electoral abuse and corruption while they go free of any such charges.  And that is all because the Democrats are reluctant to fight, to use government to stop the overtaking of government; to call the people and the situations exactly what they are, instead of what they wish them to be.  

We are, as a nation, in dire straits with anti-democratic behaviors and actions seizing control everywhere.  And, Democrats have yet to figure out what they are fighting, and how to stop it in its tracks.

Today, the Republicans in the Senate put an end to bipartisanship as a viable principle and strategy.  By a procedural vote which required 60 votes to pass, they killed the bill that would have led to the formation of a bi-partisan Commission to investigate and report on the underlying causes and factors that led to the Jan. 6^th attack on our Congress and the legislative symbol known as the Capitol.  Senator Schumer as Majority Leader seemed to understand the import of the blocking of this Commission.  He spoke clearly about the danger to our democracy and to the Senate’s Purpose by means of this negative vote.  

Well, let me be even clearer: we are all in danger of a fascist takeover of our democratic government and no one, including Biden and Harris, is leading a movement to stop that fascism from gaining control.  That vote today is one more attempt to overthrow this government, and we must put it in that context.  In fact, everything undertaken by the Democratic Party from here on must take into account the context of destruction and overthrow that exists at the very CORE of the Trump Republican Party.

Here are the steps that make up a PATTERN of authoritarian takeover of democratic or non-despotic governments.  It works in all areas of our world, even in the United States of America.  Compare them to what Trump told us in his announcement of his run for the Presidency and recall all he has done since to continue the big lies on which his ascendancy is based.

1)     Powerful and continuing nationalism. “America First”; make America Great Again; “stand up” to other countries; withdraw from Agreements and pacts that are ‘unfair’ to America

2)     Disdain for human rights.  eroding citizen trust and their confidence in freedom of press; denigrate people who disagree ; deport whole groups (DACA); restrict voting by certain groups and deny vote to others  

3)     Identifying scapegoats. ban immigration from Muslim countries; make Mexicans and other Latinos into criminals; question law and order violations by protesters especially in Black Lives Matter

4)     Military supremacy. ludicrous increases in spending on troops and weapons; making threats against other countries; wars continued in Iraq and Afghanistan

5)     Rampant Sexism. nine women have come forward to make charges against the president; the Access Hollywood tapes and signed Orders removing protections for women in relation to sexual harassment, access to healthcare coverage and to special preventative measures; restrictions on service in the military of persons who happen to be lesbian or transgender; assault upon abortion choice as a right;

6)     Control of mass media. exclude certain media representatives; limit press attendance at important events; trash particular media people; threaten to disapprove owner licenses; do not hold press conferences; use an alternative method such as Twitter for most communication; attempt to stop stories from being published or aired; use media to own advantage – plant stories; mislead and lie, lie, lie

7)     Obsession with national security.  and with crimes by immigrants once they arrive in this country, strangely obviated by his non-obsession with Russian interference in the 2016 election process; the building of a Wall on our Mexican border; his military build-up

8)     Religion and government intertwined. executive order opening religious communities to greater ability to be involved in political issues and to receive government grants; pushing private schools receiving public funds (many of them associated with a particular denomination or religion);

9)     Business interests protected.  the Business Tax lowered; there is always regulatory reduction and the removal of healthcare mandates

10)  Labor power suppressed. support of right-to-work states; attacks on bargaining rights; opposition to minimum wage increase; and laws that prevent unions from striking; appointment of Labor Department head who was anti-union

11)  Disdain for the arts. cuts in public radio; first of modern presidents to not attend Kennedy Center Honors presentations; no state dinners; presidential medal of honor for loyalists;

12)  Obsession with crime and punishment.  "Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety" -- Signed: Feb. 9, 2017, highlighting drug trafficking, illegal immigration and violent crime.  Throughout his campaign, Trump promised voters a return to "law and order" in the United States and said minorities from inner cities are "living in hell" because of violent crime

13)  Rabid cronyism and corruption . Wall-Streeters and millionaires in his cabinet; his family ensconced in WH operation; corruption by department heads and other members of this administration

14)  Fraudulent Elections. from requiring photo IDs to claiming  rampant voter fraud, Trump makes the point himself that election system is broken, Trump himself has turned Trump Towers and Mar-A-Lago into money-making machines dependent on his celebrity

Although Trump himself may not have been capable of instituting a well-thought-out Plan to make us over into a Fascist country, he has acted upon his internalized values, beliefs and experiences that drive his actions, as they have always done. And, he has been guided by two white nationalists acting as special White House advisors:  Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller. Both have long-held fascist racist, nationalistic views.

So here is the raw deal:  while Democrats are involved in legislation about voting rights, infrastructure, COVID Relief and global climate change – all good and worthy goals -- the Republican Right is bent upon using false narratives and violent actions to overturn the Biden-Harris victory and to render it invalid making Trump their rightful President.  Until Democrats get their act together and focus on stopping this takeover, we are in danger of losing our democracy. 

Sorry, but that is the one concern/issue/policy/program that matters right now.  We need leaders who will keep our focus and theirs on that target.    

What needs to –and must—happen right now?  Democrats and progressive independents must get to the core of what is happening and fight back with unapologetic vigor and use of power.  They must:

1)     Use existing laws to sue, fine, remove, damage, and find legitimate ways to hold the insurrectionists accountable.  There should be legal actions brought against them everywhere.

2)     Begin painting all Trampers for what they are – fascists, Nazis, insurrectionists, racists, and liars before they stick every liberal with those titles.

3)     Someone else suggested that Dems make Marjorie Greene the prototype of every Republican instead of accepting her harassment of staffers and legislators

4)     Take action to point obstructionists out and call them out on every action 

5)     Use Executive Orders to hinder their operations

6)     Get to the essence of their support which is online contributions; disrupt that process in every way possible:  get all online social media vendors to prevent use of their platforms; use executive orders to threaten withdrawal or suspension of licenses

7)     Threaten to withhold federal funds of all kinds from states that suppress voting rights, allow third party contracts for fake ‘audits’, that violate the secrecy of voter ballots

8)     Order every department of federal government to produce ads, papers, flyers etc. that emphasize the threat of Fascism and the steps in  a formula that threaten democracy.  Get information to the public on a regular basis. Schumer should be upfront doing just that every day!

9)     Time to abandon bipartisanship and to show what Republicans have done to destroy that value and principle.  For example, use the vote against the Commission as the motivation for saying that bipartisanship is dead and its all the fault of the Republicans.  Biden shouldn’t just pull list of NO voting  Republicans out of his pocket – he needs to advertise those names over and over.

10)  Exclude Republicans from the White House – no access – and say bi-partisan issue  is dead because of Republican intransigence as are all negotiations on 1/6 Commission, voting rights, and any other legislation proposed by Dems.  That action must be used to get at issues that undermine Trump’s Far Right: no federal education and reform money to recalcitrant states.  We must take the time and unfortunate strategy to ‘upset the apple cart.’

11)  Appoint Special Committees in the House to undercut Republican efforts by investigating and holding hearings on 1/6, infrastructure, etc.

12)  Start right in the Congress:  limit Republican access to staff; to special benefits like healthcare and transportation; limit office space, use Ethics committees to bring charges; emphasize congressional vacations – cut them down in terms of fewer adjournments; go after member privilege and holds on appointments

13)  Go after Republican supporters by using infrastructure legislation as a carrot then bring out big stick of denial to their states

14)  Pass sections of infrastructure without Republican help then hold funds hostage or as quid pro  quo – i.e., you’ll get funds when state declares support for results of 2020 elections, for 1/6 commission; and rejects voter suppression measures

15)  Enlist large corporations to fight Fascism on same basis –help or  lose funds

16)  Get creative about opposing and undermining the Trump Far Right keeping in mind the awful truth dispensed in a decision by that federal Judge Jackson  in D.C. – the threats of insurrection, violence and obstruction are not over, and probable defendants cannot be allowed to go free because they are a threat to society!  It is true of defendants and it is also true about Trump’s politicians; THEY ARE INCAPABLE OF FAIR GOVERNANCE and must be held accountable for that.

17)  Finally, in this context of destruction of our form of government by takeover of its functions, WE MUST COME TO THE CLEAR UNDERSTANDING THAT BI-PARTISANSHIP HAS NOW REACHED THE UNFORTUNTE END OF BEING A STRATEGY BY WHICH THE REPUBLICAN FASCISTS ARE ABETTED IN THEIR OVERTHROW BY ANY FORM OF COOPERATION WITH THEM!  In other words, bipartisanship has become a tool of the Trump GOP and Democrat cooperation on that basis is equivalent to joining their destructive movement away from democracy and into the abyss of despotism.

Sorry – but we have got to realize we are at war and must attack the enemy immediately and continuously. And we must stay focused on this war not on mere policy but on strategies that will win the war .  We have no choice left – it’s either democracy or fascism.  We are at war, and the Nazis are winning.  We wouldn’t allow that in the 1940s – why allow it now?

BUT here is the difficulty that stares us in our faces: we cannot war against these people because that makes us the fomenters of anti-democracy.  We must find ways to fight against the biases, the myths, and the lies on which those fascists base their violence and their destructiveness.  I have a suggestion:

Let us start by realizing the 1/6 bi-partisan Commission is dead.  Let the House Democrats instead establish Select Committees for finding the truth and facts behind not only 1/6 but those behind at least the following:

·        Russian Cyber and other attacks

·        The effects of lies and conspiracies on our democratic functioning

·        The state of violence as an accepted means of political functioning

·        Were Black Lives Matter protestors treated differently than Far Right insurrectionists?

·        What is behind the child abuse of separating children from parents at the southern border?

·        What is needed to stop the overthrow of the Biden government and what legislation is required to prevent a fascist takeover of our government?

·        What substantive changes are critically needed in government to return power to the People?

Let us be clear that the process of input undertaken by  these Committees must include input from ordinary citizens.

WHO's IN CONTROL?

TH ERE IS a CIVIL WAR GOING ON RIGHT NOW in our country and apparently, a  majority of people are simply unaware that such can exist without visible armies, battlefields, and the shedding of blood, without the sound of gunfire and artillery shells.   Are we somehow deluding ourselves into a state of denial where too often what we see is not necessarily discerned as what is really happening; that is -- as reality?  Are we so full of misinformation, societal myths and unquestioned biases, beliefs, and prejudices that we have lost reason, common sense, and critical analysis?

Are we asking the right questions of ourselves, and our representatives, or are we simply depending on some media group to provide answers to our questions? Are we too accepting of  what we are told by others and it sometimes  becomes our own without research or critique?  Are we so distracted by the scourge of COVID 19 that we are unable to place any real attention elsewhere? 

To some degree, the answer is YES to all these questions.  For some – perhaps too many – the questions have not yet appeared on their radar screens.  For some, they have appeared but been dismissed or ignored.

I would say that we are in one of those periods when we find ourselves and others, being:

·       Distracted and frustrated by the COVID pandemic

·       Vulnerable to misinformation and propaganda because we are looking for quick answers to our concerns and problems;

·       Distracted and challenged on so many fronts of life, it appears, that we are also very vulnerable to

o   Answers we might normally dismiss

o   Actions that distract from the real world of pain are more likely to gain acceptance and support without any critical judgment

o   Receptive to offers of comfort and distraction that we probably ignored in healthier times 

o Plagued by fatigue and malaise that cause misconceptions and miscalculations at many levels of life 

One of the most important questions for any society may well center around the use and abuse of POWER. It would be less than startling to proclaim that the question of “WHO’s IN CONTROL?” is at the core of our form of government, and not surprisingly, there is much confusion that abounds when that question gets asked of the Trump Party.                                                                            

The answer was perhaps much clearer and unequivocal when the Founding Fathers put together the Declaration of Independence and our ground-breaking Constitution.  After all, they used both documents to denounce the focus of the power of that day – King George III and the English Parliament.  The locus of power before then had been perceived as residing mainly with powerful men (very few women) – kings, potentates, dictators, and emperors.  There had also been a prominent answer circulating in earlier days that power resided in monarchs by something often called “Divine Right”  (which left others with no rights or resources to question that POWER). 

But the colonists rebelled against that authority declaring themselves to be in charge of their own destiny as an independent  nation. 

Turns out that enough delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were still suspicious of allowing too much central government power so they came up with the notion of checks and balances between three independent branches of the central federal government: Legislative, Executive and Judiciary, building-in checks like two Houses of Congress, approval by the Senate for all Treaties and Executive department and judicial appointments.  There was also the presidential veto and the ability to override that veto by a large majority of both houses of Congress.  The United States of America abandoned a Confederation and came forth with a government with national/federalist flavor that allowed strong centralized power making sure substantial checks on that power were in place.

The answers of the Constitutional Convention and the Federalists and anti-Federalists to the question of POWER or WHO’S IN CONTROL?  have given us a consistently strong national government but have also saddled us with assumptions about the wielders of power some of which we have never completely resolved.  For instance:

·       What is meant by “States’ Rights”? we are still trying to resolve issues over state power especially in relation to voting rights and elections;

·       We engaged in a Civil War over the doctrine of nullification of federal laws by the states related to slavery and property ownership.  The conflict persists especially as regards voter rights and abortion rights. 

·       Can a President declare a War without congressional approval? Apparently so  by proclaiming war to be other than it is - a ‘”police action” or “humanitarian crisis.” Have “exceptions” allowed the presidential branch to increase its power beyond a reasonable and responsible level? 

·       Do states have the right to set guidelines for vetoing and overturning national elections?  Apparently so, if election rules are completely in their hands as they seem to be.  Does power over national elections need to  be revisited and revised?  The House has answered in the Affirmative; the Senate is considering.

So, there are still issues of power to be decided, and we aren’t doing a particularly good job so far of getting that done

We are still struggling with the question of POWER and CONTROL perhaps because during Trump’s presidency, we dealt with an occupant who  believed himself to be infallible, all-powerful, and omniscient; who abused the powers of the presidency, was twice impeached, and who claimed to have absolute power or authority to:

·       limit and stop immigration that he falsely claimed to be not in the national interest;

·       determine the winners and losers of elections;  

·       hire and fire people on a whim

·       denigrate or dismiss critics and those who needed to be neutral in their thinking like scientists   

·      keep his financial dealings a secret and pay no taxes;

·       use the government to abusively separate children from their parents at the southern border as a warning to other would-be immigrants;  and he chose not to have to reunite those families;

·       solicit personal favors and gifts from foreign leaders or from domestic citizens and groups for his private use;

·       refuse to let anyone testify before the Congress and thereby refuse to honor congressional subpoenas and the oversight responsibility of Congress;

·       pass along misinformation to the detriment and even the deaths of millions of people; 

·       not have a national plan for combatting a deadly pandemic 

·       abandon the responsibility of a president to act as a guiding force in resolving a health crisis (in stark contrast to our current President);

·       serve as the instigator of an insurrection against Congress 

In other words, Trump claimed the absolute right to be the locus and focus of the POWER of government and if someone did not obey his wishes or support his actions, he reserved the absolute right to destroy their careers; to make life miserable for disloyalty or for outright opposition to his wishes. 

Many still do not recognize the despotic nature of those assertions and actions, and so they continue to abet his criminality.

The question of WHO’s IN CONTROL has been answered by TRUMP.  He desires to be re-elected in 2024 to enable him to cement those assumptions of absolute POWER into despotic reality. 

If we don’t start treating him like the narcissistic Fascist power-grabber that he is, we shall have succumbed to the  absolute power that he craves, and that opens a Pandora’s box of abuses that we cannot allow or endure.  Interestingly, his supporters will also reap the harvest of the power of neglect and denigration, and their fate will be sealed with that of the  rest of us.   

President Joe Biden and his team, including his Vice President, Kamala Harris, and the congressional Democrat majority, are our best hope for responses that are large enough for the course changes that are required.  Already they have teamed-up to take strong actions – and to promise strong actions – on the many fronts of this global war to save humanity. 

Front and center is their major effort to defeat the COVID virus.  Stepped up national plans for treatment, vaccination, and full utilization of government and private sector resources have now resulted in new CDC guidelines for not wearing masks if one is fully vaccinated.  Meanwhile, the unscientific GOP congressional questioners used committee hearings to turn the question of mask-wearing into a political issue about rights.  Dr. Fauci made plain that this is not about freedom or rights; it is about fighting a virus with proven scientific methods so that we can all be made safe from its killing power. 

And therein lies a key to the future of humankind:  partisan politics is grossly limited in its approach to human problems and is ill-equipped to resolve global issues of vast significance.  As long as we continue to listen to and accept the disinformation and propaganda distributed by the anti-science, anti-government, anti-critical-thinking political loud-mouths, we shall ourselves contribute to the destruction caused by its wake. 

There is absolutely no efficacy in misinformation or dis-information.  It benefits no one.  It rescues no one.  It is completely devoid of reality and does not contribute one iota to saving our lives and our planet.  The lies, deceit, ignorance, and conspiracy theories displayed by Trump and his puppets have no value because they lack the power and the substance that is necessary to defeat the chaotic forces of nature.  Misinformation offers nothing but illusion and delusion; it has no ability to solve anything, but can feed the malevolent need of someone to manipulate others by holding them hostage to cult-like thinking.  It is a dead-end -- literally.

Biden and Harris and the Democrats in Congress have moved to save us from our own illusions and delusions.  They have realized that bold use of resources can produce the results necessary to resolve global and national problems.  They have on their plate, a goodly number of sea changes that are absolutely imperative in our governing system:

1.    We must reform our voting and election systems so that the peoples’ voices will be heard and heeded.  HR #1 (also known as S#1) is vital to that effort.

2.    We must undo the efforts of the Trump administration to put America First by destroying and denigrating the alliances and cooperative pacts with other nations.  In this respect, the Biden administration is tak                                                                     ing important steps to:

a.     Repair relations with our allies

b.    Speak strong words and take clear actions to those countries like Russia that are out to destroy our democracy

c.     Repair our immigration system to maintain our ability to welcome others to join and enhance  our democratic experiment and to strengthen our nation with the fervor of multi-cultural vibrancy

d.    Reach out to countries like Iran to talk once again of peaceful co-existence and cooperation;

e.    End wars in areas where the objectives have changed, and the strategies no longer apply

f.      Enjoin the private sector to back new initiatives to save our planet

3.    Seek to diminish and to eliminate flaws in our ideals that produce unequal justice, unequal opportunity, and unequal punishment for wrongdoing, including:

a.     Black Lives Matter support

b.    Police brutality eliminated; justice defined; incarceration revised

c.     Judicial system examined; SCOTUS reformed

d.    Federal laws written and enforced that send clear messages to states and localities that questionable practices of the justice system are to be tolerated no longer

e.    Elimination of profit-making prisons and schools

f.      Greater emphasis on community involvement in policing and in oversight of police action

g.     Federal laws tightened to set national standards for the justice system

4.    National and global involvement in saving the environment and the planet

5.    Rebuilding the infrastructure and the economy

6.    Return to a system of checks and balances that works. 

7.    Supportive structures deserve revitalization as much as physical structures because such things as the filibuster, the committee and sub-committee structure and leadership functions are the infrastructure of the Congress, just as child care and equal pay are essential to ensuring the  involvement of women in the job market. Peripheral programs supporting participation of people inside  the physical structures, re  are what make it tick and they deserve reform and rehabilitation as much as buildings and bridges and highways.  We must re-think how government functions and provide the ‘highways’ that allow it to do so.

a.     Change to a problem-solving model with bipartisan (preferably) task forces with clear  objectives, aims, and outcomes;

b.    Other models might include exploratory teams with researchers and consultants (such as commissions)

c.     Provide support for hardware and software that enable intercommunication and problem-solving in all branches

d.    Build-in ethics guidelines that penalize immoral behavior

e.    Give accountability some bite with strong penalties

f.      Involve citizen volunteers in government structures and functions

g.     Put citizen committees in charge of annual evaluation of structures like committees, task forces and departments

h.    Get rid of filibuster and cloture votes; instead, provide rules that allow for and guide extended presentations that are timed

i.       Remove all blocks to the legislating process, such as ‘member privilege’

j.      Hearings must include ordinary citizens who will be affected by a bill

k.     Every bill should have a timeline of steps to passage and a list of witnesses and consultants attached;

8.    Our democratic form of government cannot be sustained without a thorough examination of the appropriate role of political parties.  There can be no place for either Party to place its interests above the nation’s welfare.  We should explore limiting Party involvement to advisory status and adjust or eliminate the following:

a.     Nominations for offices; 

b.    fund-raising and distribution must be under strict guidelines

c.      Parties should not automatically dictate officers and leaders of the House and Senate;  

d.    The filibuster must go; there is no good reason for placing obstacles in the way of legislating; it has been turned into a method for blocking legislation by requiring a vote of “cloture” to be a super majority

Fighting back is not an easy task, but Democrats must muster the full extent of their own tactics to undo and overcome the tactics of the far-Right radicals.

1)     Pursue court cases including against states for voter suppression and violation of rights.  For instance, in Arizona, every original ballot turned over to non-official sub-contractors for audit purposes after votes have already been certified by that state, involves the disclosure of supposedly secret ballots, a violation of voters’ rights to privacy and secrecy.  The state of Arizona, and all of those working on this so-called ’audit’ should be sanctioned by the courts for this violation.  

2)    Follow-up on all cases pending against Donald Trump and his administration.  Any further delay brings us closer to 2024 without justice served by making Trump ineligible for public office. 

3)    Continue the roll-back of Trump orders and legislation.  Leave nothing unexamined and in force,  especially anti-democratic actions that were meant to ‘de-construct’ government, such as actions taken against the right to protest and free speech in the context of government criticism e.g. steps of retaliation against congressional witnesses.

4)    Rebuild the mission and purposes of Executive branch agencies and departments that were damaged or destroyed during the Trump administration, such as the EPA, Department of Education, and the DOJ.

5)    Where are the congressional investigations of Trump malfeasance and mismanagement?  They must be undertaken to remind the voters of the devastation brought upon us by this despotic president, and to institute future corrections:

a.     Tax returns must be released

b.    Business and private funds put in Trust

c.     Prohibition of nepotism restored

d.    Presidential pardons reformed and restrictions placed on their use

e.    FURTHER RESTRICTIONS should be applied to COLLUSION with foreign countries

                                                    i.     Keep pressure on Russia for its cyber war against the USA

f.      “Emoluments” need to be more carefully defined

g.     Richest 1% must pay their fair share of taxes;

h.    corporations must support communities in which they are physically present; all charters of incorporation should have to contain specifics of such support

i.       Rejuvenate freedoms – of speech, press, religion, protest, etc.

j.      Continue fight for justice especially for people of color

k.     Continue fight for sensible immigration policy; restore DACA; de-emphasize the WALL

l.       Enhance national service as the norm for all citizens; build a new Youth Corps (ages 15-20) dedicated to envisioning and building the Future (some are already doing so; let us provide a vessel that supports and builds upon their efforts and let the youth have the responsibility for managing this Corps with adults as backup consultants (not the other way around!). 

m.  Call out; weed out; turn out all radical Right-wingers and their  groups that attempt to infiltrate public offices, public forums, and our institutions like schools, the military, universities, and others.  It must not involve the abrogation of their rights but can be done in relation to hate speech and behaviors, threatening overthrow of government and threats or actual use of violence, among others.

We are not in the middle of “politics as usual.”  Donald Trump and his minions have moved us far away from that venue.  We are now in the midst of  an ideological CIVIL WAR that has been a long time in the making. 

As the forces of Fascism in the Congress prepare for their next attack – that of downplaying the insurrection of January 6, 2021 – let us recall one major lesson of history regarding the rise of the German Nazi Party in the 1930s and 40s.  Their rise to power was not based solely on their propaganda and brutish behaviors.  There was another major factor that we are apt to overlook as we have done over the last 4-5 years.  At the end of an in-depth study and story of a  typical German town entitled “The Nazi Seizure of Power,” the author, William Sheridan Allen, points out the main reason he found for the rise of, and final takeover by, the Fascists.  Hear his words and apply them to our current internal War for we are being led down the same primrose path. 

“…popular passivity made possible the crimes that the Nazis were able to commit.  In some ways, the greatest Nazi crime was that they were able to encourage moral numbness even in those that did not agree with them.  That moral numbness was the prerequisite for all the other shameful crimes of Nazism.”

Even with the splendid job being done by the Biden administration to lift us out of this pandemic and job-loss economy and to make government work for people, the moral complacency seen among  anti-Trumpists who want only a return to normalcy, is discomfiting.  In our current circumstances, with democracy on the firing line, it may not be enough to return to normalcy or to just build back what we had before the pandemic.  We must overcome the moral malaise that allows words and actions that are anti-democratic, that  could destroy our form of governing.  We need strong methods of accountability built into our laws with enough sharp penalties in them to help bring about in-depth, bold progressive changes in our system!  Anything less and the Know-Nothing, Do-Nothing Trump Party will take over and claim absolutist power and control that will not be in the People’s interest or well-being. 

STOP PRETENDING

FACE REALITY

DEMOCRACY is UNDER ATTACK!