Putin and Trump- Connect the dots!

 Trump in league with Putin? 

 

     There may not be any tanks rolling into Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan yet, but the attempt to suppress democracy there as well as in the Ukraine is becoming abundantly clear, and we need to connect the dots. The struggle is between western liberal democracy, and authoritarian oligarchy. It used to be an ideological struggle between capitalism and communism. " From each according to his ability, To each according to his need", was the old model communist mantra. That mantra is no more. Communism lost, but Capitalism's win did not come without a price. Putin and his hand picked oligarchists have carved up the economy of the country and enriched themselves, while at the same time, limiting free speech, and the right of the citizenry to have free and fair elections to determine their leaders. The effort to quench the nascent Democrat of his fellow Slavic state of Ukraine is a potential turning point in this struggle. 

     Meanwhile, back here in the good ol' USA, the 1% has adopted a strategy of supporting the limitation of ballot access to the 99%, and particularly to the bottom 20%, so they can seal their grip on the wheels of economic production, to their own benefit. 

     Our battle for freedom has taken a new turn, and it is the unbridled application of money into the political system that is attempting to accelerate the demise of American democracy. Attempts to limit the flow of dark money into our political coffers have been beaten back by the courts, and the inability of state legislatures and the federal government to halt the march of money into politics. The more money there is in politics, the greater the tendency toward autocratic governance will continue. Oligarchs will recruit political front men to do their bidding, and keep the "hoi polloi"in check. The result has been the triumph of Trumpism in many state governments, and even in our national government for four years before being beaten back, at least for a while, by the forces of liberal democracy.  Truth is elusive in an autocracy. Repeated Lies and manipulation of public opinion is the mainstay of such regimes. 

     The mere thought that former President Trump considered utilizing the military to seize voting machines in states where his loss was marginal is a very scary indication of how close we came to a Putinesque style autocracy. The threat of this undermining of our liberal democracy is far from over. The Trumpian threat of the use of tanks to hold onto power should be a wake up call to everyone who cherishes freedom and democracy.

o        Leaders who sound like populists and offer simple solutions to complex problems need to be challenged vociferously.  " Only I can solve our problems!" is a statement that should make the hair on the back of the necks of all believers in our democratic system stand on end. 

o        Sometimes it takes the observation of extreme measures to make us connect the dots. Rising up and resisting all challenges to our ability to freely and openly choose our leaders is a must. We still have time to protect against tanks rolling into Texas and Tallahassee. But it is far past the time for all good men to come to the aid of their respective parties and governments, and join the fight to save our political system. 

o    

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More on " Don't say gay" bill

 The Florida State Legislature

is considering the " Don't say gay" bill, which would ban discussion of LGBTQ issues I.    So, now that we have opened the door to closing the door

on the discussion of controversial topics in the classroom , like being gay, and are now even discussing banning and burning certain books whose philosophical underpinnings do not match with our newfound American Puritanism, I have a great idea. Let's ban all teaching about and discussion of the Crusades. You have to agree that even 900 years later, the Crusades and the idea they stood for , among others, driving out the infidels, is still very much alive in mid twenty first century America. 

     Knights in shining armor have been replaced by such groups as " The Proud boys", and " The oath keepers".  The spear and shield have been replaced by tiki torches and flagpoles, but the idea of the use of force to trample upon the ideology of their perceived foes is every bit as intense. They learned it from the Crusades. Maybe it is best to pretend they never happened, or to ignore them in spite of their being factually something that did actually occur. They were not the fantasies of some narcissistic unbridled authoritarian style leader. They were real. All the better reason to ignore them. 

     The Crusades were sanctioned by the pope, and Crusaders who fell in battle were officially declared to be saints in heaven. All the sins of a Crusader were extinguished upon death. They lasted for almost four hundred years , from the tenth to the fourteenth century, and did result in the temporary rescue of Jerusalem from the Muslim infidels in 1099. The Muslim forces regained control by the late 13th century, and the Crusaders turned their eyes on Moorish Spain, and Eastern Europe and Jewish communities from the diaspora. There was always some group to condemn, hate, and to try to extinguish. The Crusader's cry was " God wills it!"

     Hmmmm. Sound familiar? The whole notion that God is on the side of one religious group vs. another, is a theme that has been adopted by modern day crusaders against such things as abortion and immigration. 

     It would take tons of white out to erase the Crusades from our history books, but the effort would be worth it. Imagine a world devoid of partisan religious zealotry? Who would there be to fight against? Race would remain as a dividing line. So too might political tribalism, but if we took religion off the table, there would be a major drop in radical contention. So , let's ignore the Crusades. Let's snuff them out of the classroom, and banish discussion of the conquering spirit of religious zealotry. 

    Next, we could maybe ban any discussion of Hitler, and World War II. What's to learn from studying Nazism, anyway? And then wipe out the story of our westward expansion as a nation, the Wild Wild West, and the massacres of native Americans whose hearts were buried at Wounded Knee. 

After all, we made it up to them. Casino franchises did the trick. 

     Come to think of it, maybe we would be better off by just burning all of the history books en masse. What good is an understanding of history anyway. It takes away your freedom to repeat mistakes of the past. Maybe, just maybe, ignorance would bring bliss. And then, maybe not. But attacking the most attackable, most vulnerable of our constituencies, like " the gays", is at least a starting point. So Florida Governor Ron DeSantis , there's your platform Gov. DeSantis , for advancement. Grab this new bull by the horn of attacking the weakest, and who knows, you too might find your way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.  We once thought that impossible for such advocates but recent history teaches us that is not the case. Oops! There we go with history again. I'd better stop while I'm behind. 

Don't approve " Don't say gay bill

 There is an elephant in the room, literally. 

    Or perhaps it would be better to say that there is an elephant in the state legislative chamber in Tallahassee,  and this elephant has his foot poised to stamp out any discussion of human sexuality in the classroom that invokes homosexuality. It is literally dragging scarlet letters out of the closet, so that those who would help educate our students about the range of human sexuality will be labeled, and barred from doing so. 

    I recently relocated to Florida from Upstate , New York, and changed from a snowbird to full time Florida resident. Since I have spent my lifetime in state and local politics, I am acquainting myself with Florida's political situation. And first, I must say, this is far, far from being NY, politically. 

When I first moved here in 2021, I actually praised Governor DeSantis for prioritizing the vaccination of those over 65 ( of which I am one) , while at the time, the Governor of New York was espousing other priorities . I even said, publicly , that DeSantis was right and Cuomo was wrong. Since I am a former Co- Chair of the NYS Democratic Party, the NY post newspaper took note of it , and ran a front page headline entitled " Take this jab and shove it!" (https://nypost.com/2021/01/17/former-nys-dem-party-head-gets-vaccinated-in-florida/) 

     Since then, however, Gov. DeSantis seems to have reversed polarity on the vaccination issue, and embraced a number of other positions which appeal to the far right of his party. The most recent example of this political metamorphosis is a new Legislative Act intended to ban  the discussion of LGBTQ issues in the classroom . It has been called " The Florida Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. It's premise seems to be that if we just ignore it,  the issue of gay equal rights will somehow just disappear. Prohibiting the discussion or even mention of such matters in the classroom is seen as preserving parental rights in discussing or not discussing such matters. 

Maybe ignoring it will make it go away!

     Well, frankly, this is one of the scariest things I have ever heard a state legislative body to be considering. I can see an errant school board here and there, getting into the issue, but a statewide legislative body? Lord help us. And as the old saying goes, " The Lord helps those who help themselves", so I think it is important to take up the cause against this bill, it's genesis and sponsors. That is what I. Will endeavor to do to unmask the profound stupidity of such a proposal. This letter is the first step in that process. More, much more, to come