HERR TWITLER: NO MERCY
White people bought this bullshit,
but we all get to pay for it.
The greatest book of all time,* the “Art Of The Deal,” has no advice to help us with the rapidly mutating calamity of the choosing of a mentally ill narcissist to play president. President-elect Trump has already resumed his mini-rants on Twittit™, even as the dolts who obstructed the Obama presidency for two entire terms are squealing at Trump protesters to “get over it.” They don’t yet realize or care that the national psyche has only begun to feel the consequences of a concussion that could prove fatal to our democracy.
EUGENE ROBINSON
The people chose Hillary Clinton. But it’s the electoral vote that counts, not the popular vote, so Donald Trump will be president. And no, I’m not over it.
No one should be over it. No one should pretend that Trump will be a normal president. No one should forget the bigotry and racism of his campaign, the naked appeals to white grievance, the stigmatizing of Mexicans and Muslims. No one should forget the jaw-dropping ignorance he showed about government policy both foreign and domestic. No one should forget the vile misogyny. No one should forget the mendacity, the vulgarity, the ugliness, the insanity. None of this should ever be normalized in our politics.The big protests that have followed Trump’s election should be no surprise. You can’t spend all those months trashing our nation’s values and then expect everyone to join you in a group hug. Trump made the bed in which he now must lie.
If a normal Republican had been elected, I could say the polite and socially acceptable thing, something like “I didn’t support So-and-So, but he will be my president, too, and I wish him success.” But I cannot wish Trump success in rounding up and deporting millions of people or banning Muslims from entering the country or reinstituting torture as an instrument of U.S. policy. In these and other divisive, cruel, unwise initiatives, I wish him failure.
(my emphasis)
But not to worry, mon. Erry ting goann be awwiet. Perhaps. In a few dozen decades.
Meanwhile. The citizens (not the corporations) of most of the great powers are taxed, regulated, and controlled almost oppressively. Economic injustice is out of control. And the curtailment of individual liberties promises to continue around the world. Many Americans, and indeed, many of the world’s citizens are increasingly frightened and apprehensive about their future in Trump World. The fear and anger that drove a majority of whites in the U.S. to take a blunt instrument to their craniums just to “shake things up,” will now begin paying the price for their paroxysm of vengeance.
Part of that unforeseen price is going to be the painful ruination of our democracy, at the stunted little hands of a B-grade reality teevee star, tweeting his tiny tantrums from the midnight oval office.
THE DANGERS OF DEMOCRACY
Many Americans seem to have the notion that “democracy” is baked into our reality like cherries are in a pie. But our democracy is a product of civilization, not of organic evolution, and that makes it both fragile and volatile. There are several clear dangers that threaten democracy; here they are:
Glorification of mediocrity. Check. Do you really need examples?
Choice of base and ignorant rulers. Check. Trump isn’t the first or the worst; (yet). George Bush set a new low; now the question is how low can we go.
Failure to recognize the basic facts of social evolution. Check. Yes, we’re talking about economic injustice, and the failure to recognize and achieve human brotherhood.
Danger of universal suffrage in the hands of uneducated and indolent majorities. Check. Nothing in our history makes this point like our most recent presidential election.
Slavery to public opinion. (The majority is not always right.) Check. We have made a fetish of democracy, through the exaltation of the common man’s ideas which we collectively call “public opinion.” One man’s opinion, by itself, is not regarded as worth much. But when many men are collectively functioning as a democracy, this same mediocre judgment is held to be the arbiter of justice and the standard of righteousness.
Education of public opinion is still the only safe and true method of accelerating our civilization. Force is only temporary. Public opinion, the mores, is the elemental energy in social evolution, but it must be nonviolent in expression. Civilized government arrived when public opinion was clothed with the power of personal franchise. Now more than ever, we know that elections may not always decide things rightly; they just happen to represent the right way even to do a wrong thing.
WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB
Meanwhile, some free advice. All you earnest Evangenitals¹ should answer this question: Who should Jesus “bomb the hell out of” first? Maybe you reflexively thought to yourself, “Jesus wouldn’t bomb anybody.” But hold that thought.
After this election, it’s safe to say that the order of progressive evolution is occasionally subjected to sudden and unexpected changes in both the material and the spiritual worlds.
. . .no state is going to transcend the moral values of its citizenry as exemplified in their chosen leaders. . .
Jesus alluded to a “phase of the kingdom” in the future, and did, on numerous occasions, intimate that such an event might appear as a part of a world crisis. What sort of change is hard to speculate; but how about a nuclear exchange over. . . a hand gesture? Just a guess.
Our political or administrative form of a government is actually of little consequence, provided it affords the people with the essentials of civil progress: liberty, security, education, and social coordination. It’s not so much what a nation is, as what it does that determines the course of social evolution. But no state is going to transcend the moral values of its citizenry as exemplified in their chosen leaders. Ignorance and selfishness will insure the downfall of even the highest type of government. Bombs away.
WHITE NATIONALISM
As much as we regret it — and we must — America’s white national egotism has been essential to our social survival. The chosen people doctrine was a prime factor in building the nation. But our nation will never attain ideal levels of functioning until every form of intolerance is mastered; it is inimical to human progress.
How should our nation — even the world — function ideally in the 21st century? There are at least three powerful and all-encompassing drives we can use to set out upon a progressively ideal course:
1. Intelligent patriotism — based on wise ideals.
2. Love — derived from the realization of human brotherhood.
3. Cosmic insight — interpreted in terms of planetary facts, needs, and goals.
Un-American measures such as a Muslim registry is certainly not the answer; it would quickly make matters horrendously worse. Intolerance— fear and hatred of the other— is always best combated through a wise combination of science, commerce, play, and real religion. But only a truly ethical consciousness can unmask the immorality of human intolerance. What’s your honest estimate of the number of Trump supporters the poorly educated with a “truly ethical consciousness”? Only a moral conscience will condemn the evils of national envy and racial jealousy. Only truly moral beings will ever seek for that spiritual insight which is essential to living the golden rule.
THE PROGRESSIVE AGENDA
Okay then. Here are a dozen bullet points true progressives should be willing and able to agree on and work to implement. No pressure.
1. Preservation of individual liberties.
2. Protection of the home.
3. Promotion of economic security.
4. Prevention of disease.
5. Compulsory education.
6. Compulsory employment.
7. Profitable utilization of leisure.
8. Care of the unfortunate.
9. Race improvement.
10. Promotion of science and art.
11. Promotion of philosophy — wisdom.
12. Augmentation of cosmic insight — spirituality.
SO ARE WE DOOMED?
I hear you. You’re exhausted, confused, outraged, stuck in traffic, etc., and already don’t have enough time or means to take care of your essentials. Gee times are tough. And let’s be honest, looks like they’re going to get exponentially tougher, at least short term; even after the impeachment.
But yes, there was number nine up there: Race “improvement.” And yes you heard right, Trump thinks he has superior genes. Whatever he has, he is absolutely the worst spokesperson for eugenics you could possibly find. Huff-Po put it like this:
This May Be The Most Horrible Thing That Donald Trump Believes
Most unfortunate. Do you believe in evolution? Yes? Then you probably know that simple farmers have known for centuries that the “crossbreeding” of plants and animals could favor more desirable traits; but when it comes to humans, animal-origin humans— eugenics becomes evil, because, Hitler! Yes, imagine it: there’s a wrong way to do a right thing!
But. If you’ve never actually met an amoral criminal-type who would just as soon cut your throat as bomb a children’s hospital, I can understand some of your apprehension. But after this election??
It’s time you got over it.
* LOL; NO.
¹ Christian nutballs
Hello Mel, thanks for commenting. Perhaps what you think of as the “right direction” is relative from “where you sit”— your glass-half empty assessment of the past eight years under president Obama overlooked a few things.
Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. It covered 32 million uninsured Americans and mandated a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth— the number one cause of America’s long-term fiscal problems.
He passed the Stimulus package in 2009 to spur economic growth amid the greatest recession since the Great Depression. Twelve months later the private sector had begun producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.
He signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. It tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.
Though you say we “got more wars,” Obama ended the War in Iraq: He ordered all our forces out, and the last troops left on December 18, 2011.
He also began a draw-down of the War in Afghanistan. He eliminated Osama bin laden.
He turned Around the U.S. Auto Industry. Since bottoming out in 2009, the auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. In 2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two decades.
He repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and formalized new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.
He toppled Moammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi’s forty-two-year rule ended when the dictator was overthrown and killed by rebels on October 20, 2011. No American lives were lost.
He publicly called out Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to accept reform or step down, thus weakening the dictator’s position and putting America on the right side of the Arab Spring. Mubarak’s thirty-year rule ended when he was overthrown.
He reversed Bush and Cheney’s Torture Policies two days after taking office— nullifying rulings that had allowed detainees in U.S. custody to undergo certain “enhanced” interrogation techniques considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions.
He improved America’s image abroad with new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. Favorable opinion toward the U.S. rose in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project.
He kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant Spending.
He created Race to the Top, a $4.35 billion program of competitive grants to encourage and reward states for education reform.
He released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will nearly double the fuel economy for cars and trucks by 2025.
He passed Mini Stimuli to help families hurt by the recession and spur the economy as stimulus spending declined, to extend unemployment insurance and cut payroll taxes.
He increased support for Veterans, increasing the 2010 Department of Veterans Affairs budget by 16 percent and 2011 budget by 10 percent; he also signed a new GI bill offering $78 billion in tuition assistance over a decade, and provided multiple tax credits to encourage businesses to hire veterans.
He tightened Sanctions on Iran: In effort to deter Iran’s nuclear program, signed Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (2010) to punish firms and individuals who aid Iran’s petroleum sector. In late 2011 and early 2012, coordinated with other major Western powers to impose sanctions aimed at Iran’s banks and with Japan, South Korea, and China to shift their oil purchases away from Iran.
He created conditions to begin closing the dirtiest power plants: (Estimated health benefits: $59 billion to $140 billion. Will also significantly reduce carbon emissions.”)
He passed Credit Card Reforms: Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (2009), which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
He signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if that discrimination happened years ago.
He nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, the first Hispanic and third woman to serve, and Elena Kagan, the fourth woman to serve.
In 2011 he signed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which boosts the Food and Drug Administration’s budget by $1.4 billion and expands its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the current food safety practices of countries importing products into America.
He achieved a new START Treaty with Russia (2010) and won ratification in Congress (2011), that limits each country to 1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400), and reestablished and strengthened a monitoring and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009, through which each country can monitor the other.
He expanded National Service: Signed the Serve America Act which authorized a tripling of the size of AmeriCorps. Program grew 13 percent to 85,000 members across the country by 2012.
He expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection by signing the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act, which designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, created thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protected more than 1,000 miles of our rivers.
He gave the FDA Power to Regulate Tobacco by signing the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (2009) long resisted by the tobacco industry. The law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new tobacco products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels, and bans the sale of misleadingly labeled “light” cigarette brands and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.
He passed Fair Sentencing Act: Signed 2010 legislation that reduces sentencing disparity between crack versus powder cocaine possession from100 to1 to 18 to1.
He trimmed and reoriented our Missile Defense: by cutting the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.
He began Post-Post-9/11 Military Build-down: After winning agreement from congressional Republicans and Democrats in summer 2011 budget deal to reduce projected defense spending by $450 billion, proposed new DoD budget this year with cuts of that size and a new national defense strategy that would shrink ground forces from 570,000 to 490,000 over the next ten years while increasing programs in intelligence gathering and cyberwarfare.
He let the Space Shuttle die— the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011.
He axed a planned moon mission: Cut off funding for even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, which will investigate Mars’s potential to support life.
He invested heavily in Renewable Technology: As part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion, more than any previous administration, in research on smart grids, energy efficiency, electric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels.
Crafted Next-Generation School Tests: Devoted $330 million in stimulus money to pay two consortia of states and universities to create competing versions of new K-12 student performance tests based on latest psychometric research. New tests could transform the learning environment in vast majority of public school classrooms beginning in 2014.
He cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges: In an effort to fight predatory practices of some for-profit colleges.
He improved School Nutrition: In coordination with Michelle Obama, signed Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010 mandating $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional and health standards for school lunches.
He expanded Hate Crimes Protections: Signed Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009), which expands existing hate crime protections to include crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, color, religion, or national origin.
He brokered an agreement for Speedy Compensation to Victims of Gulf Oil Spill: Though lacking statutory power to compel British Petroleum to act, used the moral authority of his office to convince BP to agree to a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Created Recovery.gov: Web site run by independent board of inspectors general looking for fraud and abuse in stimulus spending, provides public with detailed information on every contract funded by $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Thanks partly to this transparency, board has uncovered very little fraud, and Web site has become national model: “The stimulus has done more to promote transparency at almost all levels of government than any piece of legislation in recent memory,” reports Governing magazine.
He pushed Broadband Coverage away from landlines and toward broadband Internet for lower-income rural families. He proposed and obtained approval for a shift of $8 billion in subsidies.
He expanded Health Coverage for Children: He signed the 2009 Children’s Health Insurance Authorization Act, which allows the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover health care for 4 million more children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.
In 2009, his EPA declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate its production.
He expanded Stem Cell Research: eliminated the Bush-era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, which shows promise in treating spinal injuries, and many other areas.
He ended any further purchases of Lockheed Martin’s single-seat, twin-engine, F-22 fighter boondoggle, which cost $358 million apiece— a plane that has never flown a single combat mission. Eliminating it saved $4 billion.
He also served longer than any president in decades without a scandal, as measured by the appearance of the word “scandal” (or lack thereof) on the front page of the Washington Post; not fictitious crap generated by Fox News or other fake media.
I could go on Mel, but I think you’ll agree you missed some stuff. I also hope you’ll be paying more attention to reality, now that you think we’re at an “amazing time.” Good luck.
(Thanks to Paul Glastris, Ryan Cooper, and Siyu Hu for originally compiling these points.)
I’m hoping for more change in the right direction. We certainly didn’t get much the last 8 years.
We got more wars, more graft, more bankster cronyism, more criminal policital mafias
From where I sit, we are at an amazing time! best planet ever!
Were has it gone in the entire 4.5 million years except into the every better, always changing future.
I’m not afraid.
Its a wondrous time to be alive.