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Posts Tagged ‘project 2025’

The Lesson

Posted in Creativity, Poetry, Politics, tagged , , , , , , on 31 Mar 2025| 2 Comments »

What you are trying to teach me?
To harm? To hurt? To hate?
That a worthy reputation
is only built through fear?
That honor is irrelevant,
an antiquated ideal?
That rules, golden or base,
apply only to governed
and not the government?

What do you want me to learn?
Cruelty +  Money = Power?
That everything, even a life,
has a market value?
That caring for others’ well-being
is a sucker’s game?
That discord and outrage
are the privilege of the rulers
and not the ruled?

Because that is not the lesson
your actions drive home.

The lesson I am learning,
the lesson that you teach, is
that bullies have no friends, only sycophants,
that predators prey on individuals, not unified fronts,
that small-minded men use power as a weapon, not as a tool,
that loyalty born of fear lasts only as long as the loyal are afraid,
that plans of destructive intent always birth unplanned consequences,
that masses move slowly, react slowly, but once in motion, stay in motion.

The herd now smells the wolves.
Tick-tock.

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Focal Points

Posted in Culture, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 05 Feb 2025| 3 Comments »

If you are anything like me, this last fortnight has felt like it was two years long. The constant barrage of cruel and often inept Executive Orders, the firehose of incompetent actions and rescissions, not to mention Congress’ total abdication of the “advise” portion of their role in “advise and consent,” has made the simple act of getting out of bed each morning a ponderous chore. And this, after I’ve already dramatically reduced my intake of current events. Frankly, there are times when I don’t know if I can make it through . . . however this is going to go on.

But then I remind myself: That is the entire point.

Proposing wholly unqualified candidates for high office, demolishing decades-long diplomatic agencies, purging competence and expertise from critical sectors, shuttering life-saving research and aid activities, starting a totally useless trade war with our closest allies, blaming every perceived woe on multiculturalism, threatening to invade/take over friendly nations, issuing pardons to persons who committed violence and riotous mayhem against the Capitol police and the seat of Congress, giving a wholly unreliable and arguably unhinged billionaire complete and unfettered access to the personal data of every single taxpayer in America (and more). Where to start? What to do? Where to look?

Take a step back, and you will see it. This is a blitzkrieg maneuver, a “shock and awe” tactic, to carpet bomb the Left into complete disarray, to start so many political wildfires that those who, like me, believe that our government should be by and for the people, become stunned into ineffectiveness simply because we do not know which fire we should fight first.

There is a famous quotation attributed to Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, who was by all accounts a brilliant military strategist. Translated and distilled over the centuries, it comes to us finally as this:

He who defends everything, defends nothing.

There is no hidden meaning to this quotation. It means what it says: if you run around trying to defend every inch of territory—political as well as physical—you will eventually lose; one must take small losses to focus on the primary points of contact.

And so must we, to counter this wholesale dismantling of systems that, though flawed, do provide safety and comfort to Americans. We must focus our efforts, concentrate our will, and do our best to “not sweat the small stuff.”

Pick two issues, maybe three. Read about those so you know what exactly is going on—you don’t want to get bogged down in conspiracies or tripped up by mis/disinformation—and then call your congress-critter, go to one of the town hall meetings they will be scheduling or, better yet, both. Register your concerns. If we all do that, our representatives and senators will have either (for Dems) data they can use to hone their focus or (for GOP) an idea of how upset their constituency truly is.

My main issues? Of the myriad choices, my two bugbears are:

  1. Giving Elon Musk and his JV Squad of tech-noobs my personal information and total access to petabytes of sensitive government data. Having worked in the health insurance industry, the concept of providing the “minimum necessary” amount of data is a standard precept; no one—especially a group of unvetted non-government employees—should have full read/write access to the entirety of any government database.
  2. The shutdown of USAID, which only takes up 0.7% of the national budget but which saves lives, promotes democracy, provides alternatives to growing drug crops, feeds starving kids, and has been the front line of our diplomatic “soft power” for over half a century. Shutting these efforts down is a huge gift to autocracies such as Putin’s and Xi’s, because who do you think is going to rush into the vacuum just created?

Those two might change as this sh!t show continues its run, but they’re what I will try to defend for now.

Find your focal points. Marshal you resources. Decide the issues that fire you up the most—personally, morally, legally, ethically—and defend those things. Then take a break. Then get back to it.

Onward.

k

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Time to Get Serious

Posted in Culture, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 21 Sep 2024| Leave a Comment »

Early voting began yesterday in three U.S. states, which means we are in the final stretch of America’s 2024 presidential election. (Finally!) It also means that for the next six weeks we’re going to be inundated with adverts, texts, mailers, flyers, and door-knockers.

By now, most people have made up their mind, and frankly, if you’ve already decided on voting for Trump, I’ve got nothing for you; thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you next time. However, about 5–6% of Americans are still on the fence, trying to decide either between the candidates, or between voting and staying home.

First, please please please commit to voting on November 5. It is so important that you exercise this power. You can go to Vote.gov to find out if your voter registration is current and/or how to register if you’ve been purged from the rolls. Even if you do not live in one of the critical “swing” states, you still have Senate, House, and state races that are critical to the success of your candidate and the agenda you support.

One of the most common concerns folks express about Harris is that they don’t know enough about her, and don’t know where she stands on the issues. With her having been thrust into the race so late in the game, this is a legitimate concern. We didn’t have a year-long primary to learn these things, and she’s been playing catch-up. However, the information has been coming out, and I encourage anyone still unsure about Harris to explore her positions on the issues—such as the economy, taxes, health care, education, reproductive freedom, climate crisis, civil rights, immigration, gun violence, and foreign policy—and compare them to Trump’s†.

Last point: There has been a lot of activity in state election boards (and in campaign rhetoric from the GOP) that has laid the groundwork for specious challenges to the outcome of the election. If the vote tallies are close, we’re going to see a tsunami of delays, lawsuits, and chaos surrounding demands for recounts and refusals to certify results. To counter this, progressive-leaning voters need to come out in record numbers, to increase that margin of victory (yes, even in reliably blue states), so there can be no doubt as to the outcome.

To me, the choice has always been clear, but I understand that such is not the case for everyone. In my mind, an even temperament and a willingness to compromise are two hallmarks of a successful presidency. Next to those, I look for an agenda that is geared toward helping middle and lower income households, because that is what a society is supposed to do: help those who need help, not those who already have it made.

Harris isn’t a perfect candidate—I’m sure everyone will find one of her policies that rankles—but comparing the two candidates, comparing their respective agendas, and comparing their approaches to governing, I find the GOP candidates terribly lacking. The politics of division and denigration—of women, of minorities, of legal immigrants, of the childless, of the non-Christian and non-hetero and non-cisgender—that is no way to govern a society that is as complex and multi-layered as ours. It is a bleak and hostile view of our nation, its history, and its people, and it deserves to be soundly rejected.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll put away my soapbox, now.

Remember to check your registration and make a voting plan!

k

† You can find Trump’s issue statements either as part of his series of Agenda 47 videos, or see many of them described in Project 2025. (Though Trump has denied any connection to that project, it was authored by many of his former staff and its elements are strongly echoed in his rhetoric.)

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For Your Consideration

Posted in Culture, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 28 Jun 2024| Leave a Comment »

Well, that was a bloody disaster.

I’m talking, of course, about last night’s “debate” between Biden and Trump. While Trump played the usual bloviating, grievance-fueled prevaricator who couldn’t manage to actually address 90% of the questions put to him, Biden’s performance was—there’s no way to sugar-coat it—feeble, stumbling, and unfocused.

While I don’t see the event as having helped either candidate, I know it hurt Biden, and that pumps up my already elevated cortisol levels into the red.

Democrats are in freak-out mode, and I am not about to attempt a prediction as to how this will play out. What I do want to do is throw a lifeline to those who are understandably concerned, who like neither of the candidates, and who are genuinely worried about the GOP’s right-hand trend toward lawless autocracy and unabashed theocracy.

We must, as a good friend of mine said, change the narrative.

Here’s my suggestion of how we can do this.

Vote for the Agenda, Not the Candidate

American politics took a wrong turn back when voters began to use the “Who would you rather have a beer with?” metric for deciding on a candidate. It was arguably the first misstep that put us on the path to where we are today, where we vote solely on who the candidate is (or appears to be), and not how they will govern. This is a critical distinction, as the person who is president is much less important than the agenda that person brings into office.

So, if you’ll indulge me, let’s do a little thought experiment. Take the candidates out of the equation—no Trump, and no Biden—and compare just the agenda that each major party is working toward. This is actually an easy thing to do as both parties have manifestos and a track record.

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For the GOP, one need look no further than Project 2025. This 900+ page roadmap is the product of The Heritage Foundation, a highly influential ultra-conservative think tank that has been fighting against reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, civil rights, and climate change for decades. Aiding and abetting this project are over a hundred other right-wing groups such as Stephen Miller’s (he of the “family separation” immigration policy) America First Legal, and the book-banning, racism-denying Moms for Liberty. While Project 2025 is not officially the platform of the GOP’s campaigns, we hear them use its talking points in their rhetoric, see the actions they’ve already taken in support of it, and read about the steps they are taking toward a fuller implementation of its goals.

It’s impossible to accurately summarize this incredibly broad-based agenda, but let’s at least point to a few examples of where they’re going:

  • Christian nationalism is a driving force in the Project’s philosophy. We see already the attempts to erode the separation of church and state, with Christian teachings being mandated in schools (see Oklahoma, Louisiana) and attempts to eliminate the long-standing ban on churches endorsing candidates.
  • Climate change mitigation efforts should be abandoned by repealing regulations that curb emissions, downsizing the EPA, and abolishing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which the Project calls “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”
  • Reproductive health is on the block, as the Project insists that life begins at conception, and intends to explicitly reject “the notion that abortion is health care.” This, includes the withdrawal of FDA approval of (and funding for) medical abortion drugs and the “morning after” pill. One spokesperson has said that the Department of Health and Human Services should require that “every state report exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method.” General healthcare, too, is up for changes, as the Project wants to rescind Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices (which recently brought the monthly price of insulin down to $35) and eliminate gender-affirming care.
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) projgrams, which have far-reaching positive effects for many vulnerable minorities, will be removed and federal employees who have participated in such programs can be fired.  The Project proposes the recognition of only heterosexual men and women, the removal of protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual or gender identity, and promotion of a government that will “maintain a biblically based, social-science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.”

These are highlights only, and do not paint a complete picture, as we also need to keep in mind that the GOP talks openly about more tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy and corporations, about eliminating the ACA that provides healthcare for millions, and about letting Putin and Russia do “whatever the hell they want” and walk all over Ukraine (and wherever they want to go next).

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On the Democrat side, it’s pretty much the opposite: religion has no place in government, climate change is real and must be combated, reproductive rights are essential healthcare, prescription drugs should be cheaper for everyone, and America is stronger because of our diversity.

In addition, the Democrats:

  • Have been working toward immigration reform and border security (though the GOP killed a bill they’d already agreed to, because it’s a good political football)
  • Have helped eliminate or reduce student loan debt for millions (though the GOP has worked hard to thwart every attempt)
  • Were able to bring down gas prices about 40 cents/gallon through a savvy set of maneuvers using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
  • Have passed bills on infrastructure and manufacturing that have brought thousands of jobs and billions of investment dollars back to the states
  • Want to raise the minimum wage, fight for higher tax credits to offset child-care costs, and support workers who want to unionize
  • Support the fight against autocracy, be it against Putin’s imperialistic goals in Ukraine, or Iran’s proxies in the Middle East

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Regardless of who is at the top of the ticket, these are the agendas, and one will win in November.

My vote will go toward the Democrat’s agenda, up and down the ticket, because:

  • Even though I live in a reliably “blue state,” I want to repudiate the GOP agenda.
    • I don’t want to win by a squeak; I want to win by a lot. I don’t want anyone to stay home or vote for a third party candidate because I want this extreme GOP agenda to be resoundingly defeated. I want the Democrat agenda to be given a mandate to proceed.
  • I want to give the Democrat agenda the tools it needs to realize these goals.
    • That means a majority in the House and the Senate, as well as control of the Executive branch. The GOP has proven it cannot/will not compromise. Hell, even when they did agree to a bill that gave them almost everything they wanted (i.e., this year’s immigration/border security bill), they killed it rather than give any kind of a “win” to the Dems. So I want a government that can actually do something, instead of being stuck in gridlock.
  • I want the Democrat agenda to have a chance to re-balance the Supreme Court (or at least maintain status quo).
    • If the GOP comes into power again, they’ll be able to replace aging conservatives Thomas and Alito with younger, more rabid justices, who will give us retrograde decisions like Dobbs for decades to come. And let’s not even think of them expanding the conservative majority on the bench, should one of the liberal justices retire.

There’s a lot at stake this election. We’re reaching a fever pitch and the results will shape our nation for decades.

One of these agendas will win, come November, and we don’t have the luxury of letting others decide for us.

If you’ve read this far, I thank you for your indulgence, and I greatly appreciate your time and attention.

k

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