Democratic Socialism vs Communism vs Capitalism

Make no mistake about it, I’m a capitalist. I’ve always believed that one of the things that has made America a great country is the fact that everyone has a chance to be as successful as they choose to be, thanks to capitalism. And through hard work, talent, skill, and sometimes luck you can take advantage of the opportunity. I’ve certainly been able to do so in my career. Over the course of forty years, this high school graduate (with some community college credits) has managed to build a life, raise some kids, and have enough money to do exactly what I want to for the next twenty-five years, or so, in retirement. At this moment, our president along with his cronies – vice president, cabinet members, right leaning pundits – is running around telling any microphone and camera that the country is being taken over by “violent, communist, scum.” This is how he refers to the “Dumbocrats” and anyone that leans even slightly left.

(Let’s stop for a moment and consider this. I have never known an elected president to refer to over half the population with such horrible rhetoric. Have you? Why does he think he can get away with that? Why do all his followers think that it’s okay to do so? He claims to work for all of us and yet, he calls many of us these horrible names. I mean, what the actual fuck? I’ve had plenty of former Presidents that I didn’t agree with their policies. I never, for a second, felt like they were trying to stomp on half of the citizenry of our country!) I recently heard a wonderful conversation on the radio show, On Point, hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti where a professor from Columbia University was describing the difference between Democratic Socialism and Communism. If you have the time, it’s worth a google and a listen. I can only wish our elected officials took the time to do the same. Maybe they’d stop saying this stupid stuff and maybe our journalists could start asking questions of them that clarify what they really stand for. I digress. Here are my own definitions. Capitalism – anyone may become rich but everyone is on their own. Communism – no one may become rich but no one will be poor. Socialism – anyone may become rich but no one will be poor and we’re all in this together. Democratic socialism – See above plus the government, through the people, will make sure it all runs properly. Why is this important? Well, if you go with the notion that America is the greatest country in the world, it follows that all of our society should have enough food to eat, a place to live, affordable healthcare, the ability to earn a living, and free education. That sounds, to me, like the least one could expect from the greatest country in the world. And yet, we don’t. How bad is it? Let’s start with food. According to the USDA, 5.4% of the population have severe food insecurity meaning they routinely skip meals altogether. And 8.3% of the population face reduced food availability, skipping means or eating unhealthy food. In other words, 47.9 million people either go hungry or eat unhealthy foods. Next up, a place to live. According to HUD, at any moment, about 750,000 people are homeless in the US. These people are living in their cars, or in a cardboard box, or in a tent, or just sleeping on a park bench. In many cities, there is some form of support for them to sleep in a protected spot but many are simply out of doors. There are some that do it by choice but it is a small minority – most have no choice. Education – Only 38.7% of the population has a bachelor’s degree or higher. More importantly, 10.13% do not have a high school diploma at 25 years of age. 40% of the population never attend college of any kind. Despite this, the current debt load for higher education is $1.8 Trillion. (By the way, education has been proven to be the key to more quickly increasing GDP and a much higher happiness index among populations. Oh yeah, that’s in countries where education is largely free.)

Affordable health care – about 8.1% of the population have no healthcare insurance, around 27 million people as of 2024. Don’t forget, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” removed subsidies for Obamacare and the expectation is that another 10 million or so have probably fallen off health insurance rolls as a result. It’s believed that 80% of the people with no healthcare are among the mostly poor. Based on the cost of healthcare and insurance, that’s probably correct. Finally, let’s talk about poverty. As of 2024, 35.7 million people live below the poverty line. What is the poverty line? For a single person, it’s $14,960; that is just about minimum wage of $7.25 per hour at a full-time job. For a family of four, the poverty line is $29,890. Think about how much you make in your career and how you may struggle sometimes to make ends meet. How much more than this “poverty line” do you earn? And almost 36 million people earn that tiny amount, or less! Scarier to me is that the average household has around $450 available for an emergency and if faced with one, would be struggling to handle it.

Wait! I thought we were the greatest country in the world. It doesn’t sound like it! I know, right? My opinion is that it’s due to having what I would call unrestricted capitalism along with a “trickledown theory” of taxation. Some examples: For profit companies are allowed to make as much money as they can; they’re beholden to their shareholders to produce a return on investment. Fair enough. And they should also pay taxes on the profit the company produces, right? According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) at least 88 profitable US companies paid $0 in taxes in 2025. They earned over $105 billion in that same tax year. And paid $0 in taxes! You can google the list and see how many you currently do business with. Additionally, many of these companies pay their employees so poorly that many of them rely on government assistance. It’s estimated that over 40% of Walmart employees, are on Medicaid and/or SNAP benefits – both of which are driven by income. Or lack of it. Okay but I don’t want to be a Communist. Nobody that I know, does. But the Democratic Socialists are getting lumped with them by Trump and his clown posse. The fact is that we’ve had socialist programs for decades. Social Security? It’s in the name. Medicare and Medicaid? Both are social programs. Have you ever driven on the freeway or interstate highway? They’re both socialism in action since the Federal Government built them – with your tax dollars. Ever been to a National Park? That’s a social program funded by the US Government. (It’s responsible for putting $60 billion into cities and towns that are within an hour of these parks, thanks for tourists and visitors.) Then what are the Democratic Socialists proposing? First is that everyone should pay their fair share of taxes. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the highest tax rate was over 90%. (Bear in mind, that was on the amount of money earned over a certain amount, not all.) The current rate is 37% and that’s for income over $640 thousand earned in a year. I’m not saying we go back to 90%, we shouldn’t, but we need to do a better job of people paying their fair share. (I consider it a sense of personal pride to pay taxes as it’s my country and I’ve always gotten a lot back from living here.) Next is that healthcare and education should be free or close to it. If the citizenry isn’t well educated or healthy, we start with a handicap when it comes to competing with the rest of the world. In other words, it’s tough to be the best in the world if you’re people aren’t at their best! Finally, we need to help people out of poverty. Many years ago, FDR got the country out of the depression by creating millions of jobs that got people back to working, back to getting paid, and back on their feet. A program or programs like that would go a long way to curing many of our ills – hunger, poverty, healthcare, homelessness.

Is that it? No, there are other proposals out there, too, many having to do with how government works, like term limits, eliminating the Electoral College for National elections, increasing the number of Congressional Representatives. Those are going to take far more time to debate and put into place. Frankly, I’m okay with all of them as our elected officials scare me. That’s my take on all of this. What’s yours?

The Art of the Deal????

It's being reported this morning that the US and Iran have reached a "deal" in the conflict started by the Melon Felon two or three months ago. The details have not yet been released as of this morning but it appears that there will be a cease fire for 90 days to allow time to work on an actual treaty instead of the "Memorandum of Understanding" or MOU that this is. Bear in mind that President Obama, along with a number of other leaders, had negotiated a deal back in July 2015 called the JCPOA or Iran nuclear deal for short. By all indications, this was working in keeping Iran for manufacturing a nuclear weapon and had achieved some form of uncomfortable peace in the Middle East. In 2018, Trump removed the US from the deal and it fell apart. According to him, the Iranians were ignoring the deal anyway, Obama had negotiated it so it had to be horrible, and only he could fix it. He never got around to doing so in his first term and had to wait until now to take charge. According to intelligence sources, Iran was nowhere near a nuclear warhead. According to Trump, it was imminent - within 2 weeks! - and he had to do something. So, he and Israel decided to completely set the Middle East into turmoil. (Oddly, 2 weeks is what he said it would take to come up with a new healthcare program; that was about 6 years ago, during his first term. Should be here any day, now!) It appears that the terms of this new deal with Iran will not be as favorable as Obama's deal was. And there you have it! Just so much winning! 7,000 dead, including a lot of kids and innocents, about $40 billion spent on munitions, 13 dead soldiers, gas over $4 a gallon, and inflation at the highest rate since during the pandemic. Why do we even have a 25th Amendment?

So, we're at war...

So now, we’re at war… I was born a few years after the end of the Korean Conflict, a war that my father served in. (In Germany, not in combat, mind you.) It was also a few years before the start of the Viet Nam war, another horrible war that ended up killing over 58,000 US service members. I remember one time, a cousin visited us in Arlington during the Viet Nam days. She and her brother were both in the Army at the time. Watching the news in the evening, she was physically disturbed at the reports of service members dying that day and that week. It made an impression on me. It would have made a bigger impression if I’d been drafted but the war ended before I was at that age. My father told me, once, that he’d have told me to go to Canada if I had been drafted. That also made an impression on me. Here we are again, having entered a completely avoidable conflict all because one man – President Donald J. Trump – wants to show the world how strong he is and how strong the USA is. He claims it’s because the Iranians were “weeks away” from having nuclear weapons, something that intelligence sources say is highly inaccurate. Other sources believe it’s to take away interest in the Epstein Files, in which he’s named over 3,000 times. (The FBI apparently has reason to finally believe a woman who testified, under oath, that Trump sexually abused and beat her at 13 of age. Nice.) His Secretary of Defense – Pete Hegseth – a former Fox News weekend host, alcoholic, cosplaying Army wannabe, is directing the military festivities with help from his self-appointed cronies. To say it’s a shitshow is about the nicest way to put it. It’s costing $1 Billion a day and all it’s done so far, is kill the ancient leader of Iran, get his son elevated in his place, drive the price of oil up about about 50% in a week, and get a couple of dozen US service members killed or badly injured. Winning! Hegseth appeared on 60 Minutes last night and gave an incredibly pompous account of what had happened so far and what we could expect. It allowed me to confirm that he is no more qualified for that role than I am to be competing on the PGA Tour. He’s lost and he knows it but he puts up a brave front, tying everything back to the incredible leadership of dear leader, Trump. At a solemn occasion of “dignified transfer of war dead” this past weekend, Trump appeared wearing one of his signature baseball caps that are part of his merchandise sale offerings. I’ve not seen anything so disrespectful in my life; and I’ve watched Congress in action for over 6 decades. The man has zero respect for anything but himself, truly. What’s next? Look, I know that the moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice. I so wish it wouldn’t take so bloody long! In only 13 months, this administration has embarrassed the US on the International stage, turned our allies into standoffish observers, set fire to the financial works all over the world economy, and driven prices into the stratosphere for all Americans. If this isn’t stopped, or at least inhibited, by the various checks and balances that are in place, we may not recover in my lifetime. And I don’t want my kids having to clean this up because the public was stupid enough to elect this assclown twice! For me, I’m going to keep doing what I can to keep the pressure up. I’ll keep writing my Congresspeople, keep posting on social media, continue to debate the cult members when I get the chance. I do this not because I think I can change other’s opinions it’s to ensure that I don’t change my own from being beaten into submission by them. I know this much. We can’t continue down this path, not if we want the great American Experiment to continue. Not if we value our freedoms. Not if we value our country. And certainly not if we value life. Do not give up the fight!

The world thinks we’re crazy or worse…here’s why

 

My bride and I, along with another couple, took a trip to France the last two weeks of July. The main purpose of the trip was to check off a bucket-list item; see the Tour de France bike race in person. We also planned the trip to include visits to several places in Paris, the south of France, the French Alps, and a visit to the beaches of Normandy. It was a busy couple of weeks!

We arrived in Paris on a beautiful Friday morning and immediately began exploring. Over the next 4 days, we:

• ·         Enjoyed a food tour, led by a Brit who had lived in Paris for a decade. His pleasant nature and wit, along with an extensive knowledge of foods and dining locations, made for a very enjoyable five hours. 
  
  
  
• ·         Dined aboard a river boat on the Seine. This cruise began at 8:30 pm and wound up around 11:00. Since the dock was located near the Eiffel Tower, we returned just as the lovely site lit up and began its nightly sparkling. It was magical! 
  
  
  
• ·         Visited several markets in the city. I’m always amazed at the multitudes of these whenever I visit Europe. The markets are fascinating in terms of their size and the wide variety of products they offer. Great for eating and buying gifts for the folks back home!
• ·         Visited famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Bastille, and Notre Dame Cathedral to which, unfortunately, we were unable to gain entry. You may recall it suffered horrible damage in a fire in April of 2019. While repairs will continue for a long time, much of the cathedral is available to visit and so many people are doing so – 30,000 per day – that getting one of the timed entry slots is difficult. We walked around the outside and learned all about the rebuilding and renovation. The combination of modern technology and old world craftsmanship is fascinating to see.

After enjoying Paris, and all the food and drink we could manage, we took the train to Avignon in the south to begin our Tour de France adventure. Train travel is so delightful in Europe! Fast, inexpensive, and civilized, it’s one of my favorite parts of a European trip.

In Avignon, we rented a car big enough to hold four adults and luggage (it took the largest SUV they had which wasn’t big compared to American vehicles) and headed into the country. We rented a “Chalet Atypique” through booking.com and it was very rural. It consisted of two small buildings on a farm near the town of Bedoin where decent cell service is not yet a thing. Just the same, it was delightful to be off the grid for a few days. 

 I had also arranged to rent Ebikes for the four of us and they were delivered shortly after we arrived. Having never ridden one, I was looking forward to seeing the difference. 

The next morning, we packed lunches, along with the requisite bottles of wine, and headed off to Mt. Ventoux, a very famous climb of the Tour, which began about 5 kilometers away. Almost immediately, I realized that ebikes are amazing! These provided a boost to your pedaling and you could adjust the amount of assistance with a lever. With almost no effort, we easily managed about 20 kmh, uphill. Amazing!

We reached the entrance to the road leading up the hill and headed up along with thousands of other bike fans, stopping for a break about the halfway point. The weather was gorgeous, our stopping point was in the shade and so we decided to watch from there and proceeded to picnic and party with everyone for the next 5 hours or so.

I had the opportunity to speak with a few folks from the surrounding area, all of whom were kind enough to speak English and not let me butcher their native tongue. By the end of the day, we had made a few friends and acquaintances before heading back down the hill. (There were so many that we were forced to walk about halfway back because of the crowds.)

The next morning we packed up and headed north to the French Alps, to a ski resort called La Plagne. The Tour would finish there two days later and we had a condo at the top of the mountain. These next two days were filled with hiking and eating and drinking and game playing with our friends. Topped off with a hike over one summit to another one where the stage ended. MB and I secured a spot 150 meters from the finish line with a giant video screen across the road from us. As a result, we were able to watch the entire race and then catch the riders as they blazed past us. Such a good time!

The next morning, we drove to Albertville and turned in our rental car and caught a train to Paris where we checked into another hotel for two nights. Our stay included sauntering across the city to the Champs Elysee to watch the final stage finish of this year’s tour. We stood with thousands of other fans in, at times, a driving rainstorm as the riders passed by 3 times before finishing a few hundred meters from our position. What an amazing spectacle this is!

We walked slowly back across the city to our hotel, stopping for dinner at a brasserie, before turning in for the night.

Next morning, we took a train to a town called Caen where we rented another car to drive to Normandy. Our stay for two nights was at a bed and breakfast about fifty meters from Omaha Beach, site of the D-Day Landing.

Our guide for the Normandy tour was a delightful local man who guided us from 9:00 am to 6:30 pm, driving us around the area while providing a detailed description of every place we visited; the German cemetery, the American cemetery (where we caught Taps being played and the colors being stricken for the night) the town of Bayeux and Caen where several of the battles took place during the first three days of the invasion, Omaha Beach and the German bunkers that had been built for defending against the invasion. These exist today as a testament to what the Allies had to overcome to secure our freedom and remove the Occupation from France.

Standing in one of the bunkers, looking through a narrow slit at the beach and ocean, I kept imagining what it must have been like to be a young German soldier; looking out onto the ocean and suddenly seeing, as the sky brightened with dawn, over 7,000 ships spread out as far as his eyes could see. Over 150,000 troops were on their way to take back what had been stolen. How frightening and discouraging that must have felt!

We had dinner that night at our hotel and talked about what all we’d seen and experienced over the last two weeks. We also talked about the conversations we’d had with the people we’d met and how we found the French people to be very friendly and welcoming to us. The ones that we engaged in deeper conversation were especially more friendly when they found that all four of us did not vote for the current administration and, in fact, are adamantly opposed to it. They were almost unanimously on our side of the conversation and wondering, openly, “How did he get elected?” (Our answers focused on our election process and systems, including a discussion about how many Americans don’t bother to vote. Most were surprised by that.)

The flight home two days later started me thinking about why the world is questioning everything about America and where she stands, at this moment. After all, the US had been responsible for helping to overthrow the murderous regimes of the Nazis along with Italy and Japan. Our ability to crank out necessary arms and munitions was one of the deal makers in winning the war.

Along the way, the US was instrumental in helping Europe to rebuild through the Marshall Plan, and assisted those economies in getting back on their feet. The treaties that were signed, and the partnerships that were formed, allowed all the free countries of the world to develop powerful economies and raise standards of living for nearly everyone.

When Trump was elected the first time, it left most of the free world scratching its head and wondering what happened? The chaos, the pomposity, the brusqueness, the cozying up to dictators (Putin, Un, etc.) seemed so unamerican to everyone. When he was defeated in 2020, there was almost a collective silent prayer of thanks from all those countries. Almost as if to say, “Okay, the Americans are back on track again! Thanks heavens!”

Now that he’s back in power and was elected by “the same people that voted him out” they’re stunned even more so! He’s even more obnoxious, he appears to be a racist, and a fascist, is an adjudged sex offender, isn’t particularly intelligent, and is bringing a host of unqualified people in to run the US Government whose sole qualification is they follow Trump. He’s overseeing the cutting of programs that directly improve the lives of people around the globe and is looking to charge tariffs (without knowing how they actually work) to countries that have been our trading partners for decades under the accusation that those “supposed trading partners” have been “ripping us off for years!”

Why does the world think we’re crazy or worse?

I think part of it is that, unlike most of the rest of the free world, Americans are far less likely to register to vote and, once registered, are less likely to cast a vote.

Want some data?

79.8% of Americans that are eligible to vote, have actually registered as of 2025. 18-34 year olds really hurt the average as they’re around 62%. And actual voting is lower than the average of all countries with free and fair election – right around 60% vs over 70% for the rest.

Since Europeans typically vote more frequently, I suspect they are expecting Americans to do so, as well. After all, we’re the ones who really helped save the world from authoritarian domination in WW2 along with the cold war. Americans must believe in democracy then, right? Right??

If that’s so, then HOW THE HELL DID THEY ELECT A DICTATOR, WHO COZIES UP TO OLIGARCHS? WHO BRINGS THE MILITARY IN AGAINST HIS OWN PEOPLE? WHO IS A THIRTY FOUR TIMES CONVICTED FELON? WHO APPOINTS THE LEAST QUALIFIED PEOPLE INTO POSITIONS OF POWER SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THEIR LOYALTY TO HIM? WHO APPEARS TO BE A RACIST AND A SEXIST? DOES IT MEAN THAT ALL OR MOST AMERICANS ARE LIKE THAT? HAVE THEY BEEN THAT WAY ALL ALONG?

If you aren’t yet aware of it, people in other countries think we’re crazy or worse. These are the reasons why!

Just know that they're also rooting for us to get out of this current situation we've put ourselves into. They think we can do it!

I sure hope they're right...

 

Donald J. Trump – the man we elected President

 

The thoughts expressed here are solely my own.

A few people have pointed out on social media that we should stop attacking his policies and give them time to work their “magic.” Fair enough. (Although nearly every economist, with any credibility at all, is saying the results are going to be terrible. And that’s just on the economic actions! How about that foreign policy?)

Let’s focus on Trump, the man, then.

What do we know about him?

He was born into wealth and yet claims that he built his entire fortune himself, pulling himself up by his bootstraps. He says he was an incredible student at Fordham University and then at Wharton Business school where he graduated with a BS in economics in 1968. His grades have never been seen by the public and for someone who leans heavily to the vainglorious, I can only imagine how awful they must have been, or he would have been waving them around for all to see. (He claims to have won his golf club “championship” 18 times over the years. Does everyone else just not show up?)

He claims that his track record as a businessman gives him incredible insight into how the economy works and is best maximized. For the record, his various enterprises have filed for bankruptcy six times, including a casino. Casinos are among the most lucrative businesses in the world because the house always wins. The only way to bankrupt one is through horrible mismanagement.

He claims to be a devout Christian yet in one interview was unable to name a single Bible verse by which he likes to live. He has been married four times and has proved to be a serial philanderer during each of those. He has been adjudicated as a sexual abuser and ordered to pay millions to E. Jean Carroll. He has lied over 30,000 times in public and each has been documented by the press. His actions clearly don’t match up to the common definition of a Christian. They also don’t line up well with commonly accepted moral standards, for that matter.

He claims to be a patriot and yet he managed to receive five deferments from the military draft during the Vietnam war, the first four for education and the fifth for a medical condition of bone spurs. (The details surrounding this are murky and unclear.) He has been quoted as not wanting to attend veteran funerals because “those guys are all losers!” Unlike other Presidents, he has been unwilling to spend time welcoming injured veterans home from overseas. (He allegedly attended one ceremony early in his first term and said he’d never do it again.)

He claims that our country needs to abolish its DEI efforts, and signed executive orders to do so, because they’re biased against some people (white folks) and that merit and competence will rule the way people are promoted in all government roles. He then appointed administration officials based on their loyalty to him instead of their merit, background, and competence. The Secretaries of Defense and Health and Human Services are just two glaring examples. He has fired many people in top positions of the government, simply because he sees them as disloyal to him and his cause.

With these examples, I believe it is possible to define Donald Trump. He is a lying, philandering, ignorant, immoral, narcissistic, racist, megalomaniac.

That’s who we’ve elected to the most powerful position in the world.

No wonder the world is wondering what happened to the United States. I wonder that, myself.

You call this Unifying? It’s Round 2 of the Bullsh*tter-in-Chief!

Are you kidding me??? 

Admittedly, I was disappointed that Kamala Harris didn’t win the presidential election in November. She had a long climb to make in just over 3 months’ time. And while she did a terrific job across the country about letting people know what she stood for and what her presidency would be about, a large percentage of the voting public was not moved to go and vote for her. Many said they “just didn’t know her” and that stopped them. (Heaven forbid they should do their own research and read her website which was very clear about all of this.)

The result was that a lot of potential voters stayed home, thus electing the 45^th POTUS as the 47^th POTUS – the second time in our history that a President served non-consecutive terms. As of 2 days ago, Donald J. Trump was the President of the United States.

His first administration was something of a disaster and ranked by many presidential scholars as the worst in history. (Having watched them live for the last 60+ years, that’s saying something!) In any case, he promised while campaigning that he would be a great unifier and would get America out of it’s “perilous decline of the disastrous past 4 years.”

It’s important to note that the past 4 years have seen the largest growth in our economy in history, the lowest unemployment rate of the past 50 years, more new businesses started than in the past 50 years, more jobs created than the past 50 years, and a constant reduction in the crime rate during the last 4 years, too. Was there inflation? Yep and while it was painful for many Americans, it was also the lowest of any of the major countries of the world; in other words, it was handled effectively, more so than anywhere else in the world. (If you’re looking at that last paragraph, and wondering where the decline is, your confusion is based in logic and reality. If you disagree with any of it, feel free to do your own research. Each of those statements is a fact.)

Shortly after being sworn in on January 20^th, 2025, which was also MLK Day for the ultimate irony, Trump signed a huge pile of Executive Orders. Some were pure fantasy (removing the citizenry birthright? It’s in the Constitution, dude) and others were just mean (There are only 2 genders, according to the new POTUS, flying in the face of science, of course.) and one was downright sinister. That’s the one that really pisses me off.

With the sweeping of Sharpie, TFG has pardoned or commuted the sentence of every one of the January 6^th insurrectionists; 1506 of them to be exact. Calling them patriots or proud Americans, he has basically said that what they did on that fateful day was just fine!

While he had said he was going to do it while campaigning, I am astonished at this outrageous act. There isn’t a single second of video that shows that group as being anything other than riotous, treasonous, racist, anti-American, anti-Democracy assholes. Their actions that day caused deaths, disabilities, and shook the very pillars of our country. By taking this action, TFG has made it clear that the only Americans he will honor and protect are the ones that are totally loyal to him. If this doesn’t frighten you, you are either not paying attention or are too MAGAfied to understand the ramifications.

The GOP has long described itself as the party of law and order. I have yet to hear a single member of the party stand up and say, “This is wrong!”

Jesus Christ, people he’s just said that police don’t have to uphold the law and people who break it in his name are welcome to do so!

Despite my not voting for him, I had decided that I would support our new President as long as what he was doing was good for all Americans. Based on these actions on the first day in office, he’s lost any support from me for anything he does in record time.

No one will ever convince me that he is anything but an ignorant, racist, narcissistic, bully. The only way to deal with a bully, in my experience, is to punch them in the nose as many times as it takes for them to get the message.

I hope it isn’t too late to save America.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…

 

Those words are the closing lines from a rock song by a group called The Who. Title of the song is “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” It came to mind on Wednesday morning after I opened my iPad and learned that America had actually re-elected Donald J. Trump.

His opponent, the current VP Kamala Harris, is incredibly qualified, highly praised by just about everyone except the GOP, and ran a skillful and hard fought campaign with Tim Walz, her running mate.

Instead of electing her as the first female President as well as the first mixed race candidate, we have a replay of the administration that brought you such hits as:

·         “Don’t worry, it will just disappear!” Speaking of course about the Covid 19 pandemic which ended up taking the lives of over 1 Million Americans. (Scientists have stated that the failure of the administration to act quickly likely contributed to about half of those deaths.)

·         “I’m not going to that military cemetery; they’re all just suckers and losers.” Speaking of the opportunity to pay his respects to the fallen military heroes for Veteran’s Day. (He was unable to understand why anyone would sacrifice for their country, saying “What was in it for them?”)

·         “This is a witch hunt!” Speaking of the legal actions taken against him at various times during his time in office. So far, he was impeached twice and was found guilty of 34 felony counts. There are two other actions outstanding in state courts but the Federal charges against him will likely be dropped.

There are so many others that I could make this post literally dozens of pages long. I’ll just put up this cover from Vanity Fair magazine to illustrate what I’m talking about. The snippets down the left side say it all.

 

So, our next President is truly a piece of shit. Or, as someone in Scotland referred to him during his first term, an orange Cheeto dust covered, ferret wearing, shit gibbon.

His policies that he has offered and promised on the campaign trail include hair raising ideas about the economy that, according to 23 Nobel prize winning economists, will cause prices to increase dramatically and throw the country into a recession. They also include rounding up (using military and law enforcement) and deporting over 10 Million illegal immigrants, completing the wall across the southern border (the one that Mexico was going to pay for?) firing thousands of Federal employees and replacing them with his loyal followers (who know next to nothing about the job). He’s also threatened to have his detractors arrested and thrown in jail.

(I wish I were making this up but to give you some idea, as I write this, the stock of the two largest private prison companies has gone up 30% in value over the last 2 days. And that’s on the possibility that this sort of thing will happen.)

The result is that people who didn’t vote for him are very upset; some could be classified as despondent. People have been taking sick leave because of the election result. It’s that bad.

Meanwhile, many of those that did vote for him are acting like the good sports you would expect. A friend of mine posted on social media that she’d gone to the beach for some healing and this morning she was awakened by the sound of several dozen Jeeps driving in a line on the beach as loudly as they possible could with flags flying: MAGA, Elect Trump Vance, and Fuck Kamala Harris. They paraded for 45 minutes until the police showed up and ushered them off the sand. They reappeared about 2 hours later for more of the same.

How did we get here? I truly have no idea. I have some suspicions and most of them revolve around ignorance and an unwillingness to dig into the facts that candidates bring to their roles. I shudder to think it's actually brainwashing or something. Cult behavior has little to describe it so, I'm at a loss.

For the time being, I’m going to let all the pundits and analysts do the work they’re paid to do. I’ll read what they write, expand my personal reading list to learn what I can and see what turns up. The next 75 days (transition period) will be interesting.

At least we won’t have an insurrection this time around.

I hope.

 P. S. Here's the song; you can hear it on the internet.

Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

A change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war

I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again, no, no

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half-alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie

Do you?

Yeah

There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are effaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again, no, no

Yeah
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss