I feel like we are falling…I know my soul, I know what is right from wrong and I know my humanity will never understand this evil. Thank you for this writing.
Democrats keep trying to patch up and preserve the constitutional republic and to some extent with imagination, dedication, and very hard work they are succeeding in holding the line. Republicans have spent years attacking Democratic administrations and now are in positions to do significant harm as we’ve seen. But courts and many states are not folding from the onslaught. Trump and Co. are incompetent, angry, and vengeful and yes, hurting vulnerable people and endangering the economy. But the battle is joined and must be fought every day. That demands energy, wisdom and commitment. We have all three and more in abundance.
Trump has inspired more backfires than he has lit. He can't control everyone up in arms, but he's counting on supine acquiescence. What are YOUR marching orders?
Beautifully expressed. But you do realize a nearly equivalent piece could be put together in the opposite direction: lawfare ineptly conducted (delayed to synch with the election cycle); disparaging blue collar workers (“deplorables”); hiding the dementia of a corrupt hack (10% for the big guy); running a DEI empty suit mouthing word salad bromides; etc.?
Of course you could contrive a "mirror image" piece—provided you flatten every distinction between corruption within democratic guardrails and corruption aimed at dismantling those guardrails entirely. That’s the trick of false equivalence: reduce scale, consequence, and intent to mere décor, so the firebug and the man lighting a cigarette both become "playing with matches." It’s a con of the reasonable-sounding, the rhetorical cousin of claiming that a paper cut and a severed limb are both injuries, so why the fuss about the latter? Matters of degree aren’t pedantry—they’re the whole bloody point.
Thank you, Mike. I will be printing out this post and holding on to it. Blessings to you in your good works.
May our constitutional republic survive. May our country have a new birth of freedom.
I feel like we are falling…I know my soul, I know what is right from wrong and I know my humanity will never understand this evil. Thank you for this writing.
Arms and legs flailing, grasping for something, anything, to stop the fall or to slow the descent.
Thank you, Mike.
Just Amen to this, as usual. Notes From The Circus is one of my go-to reads to help make sense of it all.
I remember
When you were down
You would always come running to me
I never denied you
And I would guide you through all of your difficulties
Now I'm calling on citizens from all over the world
This is Captain America calling
I built you up when you were down on your knees
So will you catch me now I'm falling
Help me now I'm calling you
Catch me now I'm falling
I'm in your hands, it's up to you
Catch me now, I'm falling
- Ray Davies
Democrats keep trying to patch up and preserve the constitutional republic and to some extent with imagination, dedication, and very hard work they are succeeding in holding the line. Republicans have spent years attacking Democratic administrations and now are in positions to do significant harm as we’ve seen. But courts and many states are not folding from the onslaught. Trump and Co. are incompetent, angry, and vengeful and yes, hurting vulnerable people and endangering the economy. But the battle is joined and must be fought every day. That demands energy, wisdom and commitment. We have all three and more in abundance.
Trump has inspired more backfires than he has lit. He can't control everyone up in arms, but he's counting on supine acquiescence. What are YOUR marching orders?
Drumpf driving our economy….
Beautifully expressed. But you do realize a nearly equivalent piece could be put together in the opposite direction: lawfare ineptly conducted (delayed to synch with the election cycle); disparaging blue collar workers (“deplorables”); hiding the dementia of a corrupt hack (10% for the big guy); running a DEI empty suit mouthing word salad bromides; etc.?
Of course you could contrive a "mirror image" piece—provided you flatten every distinction between corruption within democratic guardrails and corruption aimed at dismantling those guardrails entirely. That’s the trick of false equivalence: reduce scale, consequence, and intent to mere décor, so the firebug and the man lighting a cigarette both become "playing with matches." It’s a con of the reasonable-sounding, the rhetorical cousin of claiming that a paper cut and a severed limb are both injuries, so why the fuss about the latter? Matters of degree aren’t pedantry—they’re the whole bloody point.
Outstanding observations.