Who Really Owns The Whip Hand?
So, we won the election, despite what a majority of Republicans believe, but can we actually govern? Let's consider:
1.We have 243 voter suppression bills proffered in 43 states by Republicans, to deny the franchise to the minorities, the poor, and anyone considered a "Demoncrat", "commie crat", etc... The franchise is the very soul of our democracy, without which, we are not a democracy. This is unprecedented.
2.At the same time, the Republicans at the state level, after the completion of the decennial census, will alone determine district boundaries for each Congressional district, called "gerrymandering", virtually guaranteeing that their candidate wins no matter what the Dems do or the people want.
3. The Republicans know that the "tanning" of the country means that they are unlikely to win at the national level, and hence, have spent a fortune at the state level over the past 20 years, buying the state legislatures they want, and packing the state courts. Very smart.
4. At CPAC in '21, they openly, publicly, and proudly declared their fealty to fascism with their Fuhrer Trump threatening any Republican who dared to differ from their fascist dogma. The speakers flat-out mouthed the dog whistles so beloved by the rubes, and now, they don't even bother to disguise it. They do NOT care what you think, and they don't have to.
5. The Republicans under Reagan began the attack on unions, posing as a "capitalist" issue, when in fact, is was simply to bankrupt the Dems as unions were their largest revenue source.
6. More than 90% of the media are owned by corporations, and will "both sides" any issue rather than call this fascist takeover exactly what it is. All of this speaks to the autocratic and dictatorial methods used by fascists everywhere in history. But, for a plurality of reasons, few seem to be concerned. In fact, they revel in it, via the hate-talkers of Fox, Limbaugh, etc... who came about solely because...
7. The Republican Party eliminated the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 under Reagan, immediately giving birth to the hate-talker industry, which, in turn, poisoned the minds of a significant number of Americans since then.
8. Add in the filibuster in the Senate, and one can see that nothing happens without the Jim Crow Caucus approving it. This is NOT freedom. It is NOT democracy. It is fascism arising fast behind the mask of populism to make it go down the throats of the ill-educated in this nation more easily. We may have won the election, but who really governs?
9. Even more alarming, we know that demographically, within 20 years, 30% of the people will be electing 70% of the 100 Senators, and that 30% will be largely older, white, and rural. Imagine the control that 30% will have over the majority of Americans.
In WWII, the preferred method of dealing with Nazis was to destroy them. Now, we have them marching in America's streets, together with their fellow travelers, the racists, white supremacists, and the seemingly new, growing core of the Republican Party: QAnon, and all proudly so. You know, the ones Trump called "...very fine people..." One look at the Insurrection on January 6, 2021, will serve as mute testimony of how close we are to full-blown fascism. How many swastikas and confederate flags must we see before we face the reality?
The Fourth Reich is being born now, in front of our very eyes, but far too many do not realize it, and, even if realizing it, underestimate how dangerous and real it actually is. Two generations of hate-talking propaganda has numbed too many to the growing danger at the very heart of our freedom. Remember the Weimar Republic and the hard economic times that gave rise to the Nazi Party. Covid has decimated our economy and our families, all while the Big Lie and Fox-like hate-talkers have their base ginned up to the point of huge domestic terrorism increases as the FBI’s Wray just described to Congress. We’ve seen what happens in such circumstances.
Let's face it: blacks and minorities in America are now the functional equivalent of Jews in Germany and Austria in the '30's and '40's of the last century. Who do we think all of these voter suppression bills are aimed at? Why do we think the GOP is closing polling places is at a record clip in the minority communities? We are seeing this with our own eyes, a clear and present danger, but seem preoccupied with so much else. Like a physician worried about your complexion when you’ve just been diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma.
10. The Fourth Reich has to have money, and with the Citizens United decision, we have learned the bitter lesson yet again that when money becomes speech, it becomes the only speech, and again, we are denied our voice. And, allying with the corporations of the nation, the autocratic exerts a centralized system of unquestionable governance well financed by the corporations who purchase any elected official they like. The vox populi is quickly becoming vox fascismo, and the people be damned. Witness the desperately-needed Covid Rescue Plan to help Americans--not one, NOT ONE, Republican voted to help out the voters. Do you believe that they will pay a price for that? I don't.
Looking forward: we have no choice but to win in the mid-terms of '22, but what is the likelihood of that occurring when we realize that, a) Dems historically have lower turnout in mid-term elections (non-national), b) that gerrymandering and voter suppression will make it incredibly hard to vote even if the Dems have turnout, and, c) historically, the party out of power in the White House typically gains seats on the Hill in the mid-term elections? Is it realistic to think we can waltz in and sweep the board? I don't think so. Winning the POTUS election of 2020 was great, yet so many believe that we ride that glory right through the mid-terms. I wouldn’t count on that.
So, what to do? I see basically two options that are feasible, (in addition to the basics of ground and air games):
1. In DC, the single most important thing the Dems can do is to eliminate the filibuster, which only serves the interests of the Fourth Reich. If we cannot do that, we literally cannot do anything of real substance, and the Senate will revert to what the GOP made it--the place where bills and progress go to die. But if we do eliminate the filibuster, than all manner of progress could be made relatively quickly by opening the floodgates for the many such bills sent to the Senate by the Democratic House over the past 4 years. If we do that, than I don't give a rat's patoot what the Republicans do. The Dems can run on a remarkable, nation-changing record, and in my opinion, that's our best chance to save the democracy, and, ourselves.
2. The only other option is to await the much-vaunted schism in the GOP, and we haven't that luxury. Sure, it is possible that the GQP is heading towards schism, but based on what we have seen in the past month or so, how realistic is that? The bird in hand is eliminating the filibuster, and the GOP schism is the 2 birds in the bush. Which is the wisest course here?
Prediction: it is easy to see that entering the 2024 election season, we could easily see the Democrats having the White House, while the Fourth Reich has the House, and possibly the Senate, from the '22 mid-terms. In fact, it is increasingly likely that that will be the case if we do not eliminate the filibuster. At the end of the day, that is a very large part of the whip hand. Unless we react, and react now, we'll all be Sieg Heil'ing our new master, who will have that whip in their hand, and we will have given it to them.
