Post Obama Blues

Kevin Drum has seen the future and it is multicultural and progressive.   Forget about tRump and the deplorables. They were part of the last gasp of white resentment of a nation which is fast changing and their level of outrage and victimization is unlikely to stoke another election victory for The Donald or anyone else looking to energize this type of voter.  I surely hope so, but if I was a democrat running for office I wouldn't count on it.   My own congressional district is a case in point.   Despite an energized progressive movement, NY 21 is overwhelmingly old and white and even with a great candidate it is unlikely to vote Democratic for the forseeable future unless as happened in 2008 the republican base splits among several candidates and one runs as a third party standard bearer.  , As unfortunate as it appears, appeals to white fears is a pretty good electoral strategy in many areas of the country for many years to come.  But, change is coming and by fits and starts, a new, more progressive nation will come.

Perceptions

The crew at Morning Joe, including the execrable Joe Scarborough were hand wringing over the democrat's seeming inability to get their messaging right as election day approaches.  In a typical case of projection, these pundits say the dems should be laser focused on health care and tax reform instead of tRump's tweets.  Meanwhile, in almost all competitive districts healthcare is the focus!  The candidates know what the electorate says they want.  The problem is the social wedge issues which cause many low information and racist voters to vote against their economic interests.  As this blog has maintained, until the boomers and their parents pass from this earth, the government will be held hostage by the one per cent and their enablers. 

the irony limit

Like the speed limit on our highways, the "irony limit" is regularly ignored by a majority of the population.  The latter was exceeded once again as a crowd at a GOP rally in Wisconsin chanted "lock her up" in reference to Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server when she was Secretary of State.  Meanwhile, the NYT was breaking a story in which the intelligence agencies allowed as how tRump regularly talks to his pals all night long on an unencrypted I phone which is tapped by both the Chinese and Russians.  The only saving grace in this case is that unlike the hyper informed Clinton, The Donald is a low information individual who doesn't pay attention to intelligence briefings and probably is not spilling secrets.  Instead, the Chinese and Russians know who he is talking to and can use that information to influence the way the *president "thinks".  The thought experiment in this case as in many others with this administration is to ask "What would Republicans do if Obama did this".    Calls for impeachment would probably be the mildest threats from the howling mob in the House.   As I said earlier, the "irony limit" is so regularly exceeded in the present time it has essentially become meaningless when applied to the MAGA set.

The banality of truth

It seems these days we are living in a post truth environment.   One of the two major political parties, the *president and the party's official propaganda outlet have decided to bombard the public with non-stop lies 24/7.   Of course they are using George Orwell's playbook, aka "1984".   The only difference is the other major party and most of the news media are not on board, so the inconvenient truth is also told and most of the lies debunked in real time.  The problem is roughly a third of the American electorate wants to be lied to and actually seems to enjoy having their trust abused on a regular basis.  An additional 10-15% will buy into selective lies which reinforce their prejudices.  This is a potent base which republicans know they can count on in most elections.   Hannah Arendt wrote about the banality of evil.   We are now in the era where the banality of truth may usher in the kind of evils she exposed.   The solution is not more hand wringing by media pundits.  If it is a lie, call it out and count on the majority of the population to do the right thing.  Stop being polite if that is what it takes.  

Garden update

Well, we had the galinsoga killer over the weekend, but that is the extent of garden damage so far.  Most of the warm season crops were done anyway, but the chard, kale cauliflower, collards etc.  are thriving so far.  The 10 day forecast calls for a narrow temperature range.  We should be getting highs in the mid 40s and lows in the lower to mid 30s with a couple  of mornings in the  upper 20s.  This should not bother the aforementioned crops.  I hope to get the 2019 garlic crop planted next week.  Meanwhile, I'll keep enjoying the fruits of the summer's labor for as long as possible.

What is to be done

The title of this post is also the title of a diatribe written by Vladimir Lenin in the run up to the Russian Revolution in 1917.  I don't remember the specifics of his prescription, but violent revolution was the outcome.  Certainly that is not what I would suggest as a restorative more than a century later in the USA.  Russia pre 1917 was a backward country with more in common with the ante bellum South than the vibrant America of today.  However, the present political situation here today and then in Russia shows some similarities.  The system in both cases was rigged by the political and economic aristocracy to funnel the country's wealth to a tiny elite.  Of course the comparisons between the Romanovs and DJT practically write themselves.  The main difference between the two systems is the right of universal suffrage in the US as opposed to the fairly un representative and relatively powerless Duma in Russia.  We can vote the rascals out and establish a more level playing field if we can summon the political will to do so.  So, What is to be Done.

Bias verified

A new study by 3 political scientists from across the country lends weight to the theory that appeals to racism, rather than economic anxiety, was the key driver causing whites  who voted for Obama to vote for Donald Trump in 2016.  According to Kevin Drum, some combination of a black man in the White House and the relentless drumbeat of racial animosity directed at the President by conservative media along with tRump's appeal to the worse angels of our nature combined to cause nearly 3 million voters to switch allegiance in the last election.  A contributing factor may have been the reluctance by many men and some women to pull the lever for a female candidate.  Hillary's political baggage, accumulated over a 35 year political career probably facilitated some people's switch.  The study shows that most of the whites who switched were economically better off than the average voter.  What the study also shows is racism is still alive and well in America and appeals based on hatred of the "other" still resonate among a sizable chunk of the electorate.  It is an unfortunate truth that both the "greatest generation" and its offspring, my own "baby boom" generation will have to die off to make America great again!