The New Politics
By Hank Silverberg
#157
I picked up many of these items while attending or covering events over the last 50 years, while others I purchased at flea markets or antique stores. Friends and relatives contributed some of them as well.
The first in my collection was from Earth Day in
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| (My first button) |
1970, which I participated in while still in high school. I even have a Mo Udall button that I collected during his brief run for president in 1976. It came right off the Congressman's lapel. He gave it to me himself at a campaign event.
I have index cards on each item in the collection, and what I am doing now is finally putting them on a data base on a flash drive. There are details on each entry, such as where I got the item from and significant historical information on the campaign or issue.
What you will find in these cases though, is something you don't see in Washington anymore. My collection is bi-partisan.
I had hoped that the end of the Trump administration would return our Legislative branch to comity and that the men and women we send to Washington to do the nation's business would conduct themselves as professionals and work for the good of everyone.
In Political Science 101 most students learn that good politics is "the art of compromise."
After Trump, it is apparently a LOST art.
The left-wing Democrats, and the right-wing Republicans have always been a factor in our politics. They would get into heated debates often with radical ideas or words, but in the end, sanity would prevail and some compromise would form in the center to move the country forward, or at times, backward.
But something is different now.
Now we have a group of people who make their decisions based on conspiracy theories, lies and false assumptions.
The poster child for this is Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who actually believes that the school shootings at Parkland High and Sandy Hook Elementary were staged, and that 9/11 was an inside job. She actually believes that leading Democratic officials should
Can Marjorie Taylor Greene Be Expelled From Congress? (nymag.com)
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| . (Artwork: Jordan Ridenour) |
You would think that would be enough for the Republican leadership to censure Greene or keep her on the back bench where she can be ignored. Instead, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy put her on the House Education and Labor Committee.
And she is not the only one. Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado ran as a law and order candidate. She has pledged to carry a gun onto the House floor and was actually stopped from doing so by U.S. Capitol Police AFTER the January 6th attack on the Capitol. She also has a substantial criminal record. No committee assignments for her yet. Let's hope it stays that way
GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert and husband have racked up arrests (nypost.com)
So, instead of working on a Caronavirus response bill requested by President Biden more swiftly, that would help us all, we instead have to listen to these two wackos. Republican leaders have to spend time defending them and in doing so, are moving the party of Lincoln and Eisenhower toward extinction.
One Democratic congresswoman, freshman Democrat Cori Bush, actually had to move her office after she was "berated" and "threatened" by Greene in a hallway.
Cori Bush moves office after being "berated" and "targeted" by Marjorie Taylor Greene - CBS News
There are, of course, some old-time Republicans who are very upset with all this. But most of the GOP members have remained silent, worried that the Trump cultists will show up at their office with hostile intent or worse, show up at the ballot box.
My main point here is that it's no longer Democrats and Republicans debating the merit of tax cuts or infrastructure improvements, or even something more emotional like abortion. Gone are the days of Ronald Reagan's "shining city on a hill". We are still in the throes of Trump's "carnage" as his minions do everything they can to destroy American Democracy. It is no longer about a "stolen" election or Donald J. Trump's incompetent, narcissistic leadership failures. It is now about the very survival of our political system which is now subjected to conspiracy theorists with a vote.
It may stay that way until a large number of Americans reject the manipulation of the "propaganda networks" like Fox and Newsmax, and start paying closer attention to what is actually happening by using more reputable sources.
What, Me Worry?
You probably have heard of the Anti-vax movement. They got a lot of play in the media during the measles outbreak in 2019.
Much of that movement was created by misinformation that circulated mostly on right-wing media which used debunked research to FALSEY link the measles vaccine to autism in children.
So this item caught my eye this week. It seems the anti-vaxxers, again egged on by false information on fringe media, showed up at Dodger Stadium to protest the Covid-19 vaccine inoculations. Many of the demonstrators were not wearing masks and were not social distancing, making them a superspreader. And they were trying to convince the hundreds of people waiting on line in their cars, many of them senior citizens who are most vulnerable to the virus, that the whole thing was being done to manipulate us. It's all a government plot, they pushed. Don't tell me that Greene, Boebert and the like are harmless.
Anti-vaccine protest briefly shuts down Dodger Stadium vaccination site (nbcnews.com)
These protestors were able to briefly halt vaccinations at the L.A. site. This is the danger of "propaganda networks," and politicians who spread false information or don't counter it. It threatens us all.
And for the record, the Covid-19 vaccine does have some side effects, including fatigue, headache, chills, fever and pain in the injection area, but all are temporary.
COVID-19 vaccine skeptics energizing anti-vaccine movement, experts fear | Newsday
The clinical trials have proven the vaccines safe and effective, though the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine, undergoing review this week, may be less effective than the three already being distributed.
I'd like to be able to tell you the fastest way to get the vaccine in your arm, but it appears nobody has figured that out yet. Like a lot of people, I signed up with my local health department data base, and I am waiting my turn. Let's hope that comes before the 4th of July.
Trashy
If you have been traveling along any road at any time over the last few months, you may have noticed that roadside trash is getting worse.
Apparently folks still throw their trash there in the usual amounts, something I will never understand. (How much effort does it take to find a trash can?) What's different is that trash pickup crews, whether they be community volunteers, state Department of Transportation crews or jail inmates, just aren't doing the cleanup job because of the pandemic.
Looking trashy: COVID-19 leads to rise in roadside litter | Winchester Star | winchesterstar.com
So all you litterers out there, keep that trash in your cars until you get to a trash can. And if you happen to be walking on the side of the road and see litter, do you civic duty and pick it up--but only if you have gloves on.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
Copies of my book "The Campaign" are below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
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