The only thing I know for certain is that I know nothing, (just like Jon Snow.)
I was born blue. Maybe the doctor should have slapped me and not my mother. [joke] The democratic party has had me in its clutches since I took my first breath because I was raised in Chicago where everyone understood that Republicans work for the rich but are elected by a faction of voters manipulated into voting against their best interests, poor people who believe what they’re told, not what they see. Through the years people have caught on and Republicans have taken note. Their fear of losing control prompted a search for cracks in our laws that they could use to create an unfair advantage.
This is a short review of how Republicans have come to controll the three branches of government so often over the years despite their declining popularity.
Gerrymandering gives Republicans an advantage in the House of Representatives, allowing them to select their voters by drawing district lines to resemble a Rorschach test.
The imbalance is the same in the Senate. In the U.S. there are 41.5 million fewer Republicans than Democrats, but both parties are represented by 50 senators.
Then we have the electoral college, which has allowed every Republican president elected in the last 20 years to win despite having fewer votes. The loser wins; that’s some democracy.
The Judicial branch of government is controlled by an ultra-conservative minority funded by Koch Industries. Koch’s latest achievement has been in blocking the federal election reform bill. They are behind the bills passed recently, in several states, that will disenfranchise millions of people, and in some states allow officials to toss out results and declare the winner they prefer. Who said cheaters never prosper?
Suspicion and distrust in our government is warranted. Politicians are generally corrupt. We have begun the process of electing progressive politicians who see the danger of corporate lobbying.
Speaking of cheaters, Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, effectively stole two of the three most recently filled Supreme Court seats. Trump, a four-year “president” had a say in the selection of one-third of the Supreme Court. These are lifetime appointments. McConnell stole the seat President Obama had every right to fill, by creating a rule that says a President may not select a SCOTUS during their last year in office. President Obama had eight months left in his term. McComnell said the election would “allow the people to decide.” He stole the second seat from Biden, shamefully, when Ruth Bader Ginsberg died three weeks before the 2020 election. Her last wish was to have her replacement chosen by the winner of the election. Not big on sentimentality, McConnell rushed a confirmation through despite his rule that robbed President Obama of his choice.
Rules are made by Republicans to restrain Democrats, the majority, but they do not apply to Republicans. The third SCOTUS vacancy used by Trump was to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired seemingly under duress after meeting with Trump. Kennedy’s son was Trump’s banker at Deutsche Bank. 🤔
We need term limits, terms too short to allow elected officials to sell out or give up. We need to revisit the Constitution and consider its relevance to our world today. Every amendment, policy, and the law needs to be looked at and corrected if it doesn’t favor freedom and equity for all. Our government is so corrupt that fresh-faced, newly-elected, seemingly incorruptible politicians lose hope. The strong ones leave, while the weaker minds join in the corruption.
The GOP still gets orders from Trump, who gets orders from Putin. Kevin McCarthy is afraid to speak to Trump via phone or email, so this week he flew down to Florida for an in-person conversation. The purpose of McCarthy’s treasonous visit to Trump was to get an approved list of members of Congress to appoint to the House Select Committee that will investigate 1/6. They forget that Speaker Pelosi has veto power. She ultimately decides who is on the committee. It won’t be a showcase of shouting for Bobert, Greene, and Jordan.
Nothing can change until we take the lobbyists and dark money out of politics. McConnell and McCarthy the two congressional leaders in the GOP will never allow that. They practice some sort of mind control over their colleagues, ensuring their party votes in tandem to block any democratic progress.
Although I have said I love President Biden, I don’t “love” love him. He was not my first choice among the candidates to be President, but he has won me over. I believe he was the perfect choice to restore what Trump destroyed. His long-standing relationships with our allies began decades before his years as VP. They knew him then and trust him now.
When Biden was a Senator he created the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. He has likewise had policies that were far from perfect. What I do love about him is not political. I see a man who has empathy because he survived a series of tragic events. His compassion and kindness are such a stark contrast to that former guy that many lifelong republicans have changed parties. At the risk of sounding like Marianne Williamson (the mystic crystals president candidate,) Biden exudes a lightness of being that we need to guide us out of the shadow of darkness Trump cast. Trump is a traitor who sold us out. We just beginning to learn of the damage he caused. So far what’s being reported as *BREAKING NEWS* we already knew. It was addressed in the documentary “Active Measures.”
In general, politicians are corrupt. They often sell out their constituents, favoring corporate interests, thanks to lobbyists, forgetting who elected them with a single bribe. Progressive members of Congress intended to end lobbying, but Koch industries are a formidable opponent, and democrats need a much bigger numbers advantage to get anything done.
Republicans have gone off the deep end with few exceptions and are working with Trump to overthrow the government. We came very close to becoming another country controlled by Putin, like Belarus. Anyone who believes what happened on January 6 was no big deal needs to brush up on world news, and history for that matter. Our nation of sheep chose Trump, who “loves the uneducated.” He’s the same guy who threatened to sue his schools if they released his transcripts.
Let’s go back to Biden and his meeting with Putin last month. The meeting was two leaders posturing to have the upper hand. Biden made sure Putin arrived first because Putin’s likes to make world leaders wait. Biden controlled the length of the meeting, cutting it two hours short, which was a slight to Putin. Biden so said no to holding a joint press conference because he wanted optics to be different than they were when Trump met with Putin.
“I know we make foreign policy out to be this great, great skill, that somehow is sort of like a secret code, all foreign policy is a logical extension of personal relationships. It’s the way human nature functions.” ~President Joe Biden
Biden said he and Putin discussed election meddling, human rights, and cybercrimes. The cyberattacks we recently witnessed were set into motion before Biden took office. And even though most of the hackers have been traced to Russia, Putin denies responsibility.
Beyond issuing a warning, in response to the undeclared cyberwar instigated primarily by Russia, but aided by China and the Middle East, working with our allies makes us a more formidable adversary. There is strength in numbers. The U.S. is in recovery mode.
Putin’s goal of isolating the U.S. worked when Trump was in office but ended when Biden reunited us with our allies. Russia’s main source of income is its oil. The U.S. joined NATO by reinstating sanctions. It is a well-aimed blow to their economy.
Our allies not only make us stronger, but they keep us honest.
https://www.rawstory.com/kevin-mccarthy-2653790550/
This post is in response to a comment by marymtf, http://marysomnibus.com, regarding my post published on 6/22: “FBI Director Wray Misled the House Committee.”
https://alotfromlydia.com/2021/06/22/fbi-director-wray-misled-house-committee/
A lot from Lydia 