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Man, My Jaw Hurts! [1]

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Date: 2024-08-28  

I realize that the ebullient, joyful atmosphere permeating the Harris Walz candidacy is the long suffering consequence of living with over 20 years of anxiety, depression and remorse for a government besieged by oligarchs, fascists, Nazis, Klanners and every mutation of evangelical grifter that America can produce. This recent joyful reaction resembles the kind of relief one can experience in having an abscessed tooth extracted, a painfully infected boil lanced or a limb’s failed joint successfully replaced by a skilled orthopedic surgeon. I get it. Believe me, I get it: it’s no wonder people are so happy to see that finally there’s a glimmer of substantial hope that the long nightmare might start to end at long last.

But you see, I’m an old guy. For all you under-40 year olds out there and for the purpose of this writing, that means I’ve seen a lot more political shit in this country than you have. And frankly all of it stunk just as badly back then as it does right now. I’m beginning to notice some troubling trends similar to events of the distant past that became infected by the dregs of human nature and led to some pretty devastating consequences. Now for the record I want everyone reading this to know that this is not in any way intended to start another “Us versus The Boomers” war - to the contrary I want to warn people about what will likely be the inevitable clusterf—ck that will absolutely happen if things continue on the present course after Harris eventually becomes President of the United States. (I say “eventually” because there’s really no way to predict what sort of bastardized antics the fascists have up their sleeves to prevent or delay her inauguration)

It is impossibly naive to think that with a massive landslide win for Democrats in both houses of Congress and the Presidency that after the inauguration, the parades end and the usual “honeymoon” period in the news media is over that the fascists who were defeated will simply kick back, return to their plantations or militia camps sequestered deep in the hinterland forests and lay low for the next four years. Nope: Far . From . It.

Let me be very clear: It doesn’t matter how large the margin of victory will be: it doesn’t matter how huge the crowds are during the ceremonies and rallies: it doesn’t matter how much progress will be made during the first 100 days or how much compassion is shown toward the defeated. The character of this modern American fascist movement will never, ever relent in its fabrications, disseminations and flat-out lies designed to weaken and take down the new administration. They have one and only one laser-focussed goal: to install a fascistic evangelical replacement for the entire governing body of the United States - including the Executive, the Judicial and the Legislative. Every internal management body - the Defense Department, the Department of the Treasury, the entire Justice Department, Health and Human Services and all of the other managerial components of government are targeted for the secular fascist’s fist. That “Project 2025” manifesto was not developed and intended just to induce the short-term wet dreams of Steve Bannon, Trump and Mitch McConnell - it is in fact the evangelical oligarch’s replacement constitution designed to establish their long-term rule. And they will stop at nothing to implement it. They regard empathy and compassion as signs of weakness that can be manipulated to their advantage… and to date, they’ve been largely successful until recently, when Kamala Harris and Tim Walz jammed a big stick into the spokes of Trump’s little campaign tricycle and they’ve been forced to re-think their next moves. Don’t think for a minute that their response will be subtle.

Contrary to common opinion though, it is NOT the job of elected Federal representatives to provide direct confrontation to the deviant factions of the electorate; their mandate is to operate within the context of using the laws and legislative procedures to spend tax money wisely for the taxpayer’s benefit, provide the safeguards that protect our standard of living and ensure that forces hostile to our people (wherever and whoever they may be) are kept at bay. Everything else beyond that - believe it or not - is up to us. We traditionally delegate a large part of those responsibilities to our local elected governments - presumably managed by sober, unbiased and mentally stable persons. When that fails, however, all too often people wait far too long to rid themselves of the corruption and nepotism - sometimes through two, three and even four election cycles (and in the south, perhaps even several generations). Given that today’s flavor of evangelical fascists regard settled law as mere speed bumps that delay their movement, it is critically important to avoid abandoning involvement in one’s government.

SO:

If you truly believe that just showing up at the polls on election day and casting a vote is all that’s needed to ensure human rights are restored and protected, I have a bridge going from San Francisco to Marin County that I want to sell at a deep discount. Fascists only understand one thing when it comes to those who oppose their policies: direct confrontation. They are simply too intellectually stunted to understand the nuances of traditional activism and compliance with established laws. It requires taking the fight directly to them in media editorial boards, peacefully marching in the streets, blitzing them in social media, calling them out to their faces in public forums - countering their vulgar ideas about the country with facts, making the courage of our convictions manifest with unwavering adherence to our principles and determined grit. It requires those things - and consistently voting in every election. It is, after all, one’s civic duty and responsibility as a citizen to participate in managing the direction of our country.

It’s understood that with all the distractions of life in these modern times it seems impossible to stay engaged with the political processes that ultimately govern and deeply affect our lives - but the fact remains that those distractions have decoupled people from our government to the point where fascism has crept into our country masked as “entertainment,” only to morph back into its original intention of destroying our democracy.

It will never be more obvious: that abscessed tooth needs to be pulled and that infected gum boil needs to be lanced. Ignoring them won’t make them go away.

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