(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Relentless [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2022-12-06
Ahh, the Midterms. Got it. In spite of an uneven playing field, Blue America was able to prevent a rout. For this we should be thankful.
What I cannot get past is how anyone can tolerate defining themselves as a Republican in 2022. I’ve read explanations from every angle but I just can’t get there. Clearly there are a great many people who look past criminal behavior, spite, cruelty, toxic greed, and serious threats to their country and their own wellbeing then vote to empower the Republican party. Ladies and gentlemen, this is creepy.
Progress made in the past century came, in part, from moral persuasion. People who had a good opinion of themselves were shown to be morally bankrupt and relented, somewhat. The loss of bigotry’s good name wasn’t forgiven. The assignations were relentless.
Today the guns are aimed at all of us, one community at a time. The bromide, ‘politically correct,’ reveals a mindset behind behavior we witness these days – a seething resentment that things said in private are unacceptable in public.
We live in a time of Zombie Republicans. Their mask of respectability mirrors a strategy used by Southern Ladies skilled at averting their eyes. The degree to which enslaved children looked like the ladies’ own fathers, husbands, sons and uncles was unremarked. Likewise, the modern Republican pretends that their party has not morphed into a menace to democracy, their families and community. They didn’t hear, don’t think it was significant if they did hear it, or, best of all, they don’t believe that is what was meant. What is reality anyway? It’s too hard, “pass the salt.”
When Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird she had the help of a skilled editor and published a best seller that told readers what they wanted to hear. Her second novel, Go Set A Watchman revealed the con. It took her decades to get there. It is anyone’s guess how long it would take a Zombie Republican to come clean. We cannot count on them to help save anything or anyone except the thin veneer of respectability they provide the Republican Party.
We’ll all take a break, recharge then return to being relentless. That is our only choice. With a seemingly suicidal plutocracy too glutted with greed to notice ill health from gluttony, they provide O2 for the Republican Party. We are and will be out spent with their combined forces of money and power. They are joined by religious fanatics eager to establish legal enforcement of their religious beliefs. Bigots, armed gangs, and sullen men find a welcome home in the Republican Party. Zombie Republicans round out the Party’s Big Tent.
To complicate matters, Democratic elected officials cannot be counted on to clearly and consistently differentiate themselves from their Fascist cousins. House Joint Resolution 100 passed by the House and the Senate was signed into law by the President one day before run-off election day in Georgia. How tone deaf is that?!! It is sold as preventing a supply chain collapse and (grab your hankies) saving Christmas. Instead, it prevents Railroad Unions from exercising the power necessary to push back draconian work rules. What use is an abundance of cheap plastic Christmas sh*t from China to workers who are punished or terminated for going to the doctor? Had they not been prevented from striking – the jolt felt by the economy would have included a credible threat that American workers would no longer submit to unfair labor practices. You cannot discount the ripple affect a strong union can make across the board. There are non-union workers everywhere who still benefit from sacrifices made a century ago. Week-ends, child labor laws, the list goes on. And yes, crooked businessmen and politicians have successfully been chipping away at those gains for decades (which, incidentally, is why fascism holds such a rosy glow for fools.)
I don’t doubt that the Railroads were eager to strangle the country with a lock-out before unions could call a strike; they’ve done it before and with record profits they can afford it. They squat on enough capital and political clout make us all hurt. I don’t doubt that Democratic elected officials were convinced a pitiful one day paid sick leave was the best that could be had. What they have all forgotten is that the famous union organizer, Joe Hill did not die alone ‘back in the day’ or that those days ever, really went away. Workers still routinely lose their lives just trying to make a living.
There needs to be consequences – the clear kind. I would wish for a genera wild-cat strike across the country and across the board – no job? No matter. Stay home. Don’t spend a penny or cross a picket line. General Strike. Okay, I know, fantasies and wishes give fiction a bad name.
Really, ladies and gentlemen, the only thing I can think of to do is call the President and send shame on you post cards. He can’t make it right – but he needs to try – or just shut up about supporting unions.
It is plain and clear that the representation we’ve worked so hard for – to look after our interests lack the judgement and integrity to do it alone. The well-earned break we take will have to be short and sweet.
I guess that what relentlessness is. Stubborn. My first e-mail to the president began with “Say it ain’t so, Joe!” I guess I’ll buy a gross of post cards and start pitching them his way. I’ll keep you posted.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/6/2140305/-Relentless
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
