Just A Bunch Of Random Thoughts

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, education, Election 2020, Election 2022, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

It’s been a rough few days in a couple of ways, and tonight my mind is all over the place.  I suspect it may be this way for another two weeks or so, and after that … who knows.  Anyway, tonight I’m just sharing some of the thoughts that have been keeping me awake nights of late.  Random thoughts … no necessary path from one to another … just things that are disturbing the peace in my head.

I have to ask a burning question:  What exactly do Republicans want??? I mean, the list of things they don’t want is as long as my arm, but I don’t hear anything they do want other than tax cuts for the wealthy.  What is it they don’t want?

  • They don’t want women to have rights of autonomy over their own health
  • They don’t want disabled and retired citizens to have healthcare
  • They don’t want retired citizens to get back part of the Social Security they spent 50+ years funding
  • They don’t want the government to help those with staggering student loan debt
  • They don’t want to raise the minimum wage rate
  • They don’t want to aggressively address climate change or other environmental issues
  • They don’t want corrupt politicians to be held accountable for their crimes
  • They don’t want to educate children, but rather to mould them to be good little peons
  • They don’t want to honour the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution that calls for what Thomas Jefferson coined a “wall of separation between church and state”
  • They don’t want to allow LGBTQ people to marry
  • They don’t want a more equitable distribution of the wealth in the nation
  • They don’t want any form of gun regulation

And that’s just a few of the things they are against.  But what, exactly, are they FOR?  Best I can figure from listening to the things they don’t want, what they do want is to turn this nation into some dystopian place akin to Orwell’s 1984 or Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or Huxley’s Brave New World.  I’ve read all three of those and quite frankly they are the stuff nightmares are made of – nobody would willingly live in such a world.

More than once, I’ve heard Republican politicians praise Hungary’s autocratic leader Viktor Orbán.  If they so love his way of governing, love his policies, perhaps they would do well to relocate to Hungary and help him further destroy his nation, rather than staying here and destroying ours, too!

If a parent knowingly puts a child’s life in danger, such as leaving a loaded gun lying around, or leaving the child by himself for an extended period of time, or locking him in his room for 3 days without food, that parent will have their child(ren) taken away from them, and the parent may also see the inside of a jail cell.  And yet … if a parent knowingly puts a child’s life at risk by refusing to have that child vaccinated, the parent is applauded.  Anybody care to ‘splain this one to me?

Just over a year ago, current candidate for the U.S. Senate from Ohio, J.D. Vance, appeared on a podcast where he said that if Trump were to win another term in 2024, he should “seize the institutions of the left,” fire “every single midlevel bureaucrat” in the US government, “replace them with our people,” and defy the Supreme Court if it tries to stop him.  No way in hell should anybody with half a brain even consider voting for this lunatic!  Again … it appears that today’s Republican Party no longer values democracy and would prefer to live in a nation ruled by a dictator and populated by automatons who were once human.

Supreme Court Justice Virginia Clarence Thomas should be impeached.  It isn’t bad enough that his wife is an insurrectionist who had a role in the attempted coup on January 6th.  It isn’t bad enough that he is against women’s rights, against LGBTQ rights, and apparently against the Constitution he is supposed to be upholding.  Yesterday, Justice Thomas blocked a judge’s order that Lindsey Graham must testify as to his role in the January 6th attempted coup.  It’s largely thought that it is a delaying tactic to delay Graham’s testimony until after the November 8th election.  Thomas’ order is temporary, pending a review by the full court, but Graham begged for an “emergency” order to keep him from having to testify … at least for now.  I say impeach Justice Thomas … this is not the first time he’s shown his partisanship, shown that he is not interested in justice.

Last, but not least, as most of you know by now, President Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness plan is already accepting applications.  Courts had thrown out filings in a number of states that were opposed to the program, and it looked like it was good to go, but then … alas … yet another court, a federal appeals court, decided to halt the program … temporarily.  Please take a look at this video showing a number of politicians arguing against the program while they themselves … well, just take a look and be prepared to growl …

And on that note, I leave you with just a bit of humour to balance out the bleakness …

16 thoughts on “Just A Bunch Of Random Thoughts”

  2. All good questions! I’m sorry things are keeping you up at night. Hope you get some rest cuz the rough road ahead is just starting. Pace yourself and take good care of yourself.

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    • Thanks, Ab. Methinks sleep will be evasive for the next couple of weeks. So much is riding on this election and every day it seems more certain to cause a wave of violence, and to ultimately take down democracy — or what remains of it. I try to pace myself, but my mind has a mind of its own and goes where it wishes. These days, it seems to go into some very dark places. Sigh.

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  5. Jill, I go back to the following facts. At the 2020 Republican Presidential Convention in Charlotte, the party did NOT vote on a platform. Reporters noted the Republican platform is whatever Donald Trump wants it to be. Scroll forward, Senator Rick Scott who is leading the Senate reelection efforts, recognized this omission and wrote a platform himself. It was not voted on and several Republicans took issue with it. So, in 2022, the Republicans still do not have a platform.

    So, it is very legitimate to ask any Republican candidate, “You said this was a problem, so let me ask you what you plan to do about, considering your party has no official platform?”

    Keith

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    • And even more recently, Kevin McCarthy issued an unofficial “platform” modeled on Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” that basically calls for undoing anything that has been put into place by Democrats since 2008, plus calls for costly investigations of everything from President Biden’s son to the January 6th committee. In other words, the Republican “platform” is whatever is opposite the Democratic values and ideals. Sigh. Yes, that would be an excellent question to ask them … but you’d only get a form letter back. They don’t talk to anyone who hasn’t drunk the Kool Aid.

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      • Jill, most of the campaign websites do not want questions or comments. The candidates do not want to have to answer questions. I have long said the majority of Republican voters are voting against their economic interests and have no idea they are. Kevin McCarthy’s platform is indicative of the main mission of the party – give more money to rich people and help them keep it. Everything else is ancillary or supportive to that cause. This is why conservative judges are so important so liability to companies can be limited, this is why institutions like the IRS must be bad-mouthed, so the aggressive tax filers can get away with tax evasion, this is why cutting taxes on the corporations and rich people were mission one in the 2018 tax cut, etc. Keith

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        • So I’ve noticed. They make it real easy to donate or to support or follow them, but almost impossible to ask a question or leave them a comment. Yes, I’d venture that 90% of Republican voters are voting against their own best interests and don’t understand exactly what their candidate stands for. They truly don’t address issues, but rather have a short list of talking points that they repeat ad nauseam and pretty soon it’s almost like a chant to their followers. And many of those ‘talking points’ are bigoted in nature … against immigration, against abortion … the things they know will rile the masses, things they have managed to instill a fear of among their constituency. I think … I hope I’m mistaken, but I do think that any hope that our Supreme Court is still viable, non-partisan, is gone. They, like the declining Republican Party, have succumbed to the whims and will of the former guy.

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  6. And the beatdown goes on… Almost half the American people want to dismiss the crimes being committed by these Repughs beca7se they are jealous of them, and want to be able to look down upon others the way the wealthy look down on the. They are punismhing everyone because they are being punished. It is so human, to want to spread the bad instead of wanting to share the good. A smart person would want no rich people, for everyone to have more of the good things in life. But instead, they would rather share their poverty. It is not better to want to be rich and never get there, it is better to share what you have with those who have less than you.

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    • It’s way less than half, but it is their … loudness, crassness, that gains them so much attention that it seems like they are in the majority. Personally, I want NO rich people. A rich person of conscience won’t be rich for long, for they will see the need and give to those in need. But, sadly, there are few people of conscience in the top 1% and even fewer in the Republican Party. And I am tired … so tired … wishing the world would just open up and swallow me whole.

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