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| Krystal Ball |
Hey, wanna get in trouble with me? Stop hating on your neighbor with the Trump flag, sticker and or tee shirt. Stop hating on the Bernie Bro, Biden voter or other despised lefty. Go talk to them or more importantly, listen. We just might find how absurd the "this nation is so divided" narrative is. Sure, sure, there are real differences. My agnostic self has many issues with people I know to be in the Christian Right. Could we still relate on too much money in politics? Poverty is a problem? or something else?
It seems a lot of us agree the country is going in the wrong direction which is vague but at least a starting point. What direction should we be going instead? Where's the agreement? Too many jobs going over seas leaving huge swaths of the population behind condemned to poverty and despair. Our infrastructure is in decay and falling apart from neglect. Our healthcare system provides good care but navigating it and paying for it are twin nightmares. I think there can even be agreement on protecting the environment. No one likes shitty, smelly and flammable rivers! Just shouting, "The climate is changing you dumb asses!" might make you feel better for a moment but does nothing to address the problem. Here's another one- forever wars. People all across the political spectrum mostly recognize these for what they are, money making ventures for war profiteers. I think you would have to dig pretty deep to find people who buy the WMD argument for invading Iraq. Who among us can explain why we are still in Afghanistan almost 20 years after 9/11/2001? Bin Laden was killed a long time ago and the Taliban were crushed (but refuse to be killed off completely). I'd add we can all agree on how bad our veterans are neglected upon their return.
If we could solve the problem of massive income inequality, I think many other problems would melt away. Remember friends, the dominant discourse (America is so divided), always serves those at the top. There are more. "Work hard to get ahead," serves those we work for. "Keep a good credit score," serves the bankers. "Guns don't kill people, people kill people," is good for gun makers and the NRA. Remember when the NRA used to be sane? I'm a gun owner who will have nothing to do with them now. That reminds me...
Few of us are deep red or dark blue. Most of us are a mix making us nearer to the middle of the political spectrum. Do some Trump voters have legitimate gripes? Yes. So do Bernie voters. Both groups have been forgotten by cookie cutter Democrats and Republicans.
Whatever you do, don't give in to despair and apathy! That only benefits the powerful.
So 2020 is behind us and before we congratulate each other, let's remember a hell of a lot of people didn't make it. 2021 is getting off to a grim start. Covid it totally out of control, one of our political parties wants to shred what's left of the Constitution and fear is winning. All's not lost. The Constitution will hold. Vaccines are on the way. The racists, xenophobes and conspiracy nuts will soon crawl back under their rocks and into their caves. At least, that's my hope. But this is about the year that just passed. Let's look at a few lessons.
1. There is no going back to normal.
The old normal sucked anyway. We bullshitted ourselves into thinking the economy was wonderful. Sure it was for some. However, for too many the struggle was paycheck to paycheck, massive debit (credit cards, student loans,cars, housing etc etc...). How many people you know who loved their jobs? Too many companies pay lip service to a safe, happy and fair workplace while fighting tooth and nail against anything to improve living conditions for workers, like a livable minimum wage or job security.
The wheels were going to come off sooner or later, what Wall Street types call a "Correction." And come off they did! Covid-19 beat the market to the punch and derailed the economy (with a lot of help from our government's totally inept response). The notion of paying people through state unemployment systems was a disaster. None of those state systems were remotely ready for a tsunami of new claims all filed within a few short weeks. Some, to this day never got anything. The expansion of who's eligible and $600 extra were good but then they let it lapse while the pandemic was / is still raging. Our fearless leaders them played hot potato with more economic aid until January costing 45 four more years. Soon it will all be on you, Joe.
I think Joe will at least take Covid more seriously and maybe have it more under control by this spring or summer (2021). The carnage of small businesses lost will not last forever as some seem to think. They will come back but it is going to take a long time. We will not all settle for jobs as soulless, mindless drones for Amazon, Walmart and Uber. People who can work from home will continue to do so. We can only hope our society has learned the value of cashiers, stockers, drivers and other service workers who essentially take care of us.
2. Global Pandemics are equal opportunity killers.
Yeah, if you have a bigger bank account, you have a better chance to live. Big bank accounts cannot always fix stupid. Going around maskless, putting off treatment / testing with the virus multiplying away inside you will not end well even with the best medical treatments. Too many were too self-important to let a little thing like a global pandemic put a crimp in their day, still insisting on eating out, church services, beach parties and mass biker rallies. Fine, if you want to risk yourself but you have NO right to risk my health, your neighbor's health or your grandma's health. We learned being self centered can be a killer. Why not politicize a common threat as well? That's gotta help, right?
I think the biggest mistake we made was politicizing Covid-19. If all states don't lock down and we still allow interstate travel no one is locked down. Some where I read it is akin to having a peeing area inside a swimming pool. This was not hard. Stay home for just two to three months, pay everyone three K a month until it is over and Covid-19 is a small footnote in a medical text book twenty years from now. Oversimplified you say? Not all that much. When viruses cannot spread they die out. Instead, we made it political. You cannot tell me what to do! I need to work! This is understandable with no help from Uncle Sam. I want my nails done! I want to shop! Let's invite everyone for Christmas and Thanksgiving! How's that worked out? Let's see... Over 300K dead. The economy is in shambles. Education is struggling and our entire healthcare system is at risk of collapse. USA number one, right?
Yup, most deaths, super high infection rates and an obliterated economy. So how did these small female lead counties do so much better? Well, they took Covid-19 seriously, shut down while paying their citizens and had no time or tolerance for bullshit conspiracy theories. Check this out...
3. American Racism and Ignorance
We spent the last four years learning just how racist we are. Non-whites already knew. I, as a white dude, had no idea how many of my fellow Americans are just straight up racists. I had this illusion that it was mostly a southern backwoods redneck thing. Nope, it is nation wide. Northern cities, eastern cities and even out west they all came out to bask in the new light of the Glorious Leader, Donald Trump. In a twisted way, it's one of his biggest accomplishments, shinning a bright shinning light on how far we still have to go. In what universe is anti-fascist considered a bad thing? This one! In what universe do we have to remind people Black Lives Matter? This one! Why? The American Oligarchs like it this way. Let me see if I can explain it.
It is better to have poor people pointing the finger at each other than towards the top. Here are a few narratives they use on poor whites; "Blacks and illegals get a free ride from the government, advantages in hiring (Affirmative Action) and they are inherently violent." Poor low information whites buy it while the elites send their jobs overseas, suppress wages, defund schools, take their pensions, and literally kill them with unsafe working conditions and opioids. Meanwhile, they run off to the bank with all the money. And keeping people stupid also helps.
Wow, what a strange election! Biden did get in but we have 70 or so million who voted for Trump. The Blue Wave turned into the Blue Mirage with little meaningful change in the legislature. I think it was good to ditch the Donald before he politicized the entire Federal workforce, replacing professionals with political stooges. I don't know about you guys but I kind of scientists working for the CDC, NASA and NOAA. These are no places for political for YES men. I passed on the Greens this time. The Donald just had to go. Why? Ask Noam Chomsky Sadly, he still barely won my state. We will have a few months of 45 whining the election was stolen, mad dashes to various courts arguing baseless claims (only to be shot down) and yes even a few acts of political terrorism from his fellow dead enders. Then, like a miracle, he will gone from the White House. I have low expectations of Joe Biden.
Unless he (and the Democrats) suddenly grow some balls, we will stumble on (slower) to environmental, economic and artificial intelligent catastrophes that will render our current civilization a fond memory of old people. Casino Capitalism and a clean environment are mutually exclusive. Our government (Yes, both parties) is incapable of understanding much less dealing with this fact. Income inequality (a big part of the Trump phenomenon) will continue to worsen (more slowly hopefully) and the next Neo Fascist will prove to be more competent and dangerous than Trump. Artificial Intelligence at the very least will be disruptive bring on changes (dangers?) we cannot even now imagine. Rumsfeld would say unknown unknowns. By going more slowly toward these challenges (there are many more), we buy a little time to figure out what to do about them. So what CAN we do?
Protests, boycotts, sit ins (Occupy) and general strikes need to become a part of the American landscape. We cannot think our guy won (hint- he's not our guy. He, like Trump, belongs to the oligarchs) and all will be well. Biden will do the master's bidding defending the elite at the expense of the rest of us. If we sit back and accept that, shame on us. Enough hell raising can bring about positive change..
PEOPLE TRUST NOT IN POLITICIANS BUT YOUR OWN POWER.
I'm hopeful Biden will be more responsive to civil unrest than almost any Republican.
Caution: violence plays into the narrative of the bad guys. Nobody on Earth does violence better than Uncle Sam. That's his game. Challenge him and you will loose... badly.
Note: anyone in your group protesting for positive change who calls for violence or terrorism most likely works for Uncle Sam.
And for the love of God: stop insulting, demeaning and looking down on those who voted different than you. Rather, reach out, listen, acknowledge our common humanity to gain ground. No minds have been changed or hearts won by petty social media insults or dehumanization of mass swaths of any population.
2020 is just the gift that keeps on giving. What do we have so far? A global pandemic filtered through political tribalism (mostly here in the U.S.). Cops murdering brown and black people setting off protests, riots and looting the likes of which we have not seen since 1968. Once again politics moves in and we miss the forest through trees. Instead of addressing concerns, we yammer on about lawless thugs, looters and the new bogeyman on the block, Antifa! Yes! that's right in today's America it is criminal to be Antifascist. I don't know about you cats but my Granddad, and two great uncles fought fascists and imperialists in World War II. Here in the Trump-side-down world of the Trump years people are actually learning to be afraid of Anti-Nazis, young people taking to the streets for justice and even the Democratic Party. You've seen the ad's. Will the police come when you call in Biden's America? "They" burnt down my business and the cops could not help me! Fear, Fear and yes more Fear...
I only dislike one thing more than Democrats and that's Republicans. How do they want to govern? They don't. They only want to abolish taxes for the richest among us, defend their own very narrow view of freedom (It is against my religion to insure your sexual health) and sew fear and hatred of anyone non-white and or anyone who makes under 30K a year (basically poor people of any color). The Republican Party has been the party of FEAR and NO for my entire adult life. They have given us staggering levels of income inequality, wars of choice and kick and scream "socialism" whenever it is suggested government do something to actually help people. Where is the Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act? NO, that might help somebody! How do they respond to protests? Oh yeah, ridicule and water cannon. Never a single word about why they are protesting is spoken. Stagnant wages for the last fifty years / crushing personal debit? More tax breaks and cuts for the richest corporations and people will fix it! Republicans have phantom problems to solve like voter fraud. I'm sure this is more dark work of Antifa. Where is our opposition party,
The Democrats? They, for the most part, go along with much of the above offering a little hand-wringing here and there and low-grade grade school level political theater. See, they too are paid for by the same people to keep the existing power structure in place no matter the cost to the world for as long as possible. In any sane country (country with a healthy democracy and a critical thinking populace) the Trump Crime Family would have never got into power in the first place. Our brave Democrats have done little more than jump up and down and turn red faced. They have been totally ineffective. I'm sorry if this is news to you but here we are looking at a possible four more years (or more?) of Trump family rule. If this is good news to you, careful what you ask for. What are the alternatives?
Vote for the Green Party? Stay home and do nothing? Vote for Trump and a quicker and painful death? Vote for Joe Biden to buy a little more time before complete collapse? Most likely, I'll vote for Joe. I like the Greens because I'm voting FOR something. But Trump has to go. One party rule is not for me. The Democrats are the only viable alternative. I have no illusions they can be reformed. I do think they will provide more stability and thus give us time to figure out better ways forward. I'm hopeful young Americans, given the chance, will completely reject the party of "NO," tax cuts for the rich and _____phobia. Stay home and do nothing is lame. How will you explain that to your grand kids? "Yeah, I figured the problems would just solve themselves." Do something! Even if it wrong! Just try!
And Remember-----
The sun will rise on November 4th no matter the outcome. The wheels of life will keep on turning. I don't like the "fight" analogy so many are fond of. Keep fighting, fight harder and so on are worn out. We need a new approach and time to figure it out. Hate can and often does win in this world. I, for one, think we can and must do better.
