Ten Observations on the 2020 Election

No mandate except that nothing will fundamentally change

W.J. Astore

In no particular order, here are ten observations on this year’s election:

  • Trump lost the election more than Biden won it. Trump lost mainly because of the pandemic and the economy. Biden ran on little other than “not being Trump” and squeaked by on that weak message. Sure, he’s president, but he has no mandate.
  • 74 million Americans didn’t vote for Trump solely because he’s racist, sexist, bigoted, and ignorant. Sure, some of them voted due to White supremacy and so on, but some pro-Trump votes reflect the bankruptcy in ideas from Biden/Harris. The Democrats simply offered little to the working class, e.g. the total rejection of Medicare for All during a pandemic. Biden was quoted as saying nothing would fundamentally change in his administration. How’s that for inspiration?
  • To establishment Democrats like Biden, the Republicans may be rivals but Progressives are the real enemy. So far, Biden’s announced staff and cabinet has zero Progressives in it. “Diversity” for Biden and the DNC does not include diversity in policy views. “Good” policies are those that favor the donors and owners. Anyone to the left of Biden need not apply.
  • If the Democratic Presidential primaries taught us one thing, it’s that voters have no say. The DNC has the only say, and they pick the candidate who will best protect their sinecures, in this case Joe Biden. Voters were told, take him or vote for Trump. Or go pound sand.
  • The DNC exists to defeat Progressive challengers like Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard. Both Sanders and Gabbard refused big cash from big donors, and that is simply not allowed. A “respectable” candidate must be beholden to the big donors, else the DNC simply won’t support you. Indeed, it will do most anything to stop you.
  • Surely one of the most despicable acts I’ve seen in politics was the smearing of Tulsi Gabbard as a Russian asset by NBC News and Hillary Clinton. They essentially denounced an Army major and Congresswoman as a traitor, or at the very least a useful idiot, a tool of the Kremlin. What was Tulsi’s main message again? Oh, she was against America’s wasteful and wanton regime-change wars.
  • The big winners of the 2020 election were predictable: Big pharma, private health insurance companies, the military-industrial complex, fossil fuel companies, and so on. Biden/Harris will continue to serve their interests.
  • When the senior leaders are Biden, McConnell, and Pelosi, you know Washington is bereft of new ideas and innovative leadership.
  • Even more ignored than climate change in this election was any serious talk of ending America’s wars overseas. Look for them to continue at least until 2024.
  • America remains a country of two parties: A Republican Party increasingly in Trump’s mold, and a Republican-lite Party (otherwise known as Democrats) in service to business and the moneyed interests. In a “pay to play” system, how could it be otherwise? The results of 2020 prove America needs a new party. Call it the Workers’ Party, the Progressive Party, the People’s Party, what-have-you, but recognize that, without campaign finance reform and public funding of elections, 2024 is likely to produce yet another round of a Trumpist candidate against a DNC corporate tool/Republican-lite. And they dare call it “choice”!

Readers: What did you learn from this election?

87 thoughts on “Ten Observations on the 2020 Election”

  1. The only possible thing that could be learned from this election was that the overt facist Donald Trump was defeated. What that means is that the US Constitution is no longer under direct threat from the White House and we have a chance (again) of making a better America.

    It’s not going to be pleasing to the “professives”. To those millions of the ‘silent majority’ the progressive sound too much like socialists. Never mind that the vast majority don’t have the faintest idea WHY that might be bad, only that they have been taught that progressivism is bad. That’s enough. So progressive ideas will be very, very slow coming.

    But at least in the interim, the fascists in the White House can be relegated to a distasteful moment in history.

    Maybe.

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    1. Happy to see Trump and crew gone. The question is: Will Biden/Harris screw up so badly that we see a return of Trump, or Trumpism, in 2024? It’s not gone, and misrule by Democrats will accelerate its return.

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      1. As for 2024, Trump and his lickspittals have nearly another two months to continue poisoning the well and salting the soil before he leaves, and the worst may be still to come. The lack of any stulous or debt forgiveness will continue to cause pain into the new year and beyond as evictions and closings of businesses continue. On top of that is the virus that may stay with us for a long time. It will not be a good time for two full terms.

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      2. “misrule by Democrats.” Hmm. I’ve commented before on this phenomenon: a GOP president runs the National Debt up colossally, then a Democratic one follows and “has to be” the one to impose AUSTERITY. And baby, austerity is just around the corner! The economy will likely go into free fall next year. Small businesses are being wiped out, and they happen to employ many millions of people. We are nowhere close to having hit bottom.

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  3. I learned that your teenager crush on Tulsi Gabbard makes your other views suspect. She is grossly unqualified for office and offers nothing but the empty-headed call for an end to war—without having to provide that annoying—what’s it called?—a plan.

    As far as “progressives” are concerned, the country just doesn’t support their poorly-expressed, not-thought-through rhetoric. I’m a fan of universal healthcare and of massive infusions of cash into infrastructure and social services. But every time I hear Sanders or—worse—“the squad” spew condescension without substance, I want them to lose. And maybe that’s the problem. Maybe “progressive” values appeal to only the smug.

    Want progressives to win? Package their plan into something digestible by middle America. Will the party resist this? Of course. The party’s job is to maintain the power of those already in power. But you know, if something with appeal comes along, they have to bend. In 2008, Clinton was the candidate. period. And then some guy named Obama caught fire and the party had no choice but push Clinton aside. Get people excited about a candidate and you might get them on the ballot. Right now, though, we have what America wants.

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    1. “Teenager crush” 🙂

      I was always for Bernie Sanders (teenage crush on him?) and Tulsi Gabbard because they were principled and progressive. Look what that got them!

      The American people are for progressive positions like Medicare for All (M4A), a $15 minimum wage, student debt relief, addressing climate change, and so on. Are these “smug”? Those who are against such things have more money and thus more say with politicians who prostitute themselves, as Joe Biden willingly did.

      Joe Biden has said he’d veto a bipartisan bill for M4A. I wonder why? Maybe because of his donors from big pharma, health insurance companies, etc.?

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      1. Principled is indeed the key. I would not call it a crush, but rather a gut-feel for what a good leader really is. Character.

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        1. This is it. Gabbard was the only candidate who made the connection between runaway militarism and an inability to fund or even propose solutions to broad, pressing problems. The US once again pushed into short term lesser evilism, only to sink further into quagmire of unaddressed disasters.

          I’m glad Trump lost, but not happy the Biden had to be the winner to make that happen.

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          1. I understand from news radio that Trump AND Mikey Pence are to jointly address the nation today, or soon at least, about the virus vaccine(s?). I guess they will present themselves as the nation’s SAVIORS and golly, aren’t we sorry we didn’t re-elect them? But this joint appearance business made me realize that the GOP POTUS candidate frontrunner for 2024 has gotta be Mike Pence! I mean, “the Evangelicals,” sad to say, are NOT going away. And they’ll be extra fired up by 2024, since Joe Biden plans to OUTLAW RELIGION!! Oh yeah, haven’t you heard? [smiley]

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    2. NOT PUBLIUS–Good Lord, you think Tulsi is less qualified than Donald J. Trump to hold the highest office in the land? I was never clear (entirely her fault!) on what her politics really came down to, and I never lionize anyone because they are in or have been in military uniform. Been there myself, yawn. But I have to say that “public discourse” in today’s USA has been so successfully poisoned by the far right that a progressive candidate could do a PowerPoint presentation on her/his meticulously detailed plan to address the Climate Crisis, let’s say, and half the citizenry would give their Pavlovian-conditioned response: “We can’t afford it!!” Indeed, none other than Buckminster Fuller pointed that out precisely: Whenever a truly radical proposal–radical meaning going to the roots of the problem–suggestion is made for addressing humanity’s greatest problems, a chorus of voices will rise to protest “But we can’t afford it!” (see “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth”)

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  5. The least known observervation but fact suspected by most Americans is:America remains a country of two parties: A Republican Party increasingly in Trump’s mold, and a Republican-lite Party (otherwise known as Democrats) in service to business and the moneyed interests. In a “pay to play” system, how could it be otherwise?  The results of 2020 prove America needs a new party. Call it the Workers’ Party, the Progressive Party, the People’s Party, what-have-you, but recognize that, without campaign finance reform and public funding of elections, 2024 is likely to produce yet another round of a Trumpist candidate against a DNC corporate tool/Republican-lite. And they dare call it “choice”!COMMENT: Changes for discussionAmerica needs at least 8 viable parties so no one party can govern unchallenged for 2-4-6 year terms so legal government can be formed except by coalition. o 8 separate sets of issues can be brought to the fore in campaign media rather than only two.o No one party should be able to shut the government down thereby wasting time and money and interfering with the peoole’s business to achieve its narrow unpopular agenda.o ,Vote of no confidence should be instituted to oust a party in power if the government is seen as bouncing off the rails and rumbling along the ties like it is now.o If voted out the party in power in a no confidence vote should have no more than 2 weeks to get out, do  their shredding and unpopular dirty tricks which we are seeing now.o For major issues of public concern plebicites should be held nationwide to register public opinion.o The partisan farce called the Supreme Court Justices should be selected by the congress perhaps no longer than 8 years duration.o Senate terms should be limited to 4 years and number per state should more reflect the size of the population of the state represened.

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    1. MERRICK–Some very interesting suggestions. The SCOTUS (and Federal Courts at lower levels) situation has become ludicrous. I would allow 8 year terms for US Senate, though. At any rate, the fundamental roadblock to all your proposals is that those in power NOW would never go for them. Who is gonna set up the new system you propose?

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  6. I’ll restrict my comments to just your first two points (did I just hear a collective sigh of relief among Bracing Views regulars?): 1.) we might say that Biden’s “mandate” is to prove he’s “night and day” different from Trump. Will cops continue to gun down members of racial minorities without justification? Absolutely. But at least we won’t see a sitting POTUS expressing support for racist vigilantes armed with assault weapons; 2.) I think some of the surprising support for Trump from black and Latino voters may indeed represent a vote of disgust with the status quo, with the similarity between the “two parties.” [Though, in terms of Latinos, we must remember the success of the GOP for decades now in wooing those who’ve immigrated here to “flee Communist oppression.”]

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  7. A reader wrote on FB that I’d forgotten Republican tactics of voter suppression. These are important to keep in mind and guard against.

    One more thing: the power of the mainstream media to dismiss progressives as “purists” or “holier-than-thou” because they actually want health care, a living wage, peace instead of war, cleaner air and water, etc.

    Those “purists” like Bernie — are they nuts? The richest country in the world can’t afford health care! Can’t afford to help people pay their mortgages and rent during a pandemic!

    Meanwhile, five trillion dollars flows upward to the richest few. Looks like Congress can get things done — for their owners. Sorry — more “purist” talk from me. Mustn’t grumble!

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    1. So….it’s been almost 60 years since a generation of young people was inspired to dream big and try to be the solutions. Those who followed Jack, Bobby, and Martin wanted to make the country better and were willing to put their futures on the line to do so. Many of those “hippies,” and all of their leaders, are gone now. Yet very little has changed. The Establishment still rules, and it’s tightening its hold even more. Short of pitchforks and barricades, I don’t see an answer.

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      1. There was a historian – unfortunately, I recall the comment but not the commentator, who said the elites were terrified by what happened in the 60s. The protests against the Vietnam war and the civil rights protests and riots were something they would not allow to happen again as they felt they were losing control. It looks to me like we’ve had a 60 year period to watch the development of the mechanisms to do just that.

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        1. Yes, the Establishment has had plenty of time to foist diversions and divisions on the citizenry, and if the mind-games fail, well…those black-uniformed Federal LEOs dispatched to Portland and some other “anarchist zones” are the next phase. A preview of things to come.

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          1. Yes. Should I be fortunate enough to reach my 90s, I can imagine telling my great-nieces and -nephews about how I used to march in the streets and picket the Federal Building here to protest various instances of government malfeasance, and no one bothered me. They won’t believe I escaped unscathed from all those episodes.

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      2. The majority of those “hippies” sold out* and pursued handsome incomes. I was never a full-fledged hippie, and I sure as hell never obtained a handsome annual income.

        *that said, we must bear in mind that your average “hippie,” if there was such a thing, was never a committed revolutionist, so “sold out” is a bit harsh on my part!

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    2. Well, if the DNC wasn’t in the habit of dismissing progressives (gee, that theme seems familiar here!), there’d be nothing for MSM to report on in this regard. They’d have to employ their editorial pages to criticize progressive values. (Fox “News” and Wall Street Journal would be leading the charge. They’re already in that bag, of course.) What happens if Senate ends up 50-50 in terms of a “majority” leader? Will GOP argue that Sanders, being an independent, technically, shouldn’t count? As long as McConnell retains the power to kill legislation, there will be NO additional relief coming for the working stiff (and retired stiff, in my own case) unless the Dems cave in and greatly reduce total price tag of their proposal. I guess that’s the likeliest outcome, since Biden believes in “reaching across the aisle” to get things done. It will be very interesting to watch just what he CAN accomplish.

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  8. Bill–

    All observations are true; worse, they are all obvious. Obvious and uncommented upon by any of the folks who should be doing that. But you know, the brain trades, the political class, the moral and religious leadership, hell, they’ve all signed off on perpetual war as an acceptable or better state of affairs, so we really can’t expect them to engage with and comment intelligently on this election, either.

    The basic ability to engage with problems and work towards solving them is what defines a successful, or at least decently functioning person. Same with a society. We as a society aren’t engaging with the real problems we face, have been facing, for a good while. That has us tagged as a failing society in my book.

    Wish I had a cure or prescription. Got plenty of policies I’d implement if I could, but the ongoing societal and institutional failure to address and engage and work is some deep sociology that baffles me.

    On that cheery note, happy holidays.

    Dan

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      1. Bottom line: most people are not willing to try to “rock the boat” if it will jeopardize their financial security. Certainly not a phenomenon limited to this society.

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    2. Always nice to hear from a famous deceased POTUS! But seriously, with about half the population in la-la land (“Stolen election! Phony virus! Clintons engaged in child sexual slavery!” etc.), how indeed are we, as a society, to face the real problems? The Global Climate Crisis, I have no doubt whatsoever, is THE existential threat. Biden is making noises about doing something. Even if he is 100% sincere, though, it takes a cooperative US Senate to get the work done.

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  9. As a progressive, I know I won’t get everything I hope for but I am more looking forward to a democratic administration than some of you. I think we can count on the democrats to do a better job on many domestic issues, if not on the military adventurism. I mean things like net neutrality, higher minimum wage, right to unionize, LGBTQ protections, prohibitions on gay conversion programs, family planning and abortion rights, same sex marriage, banking reforms, consumer protections (the CFPB recovered about 12 billion dollars during its short run under Obama, almost nothing under Trump), environmental protection, public lands protection, incentives for alternative energy production and use, better education opportunities, better medical care, protection of social security, sensible trade and immigration policies, voter rights protection, clean air and clean water programs, criminal justice reforms, and the stock market performance and job creation historically improves under democratic administrations. The list goes on, in my opinion. Biden hasn’t always been on the best side of all these issues, but hopefully he can pulled a little more in the progressive direction over the next four years.

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    1. I agree that Democrats are generally better on many of these issues — as long as corporate bottom lines don’t take a hit. The Dems are willing to support issues like LGBTQ, abortion, and voter rights that help them, especially if those issues can be used for fund-raising.

      But many of the other issues you list, such as trade deals, social security, and medical care, Joe Biden has been on the wrong side of, as you say. So, Joe was for NAFTA, Joe wanted to cut social security and medicare, Joe is against Medicare for All, even though most Democrats are for it, and even a majority of Republicans, etc. And of course Joe took credit for writing the infamous crime bill that jailed so many Black and brown people, so he’s been on the wrong side of criminal justice reform as well.

      Joe is bought and paid for, so I think the chances of pulling him to the left are slim, especially given his cabinet and staff choices.

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    2. But still, there are the two huge stumbling blocks known as Mitch McConnell and SCOTUS, a SCOTUS more blatantly rightwing than any previous time in my own lifespan. The far right will never give up trying to overturn Roe v. Wade, and they’d love to get a SCOTUS ruling that marriage can only be between a biological male and a biological female.

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    1. Yeah I really liked a lot of Yang’s proposals. I never heard of him before he ran but like what he stands for. Hope he sticks around and has some influence in the future.

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      1. As an impoverished retiree, of course I found his proposal to send me money monthly appealing! But this would have been taxpayer money, of course, and to obtain it would have required major reform of the Tax Code, with much higher taxation levels for the uber-rich. That last aspect put the Seal of Doom on Yang’s chances.

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  11. Pingback: 10 Election Lessons from November 3rd - LA Progressive

  12. I would add something about money in politics in the vein of Bloomberg spending: his enormous spending didn’t seem to help anywhere he concentrated it (FL, OH). So he was a two-time loser in trying to buy the election. Juxtapose that with the fact that there were really no ideas offered for the future and it seems the people more or less had an idea: either for or against Trump. And no amount of money nor advertising fundamentally shifted that. I think that should be encouraging if we didn’t have the coverage monopolies and party machinations that block all the ideas.

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  13. A great thing about the net is the way unknown things can be discovered by a link someone puts in a comment. That is how I discovered Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century, from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I mention it here because it contains many very good ideas for changing the mess we’ve made of our inheritance as indicated by the ten points made. Spread it widely.

    It makes many excellent suggestions and some are already being tried such as ranked choice voting. I encourage everyone to look over the list (scroll down when the PDF opens) and support those that you like. The difficulty will be in getting some of them passed, such as enlarging the House of Reps.

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  14. I can never resist when you end with a question, Mr. Astore. Ever the sign of an open mind.
    Here are a few thoughts and reactions to your ten observations (I enjoyed reading yours. I can just see you coming down from Mt. Greylock with your tablets in hand : ) Also some of my own learnings from the election. I’ll try for 10, to match your prolificacy (but never your eloquence).

    The First Commandment: Thou shalt hate Trump, and most Trump supporters.

    Your statement “but some pro-Trump votes reflect the bankruptcy in ideas from Biden/Harris.” would be far more accurate as: “but most pro-Trump votes reflect the bankruptcy in values from Biden/Harris and the Democratic Party.”

    “If the Democratic Presidential primaries taught us one thing it is that voters have no say.” Nailed it.

    The Tulsi smearing was indeed despicable. And so was the Russia Hoax. If we selectively apply values based on preference, they are not values, they are biases.

    Systemic hatred bared its fangs in this election.

    The MSM will cheat and lie.

    Censorship and election interference will continue to grow until we, as a culture, reject treachery as an acceptable and celebrated practice.

    And the big winners are Tulsi, Trump, and the Republican Party:

    Tulsi was smeared, but what happens when you smear something around? It touches more surface area. Tulsi has been hammered a couple times now by the Democratic Party establishment…and that will serve her well in the future, as long as she stays worthy of her sufferings (Dostoevsky). Her epic dress-down of K-la won’t hurt her either.

    Trump wins if he wins, and wins bigger if he loses. You can hate the man, but you have to admire that positioning.

    The Republican party just took off on a tsunami (could not resist at least one surf analogy). Trump created a movement (and as a Bernie supporter I think you can appreciate that). And movements only get stronger if they have a martyr (I’ll hold on any historical examples, in order to preclude heads from exploding). The Democratic Party is already dead…they just don’t realize it yet. Your closing thought about a new party is right on, and prophetic.

    And I made it to ten. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Well, I have to agree the Dem. Party Establishment is MORIBUND. That’s pretty close to dead, ain’t it? [insert smiley] I’m predicting the Biden admin. will build troop levels back up in “hot spots,” and likely find some new ones that need “US assistance.” And there’s always the Korea situation, Chinese maneuvers in “South China Sea,” etc. Fear not, the next four years will NOT be a total bore. Heck, that’s guaranteed just by the fact (yeah, I wrote “fact”) that the GOP is digging in to resist any forward movement the Dems might try to launch and that that party has embraced Trumpism in all its dementedness. How about a betting pool on how long into 2021 it will be before Fox “News” stops bleating about “the stolen election”? The best I’m hoping for is that pressure from NY State Tax Authorities forces Trump and his whole clan to move somewhere overseas. Far overseas!

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      1. I do like the idea of a betting pool. So many opportunities to come, in that regard. It can be The Pool of the Week.

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        1. China!! So many people, so many opportunities for US to get into skirmishes involving live ammo! Some ding-a-ling in the lame duck admin. declared today that China is THE #1 “threat to US security.” I predict that tune will be whistled by the incoming gang as well.

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    2. I’d be curious to know how you see the Republicans values versus Democratic ones, especially how they differ, but also why you favor those espoused by Trump.

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  15. Divine Comedy – “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Dante. Dante could be writing about the Biden White House. Hope in this case being something Progressive.

    Biden had his ticket punched a long time ago by the 1%. Biden had been dead ended circling around the turnstile – in 2020 he finally got his chance.

    CNN and MSDNC are all a flutter about the “diversity” of Biden choices. This means a formula to select based upon triangulation by race, sex and ethnic groups. These “choices” are like Biden, they are carefully vetted and approved by the 1%.

    “The Republican and Democratic parties, or, to be more exact, the Republican-Democratic party, represent the capitalist class in the class struggle. They are the political wings of the capitalist system and such differences as arise between them relate to spoils and not to principles.” Eugene Debs

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    1. Before the power goes down as the latest raging windstorm sweeps my part of the country, I have to nominate for Stupid Headline of the Day this one at CNN online: “Ex-CIA Director: Trump has exceeded Russia’s ability to influence minds”!!! So there you have it, folks, the Evil Russkies had been influencing our minds for who knows how long before Trump presented his delusional version of reality and gullible scores of millions of Americans swallowed it hook, line and sinker. Also, it looks like the space aliens came and reclaimed that metallic monolith they’d installed in the wilds of Utah! Good grief, what kind of news week is shaping up here??

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      1. Interesting op-ed at NY Times today. Writer appears to be a youngish German citizen. In analyzing the events that seeded the ground for Hitler’s rise, he emphasizes the propagation of the legend that Germany did not suffer military defeat in WW I, but was “stabbed in the back” by leftist and Jewish (of course!) elements, leading to abdication of the Kaiser and the Armistice of Nov. 11, 1918. I am amazed that though he writes of sailors going “on strike” (that would have been in the Black Sea Fleet largely), he makes no mention of the fact that the German Social Democrats, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxembourg, attempted an actual revolution, which ended in tragedy for the left. I imagine the author’s lack of knowledge of our own history, or perhaps wish to avoid straying too far afield, kept him from drawing a parallel with the American “legend” that the US would have triumphed over Vietnam if not for “back-stabbing” politicians, etc. At any rate, the parallel he does draw is with Trump’s “stolen election” propaganda. And I have to agree that, regardless of Trump’s own personal future–remember, he is physically unhealthy on top of his mental condition–TRUMPISM is here for a long time to come, and will likely grow more and more angry and divorced from reality with the passage of time. Anyhow, link is below:

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      1. In “The Iron Heel,” which I only got around to reading couple years ago, Jack London uses “Socialism” and “The Brotherhood of Man” interchangeably. An idea that’s a rather hard sell in today’s environment. I argue that Karl Marx was hated by the Powers That Be more for calling on “Workers of All Nations” to unite than any other facet of his work. And just look at how successful the Boss Class has been since Marx’s time in achieving the diametric opposite, the DIVISION of workers on national, ethnic, gender, etc. lines. Result: the wretched state of the world today.

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  16. And Neera Tanden – devoted acolyte of Hillary Clinton, Democratic careerist/operator, and leading proponent of Russiagate – has been nominated for OMB director. The pieces are all falling into place to ensure that “nothing will fundamentally change” for the top one percent. Whether approved or not, the nomination itself speaks to the mindset of the Biden team.

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    2. I see opinion pieces urging MORE “diversity” for Biden’s appointees! What’s really needed–and therefore ain’t gonna happen–is some diversity of viewpoints, which Biden had claimed he was seeking. In other words, we won’t find anyone who OPPOSES the “Global War on Terror” among Joe’s picks.

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  17. The same as it ever was, is the “ what” I learned.
    The manufactured eerie balance produced from our culture of contest continues to tangle up our twisted thought processes. The grotesque results from this monstrous balance are almost numerically perfect for the elite illusionists; who somehow, have turned such an equalizing force as balance inside out,; and weaponized it’s purpose. What should bring stability upon this precarious societal path we all tread together, when a whole is so equally divided; actually brings an opposite unsettling effect of strife and division. It is a wicked perversion fabricated upon a concept that seeks to create the form in stability.
    I believe it is beneficial to encamp outside this fray and offer a warming campfire where these political soldiers can receive some nourishing advice. I’m trying remind them that civil war against your fellow man is precisely what will forestall the simple solutions of equality we seem to all be demanding from the power brokers that rule this planet. I’m trying to get both sides to recognize the degradation of almost every structure that we are connected to and observe that we cannot flourish within the poisoned toxic atmosphere that those who control the levers of society have manufactured for us.
    Number one on the list of course corrections is this energetic bitterness we encapsulate within our dialogue and fire it towards “ my fellow Americans”. Through my discussions with the left or right wingspan of this grand American eagle, I am continually met with the emotional bag of concepts that weigh down their trek towards a more perfect union that remains so far off, the sweet chimes of freedom will never be heard.
    It’s easy to plumb their hatred and learn not to throw the raw meet of an opposing balancing “policy” onto the raw wounds they wear upon their chest and sleeves. My whole thrust is spent upon the inequality and I try to help them understand that we need to restructure our water, restructure our soil, restructure our air, and restructure our ionosphere; along with our hatred. I’m on a mission to help them get in touch with the dangerous conditions the powerful elite have handed to us through their “modern living” practices. I try and bring the awareness of these realities back into view after they spill out another stream of venom; reminding them that so much of our terrible outcomes have been created to degrade our human experience and it is not a stretch to imagine that the elite just don’t care.
    Generally I get hit with a period of personal attack. At this point I remind them of the wise Bob Marley line that he sang so pointedly. Like Bob, I too am sick and tired of the “ ism” schism game. I won’t play that part for any “big boss man”, I say; reminding them continually that this is the part that the “THEY” have been programming all of us to play on their stage of illusions.. This is usually the time I show them the cover of the Beetle George’s last album. I tell them that George had it all, any desire that appeared could be satisfied. But he came to less selfish solutions. I will walk them through a bunch of his unifying lyrics; and then make them study the album cover again that pretty much sums up the current human condition. There’s you and me! I say….we are just like the sitting naked mannequins in the chairs before the boob tube. A ghostly holographic projection of “old glory” in all her red white and blue lighting the room and sparkling our eyes.
    Snap out of it, I urge them. My whole script tries to get them to find out that their anger is destroying the very foundations that a better outcome for all must be built upon. I now will remind them of the power of love and will pour that healing oil on them no matter what objections about a perceived other person or policy they drag up from their closets of archaic thought processes. Love truly is the most powerful force and I’m going to continue to beat the flames of imbalance, planting the seeds of goodwill toward your fellow man; and hopefully we will then learn to sit with each other and calmly and strategically understand who the perpetrators of this inequality really are. It’s a small first step towards disarmament.
    I truly believe that the creator is showing us that we are trying to survive within a man made toxic creation; just look at our health. Get outside the Earth’s atmosphere and take a good microscopic look at all the whole of our creation. Maybe the virus is actually hear to heal us by showing us the state of our toxic human experience on most every level? Who knows? The creators world is truly mysterious; but I wonder about these things in 2020! I’m a fan of Bechamp, and a terrain theory sort. We are sick on so many levels and it could be truly frightening to believe that this is the mess we are asking our children’s children to clean up.
    They are usually taking leave of my presence by this point, so I close with this as I wish them well on their way. My generation was brutally destructive during our stay in this house, just look around with a bit of awareness… it’s just bound to make you embarrassed.
    Sometimes they come back, sometimes not; but the seeds were planted and love is quite the infectious agent. Here’s a shot of Love & Gratitude for staying with this .

    Liked by 1 person

  18. The great thing about the Internet– you can always find plenty of people just as you are…Change your state of mind, things aren’t as bad as we think they are, or as you feel they are. Mankind hasn’t changed much since the dawn of man, sort of a “same as it ever was”, but we can discipline our minds to see things differently than they are into a more chilled way… Nothing stays the same forever!

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    1. I appreciate you. Thanks for your kindness. I apologize for the harsh assessment of the natural environment at this point in eternity. Surely the creation will heal; and the creators spirit will inhabit the coming forms in sufficient quantities to insure a more proper balance. I’m hoping for a backward glance towards wiser societies who made choices as to what should be introduced into the mainstream based on the effects it will produce 7 generations out. I’m guessing that, in our rush towards fame and fortune, we have allowed “products, ideas, and inventions” out of Pandora’s box; and the debilitating effects are leaning hard on the garden that gives so much of itself to sustain all. This reminds me of a suggestion from a 1%er that we delivered mail to in SWFLA. His Christmas tip to his letter carrier was in the currency of words … “Create a product; Find something to sell; and get out of that dead end job you’re in! ” It left me wondering if this wasn’t the mentality that led to the degrading environmental beauty of our ecosphere? Oneness provides me an awareness that I’m actually always interacting with me; be it a twig on a tree or the body next to me; so tending the garden is always taking place. Therefore I stayed in the dead end job because I couldn’t imagine a thing that I felt the kingdom needed for me to market to it. I decided to joyfully attend to the language in the letters and periodicals; and I even was happy to deliver the products in the packages someone else decided to sell.
      There was no choice to be had when the span of experience unfolded for these moments we all share. It is thrust upon each one us and some have lived to see healing times; some live a lifespan in turmoil. We are playing a most interesting role in the span we inhabit. So many fascinating influences and choices have taken up residence on the stage.
      With the dawn of excessive media exposure through the 24/7 news cycle and now instantaneous individual access through the internet; I’m left musing at times about the state of language. I wonder if the feelings of words were happier, when elders spoke in gatherings, and the words sprung up from the heart. Maybe the vowels and consonants are more frustrated today than at any other time due to the volume of false expression designed to capture attention. Language can’t be happy after being turned into patsies that produce the manufactured divisions we navigate. Words probably have lived in times that were surely more dignified. But, they had no choice but to show up and face the music; much like all of us. Your care and support for other’s well being makes the language and me happy and filled with hope that help is always in the recipe of creation .

      Like

  19. Off subject a bit, not really maybe:

    Well, sometimes an event tells those of us with an intellectual, scientific and curious mind how far America has declined.

    The Giant Arecibo radio telescope collapses in Puerto Rico. A huge radio telescope in Puerto Rico that has played a key role in astronomical discoveries for more than half a century collapsed on Tuesday, officials said.

    The telescope’s 900-ton receiver platform fell onto the reflector dish more than 400 feet below.

    The US National Science Foundation had earlier announced that the Arecibo Observatory would be closed. An auxiliary cable snapped in August, causing a 100ft gash on the 1,000ft-wide (305m) reflector dish and damaged the receiver platform that hung above it. Then a main cable broke in early November.

    The collapse stunned many scientists who had relied on what was until recently the largest radio telescope in the world. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/01/arecibo-radio-telescope-collapses-puerto-rico
    =======================================

    We can spend billions on “Defense” every year against real or imagined enemies. Radio Telescopes – Science that does not put the greenbacks into the pockets of the Wall Street Military-Industrial Complex.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Though I am very much in favor of continued exploration of the Cosmos (a Charter Member, in fact, of The Planetary Society), and am somewhat saddened by the loss of the Arecibo facility, it’s not “the end of the world.” The Very Large Array of mobile radio telescopes in the American Southwest (central to the movie “Contact,” based on Carl Sagan’s only novel) and other facilities around the world have probably been doing more important work in recent years than the aging facility in Puerto Rico. Arecibo was probably weakened by repeated hurricanes and the occasional earthquake. For the cost of rehabilitating Arecibo, probably, a much more state of the art facility could’ve been built elsewhere.

      Liked by 1 person

  20. This observation by Caitlin Johnstone describes the U.S. political system — and the goal of Biden/Harris:

    “The US political system is not designed to be moved to the left. It is not designed to facilitate a revolution. It is not designed to reflect the general will of the public in any way. The US political system is designed to keep the public placid and obedient while the imperialists run the empire. Nothing else is allowed. Nothing else will ever be allowed.”

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/12/02/the-streetlight-effect-when-people-look-within-the-system-for-solutions-to-the-system/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I can’t really argue with Caitlin Johnstone’s analysis. Stability is what the vast majority of people want and that is what the primary role of government is. Unfortunately I believe that we have devoted so much educational energy to teaching misguided concepts of “political correctness” with only a slight frosting of “rights” for three generations that most people don’t understand the basic fundamentals of democracy, the US republic and how it should run. Coupled with the ease of spending beyond one’s means has made it almost impossible to now make political “course corrections” to preserve the Constitution and the American democracy. Hence we get the Trumps of the sewer who try to dismantle everything under the guise of “draining the swamp”.

      So now we have a return to centrism, which is a continuation of the same old, same old mantras that got us into the power bind of big money and the steady erosion of those all important “rights” and “freedoms” that people were taught about but never properly taught about the concurrent responsibilities that those things required. Biden will be here for a while and fade, and at some point a new “trump” will appear and I fear the cycle will just continue to roll in a meaningless way.

      Meanwhile, the Chinese will continue to plod along playing their millenium kind of game while we concentrate on only the next two to four years.

      I can’t see how it will all end well. But at 76 years of age, I don’t get more than one vote anyway.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. “…the US republic and how it should run.” There is the very nub of the problem: we all have Senators and a Member of the House in D.C. who have been duly elected by the citizenry, who supposedly make decisions in our best interests. But with the occasional exception, to be elected these people must belong to that “Party of Property with two right wings,” as Gore Vidal expressed it. They need the party machinery to get out the vote. And once in place, with their dandy health insurance plan and a future pension at stake, even if they arrived in The Swamp with generally good intentions they are not inclined to rock the boat. We are awash in corruption at every level.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. If you say so. But for right now the major issue is to be rid of the fascist in the White House. IF the pain and penalty for doing that is a few more years of what you have called “corruption”, then so be it. Corruption as we know it is a better enemy than a fascist dictator.

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          1. Oh, Trump will depart on Jan. 20. The question is to what level of insanity will his most rabid followers descend to protest the situation. Will the Inauguration ceremony have to be held inside deep cordons of soldiers and D.C. cops and Secret Service? I wouldn’t be surprised.

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            1. My deepest fear is that Trump will descend into true insanity as the truth of his defeat and REJECTION sinks in. There are signs of it right now, but so far he’s not teetered off the edge entirely. But if he goes all the way then he may well issue a clarion call to his great unwashed masses…those who have already shown a willingness to carry guns into the halls of government in various states. His call will be for THEM to save THEIR freedoms and to rise up and fight for their “way of life”. I have read about so called malitias already training for “that day” when they will be called to defend what they call “freedom”.

              He’s not done this so far. But once his legal challenges are over and the fact of the new presidency sinks in, his final grasp for continuation of ultimate power might well bring forth real violence, perhaps against his perception of those who have wronged him, or perhaps just against whatever and whomever the following fools think would be a contribution toward saving the country. They don’t have to be wearing swastikas either. They’re optional.

              I don’t think it will amount to much other than some bloodshed and nastiness that will last a short while. But it will be frightening to the rest of the population and I fear the first stroke and the counterstrokes that could come.

              I hope it is just the novelist in me that’s worrying.

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              1. Sad to have to say, I fear we are in for a prolonged period of rightwing extremist violence. “Lone wolf” actors or small groups of idiots like those who allegedly wanted to kidnap Gov. of Michigan. Folks who praised Kyle Rittenhouse on social media or Fox “News” will try to distance themselves–“Who, me? I don’t encourage such things!” Young Rittenhouse felt a strong solidarity with LEOs, it appears, and who knows how many of those who are supposedly charged with protecting the general public are on the side of these extremists? At a guess, I’d say (pardon my use of double-negatives, it’s a habit) it’s a not insignificant percentage.

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          2. “IF the pain and penalty for doing that is a few more years of what you have called ‘corruption’, then so be it.

            Well, there’s the problem. It’s been decades so far, and with Biden’s election, there’s no end in sight. If indeed he plans to continue with business as usual, that means the 99% are going to be screwed again, which in turn raises the likelihood of the rise of another autocrat. It won’t be just a few more years; absent some national uprising, it’ll be more decades of the corruption, minimum, until/unless the younger generations demand substantive change.

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      1. Two Australian journalists: Julian Assange and Caitlin Johnstone. I’d say that the world — especially the US and UK — would do well to honor and listen to them both. True Imperial heretics. Should one wish to consider them in terms of “wants” or “needs,” I’d go with the latter.

        And you might want to consider ditching the “Duh!” It sounds like a slope-headed, forehead-slapping Homer Simpson belching that he likes his beer cold and his TV loud: unfortunately the image of Americans that they, themselves, have successfully popularized abroad.

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  21. We’ll see if she’s the pick:

    Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo has presided over one of the deadliest COVID outbreaks in the country — and new documents obtained by The Daily Poster detail how she helped nursing home lobbyists shield health care companies from coronavirus-related lawsuits.

    Now, Raimondo — a former Wall Street executive — is reportedly being considered for the nation’s top health care policy job in the incoming Biden administration.

    https://www.dailyposter.com/p/possible-hhs-pick-shielded-nursing

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    1. That final scene in “Animal Farm” would have been a portrayal of utopia if only there had been a proportionate number of horses, chickens, sheep etc. around that table along with the pigs and human farmers…

      Like

      1. Animal Firm
        (From The Triumph of Strife: an homage to Dante Alighieri and Percy Shelley)

        Like Squealer with his brush and can of paint
        He changes the commandments late at night
        Anticipating logical complaint

        When animals observe the rueful sight
        Of pigs in pants on two legs swilling milk
        And playing cards with men to start a fight

        Then sleeping in a bed with sheets of silk
        Napoleon sells Boxer off for glue
        The animals he later plans to bilk

        Of that retirement promised as their due
        When memories have faded of the past
        And snarling packs of dogs enforce his view

        That liberties unguarded never last
        And promises made glibly vanish fast

        Michael Murry, “The Misfortune Teller,” Copyright 2006

        Liked by 2 people

        1. Or, in a different verse format:

          Boobie Animist Farm
          (from Fernando Po, U.S.A., America’s post-literate retreat to Plato’s Cave)

          That animists live on a farm
          Should come as no surprise
          For empty fields and seas share more
          Than some might realize
          A farm is like an island, see,
          Despite the different size

          And farms, like islands, manifest
          The markings of a boat
          Adrift upon a sea of grain
          A castle with its moat
          Surrounded and endangered by
          What keeps them all afloat

          So farmers, knights, and islanders
          Have more to lose than gain
          If crops don’t grow or winds don’t blow
          Or if it doesn’t rain
          For them life’s one big gamble that
          Can only cause them pain

          For if they win they only live
          To lose another time
          Each time they lose they fast approach
          Their last and only dime
          So someone has to rig the game
          Or else they turn to crime

          Thus animists and islanders
          And farmers feel the same
          About their need for luck to keep
          Them staked and in the game
          Without which subsidy they all
          Would wind up quickly lame

          The simple Boobie mind conflates
          The thoughts that seem most clear
          If luck provides the answer then
          No questions need appear
          And so the Boobies wait for signs
          Of what they next should fear

          The sorcerer takes all this in
          And makes some scribbled notes
          He quickly figures out the scam
          And then starts mouthing quotes
          Which mesmerize the Boobies so
          They give him all their votes

          Then other magic men arrive
          To carve out their own niche
          Espousing animistic creeds
          Which help to make them rich
          (It seems that sorcerers all share
          The Mammonistic itch)

          They share the feature that their claims
          No one can falsify
          Thus any bogus claim can pass
          The unreflective eye
          Since none can disprove nothing then
          The pigs that ain’t can fly

          They form their words in such a way
          That none make any sense
          Which keeps the Boobie mind submerged
          In stupefied suspense
          To “questions” ever unresolved
          Opaque as they are dense

          The animists believe that spooks
          And spirits rule the nest
          But some would rank their flock’s Big Bird
          As absolutely best
          All animists are equal just
          Some more so than the rest

          The animists down on their knees
          With foreheads pressed to ground
          And eyes shut fast and ears plugged up
          Against both sight and sound
          Hear only echoes in their heads
          Quite frankly out-of-round

          And we should view with grave alarm
          The ones who kneel and pray
          Professing blind obedience
          To any who will say:
          “Shut up and do what you are told,
          Or else your hide I’ll flay!”

          The self-programming slave appears
          Innocuous at first
          Its sadomasochistic scourge
          Must hurt itself the worst
          Yet freed from its own whipping post
          It’s bonds of hatred burst

          It then goes looking for some one
          To order it about
          And give it evil things to do:
          To scream and curse and shout
          And make a darkness of the dawn
          Till all the lights go out

          The blood and tears of centuries
          Have won for us our rights
          Yet some can’t wait to give them up
          To princes, priests, and knights
          Who’d love to grab them all right back
          In small and tasty bites

          Emotion, Madison observed,
          Intelligence deflects
          Dependence on the mindless mob
          The rule of reason wrecks
          Dependence on the people, yes,
          But not without some checks

          Two hundred years ago some wise
          And gifted ancestors
          Bequeathed to their posterity
          A different set of oars
          To row the ship of freedom clear
          Of animistic shores

          Their first and foremost thought involved
          The need to separate
          The animistic ignorance
          From what it always ate:
          And thus they kept apart the Church
          From matters of the State

          Of course, not twenty minutes time
          Elapsed before the mob
          Began to gnaw upon the bones
          Of the unfinished job
          And cry for princes, priests, and knights
          To come once more and rob

          They did, they have, they always will
          If you give them an inch
          They’ll say whatever words will do
          To serve them in a pinch
          But soon enough they’ll have you back
          And fighting in the clinch

          They love to use their word-magic
          To rename theft as “gift”
          They substitute “police action”
          For “war” and get a lift
          So now we find ourselves ensnared
          In war’s unending drift

          The animists have done it all
          With their barbaric chant
          Of “under” this and “under” that,
          “Thou shall not” and “you can’t”
          Commanded day and night they bray
          In one commanding rant

          The thought of freedom terrifies
          The animistic fool
          Yet having someone “over” him
          Produces quite a drool
          He longs for nothing more than to
          Become somebody’s tool

          The sadist and the masochist
          Have joined again to show
          How animist and charlatan
          In symbiosis grow:
          The masochist pleads, “hurt me” and
          The sadist answers, “no”

          The Constitution’s parchment seems
          Like just a worthless rag
          When “no law” means “go right ahead”
          To those who wave the flag
          Abusing with it those who find
          The word “under” a gag

          The animists discover spooks
          In every hiding place
          They bow and scrape and quail before
          The thought of empty space
          Which leads them passively to take
          Their whipping with good grace

          Michael Murry, “The Misfortune Teller,” Copyright © 2006

          Like

  25. Jeremy Scahill knows the score:

    “What the Obama presidency revealed about national security policy is that the institutional elites of the Democratic Party don’t even believably pretend to embrace progressive values or priorities, particularly on foreign policy and national security. Rhetoric is cheap, but who you choose in your Cabinet speaks to your actual principles. Under Obama-Biden, all of the political capital was used on courting the right by dismissing or attacking the left. There is a consensus among the old establishment Democrats and Republicans that militarism and the myths of American exceptionalism are eternal, nonpartisan truths. In their eyes, a team of rivals doesn’t include leftists. It is a tactical or strategic rivalry among a handful of camps within the same war party about how best to conduct imperial policy.”

    https://theintercept.com/2020/12/04/joe-biden-election-national-security

    Like

    1. I encounter Scahill’s work with some frequency. I think there can be no doubt that the insane myth of “American Exceptionalism” has been so embedded in what passes for public consciousness in USA that to challenge it, as I will never cease to do, is to be looked at like you’re a three-headed space alien who just crash-landed on Earth. So, “Greetings, Earthlings!” say I.

      Liked by 1 person

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