JULY 13, 2021 – For today’s post, I’d intended to write about an observation quite apart from today’s appalling news. After several failed attempts, I yielded to the news.
Yet my struggle wasn’t over. There’s the turmoil in Cuba and its root causes—a half-century trade embargo by the U.S. playing a much larger role than “socialism.” There’s the assassination and its aftermath in nearby Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Should Biden send in troops to restore and maintain order or let the place crash into an abyss?
“Abyss”? In Afghanistan, meanwhile, the Taliban are poised to create, then exploit the chaos that will follow our exit after the longest war in American history.
At home . . . our gains on the pandemic front are threatened, not because of a dearth of accessible, effective vaccines but because of our ignorance, selfishness, and . . . politics.
In yet other news, Biden still faces an uphill battle garnering Democratic support in the Senate for a full-throated infrastructure bill—the opposition focusing on cost, like the farmer who says he can’t afford to fix the gaping hole in his barn roof because he didn’t want to pay for routine maintenance in a cumulative amount far less than the cost he now faces to avoid collapse of the barn. (Yes, he might well need to mortgage the farm to save it.)
I nearly forgot: the Western U.S. is on fire. (Stay tuned for major eco-migration as climate change feedback loops accelerate.)
But the news that put me over the edge today is the Texas Democrats’ flight from their state to deprive Republicans of a quorum—and passage of voting suppression legislation.
The biggest headline is now, “Can the nation survive Republicans?”
The Republican scheme behind what Texas Republican Senator Cornyn calls a Democratic “publicity stunt” is part of a calculated, nationwide effort to suppress the vote. To “argue” that it’s a genuine effort to correct voting fraud and irregularities is to echo a cynically dishonest rightwing media script. The Republican campaign to impose a solution looking for a problem is an extension of the Big Lie instigated by You Know Who and perpetuated by Republican leaders trying to outdo one another for favor in the unhinged mind of that consummate demagogue.
Continuation of the Republican strategy is a dangerous game. It could well spell the death knell of the Republic. If in 2022 Republicans gain control of the Senate—let alone control of both House and Senate—there will be in-the-streets hell to pay for electoral exclusion. If, on the other hand, Democrats gain Senate seats, rightwing media will shout “Big Lie!” in the manner of “Seig Heil!” giving losers full license to blow up the democracy. (See January 6.) You Know Who—or any one of his emboldened sycophants—will use “Big Lie!” to declare victory, irrespective of a contrary outcome at the polls. The Big Lie will lead to the Big Plunge off democracy’s ledge.
It’s time to grasp the leading danger of our day.
(Remember to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.)
© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
