Thoughts for the week of 1/14/22
Here’s what a competent government does: since the infrastructure bill passed (something the GOP could not do when they were in charge) the administration has been working on implementation. Yesterday President Biden announced the first round of funding for bridges across America, as well as the process to work with states and localities to fund projects -from roads to water systems, from superfund cleanups to shoreline restoration.
Those of you who know me know how much I like to see government just doing its job. Bravo!
Meanwhile…
Yesterday the Chicago Tribune reported:
Last July, Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey took to Facebook to denounce both the extension of federally-enhanced state jobless benefits and Democratic President Joe Biden’s visit to Crystal Lake to promote his coronavirus relief agenda.
“Here’s the dangerous slope that we are on in America,” the state senator and farmer from downstate Xenia said, while discussing Biden’s visit. “That’s exactly what we heard: Free stuff. Handouts. Don’t worry about it, the government’s going to take care of you.”
“Friends,” he said, “that’s socialism.”
But only months before, on Feb. 26, Bailey received the latest of a series of payments from the federal government’s coronavirus business relief Paycheck Protection Program under the Small Business Administration — $231,475 to support 11 jobs at the family farm he owns with his sons.
Less than a month later, on March 22, Bailey reported a personal loan of $150,000 to his campaign for governor, listing “Self-Employed (Bailey Family Farms)” as his employer on the required state campaign finance disclosure form.
All told Bailey took nearly $1m in Corona Virus relief, and that’s on top of more than $2m in agriculture subsidies he took.
Guys like him really think you are stupid. If he’s right, and if you really are dumb enough to fall for it, then we don’t deserve a democracy. But you are not. Neither is your neighbor.
What we are is sick to death of the lies, the hypocrisy, the shamelessness, the politics of division.
This week:
Each day we learn more about how close we came to losing our democracy, and how determined the anti-democratic forces remain.
According to the Insurrection Index, among those who participated in the Jan 6th putsch we have so far identified “213 incumbents in elected office and 29 who are running as candidates for positions of power in upcoming elections. There are also 59 military veterans, 31 current or former law enforcement officials, and seven who sit on local school boards.” Clearly, the big lie, has become motivating narrative to much of America.
This week, for the first time, the Justice Department charged the leader of the Oath Keepers and ten of his cronies with Seditious Conspiracy. The indictments collectively charge the defendants with corruptly obstructing an official proceeding. Seditious conspiracy comes with a maximum 20-year sentence.
We also learned that there was in fact election fraud. Of course, it wasn’t Democrats who were guilty. It was Republicans (duh) who sent fraudulent slates of electors for consideration by Congress on Jan 6th. We learned this week that the names of those officials, their fraudulent attestations, and some of the communications they had with folks close to Mr. Trump are known by the Jan 6 Committee, and by the Justice Department. This may be the basis of a second conspiracy investigation.
Once he establishes one or more of these conspiracies to undermine the duly elected government, then all Merrick Garland and the Justice Department have to do is connect the dots. The little dots, like Josh Hawley, and the big dots like Donald himself.
I suspect there may come a time when the Republicans in US Senate regret not confirming Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court when they had the chance.
Meanwhile, we voters cannot wait on the wheels of justice to do our own job to protect the democracy.
We need to call out the tactics of the right. The same tactics authoritarians use everywhere. The lies, the intimidation, the fear mongering, the racism, the appeal to some ideal America that belongs to them alone.
Nearly every Democrat is on board with preventing election theft. Senator Sinema says she priorities the filibuster more than elections, and, as usual, we are not really sure what Sen Manchin thinks. But every other Democrat is willing to do whatever it takes to protect elections. Not one single Republican will help. In fact, in state after state, Republicans are changing laws not just to suppress Democratic votes, they are changing the rules so that if voter suppression is not enough, they can just throw out results they don’t like.
If you are a progressive who is motivated by things like climate change, or police reform or economic justice, you need to be scared to death. The policies you hope to see enacted are stillborn without a strong democracy.
Winston Churchill was called an alarmist, he was called hysterical, Cooler heads urged him to stop being dramatic. That was in the 1930s as he warned England and the world of the re-arming German Wehrmacht and the dangerous rise of Naziism.
I had dinner with an elegant and very smart man recently who accused me of the same kind of drama. But sometimes the house really is on fire, and if you’ve been listening to this show you have heard from dispassionate scholars, journalists, and non-partisan organizations about the very real threat to our democracy posed by today’s GOP and by Donald Trump.
I listened to the once pardoned, twice indicted Steve Bannon’s podcast this week. He’s telling his listeners strap on their semi-automatic manhood and take over school boards and election boards around the country. Are you going to let them?
No, you are not.
If you have not yet done so, it’s time to take up the call to defend the democracy. Listening to shows like mine, will not carry the day. You need to take what you hear here and share it with everyone you know. You need to volunteer your time and your money to the cause. Join a campaign. Volunteer with a state party. Run for something.