Today, I was
reminded of some phrases written on this
Blog in the not-so-distant-past that have come to be more commonly used by
so-called ‘political experts’ and ‘analysts.’
For instance, we now hear declarations that “democracy is at stake” or
that we are “at war” politically, ideologically, and/or culturally. There are
even those who say that Democrats are failing us because they do not work together
or are not pushing their own agenda fervently and constantly enough to get it
passed and signed into law.
Last
evening, I heard a commentator (also a former candidate for office) remind us
that what is taking place is from a minority, and that as a 60% majority of
voters, we ‘progressives’ should take heart that this era of political suicide
will not prevail if we act aggressively. Here is a brief reminder (from my Blog dated
08/17/2018) of what was said in earlier blogs of mine by way of warning about
this Trump person and his followers. It is much easier now for commentators to
let the words, “fascist,” “neo-Nazi” or ‘domestic terrorist” describe Trump and the current Republican
Party and its Far-Right adherents.
“I have,
in past blog posts, emphasized that Trump’s behaviors, actions and values are
akin to a Fascist philosophy and to the elements of governmental takeover
espoused by both aspiring Fascist authoritarians and actual Fascist despots. Since
there are already numerous posts on this Blog on these matters, I will avoid
repeating what I have already advanced (see posts for 5/14/2010; 11/17/, 11/21
and 11/30/2015; 1/22/2016; 2/22/2016; 7/22/2016; 11/23/2016; 8/6 and 8/14/2017;
2/5/2018; 6/11/2018). I hope I have demonstrated in those past Blogs, in some
detail, a similar pattern in the rise to power of Trump as compared to the rise
of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco and Fujimori of Peru.
"What is
important here is the process (along with some common personality
characteristics). That is, there are patterns that cannot be ignored
because they recur in every instance where Fascist dictators evolve to full
control; to a status where they manipulate existing laws and institutions to
suit themselves, punish those who oppose them, and eliminate those who threaten
them.”
I am
recalling these earlier blog posts, not to say that ‘I said it first’ but to
make the point that progressive Democrats, liberals and independents have been
short-sighted at the very least in dealing with the realities of the Trump
debacle. I think I can safely say they
have been too slow, too focused on policies and programs, and not united nor consistent in opposition
to a wannabe dictator. For much too long, they have simply failed to acknowledge
and then to counteract the anti-democratic behaviors of the “Trumpites” by making
very clear just who these Radicals are, what they espouse, and what they are
doing to overturn the government.
Mainly, Democrats
took few steps to prevent them from doing all they intended to do. If I knew enough to point out at these early
dates the intentions and likely outcomes of this Far Right Movement, how come the Democratic
Party was not doing the same?
The “Trumpeters”
even told us that “de-construction
of the administrative state” (the holdover of liberal and ‘socialist’ policies
and bureaucrats that constituted a ‘deep
state’ intent upon destroying this country) was their objective. THEY TOLD US,
and too many ignored the implications of their words and their actions during
the Trump years.
Democrats,
liberals and progressive independents simply failed to take the threats of
de-construction seriously enough to prevent the inevitable outcome-- the
destruction of the democratic state—which is now an imminent threat..
Just take a
moment to review some of the more prominent Democrat inadequacies along the way:
· A special Counsel (Mueller) Report
was botched so badly in its presentation and use that no criminal or civil charges
were ever brought against the lawbreaker, oath-breaker, the chief constitution-usurper,
Donald Trump (although impeachment charges were brought twice);
· Impeachment trials in the Senate had
no witnesses to the impeachment charges, leaving Republican Senators a valid
excuse for finding Trump not guilty;
· Just as the Clarence Thomas-Anita
Hill confrontation ended in a “no contest,” so did the Brett Cavanaugh- Christine
Ford confrontation because of lack of an effective strategy and follow-up;
· No action was ever taken to rein in
the SCOTUS on decision-making; instead, the ultra-conservative majority manufactured
new versions of existing laws and stretched the Constitution to the breaking
point:;
· Rather than standing firm on not
approving Trump judicial appointments without proper vetting by
professional peers, Senate Democrats
allowed Trump judicial appointments of persons loyal to him as their only major
qualification, resulting in the re-making
of a Judiciary that could override any
attempts at litigating against planned election fraud by Republicans in 2022
and 2024. Notably, the Texas Appeals
Court loyalist judges were quick to
overturn the lower Court decision to stay the activation of the new Texas abortion
law;
· The abject failure of Democrats to
counter what Trumpian forces were carrying out in state and local politics,
such as the gerrymandering of
congressional districts, the capture of state and local control of legislation
and of law enforcement, and intimidation or removal and replacement of certain
election officials by Trump supporters; the takeover of local boards of
election by Trump loyalists; the outrageous lawsuits brought by Trumpeters to
overturn the 2020 election of Biden-Harris – all have had devastating effects
on election processes;.
·
The
failure of the Democrat majority to paint an indelible image of the Jan. 6th
insurrectionist attack on the Capitol as criminal behavior; by not pursuing
federal charges but making the punishment of perpetrators a local issue has led
to a minimalizing of their charges and their punishment. Where are the protests
against local district attorneys and judges who are too lenient? Democrats have simply failed to bring to national
audiences constant reminders of the criminal behaviors and terrorist actions of
those insurrectionists;
· And that brings us to the colossal
failure of liberals and Democrats to publicize the attacks and the
manipulations that Republican ‘Trumpeters fomented. Instead, Democrats have
chosen a piece-meal approach by Party Leaders holding ineffective press
conferences as their weapon of response. Unlike the Lincoln Project, the Democrats
can’t even produce TV ads that should be playing everywhere showing what
authoritarian, anti-democratic actions are and what they will be doing to our
lives. The Democrats and Progressives instead ignored the vast importance of
constant mention and display of anti-democratic behaviors and their inevitable results. The
establishment of a media base for such publicity should have been a high
priority for countering Trump and his followers;
· One more indication of Democrat Party
failure may be the lumping together of programs and recovery projects into one
huge $3.5 trillion-dollar legislative package. It was a bold move by the Biden
Administration to fund a number of structural and policy matters that would not
only undo missteps by the Trump regime
but bring recovery to our economy while
also rebuilding better programs and
policies for social necessities. It was meant as recovery, reform and renewal rolled into one
comprehensive package. Unfortunately, it has resulted in a display of Party
division, a rift that appears irreconcilable at this point; illustration of
“over-spending” and “deficit spending” and “tax hike” – epithets that Republicans
always use to frighten middle class taxpayers, and a gain for Republicans in
seeing Biden’s approval numbers drop. It is just possible that Democrats have
been shown up and called out on the very things for which they should have been
able to garner much support (since most polls favor individual parts of the
package). These are now gifts to
Republicans who can use their legislative failures against them.
· Of course, the COVID19 debacle is now
being used by the Republican Party (that created its failures) as a weapon
against the Biden administration; same thing with exit from Afghanistan, the
economy, the supply line bottlenecks, and the destruction of our public health
system. All were attributable to the
failures of Trump and his cultish followers’ whose non-legislating government
by-tweets, lies about the election of 2020, plus rampant incompetence, made
them perfect targets for publicity that Democrats failed to deliver to illustrate
the abject failures of the horrendous Trump
administration.
The failures
of the Democratic Party to act with boldness, decisiveness and strategic alacrity
are so glaring they are blinding us to the facts of the matters-at-hand, which
include:
ü The Trumpian Party is preparing for a takeover of the federal and
state governments to the extent of total control. The insurrectionists may be a
small minority but the complacency and unorganized counter-movements by
Democrats are allowing that minority to corrupt our system to the extent that Trumpeters
can win the votes in enough key gerrymandered districts to regain the majority
in the Senate at least, and probably in the House as well in 2022.
ü If they don’t win at the ballot box, they will
use the newly appointed loyal-to-Trump judges to overturn lost elections, and
they will resort to violence to take what they must have to be in the majority.
ü Just like the Fascists and the Nazis
of the 1920s and‘30s, gaining control is not based just on winning elections,
but on intimidation and violence which can be used to take power wherever that
is needed. History illustrates the shortsightedness of believing that minority
groups cannot take over absolute rule of a country. They have and they can.
What can Democrats
do to stop this juggernaut? Not much at this late date for crucial elections
are just a year away and the anti-democratic Republicans have already altered
our election rules and structures to their advantage. But here are a few
thoughts:
1) With input from local activist
groups, put together a Plan of attack that gets distributed to every
progressive and anti-Trump organization in the country with clear suggestions
for actions to take;
2) Bring together a social media group that will bombard those sites
everyday with progressive information about the effects of authoritarianism on
daily life; and will speak of benefits for supporters of certain policies, such
as universal pre-K and day-care for working families; discuss other
infrastructure projects in terms of real-life benefits;
3) Establish a publicity base and use best speakers for the
Democratic side to each day undermine the message of Trumpian attacks on
democracy along with the real-life benefits available under a bold progressive
agenda (much like former President Barack Obama just did in New Jersey and
Virginia)
4) BRING PRESSUREs, both monetarily and politically, on
Senators Manchin and Sinema to act like Democrats or prepare for an onslaught
of Democratic opposition to their ambitions (consult LBJ history for some techniques!)
like the recent defection of veterans that has just occurred in Sinema’s veterans' advisory council;
5) Get local Democrats to attend (and
disrupt if necessary) state commissions on re-districting; gerrymandering
must be confronted;
6) Local Democrats also must be ready to
protest local judiciary decisions that favor or tend-to-favor Trumpian
agenda or candidates;
7) Local
Dems also need to organize locally to attend or monitor local boards and
officials for Trumpian-type decisions and actions, bringing them forward for wider
public attention;
8) Local Dem organizations need to expand
their membership, presence and their activities, one of which must be the
exposure, as well as accountability, of all Trumpian groups, individuals,
businesses, and tendencies.
9) Boycott all businesses or services that in
any way support Trumpism.
10)
Pass voter and election reform bills and implement them ; in preparation, conduct
hard-hitting nationwide campaign of how
loss of voice will affect us all and disable our democracy.
11)
Change the rules of Congress and Committee structure to promote problem-solving, teamwork
and citizen participation; to prevent paid lobbying, filibustering,
extra-majority voting, individual member privilege and privileges, conflicts of
interest, insider information, and promotion of lies and misinformation.
There will
be objections to some of these suggestions as being too bold, perhaps coercive.
My answer is that one does not repel active enemy forces with kindness or
generosity. WE ARE AT WAR and minimizing that fact only leads to destruction
and defeat of cherished goals, ideals and practices. Because the Trumpian
forces have already employed violence as a weapon of choice, there is
absolutely no advantage to capitulation, fake bi-partisanship, or “holding
back” a rigorous defense of democracy. Democrats must fight for our democratic
ideals just as others have fought against imperialism, dictatorship and the
rule of men instead of laws.
If Trumpeters continue to want a cultural war, why deny it to them? Turn their own words and actions against them, where possible. Give them what they want to force upon others.
For example, they want no Government
subsidies for people with special needs. Let’s see that they get what they
want: have them sign papers that exempt them from all government benefits – no food supplements, no
housing help, no Medicare, no Medicaid, no Social Security, no affordable and regulated healthcare
coverage under the ACA; no emergency help from FEMA or any other government
entity. If it can be done without violating constitutional provisions, let them
live with their own government deconstruction ideology with no exceptions or
inconsistencies.
For
instance, there must never be government-sponsored “religious exemptions” from
laws-of-the-land. The government has no authority to issue ‘religious exemptions’
to anyone since doing so automatically favors and establishes a state-mandated religious
belief and practice which is unconstitutional. Abortion bans are founded upon specific
religious beliefs and should never be allowed to prevail in this nation. Religious
freedom begins with the absolute separation of church and state. Once that
fundamental protection is breeched, we are at the mercy of judges and religious
zealots whose biases will be a threat to all religious and non-religious alike.
Democrats
must learn that fighting violent forces of anti-government, anti-legal
restraint, anti-abortion, anti-multicultural institutions, anti-social
contract, anti-factual curricula, anti-checks and balances and anti-equal
rights is not winnable by the simple acts of debate, compromise, and friendly
competitiveness. Programs and policies
in helpful legislative packages will not deter these fanatics from their
mission which is to overthrow this duly elected and certified Biden-Harris
government and to install a permanent government that will set the rules for
control of all aspects of governance, social interactions and citizen loyalty. Such is the mission of all
authoritarians. It cannot be tolerated
and made acceptable. There must be
visible and dire consequences for criminal and traitorous conduct of the sort
we have witnessed with our own eyes.
DEMOCRATS must not fail to prevent the de-construction of our
Constitutional Democracy.
IT IS TIME to FIGHT BACK! THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE and NO
TIME TO WASTE!
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