The Clash Of Ideas!

How in the world did the United States get like this. How did a nation that healed itself after a Civil War, organized and participated successfully in two World Wars and generally over many hard-fought decades come to include all its citizens in the public square get like this. Well, the beginning of the story began in 1987 when the Federal Trade Commission, then operated under the Republican Reagan administration rescinded a rule that had governed communications in these United States of America since 1949.

The Fairness Doctrine was adopted in 1949, when it was clear that both radio and television communication were to become dominant in the coming society. In a world in which in addition to a chicken in every pot, there would be a new visitor in nearly every household, to hold sway with is older brother.  Radio was the means of communication in the United States for over two decades then came TV. This was potent stuff, and the immense power of propaganda was well understood by a nation fresh from war. So, to keep someone from using the airwaves, owned by the people and only leased to the companies which used them (not unlike modern roads) the Fairness Doctrine was created. 

The Doctrine said that if a broadcaster presented one side of an issue it was obligated to supply time for opposing views. The point was not to allow any single voice to overwhelm the airwaves and send only one unguarded message out to the masses. It worked pretty well, though obviously some bristled at it. Then with the Reagan administration, the progenitor of so many of our woes, came a new idea. The Fairness Doctrine which specifically provided for a range of voices, was somehow restricting free speech. Like Trickle-Down Economics this theory was swallowed and the doctrine rescinded. 

And then came talk radio. Folks had been talking on radio since its invention, nothing new there. But now one voice could get on the air and blather on unrestrained by anything so quaint as facts or the possibility of valid opposing viewpoints. The balladeers of bombast needed an enemy and in the 1990's they found Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary. Bill came from nowhere to win the presidency and with a keen understanding of politics gave the U.S. something of a heyday. He had the morals of an alley cat, but we had a balanced budget for the first and only time in my long lifetime. 

But that didn't matter to a lout named Rush Limbaugh who came onto the airwaves at about the time Justice Clarence Thomas was being grilled by Congress in 1989. (Yes! The same fucking guy!) And using a deft understanding of what made harried middle-class white men angry he built an empire of hate and resentment and division. Supported by ads for gold (which undermined confidence in the money supply), and divorce lawyers targeting men (which fed an outlandish specter of the white male being oppressed by society), Rush chiseled away at the roots of civic order. He and his imitators harped on about how guns didn't kill people, guns killed people. And we all could see for ourselves when guns walked into schools across the land and murdered children. (Oh, wait! Those were people using guns as tools to murder.)

America got this way because we were talked into it. 

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The Good, The Bad, And The Elderly!

Now that Joe Biden has left the Presidential race, Donald Trump becomes the oldest man to seek the office. Why don't the slings and arrows begin to strike as diligently as they did Biden? The double standard which has stood in politics for some time rears its ugly head again. Democrats are held to a higher standard than Republicans, both by media and the public. 

This double standard has allowed a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, convicted fraudster and general overall creep to seek the highest office in the land. His outlandish statements and racist rants shoved aside because that's just what we've come to expect from the likes of him. His cronies and sycophants mimic his disgraceful behavior, and they too seem to get a pass. Now the media which harassed Biden endlessly about his age is as usual mum about this new reality. 

How are we as people supposed to maintain a civil order, a society respecting all its members, when our watchdogs, the "Fourth Estate" mishandle their responsibility so profoundly. When they act like children who are convinced that the parent who makes them go to school, do their homework, and be responsible is the bad parent and the one who endlessly entertains them is the good one. When I see a fifteen- minute interview with Sweet Potato Hitler in which he's asked no other question other than why he has the audacity to run for President at his age, I'll have a glimmer of hope that the media get it. 

They won't. I don't. And we soldier one. 

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Now Just A Cotton-Pickin' Dadburned Minute Of Your Time!

I find it hilarious that from time to time, comic book publishers and cartoon maker would "run" their characters for President of the United States. It was good and proper satire. A great entertainment that still has potency today. Politics can be at times very unsavory, and satire drops some sunshine into it.

 

But that said, anyone who has ever written in the name of a cartoon character for President of the United States is a fool. If you've done it, don't get mad. I'm a fool too. I've never done that, but I've thought about it, and that's pretty damn close. Sometimes the options seem limited, and we throw up our hands and say fuck it, I'll just cast my vote to the wind. And that's the foolish part. 

I live in what they call a "Red State". In America that means the folks in my state reliably vote Republican election after election after election after election. They don't realize if they'd change it up a bit, they might get some more leverage over the politicians who increasingly take them for granted. I could vote for "Huckleberry Hound" and it would not affect the outcome of any national race. But what does that say about me?

It says I've given up on the process. Democracy is just too hard or boring or whatever for me to take it seriously. Instead of casting my vote to the wind, I prefer to spit in the eye of the political overlords who don't care about me and vote for a real candidate. My vote says, you might get a majority of us, but you'll never get us all. And that's something politicians need to hear on the regular. 

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Cooler Heads!

Let me begin by saying that Joe Biden is a man I admire, both for the way he lives his life and the way he has served his nation over the many decades. Politics in America has become an increasingly dirty and downright dangerous affair, and I have no scales on my eyes about what might have had to be done under his leadership. He is not a perfect man by any means, nor is he a perfect President, but his fundamental goodness is evident, if only one is willing to see it. He is not an angel. But the other side offers us a demon. 

Now Joe has withdrawn and has thrown his support to Vice President Kamala Harris. If this choice had to be made then, this is the only really acceptable way in my mind.  I have endorsed her candidacy officially. My fury at the Democratic Party for abandoning the President has cooled, though the facts of the betrayal seem all too evident. Politics is hardball and Joe has been a player long enough to understand the game. In my loyalty to Joe, I pledged to leave the Party if they shoved him aside. They did. I'm not. Here's why. 

To leave the Party now is to send the message that a black woman is an unacceptable candidate to me. That is hardly the case. I applaud that choice and will vote for her and her running mate at the earliest opportunity. When I cast that vote, I will wish I had one last chance to vote for Joe Biden, but I'll take solace in that I'm voting for his choice for President. I'm staying a Democrat, because that's what I think Joe Biden would want me to do. I won't abandon Joe. 

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Passing The Torch!

It seems I might have a new date for the prom this year. President Joe Biden has bowed to the pressure from his own party and stepped down as a candidate for re-election. He has passed his torch to his VP Kamala Harris. Let there be no doubt, I will vote for Kamala Harris. 

But will my former party? 

The Democrats now have an open convention coming up. With Biden standing down, there is no one who can formally claim the title until the convention decides to confer it. Technically neither could Biden, but he was the presumptive nominee with more than enough committed delegates to lock the nomination. Kamala's campaign claims to have more than enough. She has abundant and enthusiastic endorsements. But as I understand it anyone who can gather three hundred delegates can lay claim to the nomination. They won't win it in all likelihood, but they can run.

If perchance Kamala's poll numbers dip lower than Joe's will the party once again call for the candidate to step down? Doubtful in the extreme, but there will be voices who will still ring out. Having sacked the only politician who has defeated the other side, the Dems are left with choosing to support the first black woman for President. They must, to almost quote Lady Macbeth, "screw their courage to the sticking place". 

I'm all for it. 

But the United States is still a nation racked by racism, and the juice which gives life to the terror on the other side has a Democratic face as well. Will that face, that outdated and feckless face show itself now that there is an opportunity. In passing the torch in this unprecedented way, have the Dems allowed the same fire that consumed the Republican Party to perhaps spread to their side. 

And then there's the simple fact she's a woman. The United States is one of the few Western states not to have been led by a woman at some time. It a shameful fact we need to put behind us. Women in the U.S. have already had some rights sheared away by the noxious Supreme Court. Could Kamala be their retribution? 

Is Kamala Harris the powerful black woman who can claim the candidacy and control the convention and move forward with the gusto needed to win the day against the Fascist forces arrayed on the other side? 

I sincerely hope so. 

Maybe sooner than later I will sincerely believe so. 

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Check Those Expiration Dates!

 Guess what! 

President Joe Biden got old.

So, he was rejected by the Democratic Party.  

And now we face the uncertainty of an open Democratic convention. Back in the olden times without an internet, an open convention might have seemed a good idea, but now with split-second analysis and instantaneous second-guessing steaming down everyone's necks, it's going to be a major crap-fest. That is unless the Dems get it together and nominate on the first ballot. That's critical. The other side nominated a criminal sex-offender, but they are united behind him. Kamala is the flavor of the moment. Hopefully that remains the case. The Dems could nominate Captain America, but it won't mean a fucking thing unless they unite behind that nominee. I'll vote for a block of cheese if it's on the ballot, if it means we save ourselves and the world from more of that village idiot's tomfoolery. 

I guess we just have to hope it's not an aged cheese. 

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But Doctor...I Am Paglicacci!

There's a famous joke that Rorschach tells in The Watchmen. It goes like this...

I heard a joke once: Man goes to the doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life is harsh and cruel. Says he feel all alone in a threatening world. 

Doctor says, "Treatment is simple. The great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go see him. That should pick you up." 

Man bursts into tears, "But doctor...I am Pagliacci." 

Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains.

Something about the news of the day makes me want to read The Watchmen again. I think I will. 

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My Pledge To The Democratic Party!

If efforts to push Joe Biden off this year's Democratic ticket for President succeed, I will vote Blue to help save my nation, but the day after I vote I will change my registration to Independent. The leaders of the Democratic Party will have demonstrated that they have as little regard for the vote of the citizens as do the Republicans, so I see no need, even after decades of loyal support to continue to identify myself with them. 

The latest round of back-channel discussions among leaders of the Party to oust Joe come on the heels of the end of the Republican Convention and are clearly keyed to setting up a Democratic Convention in which some way and somehow the candidate with 14, 465, 519 votes to be the nominee, or 87% of the total is replaced. That's an overwhelming number. He should under normal circumstances clinch it on the first round. He and Harris have accumulated 3, 894 delegates with only 42 remaining from the total number of 3, 949. 1968 delegates are required to become the nominee. Joe Biden has more than enough. 

Now I'm well aware that a Party can choose another nominee despite the one chosen by the voters. They have that right. But if they choose to exercise that right this year, it will come with a great price. I can see droves of disaffected voters like me, leaving the Democratic Party in disgust. To turn against the will of the thousands of loyal Democratic voters who have expressed a preference, in order to cater to the will of rich benefactors fearful of actual changes in policy that might cost them a few extra dollars, will wound the Party in way they can't imagine. I'm at a loss to imagine what alternate ticket might be proposed. I cannot imagine any that will have the name recognition of the sitting President. 

The last time the Democratic Party did this the President was Lyndon Johnson who was wounded by the Vietnam War. What enemy has Joe Biden succumbed to? Old age? To remove him from the ticket is a catastrophic move which could well lose the election, one which is easily winnable due to the lunacy on the other side. To do this is to openly admit for all practical purposes that the United States is a plutocracy, and that both our parties have been purchased by the ultra-wealthy who want to see things done to maximize profits. 

I have been a Democrat my entire voting life, but after fifty years of support the Dems will only be able to count on my support in the general elections from now on, if then, should they make this move. 

Update: I pledged to leave the Democratic Party if the Party rejected the nomination of Joe Biden, the sitting President, a leader and man I admire greatly. Let me amend that pledge, because something just occurred to me. Kamala Harris is the new presumptive nominee. I do not want it to look like I'm leaving the party because they nominated a black woman. I celebrate that choice, if the choice must be made. There is more than enough racism and the appearance of appearance racism in this country without me adding to it. 

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And They're Off!

I am old enough to remember a time when journalists eschewed coverage of a political campaign in terms of a horse race. The issues were too important to consider the analogy more than a passing consideration. But as the years have rolled on and journalism has become more about ratings and ad revenue, the horse race has pretty much become all that matters. But how does a person go about conducting a "horse race" between two human politicians? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind. The answer if polls. 

It has gotten to the point where it doesn't matter what the positions on policy the candidates have, but rather how they are doing in the polls. The number one indicator of poll success is name recognition and the winner in that game will almost always be the incumbent. That makes the challenge of bringing entrenched power to heel even more difficult. Incumbents start ahead in the "horse race" and so have an easier time getting funded in a culture in which money is speech, and unlimited amounts are available. Example is Elon Musk throwing forty-five million a month to Sweet Potato Hitler as they round the bend in our current Presidential "horse race". 

But here's the trick. Polls are largely useless. They win out every once in a while, just often enough against random chance to keep people interested, but not often enough to have any real predictive power. We see only the numbers when polls are touted about the "horse race", but we rarely see the questions used to extract the response nor do we necessarily see what mob was being polled. Increasingly the only poll that matters in any political "horse race" is the final one, and that my friends is not until November 5th. 

If we're not very careful with our precious hard-won freedom, this is the only race we might taking part in. This one has lots and lots of losers. 

See you at the polls. 

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Better Angels!

I will continue to speak out strongly for our democracy and stand up for the Constitution and the rule of law. I will continue to call for action at the ballot box, and not violence in the streets. 

That's how democracy should work. We debate and disagree. We compare and contrast the character of the candidates, the record, the issues. the agendas, and the visions for America.

We cannot lose sight of who we are. 

In America, we resolve our differences at the ballot box. NOT with bullets. 

We cannot -- we must not -- go down this road in America. We have traveled it before throughout our history. Violence has never been the answer. 

-- Joe Biden 

This is part of a message I found in my mailbox this morning.

This is why I want to vote for this good and decent man. It's why I've voted for him in the past time and again. He's better than me.  He's a leader for us all. 

GO JOE! 

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The Rawhead Kid!

I'm currently in a process of escaping the deluge of daily media, but it caught up with me nonetheless with the news that someone had taken a shot at "Sweet Potato Hitler". He was wounded but not killed apparently, and I'm sure this will be sold as him acting bravely in the face of extreme danger. Give me a contingent of Secret Service pledged to surround me at the first sign of trouble and I'll be pretty bold too. This myth was largely horseshit when they played the song with Reagan, and I guarantee it will be even a bigger horse turd with this new event when he gathers himself and plays to the camera. God only knows who he will blame for it. I've already caught a glimpse. I wish all the incessant shootings America still suffers because of our fetish for guns got the coverage this one will get. 

 

But that said, I don't think this event will change a single vote. And if it does it will only take a teensy piece out of Biden's overwhelming victory. We'll get some polling here and there which will ignite random and incessant discussion in the chattering classes, but as with all the polls they don't reflect reality. They are designed to elicit responses which will promote a narrative. Same here. But I worry that the inspection of Project 2025 is now on hold while the pundits batter to death this most recent shooting. Not even a mass one as far as I know, but one that just so happened to involve a famous bloke. They will winge on about feckless gun control, past political shootings, and how this will affect the horse race. We will get to hear the names of John Wilkes Boothe, Lee Harvey Oswald, James Earl Ray, and my favorite name of historical assassins -- Sirhan Sirhan. We will get to visit Dealey Plaza, the Loraine Hotel and the Ambassador Hotel all over again.  All the while, Project 2025, a program to demolish our representative democracy will remain largely unexamined. That might've moved some folks. 

Because I think this event will affect few if any votes, I still believe that Joe Biden and Kamela Harris will win back their offices and stave off the madness for four more years. I choose to believe that, I really believe that, and you'll have to take that belief from my cold dead hand. 

GO JOE! 

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Go Joe! Go Joe!

I have spent more than a few minutes the past two weeks, ever since Joe Biden's less than impressive debate performance fuming. Not because Joe performed poorly. That often happens to incumbents in a first debate, so often that scheduling the debate this early was a strategy to get that one out of the way. At least that's what I suspect. The debate would be mostly forgotten now save members of my own party keep bringing it up. No, I'm fuming because some members of the leadership of the Democratic Party and some allies have been spending the days since the debate calling for Joe to drop out. No calls for the larcenous, lying, sociopathic, sex pervert and felon in the cremains of the Republican Party to drop out! No, the Dems are saving their ammunition for their own guy! The devout long-time legislator, loyal Vice-President, devoted husband and loving father, and successful first-term President is the one they've targeted. And it's all because he's had the great fortune to have lived four score and more. Outrageous! 

Joe has said repeatedly and forcefully he will not drop out. He's the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party which just completed an extensive series of primary elections to determine that very fact. He has won all those primaries and assembled more than enough delegates to win the nomination. I voted for Joe myself. I got out of my house, drove to the polls and voted for Joe in a state in which the primary is the only election he will win in my lifetime. My state is ruby red and my vote this fall for Joe, which I will cast at the earliest opportunity, will be a cry in the wilderness. But it's still my vote and I'm damned if my own party will take it away. The Republicans have been doing that in various ways for some years now. Stealing one of Obama's Supreme Court choices was robbing me of my vote. And now a bunch of Left-leaning pundits and celebrities want to light cigars find and in a smoke-filled room pick a candidate they'd prefer. 

Bullshit! 

Joe Biden is the going to be nominee of the Democratic Party and if many of my own party leaders can quit stepping their own dicks, we might just win the Presidency and save this democracy here, and order in the free world for a few more precious years. 

And here's a special note to any advertisers out there.  I am no longer watching any television show which wastes time murmuring about the health of my President. Nor am I apt to return if they don't stop crapping the bed on that topic pretty much immediately. 

To put it bluntly -- Shut the Fuck Up! 

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Super-Villain Team-Up!

I've kept my views on the news of the day off this blog for several years because things had settled down with a President who obeyed the laws and didn't riff on tormenting the helpless day after day after day, but the quite recent travesty of a Supreme Court decision has moved me to speak up again. I genuinely worry that the democracy I have enjoyed for my many decades on this planet is indeed in danger of disappearing for all practical terms. The case was obviously taken up by the highest court in the land in bad faith because of the timing and extensive duration of consideration, and the decision is dangerous in the extreme. The United States Supreme Court has created a Super-Executive who is not answerable to the laws applicable to the common folk. We are lucky that the man in the office now is a good and decent fellow, who will not order the assassination of his enemies. 

This all happened because the disgraceful cowardice of Republicans in Congress who some years ago failed utterly and shamefully in their duty to impeach and remove our loathsome former president who had instigated an attack on our own Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power. That's what the Constitution clearly demanded they do in that circumstance and for fear of being hurt or killed by their own followers they faded when the moment came to hold him to account for his obvious crimes. Holding the man to account after that has proven difficult and now the Supreme Court has made it all but impossible. We now run the very real risk that an amoral sociopathic traitorous sex-offending convicted felon might become the leader of the free world again. And this time he won't leave office until he dies. 

I still believe that will not happen. I think that the clearly good man named Joe will win the day and save us from our own demons, at least for a short time. But now we have to hope that all future Presidents are good men or good women, because the Supreme Court has made the office a fertile nest for an evil person, an utter villain to wreak havoc on this country and the world. Maybe in practical terms it was always thus, but now we know it can happen for certain.  And we're not out of the woods yet on this one. 

It has been a particularly sad day in the Anti-Life! The villains among us have won a dark victory indeed. It's time for the good guys to win one. 

Stay tuned. 

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