February 23, 2018
Yesterday, we were stupefied, watching Trump double down on his absurd suggestion that the way to prevent school shootings was to arm teachers and “harden” our schools, an idea that would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous. We then watched the annual horror show at CPAC, which paraded death cultist Wayne LaPierre to spout heretical nonsense about how our right to bear arms was ordained by God and Jean Marie LePen, scion of the notorious family of French far-right, hate-mongering, anti-Semites. Given the events of the last several days, we cannot help but come to the conclusion that America is under threat from an occupying, insurgent force that has declared war from within and is dead set on dismantling our country, brick by brick.
Their vision for America is clear — a Hobbesian hellscape with no laws ensuring basic safety, decent public education, or fair labor practices; where a class of wealthy, white male grifters are free to prey upon everyone else. They see women as playthings that they can discard and brutalize — just look at former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter or recently indicted Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. They view people of color as a permanent underclass to be stripped of rights and deported or imprisoned into irrelevance.
Given that their vision is in contravention of every American ideal ever professed since the dawn of the Republic, we may wonder how they could possibly get away with it. Their policy ideas are broadly unpopular and their standard bearers (Trump, McConnell and Ryan) are reviled by most Americans outside of a rump caucus of committed racists. As indictments and guilty pleas pile up, we see mounting evidence that those who have been entrusted with the power to govern represent a cesspool of human depravity.
Brave teenagers, scarred by trauma, but undaunted by cynicism, mobilizing around the country, give us reason for hope. As the adults,though, we have a responsibility to make sure that their efforts are not in vain. We must pay attention to anti-democratic actions by the Republicans that may escape their notice. One such move was Paul Ryan’s announcement on Wednesday that he was not renewing the term of the popular and effective Chair of the Election Assistance Commission, Matthew Masterson. The EAC is tasked with ensuring the smooth operation of our elections and Masterson was praised by both Republican and Democratic state election officials as a capable official working hard to secure our elections from hackers (Source: “Ryan move to replace election agency leader stirs outcry,” by Eric Geller, Politico.com, 2/22/18). With Masterson’s removal, Trump is free to appoint a toady who will do Putin’s bidding and leave our elections vulnerable to foreign interference. We must insist on paper ballots in every state, in every county, in every hamlet. Our children are out here doing the hard work. The least we could do is have their back.
#Guncontrolnow
#Bluewave
#Paperballots