I recently wrote an opinion piece in which I speculated that the GOP really didn’t want people to return to work and die, they were just positioning themselves politically to insulate themselves from the inevitable CoronaDepression. I assumed they would make a lot of noise about the damage to the economy, and then prudently, and reluctantly, be guided by science and reason and reopen the economy in accord with the principle of preserving as many lives as possible.
I wrote: “I can’t bring myself to truly believe that they are all stupid enough to not realize that as soon as the epidemic spikes again, which it predictably would, we go right back into shutdown with nothing to show for it but a bunch of dead Americans.”
I was wrong.
Only they aren’t stupid, so much as, well… evil. They are trading lives for political advantage. I don’t know of a better definition of evil than such complete indifference to human life. They have taken the step that every irrational political movement ultimately takes, which tips them into ruin and disaster: they decide their political ideology and goals are more important than human lives. And then they start to intentionally spend those lives. Usually, it is a disfavored group, or groups, as scapegoats, but the GOP is right now purposefully spending the lives of it’s own supporters in these rallies, and ultimately, wants to spend those of the population at large. That means you, and yours, are next.
Several GOP Governors seem quite intent on following through with premature re-openings without adequate plans for testing, tracing, and isolation of cases. Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia seems quite serious about re-opening many businesses as early as this coming Friday, April 24th. This won’t end well: it will end with a new spike of infections and more deaths.
The latest manifestation of their conscious and malicious intent to trade in American lives is the White House’s stated intention to seek to allow companies to knowingly expose their workers to death by Coronavirus exposure and legally insulate themselves from any legal or financial consequences.
In any sane government, we would do the diametric opposite and make companies automatically liable for workman’s compensation for any exposure to Coronavirus on the job, knowing or otherwise. Intentionally doing so should be a criminal act, not a business strategy.
Any sane government would humanely socialize the cost of this pandemic by making anyone infected with the virus automatically eligible for Medicare/Medicaid. We now understand that too often health is not a matter of personal responsibility, but completely random luck. To force families and individuals to bear the financial brunt of such illness alone is immoral and irrational. To force people to expose themselves to the risk of grave illness and death in order to just meet their basic needs, and not even help them when they lose that gamble, is simply evil.
Our choices as a polity have become that simple and stark. The GOP wants an evil economic order to rule this nation. We can, and must, reject that choice.
Be sure that you contact your county registrar’s office and get on the Permanent Early Voter List to ensure that you can vote this year in the general election, and put an end to the GOP’s evil.
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In embracing neoliberalism the Democrats decided that chasing Wall Street money was the path back to power. And while it worked for Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and numerous conservadems that make up the party establishment it made the party Wall Street’s bitch. One major alarm that this was a problem was in 2000 when conventional wisdom dictated there was no difference between the two parties which was a factor in Bush the Lesser in the White House. And of course the party establishment hit the snooze button and went back to a complacent sleep.
This was supposed to reply to Fact Checker 13. No idea why it landed on top.
Dear FactChecker: Thanks for this bit of history. It explains a lot. Like Hilary Clinton’s accepting half a million dollars from Goldman Sachs for two closed door sessions–money that went right into her pocket, not into her campaign coffers–on the eve of announcing her candidacy for President.
I wonder if the push to reopen is coming from the owners of the strip malls where so many businesses lease space.
If a small shop is legally allowed to be open, they can’t ask for help with the rent.
A locally owned restaurant or nail salon probably doesn’t have a lot of pull with the GOP, but the landowners and investors do.
And strip malls cover Arizona.
I never used to have any truck with conspiracy theories, but that was then. Now I see them everywhere. Take, for example, the cabal with Trump at its center, Mitch “Machiavelli” McConnell as Chief Enabler, William Barr as the Lord High Executioner, and every last damn Republican in Congress as eager minions. And somewhere in that vile mix is the Federalist Society, John Robert’s Supreme Court, and Charlie Koch’s Billionaire Boys Club. Tell me, am I just paranoid?
Not at all Ann. This is the culmination of 4 decades of right wing conservatism, promulgated by the Republicans (with assists from some Democrats). They’ve been busy setting up the scenario you outlined, not to make the nation better but to snatch and eternally hold power. To the nation’s detriment.
Oh, and a media that refuses to call them out on it.
Hillary Clinton used to say (and may still) that she was “from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.” What she meant was that she was from the neoliberal wing. The neoliberalism “manifesto” was published in 1983. It is a repudiation of Roosevelt’s New Deal democracy, as is clear from the opening paragraph:
And neoliberalism “won”: since 1982, union membership percentages have dropped by more than half while inflation-adjusted military budgets more than doubled.
Another significant milestone was the formation of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) after the loss in 1984, with an agenda of making Democrats more conservative. Bill Clinton became the president of the DLC, years before he won the US presidency, and we see the results in his “triangulation”, which was shorthand for “Democrats do Republican policies”, and gave us NAFTA (put together by Bush I, who couldn’t get it passed), welfare “reform” (reform being Washington shorthand for crapification), telecom deregulation (taking us from 50 major telecom companies to six), Wall Street deregulation (repealing Glass-Steagall), and was getting ready for entitlement (Social Security/Medicare) “reform” (with Newt Gingrich) until news of a certain intern got out.
FDR said “We know now that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.” Elizabeth Warren said billionaires in wine caves should not be picking our nominee. Joe Biden told a roomful of rich Wall Street donors “No one’s standard of living will change, nothing would fundamentally change”. Guess which one is the Democratic nominee?
Neoliberalism is no longer a “wing” of the Democratic Party, it is the defining characteristic. The multi-trillion dollar stimulus went mostly to Wall Street and businesses, with, as AOC said “crumbs for our families”–yet virtually all Democrats voted for it.
Those are some good facts.
I found this interesting, probably nothing new here for political junkies but still a very good analysis:
Why Bernie Sanders Failed
The Sanders campaign and his supporters bet on a theory of class politics that turned out to be wrong.
By Zack Beauchamp Apr 10, 2020
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/4/10/21214970/bernie-sanders-2020-lost-class-socialism
I’m still in disbelief that after all those Democratic candidates and debates that they end up with Joe Biden assuring the plutocrats that “nothing will fundamentally change.”
Then we have this pandemic, proving beyond all doubt that decades of rejection of progressive policies may damn well kill the American Experiment, what’s left of it. And we’re now on track to lose more of our citizens than we lost in Vietnam.
I was afraid you’d say that, but it’s the conclusion I’ve come to also. I’ve read Jane Mayer’s Dark Money and now her recent piece in the New Yorker on Mitch McConnell and I feel like it’s not just the media that’s been sleepwalking for the last four decades, but most of the rest of the liberal community. In fact, I think Democrats have been in a defensive crouch ever since Reagan came along, made “liberal” a bad word, and told us that government wasn’t the solution…’Government is the problem.’ And I fear for the upcoming election. We are NOT prepared for the onslaught.
I like Charles P. Pierce’s response to those who encourage dying for the Dow. “You go first.”
Yes, these creatures are rotten & evil. One can only hope that after being held accountable they’re sentenced to losing all their assets and wasting away in the nastiest Supermax.
Here’s a link to the permanent early voting list.
https://recorder.maricopa.gov/earlyvotingballot/permanentevlistinfo.aspx
Letting tens or hundreds of thousands of people die won’t save the economy.
The economy needs consumers, losing tens or hundreds of thousands of customers in a short period of time will cause housing prices to drop, rents to drop, used car prices to drop, local businesses to lose revenue, and on out from there.
Dead people don’t spend money. Survivors with huge medical bills don’t spend money. Orphaned kids don’t send money.
Smart people with money won’t go out and spend money if there’s a pandemic in progress.
One of the stupidest things I read this week, and there’s been a lot, is to “trust the science but not the scientists”.
It’s bumper sticker logic. Actually, “Ass, Grass, or Gas” makes more sense.
Most of the Freedom Cadavers would be old people, so Trump and the GOP are suggesting letting their own voters die.
Social darwinism is a harsh mistress.