Quick Link --
Award-winning reporter Greg Palast reports that there was a fall-off of a million votes in Georgia's Senate run-off last month compared with two years ago.. That is an astounding discrepancy between the claim that it was a record turn-out. Jim Crow is not only unjust; he lies. But figures don't.
Our former military leader says he has no use for the Constitution. Unfortunately for his perverted dreams, according to reports, a majority of Americans have no further use for his presidential ambitions. If certain Republican leaders can’t denounce him and throw his candidacy on the dustbin of history, we the people will have to do it at the ballot box.
Democrats have won majority of uncalled races so far.
The race truly is not over yet. Apparently, due to the need for more time to count mail-in ballots, the final call of which party will control the House has been delayed this year. As tallies come in, the Republican margin has been shrinking. “Politico” seems to say that Democrats actually have a pretty good chance of maintaining control.
My advice: read carefully and do not put too much stock in the use of the speculative notion of “likely” Republican control.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/11/democrats-house-midterm-elections-00066436
What is this election? A carnival craps shoot?
According to this article, with polls this close, the pundits may very well be wrong.
Note to voters: do go to the polls and vote!
Dear Reader,
New opportunities arise and must be taken. Thus, your Musical Patriot has a new music job. It has been time-consuming, even all-consuming in ways.
At the same time, I have not forgotten my blog duties, and plan to continue here as time permits.
In the meantime, events almost seem to defy explanation. This condition should not dissuade the astute writer.
See you here.
TMP
Forward Party seeks to move the country ahead through a united, centrist political movement and party.
Christy Todd Whitman speaks about party on CNN’s Jake Tapper program today.
Party web site here:
By capturing the referees [such as judges], buying off or enfeebling opponents, and rewriting the rules of the game. elected leaders can establish a decisive -- and permanent -- advantage over their opponents. Because these measures are carried out piecemeal and with the appearance of legality, the drift into authoritarianism doesn't always set off alarm bells. Citizens are often slow to realize that their democracy is being dismantled -- even as it happens before their eyes.
-- How Democracies Die
This is so important to understand now -- in America and around the world.There is a common old phrase: pulling the wool over the eyes. But how do tyrants accomplish this? First, as the authors make clear, the stage is often set on a background of a functioning democracy. Next, there is some sort of crisis, either real or manufactured, which unites the country based on fear for one's very life. Then, the would-be autocrat pushes through measures to "protect" the country At this time, citizens are usually too frightened to protest much, if at all.
There is more to this oft-told tale of history. But the outline is pretty much the same. In the case of the United States, Levitsky and Ziblatt point to the aftermath of the events of September 11, '01, when control measures and a spying apparatus were enacted such as never would have been tolerated in America otherwise.
Please do not think tyranny could not happen here, for in some measure, it is already here. And we came terrifyingly close to making it a permanent situation on January 6, 2001. I encourage all readers to take this with the utmost seriousness. Become informed, then work non-violently to ensure America never yields to the ugly blackness of fascism.
At this point in How Democracies Die I am learning about various democracies which have been subverted by leaders who were legitimately elected. Such a leader has been Orban. Another is Erdogan. A third could have been Trump had he not been stopped.
So we are in the unenviable situation in the U.S. of having not only a menace represented by a certain velocitous disdain for anyone different from oneself, from the far-right -- we also have an unrestrained and unrepentant former President who is being shown to be not only authoritarian but a subvert-er of democracy. This is the grave danger we face. Our current peril must not be ignored.
The greatest danger we face other than an increasingly organized far-right movement, are certain members of the press who continue to treat the Republican Party as a legitimate political party. This is no longer true of the Party, and is grossly unfair to the country. . Certainly there are still decent people attached to the Republican Party. But the party itself is led by election-deniers and those who would weaken our democratic norms if necessary to gain or stay in power. This is the looming tragedy of our time. Some think the tragedy has already occurred, for many suffering people.
In some ways How Democracies Die is not the book I was expecting. I thought it was probably a book about special interest politics, centered around issues such as the environment and civil rights -- worthy topics, to be sure.
However, the book is much deeper than that in terms of American politics. It is carefully researched, with ample explanations of past Presidential nomination processes Still early in the book, I will have to read much more before getting to solutions for correctrive action. But what the book is saying is that the Presidential nominating process -- especially in the Republican Party -- has weakened the influence of the gatekeepers -- those who in the past prevented unworthy (read: inexperienced, aged, or off-the-wall). candidates from even being nominated. Right away, this helps explain the appearance of someone like Donald Trump, a person with no governmental experience, and who "'[had] little to lose by stirring up mass hatreds or making absurd promises.'" (p. 51)
America is in a crisis of democracy, partly because of "more democracy," or at least the wrong kind of democracy. We must remember that the Founding Fathers feared the mob as much as they feared a monarch. That is why the democracy was to be a representative democracy -- a government of the people, but run by the cream of the crop of its citizens.
How ,then, to meet the crisis? Later I will have the input of the rest of the book. For now, we must be willing to study on an expedited basis (!), then act to ensure the US. does not fall into the status of a Banana Republic with strongmen (rarely women) man-handling the populace essentially for the benefit of himself and the wealthy. How democracies Die is a most useful, even essential, resource for the battle of now.
More about this book in coming posts
Amidst the understandable moaning and groaning over the very regrettable recent Supreme Court decisions comes a New York Times opinion piece offering very real hope. The article gives no magic answer to the distress caused by these egregious opinions, defiant of the public will as they are. It does,however, show that even in the Constitution itself, Congress was essentially given the power to regulate the Supreme Court even to the point of decideing which cases could and could not be heard.
For those upset over the damage this Court has done to the body politic these last two weeks, Jamelle Bouie offers surcease from sorrows and balm in Gilead.
This article appears to be hiding behind the Times' paywall, and sadly will not be available to all readers. Look for the article in the Sunday Review section, July 3, 2022, p. 11.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez claims to be witness to the fact.
Rush Post
(New York, NY) — Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls the overturning of Roe v. Wade “a crisis of democracy.” Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, the New York Democrat called the decision a lot bigger than abortion rights. Ocasio-Cortez said the conservative justices misled Americans about their stance on abortion rights during their confirmation hearings. She said those contradictions caused a “crisis of legitimacy” and that “lying” under oath should be an impeachable offense.
Quick Link —
How “Neutron” Jack influenced America’s business tycoons and undermined the economy:
Certainly there are many differences between Spring 2022, and the late 1960’s. Sometimes, however, it is useful to find commonalities.
In both eras, America was funding war in a foreign country. In both there was raging inflation. Both times there continued to be significant poverty in America.
The Vietnam War did not turn out well. Speaking honestly, how do we think the Russo-Ukrainian war is working out? Sometimes it is also useful to simplify. Such a time is now.
N.B. LBJ was Lyndon Baines Johnson, President of the United States during the Vietnam War.
Here, then, is my latest book: Capital by Thomas Piketty. In this tome I am expecting to find both history and analysis of the profit system, often called simply capitalism. Now, I am against neither capital (money), nor a simple profit made by an entrepreneur allowing him to feed, shelter, and clothe his (or her) family, as well as obtain some of the finer things of life.
The difficulty arises when there is an imbalance -- one person to another, or one group to another. One group gets too much money, the other gets too little. In one sense the matter is as simple as this. As Piketty writes: The problem is that the price system knows neither limits nor morality. Is this the kind of system we really want? And can it even survive?
The book shown above blazes new trails in its description of the problems facing Big Tech, and as a result, our society. And in this sense, "society" is suddenly what could be considered the world society. The book is almost dizzying in its return to an ethical framework for both individual lives and Big Tech.
Well-chronicled here are the early savants and young billionaires who used the new computer/Internet technologies for both good and ill.
The book is stunning in scope and depth. Highly recommended.Rep. Raskin promises “gripping” hearings on January 6, 2021, attack on Capitol.
What might have seemed fantastic is coming to be accepted today: the health and survival of our trees are tied inextricably to the health and survival of the planet. I am not a biologist, so I do not have the facts marshalled to support this rather sweeping statement. But there are scientists who do.
I have greatly enjoyed my introduction to the latest issues of the National Geographic magazine. Practices which should have ended decades (a century?) ago -- such as clear-cutting -- are still raging on. This must end according to those in the know. See link below.
Quick Link --
Noted professor and thinker, Noam Chomsky, may not have all the answers regarding the tragic Russo-Ukrainian War. But among those whose voices have broad reach through the media, his is among the very most reasoned -- and seasoned.
Respected Professor, Noam Chomsky, Speaks on Russo-Ukrainian War
Yet none of these has seemed to have the whole truth in mind. Chomsxky comes close in some ways, fails in others. I am left somewhat with the feeling had about World War I, that there was no clear "good guy."
But it is not easy to let the matter rest there. For circumstances call out for understanding. However, underdstanding cannot come without knowledge, without background.
So, I set about to do some research. First I kept up with the astonisheing developments on the ground and in the air. Then I began to seek out reasoned voices, the sounds of which were difficult to discern. Finally, I went to my encyclopedia to look up the article on (The) Ukraine. All of these have been helpful. None, however, did much to allay my concerns about the propagandistic tenor of the American news media. For it is not the passions of the moment which interest me, but rather the deep-seated causes.
A theory I learned in graduate school has returned to me: Just War Theory. This theory propounds the belief that there is such a thing as a just war, but that certain specific criteria must be met. (I will review this material and write more about it later.)
It happens that I am not a strict pacifist. If America were attacked today, I would feel compelled to support my country. At the same time, I am inspired by the warnings of Our Founding Fathers to avoid any foreign entanglements. In the post-war world this has been unlikely to the point of being unworkable. And yet I see it as important to preserve something of the spirit of their wise admonition. Is there a way we can be horrifed by the human tragedy in Ukraine, and minister to the needs of the people there as best we can without resorrting to hurtful histrionics?
Let this be a beginning of deeper thought about the tortured and tragic land of Ukraine.
Here we have a musical dilemma addressed in a gracious way by the ever-gracious Dolly Parton. I agree with Ms. Parton that she is not a rock and roll star. However, if there is a Popular Music Hall of Fame, Dolly Parton would be on my nominees short list.
Regular readers here will have noticed I have not posted any comments or information about the continuing war in Ukraine. This is because it is a complicated situation and I have wanted to understand more about the matter before writing anything here. While my ivestigation is not complete, I will start by humbly asking readers to remember what your father and mother may have taught you as a child: There are two sides to every story.
I cannot emphasize this advice enough. Soon, I will have more to say -- and I hope much more -- about this most unfortunate situation.
Post Script: The media are certainly complicit in providing inadequate and misleading coverage of this war, to say the least.
via Democratic Campaign Watch --
Note: TMP thanks his readers for supporting this blog through these trying times.
It is not popular in these times to label any thing as evil, let alone any person. At least not in polite society. And yet, there is no way to describe some things as anything other than "evil."
One does hesitate to apply such a harsh moniker to a human being. Let us just say for now that some people seem to be predominantly evil.
However that may be, it seems safe to say evil abounds today. And yet, most do not see it that way. Most prefer not to think too deeply about what may be evil, though they are willing to admit (usually) that there is right and wrong. .
But who, after all, gets to decide what is wrong -- or evil -- for others? One might say a judge does this, or a governor, or a President. So it is.
Ultimately we all -- each of us -- must be able to discern through education, training, experience, and sound judgment what represents the good, and what represents the evil.
This, of course, is a huge matter, and why most people would rather not delve too deeply into the subject. What, however, do we miss by this evasion? Especially, what happens to a society which cannot readily discern that which is evil? Is it possible evil is in the mix -- in daily life, politics, even churches at times? Is evil always present, lurking and waiting, perhaps in a shadow, or a hidden snowbank?
Originally published on Language Crosspoint
Quick Link —
President Biden stands up for the American people:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?517282-1/president-biden-holds-news-conference
Comments by TMP coming later
What the authors are speaking of is the possibility of the break-up of the United States as we know it. Sadly, this can be called a supportable conjecture.
In any event, this is an extremely important article and one which deserves the most serious consideration.
(Article may be behind a paywall.)
Rapid Resource --
Time to Think the Unthinkable?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/opinion/january-6-civil-war.html
(via Patriot in Exigency)
Republished from Democratic Campaign Watch --
Knowledgeable news makers are now advising us to use our civic organizations to preserve democracy against the rising fascist threat. This threat, as we understand it, is arising from aggrieved persons who are being stoked by various prominent individuals into a high state of anger and agitation. As such, this stoking is the most dangerous thing I have seen in my lifetime.
It seems, though, that there is hope. For instance recent polling indicates the American public now favors Democrats over Republicans in Congressional races this fall.* This is a big change from polling on the subject last fall.
But in order to avoid a similar situation as in Weimar Germany, we must do much, much more to stem the rising tide of mindless anarchy which so saliently threatens our way of life. This we can do. But more importantly in the short term, the media must stop framing the crisis as politics-as-usual. That is not reality. The real story is that one Party has been taken over by radicals. Increasingly, it is also becoming clear that these radicals are supported by a well-funded and organized effort aimed at subverting the will of a people who are no longer willing to accept rule-by-the-rich in America.
