Skip to main content

You Broke It; Now Fix It

 

It seems like no matter what I search for (sweaters, shoes, kitchen items), I begin feeling like I’m being stalked later on by those products, while looking at other websites. After browsing sweaters on Talbots’ site, I suddenly see the same sweaters appear on the side of a Washington Post article about impeachment. I keep wishing some clever coder could come up with an algorithm to stalk members of the GOP with non-stop videos of “real people” suffering due to these politicians’ inaction and stupidity.

My hope is that seeing what has happened to citizens in this country, through no fault of their own, would somehow open the eyes of these politicians, and shame them into doing something to help them. Our country is so utterly broken, and I feel accountability should force these politicians to have to fix what they broke. Of course, I know that is unlikely to happen.

Right now Mitch McConnell thinks Biden’s economic recovery plan “missed the mark,” while Mitt Romney doesn’t believe another stimulus package is needed so soon after giving people a few bucks earlier in the month. I hear this and I want to scream, as they, and many others in their caucus, and even a few Democrats, are so removed from the lives of average Americans. I almost laughed when I heard McConnell calling the insurrectionists “thugs,” when so recently Hillary was scorned for calling these same people “deplorables.” Mitch is fine having this rabid mob vote for Republicans, but he’s not inviting them over for a barbecue, and now he’s going to pretend they don’t exist. Their Party has evolved from being led by Wall Street Journal types to a combination of individuals with white grievance to anti-government/white separatist militias, yet the establishment is still trying hard not to see what is going on.

I think this blindside, to not just the reality of the situation in this country, but to the reality of who the GOP supporters are, is going to eventually destroy the Party, but I think there will be a whole lot of pain, suffering, and violence before the end. You would think that after the insurrection of January 6, that the bulk of the Republicans would turn their backs on Trump and what, and who, he represents. Yet, only a few have spoken out. Romney and Collins are clearly living in their own reality, believing that with Trump off Twitter and out of the White House everything will go back to normal. Just today it was reported that Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority leader, who initially stated on the House floor, that Trump was to blame for the insurrection, now, out of fear of reprisals, is going down to Florida to pacify the mad former dictator-wannabe. Nothing will ever be normal again.

He and other Republicans keep trying to convince themselves that if they bow and scrape and provide the adoration that Trump craves, that he’ll then give them the power they desire. Even after five people died on January 6, including a cop, and with over 100 Capitol Police injured, they still believe that they can control the mob and that we should just put it all out of our minds like a bad dream.

The problem is the cult of Trump is becoming more dangerous. After the two wins in the House, who McCarthy seated even with their violent former statements, and the mobs’ rather easy short-lived takeover of the Capitol, nothing will ever be like it was before. There may be a few insurrectionists who are facing prison sentences, thanks to Trump not pardoning them in the end, that are having second thoughts, but most don’t appear to have changed their mind at all. I don’t know how we get out of this mess, and unfortunately most of the GOP don’t seem to have an interest in getting out due to their hope it will provide them electoral wins in two years, so I guess were stuck waiting for it all to implode around us, and hope our country somehow survives.

Popular posts from this blog

Lack of Approval

    Perhaps the upside to a year of a pandemic is that there were less New Year’s resolution articles. Normally there would be tons of tips on how to choose and how best to keep your resolutions. There have been a few, but they are far gentler in their approach. After all, just surviving this year is accomplishment enough. Beating yourself up for not writing every day or losing more weight (or even keeping the weight off) just feels cruel right now.       Maybe these thoughts were what caused me to become so annoyed listening to a recent podcast where a writer talked about how important a particular teacher had been in her life. This is a common story – the teacher who saw in you what you couldn’t see, gave you the necessary tools, and then sent you forth to live your dream life. Mostly, I don’t think it’s true, but I am a pessimist.      For me it’s always the most negative comment or abusive teacher who stays in my mind, not the kind o...

Blind Devotion

When I was young I hit a rock in our yard, trying to reenact the bible story of getting water from the rock. My mother thought it was so cute, yet for me at that age it proved what they were telling me in church was just stories. I didn’t have faith or what I see now as blind devotion. I tried to pretend to believe to make it easier to survive in my family, but by the time I’d reached teenage status, I was done. By then I’d seen my share of hypocrisy and double standards, as well as corruption by national so-called Christian leaders. I think this inability I have to just blindly go along not only affects my choices on spirituality, but all areas of my life, including politics. When I first registered to vote as a senior in high school in Florida, it was as an Independent. I remained that when I moved to Kentucky. When I voted, I either protested by write-in (Bill the Cat and Opus in 1988) or voted Democrat. I proudly stood in line to vote for Bill Clinton in 1992, but b...

Pause

So much of what I used to do still isn’t available. That’s not a complaint. I don’t plan on protesting, as I feel Ohio, while making restrictions, has been pretty generous (maybe too generous) as far as being able to get out and about. Most of us wouldn’t have survived China, Italy, or the UK’s real lock-downs. I have found other ways to fill up my days, but not necessarily all that productively. There have been some virtual film festivals that I might not have been able to attend that I was still able to either see the films or watch interviews with the filmmakers, which has been a nice upside to this insanity. Mostly, though, I just feel stuck. That’s not anything new for me. I tend to stay stuck (in the past it was in toxic workplaces) until I just can’t stand it anymore and have to do something. I’m trying to find that something . There are two experimental sketches this time. The first illustrates my stuckness , or the pauses so many of us are enduring. The s...