Monthly Archives: November 2020

Just for the record…

2 Replies

I just read an article online alleging that if #45 had acknowledged his shortcomings of personality and run on his record, he would be much stronger in the polls.

In other words, if he said “yes, I’m a bully who feels entitled to grope women at will, who believes groups behaving like Klansmen are “good people,” who believes it is perfectly ok to cage immigrant children so long as the cages are clean, who believes it ok to invite foreign governments to attack his opponents and disrupt our elections, who cannot condemn a nearly nine minute televised murder, who believes neither science nor truth matter, who believes he need not adhere to principles of legal taxation or be accountable for that behavior, who may have stiffed more contractors than any other known signatory, who has torpedoed relationships with our allies, allied with known adversaries and enemies, abused the powers of his office at every turn, whose mishandling of the coronavirus has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, and who famously bragged he could shoot a person dead on Fifth Avenue without facing Justice….

BUT! I have done a good job with the economy, so you should vote for me.” The concession of his “bad boy personality” should counterweight its impact, according to this source because his performance with the economy matters more.

Let’s translate that: a lying, cheating, sexist, “xenophobic racist religious bigot” (per Lindsay Graham) who defies the laws and values of his country at every turn and trashes our reputation in the world at large is commendable if he lowers taxes for the wealthy.

Not my country. Not my values. And I despise and oppose anyone who could possibly agree to such atrocious assertions.

That the final premise is also false, that he credits himself with a booming economy, ignited by the Obama recovery, that he is somehow not responsible for the tanking of the economy he inherited by totally blowing the handling of the pandemic, reveals other layers of lies.

But the fact is: he is un-American, without morals or ethics, without compassion for the lives or struggles of others.

He is not fit to serve as President. He is unfit to walk among the citizens he has abused.

Is there a clean cage available?

Happy (Samhain) New Year!

1 Reply

Before early astronomers calculated the periodicity of the seasons, with solstices and equinoxes, Celtic culture celebrated the recurring agronomic cycles of setting the herds and flocks to pasture in late Spring (in our terms) and returning them to stables and côtes in the Fall (again in our terms). The Spring event to commemorate sending out the animals to graze became ritualized in festivals around May 1, (Beltane, or May Day.) The return of the animals to shelter for the winter is honored in the festivals of Samhain by the Celts, and variously as Halloween, All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day in more recent English language usage. November 1 became the « New Years » of the Celtic calendar. All of this (and much more) is conveniently chronicled in James George Frazer’s classic The Golden Bough.

For us, this year, this dark year of pandemic suppression and political oppression, this year of conflagrations, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, this year of both passionate hope and ominous foreboding for the imminent election, this year that we imagined 50 years ago as « Earth 2020, » this year at a threshold of momentous possibilities — November 1 feels very much like a transition of great moment. What waits beyond the door?

This year marks the 15th time I have voted in a Presidential Election (yup, that’s 60 years of voting). The most exciting election for me was my first one (naturally!), but that one was exciting for an entire generation. JFK! He was inspirational to the nth degree. When he came to speak in San Francisco at the Cow Palace, he laid out the vision of The Peace Corps. A co-worker at the shoe store where I worked to put myself through SF State went to the rally, and I was so envious! The next visionary of that stature was Obama. No question. Win or lose, however, I felt each time that my vote mattered, that it was counted, that the process had credible integrity (but then I wasn’t black, trying to vote in Selma – white privilege existed then and now). Throughout this timeline I truly believed that as much as issues might divide our perspectives, certain common values united us as Americans.

This election is the first one where, from the very beginning, one candidate declared he would not be constrained by laws, rules, or common decency and respect. His demeanor, his behavior, his pronouncements at every turn cast the shadow of a tyrant. He in no way fits the profile of a President – he is a dictator, plain and simple. He behaves like a tyrant from a banana republic.

I agree with Joe Biden that we are fighting for the soul of the nation.

My contingent contributes modest amounts of money to Biden/Harris and several Senate campaigns. I mean it about the modest amounts. That’s what I have. For this year’s election I have contributed more than in all 14 previous presidential elections combined. That might not be enough. But it’s what I can do this time. Others are doing phone banks or distributing materials or who knows what. I hope ALL of us are voting. And voting early!

And what if it goes bad, or wrong, or crazy?

The worst possible reaction would be violent. It would give the other side a justification for suppression. And it just doesn’t work. Nonviolent uprisings are historically twice as likely to succeed as violent ones. But we may need to be creative: marches and protests, of course; but also strikes, slowdowns, and other traditional labor tactics. But we can’t let the current regime succeed (yes, l believe it is accurately a regime, not an administration).

And when we succeed – perhaps sooner, without all the drama, let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work rebuilding and reinforcing the best of who we are and who we can be!

Happy Samhain!