I’m so very grateful for the ways you keep us informed, dear Mr. Hightower. Your great knowledge – and persistence – and perspective – provides a little calm in this storm. ❤️
Financially boycotting, repeatedly, the corporate donors of would-be "elected"political officials in every state and in federal elections would help diminish their impact on our elections. Make the donors names be known in public. Why all the permitted secrecy? Whose government is this? Is it ours? Really? Do we want to have control once again? Really? Prove it.
The absurdities of American Politics are truly endless. Perhaps no one demonstrates this better then Greg Abbott... The fact that people like Abbott, Trump, Cruz, etc. are actually ELECTED and then REELECTED are just one of the more discouraging truths of the current status of the body politic we are forced observe on a daily basis. The USA is to democracy, what pro wrestling is to sports.
Michael, the nightmare in our politics is the unchecked influence of big money and the US is not the only democratic nation is serious trouble from this. In world news, you can follow the rising power of the wealthy elite in Sweden, Germany, France, Britain, Italy as well as in the US. These fools that are elected are funded and backed by really wealthy persons (Koches, Adelsons...) as well as most of the top US corporations, like Verizon, Exon, Chevron, Raytheon,, Boeing, etc. It's not hard to look this up on the internet. Read Jane Meyer's book, Dark Money, a description of the details of this money flowing into and making dirty our own politics.
Of course correct, and well stated Lynn. Unlimited & Dark money in politics is the very Root of the problem. And yes, democracy is at risk in many places and regions. BUT, I maintain there is a disengagement, non-serious & incuriousness state of affairs that is a hallmark of the US populace. Politics as Entertainment and low voter participation define us here - money or not. And speaking of money in politics - it is far more regulated and accountable in other industrial Nations. And nowhere are corporations more in control, less regulated, or less taxed. "It's not hard to look up" is your most insightful comment - tell it to 340 Million Americans. Too busy with Taylor Swift or the NFL will be the most common response.
I think there's an important part played by media that treat politics as popularity contests and political campaigns as 'horse races.' Apologies, of a sort, to those of you who like horse racing -- I don't. That doesn't excuse the lack of attention by politicians to the issues that voters really care about -- not that anyone besides poll-takers have tried to determine what those issues are instead of defining them in advance. Credit is due, however, to those elected officials who do actually talk to the people they represent -- and even those in other states, too.
Will the electorate ever wake up? The facts are plain for all to see, but so many allow themselves to be taken in by the culture war issues, embraced by Republicans nationwide as a way to garner support for their manifestly corrupt and self-serving agenda. The only thing the Republicans consistently do more effectively than the Democrats is to pull the wool over voter's eyes. This of course, has nothing to do with good governance, which is the last thing Republicans are interested in.
To begin with, asserting voters are stupid is not a winning strategy. It's not exactly empathy, either. Don't forget the D elite bailed out Wall St. while the millions who lost jobs, pensions, houses got nothing. Also that the Ds have ignored the Rust Belt for over 40 years--it's no coincidence the area leads in deaths of despair.
A few days ago, an in-depth study done by the Labor Institute, the Center for Working Class Politics, and the Labor Education Action Research Network at Rutgers conducted in the Rust Belt states of OH, PA, MI, and WI was released. There is wide support for strong economic populism, especially when voiced by possible independent candidates. And a deep dislike and distrust for the D party. Not for inclusion and culture wars like the right assumes and apparently as do well-educated liberals. Rather for the failure of the Ds to speak openly of, let alone do anything about, the grievous and growing economic divide.
Cry me a rusty river. Which party has stood up for workers for the past hundred years? Who fought for the 5 day work week, sick leave, health care, worker safety? I could go on. Here’s a clue, it’s not the republicans. It’s quite a trick they’ve pulled off convincing the working class that republicans care about them.
I was a blue collar rank & file union activist for over 28 years. I also managed local D campaigns in the days before the party was usurped by neolibs, a term that means supporting this trickle-up econopathy. You may be too young to know they dumped the New Deal and abandoned labor. Or that we used to win elections by mobilizing thousands of volunteers, and didn't rely on 1%er and corporate $$$.
Maybe you believe it's fine the Ds supported trade agreements like the WTO and NAFTA that were good for multinational corporations but opposed by nearly everyone else. Perhaps because according to the corporate accountants, devastation of communities and ecosystems are irrelevant externalities.
Did you cheer for Clinton getting rid of New Deal financial regulations? A move that directly contributed to the meltdown of '07-'08. But who cares if the majority working class is hit, right? We're simply losers according to the Social Darwinists. We all belong in that "basket of deplorables" therefore don't deserve anything of any greater substance than "lesser of two evils." Let's applaud Chuck Schumer for his 2016 prescience: "For every blue collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs of Philadelphia and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin." If the reprehensible morals of that isn't persuasive, then consider how it's a losing strategy. Their only goal is rather obviously nothing more than their own re-election.
And no, the party that has stood up for labor (including people like me who are also LGBTQ and BIPOC) isn't the D party of Schumer. It was the party of the New Deal, the one once ours, the one dumped to align with money and power.
Unfortunately starting somewhere about the time of Clinton, the Democratic Party did seem to lose its vision and roots in labor. Jimmy Carter was the last Democratic president who seemed to internalize the values that the Democratic Party used to have.
Very well said !! The Chickens have come home to roost for the "want to be Republican's. And as long as Schumer is Senate leader the end game is set. As John Stewart said last evening. He's like a human flat tire.
Thanks for your response Rafi - I appreciate you taking the time to engage. I wasn't suggesting that criticism of low information voters is a strategy of any kind. It is just very frustrating that the American electorate, which has easy access to all of the information necessary to cast an informed ballot, is so easily conned by a person who is so obviously a master con artist and a party only interested in maintaining political power. The fact that Democratic politicians participate in the national grift (I've read Too Big To Fail and the Big Short several times and agree with your concern) and often do far less than their best for their constituents, is just not a reason to vote for a convicted criminal who has demonstrated throughout his adult life that the only people he disdains more than his opponents are his supporters. I don't accept that because Democratic politicians have flaws and weaknesses that they are morally equivalent to Republican politicians. Republican politicians have completely abandoned any real principals they ever held or claimed to hold in the interest of maintaining their political power by bootlicking the most despicable person ever to hold high office. Anyone who believes that Republican politicians are no worse than Democratic politicians is suffering from a serious delusion. One man's opinion.
Read what I just posted above to J. Lucken on the actual history of the Ds.
Then add how the Ds moving right helped enable the Rs to go full on fascist. In the early '80s there were still progressive Rs in office. Now progs are rare even among the Ds.
BTW, it's not just the neolib (technically, neoclassical) econ nightmare. The Biden Dept. of State was run by neocons trained by Dick Cheney. Believers in the fantasy of a unipolar empire backed up by a huge military and approved of by war profiteers. Plus of course a wonderful way to dispose of...er, I mean employ, Rust Belt waste.
There seems to be a common fantasy among the remaining Dem faithful and a few progs--that somehow if we were rid of Trump everything would reset to beneficence. As if the last 40 years I described never happened. That the Rs are horrific does not make the D elite good.
Rafi, thanks for your thoughtful responses. I don't really disagree with anything you said. I'm a registered Independent, who has voted Republican before but in recent years I lean aggressively away from "R" candidates - they all seem to be Trump enablers in one way or another. They are apologists for his criminal excesses so they can "stay at the table". The hypocrisy would be laughable if the results weren't so ugly. Back to your points about the failings of the "Ds", I think we're all paying the price for unfettered capitalism, the internet and social media. It's now all about the grift - far more with "R"s than "D"s, but on both sides of the isle. Vladimir Putin famously said that the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th Century. In my view, it was actually a necessary failure of an inherently rotten system that was based on the premise of coercively reinventing human nature. Putin doesn't realize it, but his blunder into Ukraine, will ultimately bring about his end. Unfortunately, although the US came away feeling full of ourselves and vindicated on the international stage, the end of the Cold War has made us fat, dumb and ignorant. My grandparents and their generation are rolling over in their graves at what America has become. What do we make of the fact that a large majority of Gen Z'ers say that their life's ambition is to be a social media influencer? We're consumed with hype and disinformation that is used to expand the grift. The sacrifices our ancestors were willing and knew they had to make to preserve and extend our society are almost unknown to Americans now. When this many younger citizens vote for someone like Trump, I'm not confident that they can understand and act on the truth, even if it's presented to them. The Bro culture that reelected Trump is the intersection of ignorance, gullibility and testosterone poisoning. The Dems have a long way to go but I worry that the electorate may be too polluted to recover what America was before Trumpism
The Supreme Court opened this door by allowing unfettered dark money to come into the political arena. Time to get that door closed and return our political system to some degree of normalcy.
Golly, Abbott would certainly be following the trend set by our current "president," amoral, greedy, xenophobic, misogynistic, and generally cruel. What more could the country want in a leader?
Abbott thinks because he’s in a wheelchair he’ll get the sympathy of all his Christo-fascist pychopaths, but most of his policies are not well-liked and I think they’ll cause him to lose if he even tries. Bye-bye, fascist-face!
Abbott and Costello were famous for their comedy routine "Who's on First?"
Greg Abbott's version is "who comes first?" His plutocratic, techie anarcho-capitalist, and Christo-fascist sponsors do.
His "God" is the one of TV preachers who assert God's salvific favor is shown by success in this life. The rich and powerful are to be admired; they come first. Never mind eye of needle easier than a rich man going to heaven or love thine enemies or the Beatitudes. They warn their fans SJWs and libs using these passages are trying to erode their faith--the devil can quote scripture, too. Therefore to listen to the left is to collaborate with evil.
But I can't help thinking about the bit in Mt. 19:16-30 where Jesus says to the rich young ruler that the first will be last...
I would suggest that Whomever or Whatever is suggesting to Reichskommander Abbott that he run for President might actually be a Lower Power.
I don't think Reichskommander Abbott realizes just how unpopular he is in a good bit of the country. Then again, Reichskommander Abbott is a megalomaniac, so I doubt if he cares what the rest of the country thinks of him.
I’m so very grateful for the ways you keep us informed, dear Mr. Hightower. Your great knowledge – and persistence – and perspective – provides a little calm in this storm. ❤️
Memo to: Governor Greg Abbott
Subject: You are under surveillance
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
All the livelong day.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
You cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them
At night or early in the morn --
The Eyes of Texas are upon you
Til Gabriel blows his horn.
Financially boycotting, repeatedly, the corporate donors of would-be "elected"political officials in every state and in federal elections would help diminish their impact on our elections. Make the donors names be known in public. Why all the permitted secrecy? Whose government is this? Is it ours? Really? Do we want to have control once again? Really? Prove it.
I remember Molly Ivins saying "Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be President please pay attention."
The hubris and ignorance combined in Mr. Abbot are beyond explanation. Thanks once again, Jim, for your post.
The absurdities of American Politics are truly endless. Perhaps no one demonstrates this better then Greg Abbott... The fact that people like Abbott, Trump, Cruz, etc. are actually ELECTED and then REELECTED are just one of the more discouraging truths of the current status of the body politic we are forced observe on a daily basis. The USA is to democracy, what pro wrestling is to sports.
Michael, the nightmare in our politics is the unchecked influence of big money and the US is not the only democratic nation is serious trouble from this. In world news, you can follow the rising power of the wealthy elite in Sweden, Germany, France, Britain, Italy as well as in the US. These fools that are elected are funded and backed by really wealthy persons (Koches, Adelsons...) as well as most of the top US corporations, like Verizon, Exon, Chevron, Raytheon,, Boeing, etc. It's not hard to look this up on the internet. Read Jane Meyer's book, Dark Money, a description of the details of this money flowing into and making dirty our own politics.
Of course correct, and well stated Lynn. Unlimited & Dark money in politics is the very Root of the problem. And yes, democracy is at risk in many places and regions. BUT, I maintain there is a disengagement, non-serious & incuriousness state of affairs that is a hallmark of the US populace. Politics as Entertainment and low voter participation define us here - money or not. And speaking of money in politics - it is far more regulated and accountable in other industrial Nations. And nowhere are corporations more in control, less regulated, or less taxed. "It's not hard to look up" is your most insightful comment - tell it to 340 Million Americans. Too busy with Taylor Swift or the NFL will be the most common response.
I think there's an important part played by media that treat politics as popularity contests and political campaigns as 'horse races.' Apologies, of a sort, to those of you who like horse racing -- I don't. That doesn't excuse the lack of attention by politicians to the issues that voters really care about -- not that anyone besides poll-takers have tried to determine what those issues are instead of defining them in advance. Credit is due, however, to those elected officials who do actually talk to the people they represent -- and even those in other states, too.
Prez Abbott defines "Bad Dream".
Will the electorate ever wake up? The facts are plain for all to see, but so many allow themselves to be taken in by the culture war issues, embraced by Republicans nationwide as a way to garner support for their manifestly corrupt and self-serving agenda. The only thing the Republicans consistently do more effectively than the Democrats is to pull the wool over voter's eyes. This of course, has nothing to do with good governance, which is the last thing Republicans are interested in.
To begin with, asserting voters are stupid is not a winning strategy. It's not exactly empathy, either. Don't forget the D elite bailed out Wall St. while the millions who lost jobs, pensions, houses got nothing. Also that the Ds have ignored the Rust Belt for over 40 years--it's no coincidence the area leads in deaths of despair.
A few days ago, an in-depth study done by the Labor Institute, the Center for Working Class Politics, and the Labor Education Action Research Network at Rutgers conducted in the Rust Belt states of OH, PA, MI, and WI was released. There is wide support for strong economic populism, especially when voiced by possible independent candidates. And a deep dislike and distrust for the D party. Not for inclusion and culture wars like the right assumes and apparently as do well-educated liberals. Rather for the failure of the Ds to speak openly of, let alone do anything about, the grievous and growing economic divide.
Cry me a rusty river. Which party has stood up for workers for the past hundred years? Who fought for the 5 day work week, sick leave, health care, worker safety? I could go on. Here’s a clue, it’s not the republicans. It’s quite a trick they’ve pulled off convincing the working class that republicans care about them.
I was a blue collar rank & file union activist for over 28 years. I also managed local D campaigns in the days before the party was usurped by neolibs, a term that means supporting this trickle-up econopathy. You may be too young to know they dumped the New Deal and abandoned labor. Or that we used to win elections by mobilizing thousands of volunteers, and didn't rely on 1%er and corporate $$$.
Maybe you believe it's fine the Ds supported trade agreements like the WTO and NAFTA that were good for multinational corporations but opposed by nearly everyone else. Perhaps because according to the corporate accountants, devastation of communities and ecosystems are irrelevant externalities.
Did you cheer for Clinton getting rid of New Deal financial regulations? A move that directly contributed to the meltdown of '07-'08. But who cares if the majority working class is hit, right? We're simply losers according to the Social Darwinists. We all belong in that "basket of deplorables" therefore don't deserve anything of any greater substance than "lesser of two evils." Let's applaud Chuck Schumer for his 2016 prescience: "For every blue collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs of Philadelphia and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin." If the reprehensible morals of that isn't persuasive, then consider how it's a losing strategy. Their only goal is rather obviously nothing more than their own re-election.
And no, the party that has stood up for labor (including people like me who are also LGBTQ and BIPOC) isn't the D party of Schumer. It was the party of the New Deal, the one once ours, the one dumped to align with money and power.
Unfortunately starting somewhere about the time of Clinton, the Democratic Party did seem to lose its vision and roots in labor. Jimmy Carter was the last Democratic president who seemed to internalize the values that the Democratic Party used to have.
Very well said !! The Chickens have come home to roost for the "want to be Republican's. And as long as Schumer is Senate leader the end game is set. As John Stewart said last evening. He's like a human flat tire.
Thanks for your response Rafi - I appreciate you taking the time to engage. I wasn't suggesting that criticism of low information voters is a strategy of any kind. It is just very frustrating that the American electorate, which has easy access to all of the information necessary to cast an informed ballot, is so easily conned by a person who is so obviously a master con artist and a party only interested in maintaining political power. The fact that Democratic politicians participate in the national grift (I've read Too Big To Fail and the Big Short several times and agree with your concern) and often do far less than their best for their constituents, is just not a reason to vote for a convicted criminal who has demonstrated throughout his adult life that the only people he disdains more than his opponents are his supporters. I don't accept that because Democratic politicians have flaws and weaknesses that they are morally equivalent to Republican politicians. Republican politicians have completely abandoned any real principals they ever held or claimed to hold in the interest of maintaining their political power by bootlicking the most despicable person ever to hold high office. Anyone who believes that Republican politicians are no worse than Democratic politicians is suffering from a serious delusion. One man's opinion.
Read what I just posted above to J. Lucken on the actual history of the Ds.
Then add how the Ds moving right helped enable the Rs to go full on fascist. In the early '80s there were still progressive Rs in office. Now progs are rare even among the Ds.
BTW, it's not just the neolib (technically, neoclassical) econ nightmare. The Biden Dept. of State was run by neocons trained by Dick Cheney. Believers in the fantasy of a unipolar empire backed up by a huge military and approved of by war profiteers. Plus of course a wonderful way to dispose of...er, I mean employ, Rust Belt waste.
There seems to be a common fantasy among the remaining Dem faithful and a few progs--that somehow if we were rid of Trump everything would reset to beneficence. As if the last 40 years I described never happened. That the Rs are horrific does not make the D elite good.
Rafi, thanks for your thoughtful responses. I don't really disagree with anything you said. I'm a registered Independent, who has voted Republican before but in recent years I lean aggressively away from "R" candidates - they all seem to be Trump enablers in one way or another. They are apologists for his criminal excesses so they can "stay at the table". The hypocrisy would be laughable if the results weren't so ugly. Back to your points about the failings of the "Ds", I think we're all paying the price for unfettered capitalism, the internet and social media. It's now all about the grift - far more with "R"s than "D"s, but on both sides of the isle. Vladimir Putin famously said that the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th Century. In my view, it was actually a necessary failure of an inherently rotten system that was based on the premise of coercively reinventing human nature. Putin doesn't realize it, but his blunder into Ukraine, will ultimately bring about his end. Unfortunately, although the US came away feeling full of ourselves and vindicated on the international stage, the end of the Cold War has made us fat, dumb and ignorant. My grandparents and their generation are rolling over in their graves at what America has become. What do we make of the fact that a large majority of Gen Z'ers say that their life's ambition is to be a social media influencer? We're consumed with hype and disinformation that is used to expand the grift. The sacrifices our ancestors were willing and knew they had to make to preserve and extend our society are almost unknown to Americans now. When this many younger citizens vote for someone like Trump, I'm not confident that they can understand and act on the truth, even if it's presented to them. The Bro culture that reelected Trump is the intersection of ignorance, gullibility and testosterone poisoning. The Dems have a long way to go but I worry that the electorate may be too polluted to recover what America was before Trumpism
The Supreme Court opened this door by allowing unfettered dark money to come into the political arena. Time to get that door closed and return our political system to some degree of normalcy.
Yes!
No “Public Servant” should be allowed to amass a 87 million dollar war chest. Period. Campaign finance reform has to be a part of saving Democracy.
Yes! Yes!
Golly, Abbott would certainly be following the trend set by our current "president," amoral, greedy, xenophobic, misogynistic, and generally cruel. What more could the country want in a leader?
Pompous jerk out to further enrich himself
Abbott thinks because he’s in a wheelchair he’ll get the sympathy of all his Christo-fascist pychopaths, but most of his policies are not well-liked and I think they’ll cause him to lose if he even tries. Bye-bye, fascist-face!
And there are more just like him out there trying to get into office for their own gain.
Abbott and Costello were famous for their comedy routine "Who's on First?"
Greg Abbott's version is "who comes first?" His plutocratic, techie anarcho-capitalist, and Christo-fascist sponsors do.
His "God" is the one of TV preachers who assert God's salvific favor is shown by success in this life. The rich and powerful are to be admired; they come first. Never mind eye of needle easier than a rich man going to heaven or love thine enemies or the Beatitudes. They warn their fans SJWs and libs using these passages are trying to erode their faith--the devil can quote scripture, too. Therefore to listen to the left is to collaborate with evil.
But I can't help thinking about the bit in Mt. 19:16-30 where Jesus says to the rich young ruler that the first will be last...
I would suggest that Whomever or Whatever is suggesting to Reichskommander Abbott that he run for President might actually be a Lower Power.
I don't think Reichskommander Abbott realizes just how unpopular he is in a good bit of the country. Then again, Reichskommander Abbott is a megalomaniac, so I doubt if he cares what the rest of the country thinks of him.