I have had a recent e-mail exchange with an old college friend. He is having a successful career as a professor in South Asia. I will share part of our exchange:
Me: It hasn't, but it is to a lesser degree. We have had two hazy days, a few days of colorful sunsets. This afternoon, and evening there is a smell of wood smoke in the air. …Well, on another subject—Trump has been indicted, on what looks to be 7 federal charges dealing with the Espionage Act 1917. He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Florida Tuesday.
He: Good to know the Canadian haze is not a problem. Since you mentioned Trump, the other haze might become the more worrisome. He represents a growing populist population which, by the time the election nomination season gets over, will be too strong for any moderate Republican to contain. And I'll tell you frankly, Joe Biden is too weak (I almost used 'inept'), to face what might become a tidal wave in 15 months. Democrats face a vicious cycle of moving from 'bad' to 'worse' when the country needs their leadership the most. Stepping down might be the greatest gift Joe Biden can give his country. Inexperienced others can step in now, get their bruises, but there is still time to both mend and lead.
Me: There are NO moderate Republicans, none, not even close. There are only ultra conservatives, fascists, and those crazier than outhouse rats. The Republican Party is both a demonic clown show, and a criminal cult.
He: That bad? Then tell me, why is the Democratic party not capitalizing on this, or is it also coming apart at the seams? I still sense a deepening political haze.
Me: Well, the politics of it, there are what is called progressives, and they try. But, there are countervailing pressures. In America, money is king and it has many devotees. All the major media loves money, so no member of it will go all out to attack Republicans/fascism, and support democracy.
There is a matrix for the anti-democratic side. Franklin Roosevelt used the term economic royalists, and their claws are everywhere. Corporate media has pushed both sides coverage, which means bullshit is on par with reality. And capitalism, and greed will not go undefended. Now, the electoral system is very un-democratic, and political campaigns calculate for that. Starting with the election of Kennedy, and then through Johnson, and Nixon the Republican Party has become the white people's party. I have to look at the figures to confirm it, okay i will. I did a quick internet check. The last Democrat that won the white vote was Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and partly because they saw that Goldwater was nuts. Gore, and Hillary Clinton won the popular vote; the electoral college and in the former the Supreme Court, and the latter Putin, facebook, and the electoral college gave the election to the Republican Party. The Democrats need white votes, and electoral votes, and they will play to that.
Now, since Goldwater the Repukes are crazier, and more vicious continually. Nixon was a crook, Reagan was living in a fantasized world with dementia, Bush the first was an ultra establishment Republican (read a crook that would never be punished), Bush the second was an idiot, and Trump was all that.
Now to add in the shit soup are Gingrich and the evangelical protestants. Gingrich was and is a hyper-partisan liar who wanted, and still does, to be a despot. The evangelicals when they voted were the southern white vote, then Falwell and Robertson made them hyper Repukes for Reagan and they also expanded in number (now there seems to be a contraction).
Also some of the progressive outliers are so much in love with their beyond mainstream want list that they really piss off people, who are just looking for a reason to be against Democrats. This is gold for the Repukes.
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