I had very little hope in this election. And now even less for this country. According to my daughter, who is an environmental scientist , we’ve lost the climate battle already. I’m not even going to get into how people are arguing with me about bombing babies, can the bar go any lower? I’m blocking people I considered friends who voted only for their wallets, not considering anything else, not even common decency. They feel totally justified. The meme “ it gets worse before it gets worse” is my life...but I’m a bitch ass warrior too, I’m not going down easy, there are still things worth fighting for, this country and other places. If I see a kids who is hungry. I’ll try to feed them, I’ll never resist a chance to tell anyone that their tax dollars are maiming and killing children. I grow food and give it away, donate to planned parenthood among other places. Drops in a huge bucket of misery, I know. I feel I can never do enough. I always appreciate your ability to write it down in such an articulate way. Thanks for your huge impact Rick!
Thanks, Lucinda! My mantra is still, "pessimism, of the intellect, optimism of the will." I think it's more important than ever to imagine a radically different and radically better world.
Democrats have no desire to consider anybody but their rich donors. They will never consider working people as worth their time or focus. Democrats have no desire to offer anything of value to or for those outside their mindset, the Rich or Upper Middle Class, The professional management class. As a result, the rest of American society is moving away from the Democratic Party and now voting Republican. The Republicans screw over ordinary Americans, but people are fed up with the way Democrats ignore and denigrate working people. Democrats just lie to get votes. Once in power, Democrats screw us royally. We can vote Republican for that kind of treatment. This election enough people did just that. And the Democrats now blame the voters for Trump’s win. They will never change due to the money the consultants and other party functionaries make off of lying to us. Selling a bad “ product “ finally caught up with the Democrats. This is the democratic way! Lie promise and fuck over their base cause the Republicans are worse. Meanwhile, things just get worse for average working class Americans as they have regardless as to what President is elected. People get screwed whether there is a Republican or Democratic President. Americans are at the mercy of a system that is designed to give the appearance our vote, our lives anything else matters. It is a scam. Our Government is not the least bit concerned or responsive to the average American. I just wish there was a way to change the system, but there isn’t. The Rich and the powers that be won’t allow any change, just the appearance of change, to gaslight us as they have been doing for decades now. America is royally screwed, for good. At least, what was the nominal idea of America as being the land of the free and the brave. Stick a fork on it. It is done!
All that I have read continues to give too little consideration to the legacy of the 1980-1990s. Those raised and educated amid the me-centric, authoritarian discourse of those times, combining broad disregard for the whole range of human rights as defined by the UN in 1948 with an obsessive focus on the rights of the unborn, are now 30-60 years old. They are in charge of most of our corporations, religious sects, and government agencies. In the discourse about "boomers" vs "millennials" the role of this demographic is studiously ignored. One aspect of this electoral tragedy is that we are now replicating their education by drowning the vital messages of grassroots movements like Occupy and Black Lives Matter in discussions of the discourse spewed out by the right wing of both the Democrat and Republican parties.
Thanks, Ann. I don't disagree. My problem with the "battle of generations" discourse is that it's used to stifle discussion of the class war that elites have been waging on the rest of us for 50 years. A more nuanced approach like yours makes perfect sense to me. I always go back to an interview I read with Oliver Stone where he said he created Gordon Gekko as a villain and was shocked when young Wall Street traders adopted him as a hero: "Greed is good." For me (to oversimplify a little), it comes down to the age-old conflict they've set up between individualism and community—which is a false dichotomy, because individuals only thrive within communities. "Not me, us."
I had very little hope in this election. And now even less for this country. According to my daughter, who is an environmental scientist , we’ve lost the climate battle already. I’m not even going to get into how people are arguing with me about bombing babies, can the bar go any lower? I’m blocking people I considered friends who voted only for their wallets, not considering anything else, not even common decency. They feel totally justified. The meme “ it gets worse before it gets worse” is my life...but I’m a bitch ass warrior too, I’m not going down easy, there are still things worth fighting for, this country and other places. If I see a kids who is hungry. I’ll try to feed them, I’ll never resist a chance to tell anyone that their tax dollars are maiming and killing children. I grow food and give it away, donate to planned parenthood among other places. Drops in a huge bucket of misery, I know. I feel I can never do enough. I always appreciate your ability to write it down in such an articulate way. Thanks for your huge impact Rick!
Thanks, Lucinda! My mantra is still, "pessimism, of the intellect, optimism of the will." I think it's more important than ever to imagine a radically different and radically better world.
Democrats have no desire to consider anybody but their rich donors. They will never consider working people as worth their time or focus. Democrats have no desire to offer anything of value to or for those outside their mindset, the Rich or Upper Middle Class, The professional management class. As a result, the rest of American society is moving away from the Democratic Party and now voting Republican. The Republicans screw over ordinary Americans, but people are fed up with the way Democrats ignore and denigrate working people. Democrats just lie to get votes. Once in power, Democrats screw us royally. We can vote Republican for that kind of treatment. This election enough people did just that. And the Democrats now blame the voters for Trump’s win. They will never change due to the money the consultants and other party functionaries make off of lying to us. Selling a bad “ product “ finally caught up with the Democrats. This is the democratic way! Lie promise and fuck over their base cause the Republicans are worse. Meanwhile, things just get worse for average working class Americans as they have regardless as to what President is elected. People get screwed whether there is a Republican or Democratic President. Americans are at the mercy of a system that is designed to give the appearance our vote, our lives anything else matters. It is a scam. Our Government is not the least bit concerned or responsive to the average American. I just wish there was a way to change the system, but there isn’t. The Rich and the powers that be won’t allow any change, just the appearance of change, to gaslight us as they have been doing for decades now. America is royally screwed, for good. At least, what was the nominal idea of America as being the land of the free and the brave. Stick a fork on it. It is done!
All that I have read continues to give too little consideration to the legacy of the 1980-1990s. Those raised and educated amid the me-centric, authoritarian discourse of those times, combining broad disregard for the whole range of human rights as defined by the UN in 1948 with an obsessive focus on the rights of the unborn, are now 30-60 years old. They are in charge of most of our corporations, religious sects, and government agencies. In the discourse about "boomers" vs "millennials" the role of this demographic is studiously ignored. One aspect of this electoral tragedy is that we are now replicating their education by drowning the vital messages of grassroots movements like Occupy and Black Lives Matter in discussions of the discourse spewed out by the right wing of both the Democrat and Republican parties.
Thanks, Ann. I don't disagree. My problem with the "battle of generations" discourse is that it's used to stifle discussion of the class war that elites have been waging on the rest of us for 50 years. A more nuanced approach like yours makes perfect sense to me. I always go back to an interview I read with Oliver Stone where he said he created Gordon Gekko as a villain and was shocked when young Wall Street traders adopted him as a hero: "Greed is good." For me (to oversimplify a little), it comes down to the age-old conflict they've set up between individualism and community—which is a false dichotomy, because individuals only thrive within communities. "Not me, us."