This is my political blog. You could probably guess it was coming. Unless
you have, as they say, been living in a cave, you know there’s an election
on November 2. My guess is that even hermits and anchorites these days
have cell phones and iPods, so they get to watch all those awful attack
commercials, too. When I see one coming on, I hit the mute button on my
remote. We’re supposed to be living in a modern civilization. Whatever
happened to civility?
Well, what happened is that the Republicans and the Tea Party are unhappy
with President Obama. (Yes, I know: that’s a vast understatement.) Back
in the Rove/Cheney/Bush days, Republicans thought they were gonna be in
charge forever. It didn’t happen. But last year they grabbed our political
narrative in their poison fangs and relentless claws and have been ripping
it up and trying to kill it ever since.
Can you guess that I’m a political liberal? I don’t think “liberal” is
a dirty word. I’m proud to be liberal. Progressive. Sort of populist. I
usually vote for Democrats because they’re almost invariably smarter and
more liberal than Republicans. Few Democrats are as crazy or extreme as
Tea Partiers. But I gotta confess—I did vote for a Republican once. That
was in 1976. Daniel Walker, the governor of Illinois, where I went to graduate
school, had made promises to people downstate that he didn’t keep. We got
mad. When he came to Southern Illinois University to give the commencement
speech in 1976, most of us packed books in the long sleeves of our doctoral
robes and read while he spoke. (Those doctoral robes go back to the Middle
Ages. It’s said that the students of the medieval universities carried
their books, and maybe their lunches, in the long sleeves.) I moved to
California after commencement in 1976 and voted for James Thompson by absentee
ballot. Then I changed my registration. Thompson was one of the governors
of Illinois that did
notgo to jail.
Back to 2010 and another confession: I am in agreement with the Tea Party
on one point: our governments, national and local, seem to be broken. Much
needs to be fixed. Consider senators like James Warren DeMint, who set
his goal to bring the Obama administration to its Waterloo. Consider James
Inhofe and Tom Coburn (what
were the people of Oklahoma thinking??). Consider John McCain, who
used to be an honorable man. Consider members of the House of Representatives
like Michelle Bachmann (who is looking for traitors in the House) and John
Boehner (who spends a full third of his time playing golf) and Joe Barton
(who famously apologized to BP). Consider the corrupt city council of Bell,
California (just up the freeway from me), most of whom are now in jail.
Consider the governors of Arizona (who signed the anti-Mexican law) and
Texas (who has said his state might secede from the U.S.). These are people
who need to be replaced by intelligent people who understand small-D democracy
and compassion and will work to help ordinary people get good jobs and
live peaceful lives.
But what do we see running for office? Extremists who think civil rights
legislation was wrong. Who say they read the U.S. Constitution as inerrantly
as they read their Bibles, but don’t have a clue about the First Amendment.
Who say that girls who are raped by their fathers must bear the children
of these incestuous rapes. Who suggest “Second Amendment remedies” and
other violence to make changes in government. Who want to repeal some of
the amendments to the Constitution because they don’t like them. Who believe
that Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional—but what will they
do when they get old enough to need those programs? Who say we shouldn’t
have to pay any taxes—but will still drive on the interstate highway system,
use the post office, eat food and take medicine that has hopefully been
inspected by the FDA, and send their children to public schools. Please,
let us not vote for stoopid.
When I Found Megademapublicadamna in 1994, I had no idea we’d still need
her in 2010, but we sure do. Do the reversing spell if you want to. The
T-shirt I’m wearing as I type this says
What Would Durga Do? The answer—
Bring Liberty and Justice to All. I say, let’s vote for Durga. Or
at least for smart people who agree with her and will work in the direction
of liberty and justice for us all.
Contact Me
Email: bawriting@earthlink.netPhone: 562 628-9688