Some toddlers, playing with
blocks, try to stack them up. Others try
to knock down the stacks. The first kind
grow up to be Democrats. The second kind
grow up to be Republicans. Read on!
Under the leadership of President Biden’s administration, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, …
- Enabled Democrats in Congress to cap out-of-pocket prescription costs for seniors on Medicare at $2,000 while Republicans recommend that they take out loans to pay for them, if they can, or just go broke.
- Enabled Democrats in Congress to continue some benefit
provisions in the Affordable Care Act enacted to deal with the Coronavirus
pandemic that Republicans were willing to let expire.
- Enabled Democrats in Congress to finally appropriate billions over
future years to regulate environmental hazards which result in climate change
while Republicans still believe that the tooth fairy will stop temperatures
from increasing, forests from burning, and sea levels from rising.
- Enabled Democrats in Congress to pass a minimum 15% tax on corporate profits to help pay for these things for the American people, while Republicans still try to provide loopholes to enable some businesses to pay no taxes at all.
This should make it very clear that Democrats are on the side of the people and Republican loyalties are directed elsewhere and this should help determine the way you vote.
Both kinds of toddlers learned to
be that way in nursery school! (Are
Republicans reluctant to support helping finance such Pre-K programs because
toddlers might learn something there?)
Toddlers are too young to vote,
but you are not. Make sure that the slim
Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate are not only maintained but
increased.
The next Congress will likely address (1) whether judges or politicians can interfere with personal decisions made between patients and their doctors, and (2) whether politically motivated state legislatures can limit voters’ rights by gerrymandering and election procedural changes, issues vital to two voting groups: women and persons of color, as well as (3) the never-ending problem of gun violence about which Republicans are too deaf to hear the shots going off.
These issues directly involve the way our Constitution is interpreted and affect the checks and balances the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of our government provide in relation to one another. They are very important to the future of democracy in the United States.
Election Day is less than twelve weeks away. You must not only vote, but also encourage as many others as possible to register and vote. When the votes are tabulated, your one vote can be doubled or tripled (or more) by virtue of those your efforts brought to the polls.
Get to work. Forward this blog, knock on doors, make phone
calls, send emails! It’s your job!
JL
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Echoes of the FBI’s Recovery of Our Government’s
Documents from Mar-a-Lago
The Republicans are attempting to
put the DOJ, specifically in the person of the Attorney General, in the
position of defending itself for carrying out its duties.
Usually, it is the other way
around, where the accused (and right now no one has been accused of anything and
will not be unless and until a grand jury acts) who must offer a defense. I've
never heard of prosecutors having to start off by defending themselves for
doing their jobs. In this case, the job
was defined by a court order signed by a federal judge who agreed that there
was sufficient ‘probable cause’ for a search for such missing government
documents.
And the same applies to DOJ
investigators like the FBI agents who were also just doing their jobs.
JL
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Liz’s Choices
Now that the Republicans have exchanged
Liz Chaney for just another blind supporter of the defeated former president,
she is free to go in a number of directions, and this will provide meat for
columnists and pundits over the next months.
I would hope such digressions do not take their eyes off of the ball,
which is the preservation of the Constitution and democracy in the united (?) United
States (that is not a typo).
Ms. Chaney might:
… become a Democrat (very
unlikely)
… work for reform within the
Republican Party, espousing opposition to both Democratic socio-economic
reforms and bigoted extremism in the ranks of Republicans and other
conservatives.
… start a new party, espousing opposition
to both Democratic socio-economic reforms and bigoted extremism in the ranks of
Republicans and other conservatives.
…
write a book (likely).
…
move to another state and run for office, including the presidency in
2024 or 2028, seeking the Republican nomination, or another pathway to the
White House.
… assume the role of a retired statesperson
and encourage others to emulate her, perhaps from the position of a college
presidency or a foundation.
JL
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Blame it on the Dog
 |
| I really don't have any Party affiliation |
There’s an old story about a
host, who when experiencing an episode of flatulence at a gathering would grin
and say ‘Oh, darn that dog, he has no manners,’ and everyone would smile
knowingly. Of course, they understood because they all did the same thing when
they farted at home, blaming it on their dog, even when they didn’t even have
one. This is a cute story until one realizes that it accurately describes the
failure of the Republican Party and its leadership to accept accountability for
its actions.
JL
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Blowin’ in the Wind – Bob Dylan
and Abraham Lincoln
In 2016, Bob Dylan was awarded
the Nobel Prize for literature. Some
criticized that choice, but I leave it for you to decide. Here are the words to his most famous song:
How many roads must
a man walk down
Before you call him
a man?
How many seas must a
white dove sail
Before she sleeps in
the sand?
Yes, and how many
times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're
forever banned?
The answer, my
friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is
blowin' in the wind
Yes, and how many
years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed
to the sea?
And how many years
can some people exist
Before they're
allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many
times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he
just doesn't see?
The answer, my
friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is
blowin' in the wind
Yes, and how many
times must a man look up
Before he can see
the sky?
And how many ears
must one man have
Before he can hear
people cry?
Yes, and how many
deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people
have died?
The answer, my
friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is
blowin' in the wind
Copyright © 1962 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed
1990 by Special Rider Music
These lyrics remind me of Abraham Lincoln
asking in his first inaugural address on the eve of the Civil War when
Americans would start listening for their ‘better angels.’ His words appealed to those same ‘better
angels of our nature’ that Dylan sung of as answers that were ‘blowin’ in the
wind.’
Lincoln’s words: ‘The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all
over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again
touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.’
The Civil War
was fought anyway, while the mystic chords of memory were not touched for four
more years, during which time the ‘better angels’ were just ‘blowin’ in the
wind.’
JL
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America Afloat
(A
poem that is always worth repeating in these blog postings.
To
learn more, visit this blog’s posting of July 30, 2022.) JL
America Afloat
Jack
Lippman
The greatness of America
Is
that it does survive
Attacks
upon democracy
Whose
flame it keeps alive.
The
laws that blossom from the words
The
Founding Fathers wrote
Still
serve us well today to keep
America
afloat.
This
doesn’t happen by itself,
We
cannot wish it true,
The
bottom line, my friends, is that
It
all depends on you.
JL
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That’s Not Enough!
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