Under the boot

We Pollyanna prognosticators were wrong about the election. Surely most voters were above supporting That Man, whose problems - moral, psychological and legal - are too many to catalogue here. Wrong. And apparently a violent coup attempt is not a disqualifying event in the minds of many. How does one tell the difference between “low information voters” and “just-don’t-care voters”? Does it even matter?

Democrats, embracing traditional liberal policies, controlled the House of Representatives for 42 years, ending in 1994. What happened then? Bill Clinton sold out the working class and embraced neoliberalism, a political philosophy that most people cannot define, though it dominates the world economy. Its main tenets are privatization, deregulation, financialization, and austerity. Through NAFTA trade agreements, the repeal of the Glass-Steagall  Act (which regulated banks), Welfare “reform” etc etc etc, Clinton sold the farm to globalized corporate interests. Jobs went away and income inequality soared. Heck of a job, Slick Willy! This is not to say that Republicans don’t embrace the tenets of neoliberalism. They do so with a vengeance. But they have also convinced their supporters that inflation rooted in the pandemic recovery, and all the vicissitudes of capitalism, are the fault of a “Marxist” named Joe Biden. Right. But low-information voters are about to find out that Project 2025 was not drafted in their interest. And we will all see how the Supreme Court’s Presidential immunity decision has placed a sociopathic criminal above the law, and the rest of us under his boot. 
David A Sorensen
Duluth, Minnesota

The country where facts don’t matter

It’s now after midnight on election night, perhaps a midnight that will see no dawn. In a world that no longer values civility and freedom of the press, where the Supreme Court has granted Trump unlimited power to do whatever he pleases? We are no longer a nation of liberty for all; we are a nation of right and left and full of people who believe what they want to believe. This is no longer the world’s greatest Democracy, it has become the world’s greatest failed state, where true freedom of mind, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion, may become obsolete artifacts in a world we once knew. Hell to science! Hell to real educational freedom! And Hell the idea of a freer and more civil society shared by all. Trumpers have bought the lie that Biden has ruined the country, while the facts do not support that conclusion. After revealing the grossness and mendacity of Trump supporters at MSG, It’s plain to see that our country has slipped many rungs down toward a place controlled by a totalitarian state. And if we are allowed to see real facts and make real choices, how ironic is it that propaganda and incivility will become accepted parts of “liberty,” only because Democrats will accept the lawful outcome of this travesty in a Country where facts no longer matter? Democrats will not regard this outcome as something that never happened. and Will accept the rule of law even if the results are not in our favor–and Remember always that Trumpers would not grant us the same considerations!

Were large numbers of us starving? Didn’t 9% inflation shrink to about 3% under Biden’s watch? Didn’t Biden create more jobs than Trump? Did we starve or just experience financial difficulty that caused us to give up our souls for a few dollars more of take-home pay–Which Kamala would have delivered soon?

Jesus told us that a man defiles himself by what comes out of his mouth, not what he does, not by what his intentions are. So if actions speak louder than words, why in the world is Trump’s cult pretending that their hero is a moral being?
May we all give up our illusions and not sell our souls for a barrel full of lies and hate.
One day at a time…one day at a time–no matter how many days expire!
Peter w. Johnson
Superior, Wisconsin