An End To The Impasse … For Now

Posted on by under Economic issues, Environmental Issues, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Well, friends, Representative Mike Johnson is now the Speaker of the House of Representatives.  The Republicans apparently realized yesterday that if they didn’t get their sh*t together there would be serious consequences, so they bit their tongues, put on their fake smiles, and voted Johnson into the speaker’s seat.  Johnson is probably as bad a choice as Jordon, worse than McCarthy, and miles below any speaker we’ve had in my memory.  But such is the nature of the beast – the 21st century Republican.

Already, in his acceptance speech, Mr. Johnson made it perfectly clear that he and his cronies do NOT represent us all.  He mistakenly believes that the United States is a religious nation comprised only of Christians … so those of us, about one-third of the population, who are not Christians and do not believe in the same ‘god’ Mr. Johnson believes in are no longer represented in the House of ‘Representatives’.  Oh sure, our tax dollars will still be welcomed, but our opinions and views will no longer matter.  Perhaps they haven’t for a while now.

Mr. Johnson has several strikes against him in my book …

  • He is an election denier who still, nearly three years after the fact, claims that the 2020 election was ‘fraudulent’ or ‘stolen’
  • He is a climate skeptic who has been dubbed an “energy champion” by the fossil fuel industry
  • He voted against aid for Ukraine
  • He is against women’s rights, as proven by his extreme anti-abortion stance, claiming the overturning of women’s rights in the Dobbs case a “historic and joyful day” (Would somebody please send Lorena Bobbitt to pay him a visit?)
  • He is strongly against LGBTQ rights and has spoken of the ‘need’ in his view for a national “Don’t Say Gay” bill similar to the one in Florida.
  • Like Jim Jordan before him, he speaks of cutting Social Security and Medicare

So … let’s see here … he does not represent women (50.4% of the population), does not represent LGBTQ people (7.1% of the population), does not represent those of us over a certain age (16.8% of the population), and as per his speech yesterday, does not represent non-Christians (nearly 30% of the population).  Even allowing for some overlap between those categories, it seems to me he actually represents a rather small segment of our nation, certainly far less than half.  And if all that weren’t enough to turn us against him from the start, the fact that he has Donald Trump’s support should tip the scales.  Should have stuck with McCarthy.

I strongly suspect the odds of getting the necessary appropriations bills passed in both the House and the Senate, then signed by President Biden before midnight on November 17th are slim-to-none.  I hope I’m wrong, for our government desperately needs to get back to work … many things are nearing deadlines and lives … yes LIVES … are at stake.  But just because the Republicans bonded to get Johnson elected doesn’t mean they have given up on their game-playing … believe me, they haven’t.

The House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress, has long been known as “The People’s House.”  I think it’s safe to say that designation has become obsolete.  We the People are no more important to half the people in that chamber than a fly on the wall would be.

For more, check out Dan Rather & Elliot Kirschner’s latest.

Note to readers:  There has been a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine tonight.  The shooter is still at large, Lewiston is on lockdown, at least 20 are dead with many more injured.  Needless to say, I will have more on that later today, but for now not enough is known for me to write about it.  Stay tuned …

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32 thoughts on “An End To The Impasse … For Now”

      • Still aren’t any!!!

        Now that John McCain has passed, Liz Cheney’s political career is all but (temporarily?) killed dead, and Adam Kinzinger has retired from politics, WHO… with any integrity, dignity, and honor to FIRST be an American, then whatever title/label always follows, can be a standup Republican these days who WILL oppose tRump and MAGA nutcases will come forward for the Elephants? Who!?

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Johnson may represent an overall small segment of our nation, but unfortunately, that “small segment” tends to make the most noise! As others have said, the Dems need to start SPEAKING UP. Biden may be a great leader overall, but his mild-mannered way of reaching the masses is, unfortunately, all but drowned out by the Trump clamor.

    Liked by 3 people

    • I blame Biden’s mild manner far less than I blame the media who seem poised at every turn to find something to criticize from his love of ice cream to his stuttering and his occasional stumble. Never mind that he has helped bring the economy back from the brink, that he has restored our allies faith in us, that unemployment is negligible … but let him get a word wrong and it will be headline news even in the NYT and WaPo!

      Liked by 3 people

  4. With yet very little public service in government—elected into Louisiana’s House of Reps in 2015, then the U.S. House in 2016—this makes why Mike Johnson’s election was/is crystal clear:

    He is and will be merely a puppet-House Speaker for MAGA Republicans and former traitor-insurrectionist D.J. tRump. But at least he comes to the seat with more experience than D.J. tRump ever had. 🤦‍♂️

    Liked by 3 people

    • True, he is a newbie still wet behind the ears, but a bigoted one at that. Yes, he will be the water boy, carrying the views of the far right maga-ites like Gym Jordan, Matt Gaetz and others who have sworn fealty to Donald Trump. Sigh.

      Liked by 3 people

  5. i listened to his speech and no where did he even mention anything resembling discrimination against people who are not Christian. Sure, he referenced God but that’s not the same as blatently denying people their rights. Are we at a point now in our country where, if you even publicly proclaim a belief in the Christian god, you’re deemed someone who wants to take rights away from other people. i thought you were tolerant of all religions, you’ve said so countless times in your writings. Doesn’t part of being tolerant mean not conflating one’s right to publicly speak of his religion with those who want to take rights away from others?
    Oh by the way, the word gay wasn’t even in the florida bill you reference, i’ve read it.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Scott … religion and politics simply do not mix well. A person’s religion and belief or non-belief should be his/her personal matter and should NOT play into decisions he or she makes as an elected official. He referenced ‘god’ so many times in his speech that I began to wonder if he thought he was a preacher at the pulpit. I am tolerant of all religions and respect people’s right to their religious beliefs, but … they have no place in government. Keep them private. Don’t shove them down everyone’s throats. No, I am fully aware that “Don’t Say Gay” is the nickname given to that bill and believe it or not, I’ve actually read most of the bill. But the bottom line is it does effectively bar teachers from discussing such things as gender identity, race, etc. Already, some teachers have been fired for an unintentional misstep and others are quitting and leaving Florida to seek jobs in states where they can actually teach, not be under the thumb of a bigoted governor.

      Liked by 4 people

  6. Jill, as for your add on in italics, welcome to America, land of the gun. As for Mr. Johnson, anyone who is willing to knowingly lie to the American people to aid and abet traitorous actions is not a leader. Jim Jordan was Trump’s first choice and he not lied about Trump’s role, he lied about his alleged role in the insurrection. Rep. Liz Cheney shook off his help and said in the middle of the havoc that day to Jordan, “You caused this!” Keith

    Liked by 4 people

        • BOOM! Drop tha 🎤!!! ryinger77, at least YOU know the Koine Greek New Testament, likely so much better than the average ultra-conservative Republican, sadly. 😒

          Conditional Clause — not that Yeshua bar Yosef was the LEAST BIT Hellenistic or Greco-Roman, as the entire New Testament is written in and by Greeks, not Yeshua’s (Jesus’) people or language and idioms! But does one single Christian know any of this or care to know the factual verifiable history? Pffffft! 🙄🤦‍♂️

          Liked by 2 people

          • The Greek were the best storytellers and they like to write them down. If you can understand the Bible as a repository of stories and not as the word of god it is easier to be Christ like. Worshiping it as such is also forbidden, documented in stone found by Moses. Conditioned on that I personally have no knowledge of any sacred texts that were not english translations.

            Liked by 2 people

  9. Well if someone only represented Christians here in Aotearoa, then they wouldn’t represent around 70% of the population, so I suppose our situation is somewhat different. Thankfully most of the nonsense that seems to emanate from one of your two major parties is limited to a minor fringe party here, and even they don’t invoke God. And long may it remain so.

    Liked by 4 people

    • I’ve long said you guys have so much more sense than we in the U.S. have! Politics and religion are a toxic mix and should be avoided at all costs, but we haven’t learned that lesson yet, it would seem.

      Liked by 4 people

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