*My progressive column for the month of October, and the last to be published in print (on 10/21) prior to the election November 3rd, which is NEXT WEEK, peeps. Have you got a plan to vote? Checked your registration with your state or local board of elections? Voted early? All elections matter, and all of them at present are the most important elections of our lifetimes, because complacency is simply not an option when democracy is being set on fire and corruption is blatant, common, and so over-the-top it’s staggering. Anyone out there have a $100K AmEx bill they need paying off? And that scandal is minor compared to the grift going on elsewhere with crypto, Witkoffs, Musk, FIFA (who rented out multiple units in Trmp Tower that stayed, oddly, empty) – ICK. Ick. Ick. Crikey. Elect a corrupt, soulless clown, get a corrupt, soulless circus. VOTE, and please, please, please VOTE BLUE.
When I was in public office, a member of the local GOP committee regularly told me what a great job he thought I was doing; this often occurred after public Town Board meetings. Every single time, he would then beg me not to tell anyone he’d said so, because he was a staunch Republican, and loyal, long-time committee member.
His craven squeamishness rendered his compliments meaningless; I didn’t and don’t need praise from two-faced types, especially those who belong to what is now an entirely spineless, unprincipled political party full of worms and maggots from its orange hued, combed-over-head – You-Know-Who – to the bottom, folks much-like that nodcock GOP foot soldier, my fellow Middletonian.
My grandfather once led the local GOP committee; my dad was a life-long Republican who married up (a Democrat) and voted for Barack Obama in ’08 because with all of the challenges then facing America, he believed the presidency was of necessity a younger person’s game; he thought John McCain was too old. Plus, why in the world would a clever politico like McCain choose that whacky Alaskan broad as a running mate? Pop was one smart cookie.
If either my grandfather or father were alive to see what’s become of their party, I’m confident their heads would explode. Gramps because he had a healthy distrust of those who inherit wealth or slavishly crave money and power, and of “TV personalities” in general. My dad thoroughly disliked George W. Bush, who, in his view, was a mediocre, privileged putz, so I can easily hear him saying, “That guy? We elected that guy? Twice?!! You gotta be kidding me, kid?!” Yup. We did. Sorry dad. Sorry gramps, too, but the once proud party of Lincoln that you loved is now the party of You-Know-Who and a host of other bottom-feeding grifters and con men. It’s rotten from top to bottom.
Roman Giertych is a Polish lawmaker who, earlier this year, compared You-Know-Who’s pursuit of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Emperor Nero, saying that “The times when Nero, under threat of punishment, demanded recognition for his musical talents have been regarded as the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire.”
It’s sure starting to feel like we’re in decline. Our golden bling loving Nero and his gross court are laughing while the known world burns, as are their billion and trillion-aire cabinet members, tech titans, and corporate hacks, relegating the vast majority of folks to “Non-Player Character” status. None of these people seem to know right from wrong, or what democracy and our constitution require; they know only what profits themselves, their families, and their cronies.
But the MAGA-verse has been corrupt from the beginning, with even so-called “normie” Republicans demonstrating how little decency, principles, and our democracy matter.
The good news is we, the majority of the people, are not corrupt, and our democracy is worth saving. Remember Tricky Dick’s “Silent Majority”? These days, that’s us. That’s all of us, the steady, steely backbone of this and every other era and country on earth: working folks who pay their bills on time while juggling all the complicated aspects of our age with as much grace as possible.
Most of us NPCs don’t think about politics that often, and wish we didn’t have to. Thanks to Orange Nero, however, we’re reminded every time we go to the pump. And for those NPCs who live in the colder parts of America – the sting of war-of-choice-inflated heating bills is already being felt, and it hurts. A lot.
This November, let’s rebuke the mad wanna-be king by sending him a congress as blue as I imagine some of our fingers, lips, and noses might be this winter as temps fall and crude oil prices continue to fluctuate or rise. Let’s win the Senate, too, passing a few overdue checking and balancing protections for our under-siege and badly in need of a refresh constitution. Folks: every single vote matters next month, now that we’ve hit the real “find out” phase of Orange Menace 2.0! Vote Blue.
Vote blue to end the war in Iran, returning (knock wood) the strait of Hormuz to its pre-war status as a toll-free, safe and viable international waterway. Vote blue to return Venezuelan oil to the suffering, needy Venezuelan people. It is, after all, theirs. Vote blue to once again show appropriate support and respect for capitalism (a.k.a. market-driven, free trade policies), NATO, the Eurozone, Ukraine, Greenland’s sovereignty and our terrific neighbors in Canada. Let’s vote blue to release all of the Epstein files, honor green card holders and asylum seekers, regulate A.I. and data centers, end gerrymandering, get big money out of politics, and help those few Republicans who will listen regrow their spines.
Hey Kurt, don’t take this personally: I didn’t tell anyone. I told everyone.