Tonight the House voted to raise the debt ceiling by $480 billion, which should keep the country afloat until December 3. The vote was 219 to 206, with all Republicans either voting no or refusing to vote. Republican representative Andy Biggs from Arizona moved to adjourn Congress rather than take the vote at all. Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) said he would not vote to raise the debt ceiling because government spending funds “tyranny” over people’s lives. He complained about “a border that’s not secure,” “Critical Race Theory being taught to our children,” and a litany of other Republican talking points.
After reading the Letter, I sat quietly with an uncertain head. Did I have anything to write? I thought of a headline in yesterday's The New York Times, 'U.S. Hundreds of Police Officers Have Died From Covid. Vaccines Remain a Hard Sell.' Then I took a couple a few photos of the sunrise and texted one of them to a friend. Death is on my mind. I live in NYC. 34,402 of us have died from covid, 1 in 242. Morality, I think of that, too. The letter starts with Biggs and Roy. Abbott, DeSantis, McConnell, Trump rush to mind. Physical responses when writing their names are automatic. Mortality and Morality - tap, tap, tap - like scat singing. The breakdown of civil conduct may be at my door or in the park or anywhere. I looked for a poem.
The 206 Republicans who voted to default violated their oaths of office to protect and defend the provisions of the Constitution, including the Fourteenth Amendment, so why are they not being held accountable? People who are willing to sacrifice the common welfare of their nation for the sake of a duplicitous, disgraced former president are not fit to hold public office in a democracy and should be removed, all 206 of them. The despicable actions of the Republicans are morally bankrupt and downright criminal. But since the American justice system no longer honors the rule of law, the "seemingly inexorable slide into likely violent conflict" noted by David Herrick seems imminent. I grieve for my country and the failure of its dysfunctional political system that has enabled a faction of sociopaths, scalawags and miscreants to hold the Constitution hostage.
Thanks, Heather, for yet another usefully alarming Letter. I would love it if you could also write some commentary for the NYT or the WaPo or even the WSG. In addition to your many other activities... Easy for me to say.
I wonder if it might not be a good moment to step back and look at the big picture (pretty grim) and consider how to save our country from it's seemingly inexorable slide into likely violent conflict. First, what are the (no doubt, disputable) facts?
-- Nationally, Democrats (+ independents) outnumber Republicans (+ other independents), assuming major polling is not way, way off.
-- Joe Biden did win the last election fair and square with a sizeable majority of the popular vote and zero evidence of any significant election fraud.
-- Republicans in the House and Senate know Trump lost, but see political and personal advantage in sustaining Trump's totally and deliberately false narrative about how the election was stolen from him. They are both corrupt and gutless.
-- The events of Jan. 6th were the result of a conspiracy at the highest levels of the Trump administration, and both he and his flunkies are involved up to their ears in a variety of illegal activity, some of it punishable by long prison sentences, or worse.
-- The Democratic Party is divided along a progressive-centrist line, with two senators behaving as GOP imposters, rendering the passage of Joe Biden's proposed legislation -- all of it -- unlikely, barring unforeseen events.
-- Americans, by a sizeable majority (again, if the polls are accurate) favor passage of all or most of the Biden agenda.
-- These same Americans (polls again) appear to be losing faith that Biden and Congress can get it done.
-- The SCOTUS is now firmly controlled by Federalist Society judges and is likely to interpret our Constitution in ways that will bring us to the brink of civil war.
-- Our amazing Constitution, well over 2 centuries since it was written, is no longer adequate as a roadmap for good government or the attainment of the ideals it embodies, and is in desperate need of clarifying amendment if we wish to continue to improve -- or even have -- our democracy and the benefits that derive from it.
-- Our democracy has been under attack from the right ever since the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s made it legal for Blacks and other minorities to fully participate in it, and the GOP has now -- through a reassertion of states' rights -- (nearly) reached it's objective of re-establishing firm control of government and society by White, propertied men.
-- Nearly half of adult American citizens sit out most elections.
-- The Citizens United SCOTUS decision essentially legalized large-scale political corruption by corporations and the ultra rich. Of course corruption takes two to tango, so we can assume many (if not all) of our elected representatives in Congress are also corrupt or corruptible, and that their real money is not to be found in promoting the common good, despite pretty generous salaries and benefits. Presumably, without this corruption, they might be able to do a better job.
No doubt, there are other important facts to be added to my list, but as time is running short for America, we need to decide SOON what to do about our situation, and then just do it. So, yes, we need to:
-- get out the vote;
-- call out every GOP lie and repudiate it loudly and repeatedly;
-- learn the art of the catchy sound-bite, even if it offends our sensibilities;
-- contribute time and MONEY to Democratic candidates;
-- NOT GIVE UP because this is all so depressing and because we haven't lived 60 or 70 or 80+ years just to see our beloved America taken over by a bunch of ignorant, malevolent racist yahoos, and because we all know the GOP doesn't really want to fuck with the stock market, and we'll all be dead before the worst of it.
-- put on our old no-nukes and peace buttons and hit the streets ready to resist if all else fails, as millions of warm Democratic bodies will outweigh the maga-morons in the final analysis, but sitting at home watching TV or glued to a smart phone weighs little or nothing.
IMHO, the best place to start would be for Merrick Garland to order the FBI to carry out mass arrests of the real planners (no, not the guy with the horns) and leaders of the Jan. 6th insurrection, and do it before Congressional hearings, not as a response to them. In fact, it irritates me no end that this has not already happened. If the Trumpies riot, Biden should call in the military to suppress and arrest.
Then arrest McConnell on general principle.
Then if Texas and Florida decide to secede, let them go. (I know there are some great Texans and Floridians who read the Letter and would hate this. Don't worry, we'll get both states back later.)
At the dawn of our peril, we awaken, seeing the carnage potential, and VOTE, as if our very lives depend upon suffrage. We awaken, called to the cause of democracy. Rising up, we VOTE.
If I recall, Steve Bannon has been saying for years that the goal is to burn everything to the ground. They’re not playing to the base, they’re executing the plan.
I am a citizen of Iowa, a voter and a constituent of Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Joni Ernst.
I wish to raise an ethics complaint against them for failing to abide by their duty under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s prohibition of questioning the “public debt of the United States.”
Congress created the ‘debt ceiling’ years ago and we seem to be caught in its clutches repeatedly, more frequently of late. However, since the Constitution forbids questioning the debt [it does not forbid deciding how to create it, just deciding not to pay on it], it is unethical for members of Congress to vote to question the public debt and prevent the government from meeting its debts.
I am not certain of the exact form to use for this complaint, but as a constituent of two Senators who voted to question the public debt, I am certain this will suffice.
Government spending funds "tyranny"? Well... inasmuch as government spending pays the salaries of the Republicans who encouraged the January 6th coup attempt and are trying to ensure safe and equal voting rights, he's right.
I hope American corporations recognize the health, economic and political risks for their businesses and act against these authoritarian and anarchist Republicans by withholding ALL donations from those who participate in creating the chaos and tyranny.
Living, working and prospering in civil society carries responsibilities. We must all take responsibility and demand it of others.
For someone living in Texas, this was a difficult letter to read. Rep. Chip Roy is my representative and I really thought he hadn't drunk that much of the Kool Aid. This makes me realize how fast this insanity is spreading and how deeply this is affecting Texas politics. Are they really so scared of the extreme right-wingers that they have to become one? I wrote a letter to Rep. Roy and my Senators Cornyn and Cruz on stopping the dangerous political shenanigans of the debt ceiling and to get rid of it all together. How do I get back to the Rational World? What can I do to make a difference in Texas? Does the general public understand how close we are to the end of democracy? Yesterday I was encouraged by two things - 1) the NY Times and Washington Post articles by moderate Republicans saying vote democrat 2) that Taiwan is doing great things with civic tech which may the harbinger on how digital democracy will give us a true democracy rather than a representative one with tools that can help people develop consensus etc.
I seem to recall from the movie “Cold Mountain”? Which is about the Civil War a line “we got our war” said with a lot of excitement. That is not how the movie or war ended. We seem, or some never see the consequences of their actions. Some of it is willful blindness. Which is why studying history is so important. Not to predict the future but to helps us to see better.
Thank you for tying today's events in Texas to the past by teaching that the Fourteenth Amendment abridges the power of states. I am ashamed to say that I did not know anything about the Fourteenth amendment before you began writing about it and its relevance to the Southern secession.
It is here folks! NOW is the time. Early voting has started and the gears of elections are in motion. It is imperative to GOTV and help others do the same. Today I am grateful we have democrats in the house and senate because as last nights legislative agenda has demonstrated, our country desperately needs democrats to stay alive. And this applies to the state and local level elections. The margins are small and walls of defeat will spell disaster. I am taking action today and action everyday to get anyone I know to cast their ballot for democracy not authoritarianism. You can too. The time to take up arms is now … VOTE LIKE YOUR COUNTRY DEPENDS ON IT. God Bless my America too.
After decades of Worldwide scientific effort. Yacine Djibo reports in the October 10, 2021 NY Times that a successful malaria vaccine has finally been developed. As Yacine reports, malaria is a "preventable disease ... and yet around 400,000 people a year, mostly children" in sub-Saharan countries die from malaria. There is no cognitive dissonance nor any doubt about the use of this new vaccine in Senegal today.
Under the Articles of Confederation, there were 13 independent states associated in a confederation that severely malfunctioned. Ultimately, as a desperate resort, delegates came to Philadelphia to restructure this failing states amalgam. Technically the federal system that resulted was illegal because it lacked the unions approval required under the Articles of Confederation, but this was smoothed over by George Washington’s submission letter to Congress.
Subsequently the issue of ‘states rights’ has waxed and waned, with the Civil War being one dramatic result. Now it is a ‘pick and choose’ issue for a number of Republican states. Some of the same states that bleat about ‘states rights’ are first in line to demand federal assistance during floods, hurricanes, and other national disasters. These funds come in good part from the disbalance between taxes collected in some states, including New York and New Jersey, and federal funds provided to tax-deficit states, especially in the South. Also, ‘states rights,’ as opposed to federal laws and traditions, are being touted by Republican governors and legislators, as they assiduously act to make voting a Republican privilege rather than a constitutional right. The hypocrisy of this ‘states right’ assault on the right to vote is undisguised, as revealed in Republican strategy papers: to curb non-white voting in a desperate effort to maintain an electoral advantage in a country where the white majority of citizens is diminishing every year.
The ‘states rights’ issue over slavery resulted in a devastating Civil War. What will be the ultimate result of the current specious ‘states rights’ assault on the constitutional right of all Americans to vote?
As I read HCR's column today, I concluded the Republican Party has set out upon a scorched earth agenda. It may be a challenge to call an entire group of people "consummate evil", but Republicans in my eyes fit that depiction perfectly. The dark soul of Republican hubris is killing our Republic with intention.
After learning of the sudden, unexpected death of my sister this last Sunday, I am forced to contemplate how much longer I want to keep aware. She was a centerpiece of my now 77 years, with me from the beginning of my entry into this world. Nine years my senior, she never stopped seeing me as her "little brother", no matter my age. We shared so much in common politically, along with a lifelong love of Charles Schultz' "Snoopy". She, Bobbie, married her high school sweetheart in 1954. Her sweetheart is heartbroken; devastated.
So, I must ask myself: Is my civic interest worth it? I have followed politics since my days as a young Airman with the U.S. Air Force. This country has not, like a fine wine, improved over time. It has soured into a toxic vinegar, despite the technological advances and all the protests to the contrary. "Keep up the good fight", they say. To what end, I ask? I am simply one small grain of sand in a sea of humans. All my protests, my boasts of dismay, my hundreds if not thousands of letters written have been to no avail. I love our Republic. Yet, she too, is facing certain death.
Considering that the more radicalized Republican governors, legislators and judges are locking down their states, what are their residents in opposition to do - in particular with voter suppression, judicial decisions and executive edicts? Can the federal government be of much if any help to them?
After reading the Letter, I sat quietly with an uncertain head. Did I have anything to write? I thought of a headline in yesterday's The New York Times, 'U.S. Hundreds of Police Officers Have Died From Covid. Vaccines Remain a Hard Sell.' Then I took a couple a few photos of the sunrise and texted one of them to a friend. Death is on my mind. I live in NYC. 34,402 of us have died from covid, 1 in 242. Morality, I think of that, too. The letter starts with Biggs and Roy. Abbott, DeSantis, McConnell, Trump rush to mind. Physical responses when writing their names are automatic. Mortality and Morality - tap, tap, tap - like scat singing. The breakdown of civil conduct may be at my door or in the park or anywhere. I looked for a poem.
I, Too
BY LANGSTON HUGHES
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.
Langston Hughes, "I, Too" from The Collected Works of Langston Hughes. Copyright © 2002 by Langston Hughes. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Inc.
The 206 Republicans who voted to default violated their oaths of office to protect and defend the provisions of the Constitution, including the Fourteenth Amendment, so why are they not being held accountable? People who are willing to sacrifice the common welfare of their nation for the sake of a duplicitous, disgraced former president are not fit to hold public office in a democracy and should be removed, all 206 of them. The despicable actions of the Republicans are morally bankrupt and downright criminal. But since the American justice system no longer honors the rule of law, the "seemingly inexorable slide into likely violent conflict" noted by David Herrick seems imminent. I grieve for my country and the failure of its dysfunctional political system that has enabled a faction of sociopaths, scalawags and miscreants to hold the Constitution hostage.
Thanks, Heather, for yet another usefully alarming Letter. I would love it if you could also write some commentary for the NYT or the WaPo or even the WSG. In addition to your many other activities... Easy for me to say.
I wonder if it might not be a good moment to step back and look at the big picture (pretty grim) and consider how to save our country from it's seemingly inexorable slide into likely violent conflict. First, what are the (no doubt, disputable) facts?
-- Nationally, Democrats (+ independents) outnumber Republicans (+ other independents), assuming major polling is not way, way off.
-- Joe Biden did win the last election fair and square with a sizeable majority of the popular vote and zero evidence of any significant election fraud.
-- Republicans in the House and Senate know Trump lost, but see political and personal advantage in sustaining Trump's totally and deliberately false narrative about how the election was stolen from him. They are both corrupt and gutless.
-- The events of Jan. 6th were the result of a conspiracy at the highest levels of the Trump administration, and both he and his flunkies are involved up to their ears in a variety of illegal activity, some of it punishable by long prison sentences, or worse.
-- The Democratic Party is divided along a progressive-centrist line, with two senators behaving as GOP imposters, rendering the passage of Joe Biden's proposed legislation -- all of it -- unlikely, barring unforeseen events.
-- Americans, by a sizeable majority (again, if the polls are accurate) favor passage of all or most of the Biden agenda.
-- These same Americans (polls again) appear to be losing faith that Biden and Congress can get it done.
-- The SCOTUS is now firmly controlled by Federalist Society judges and is likely to interpret our Constitution in ways that will bring us to the brink of civil war.
-- Our amazing Constitution, well over 2 centuries since it was written, is no longer adequate as a roadmap for good government or the attainment of the ideals it embodies, and is in desperate need of clarifying amendment if we wish to continue to improve -- or even have -- our democracy and the benefits that derive from it.
-- Our democracy has been under attack from the right ever since the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s made it legal for Blacks and other minorities to fully participate in it, and the GOP has now -- through a reassertion of states' rights -- (nearly) reached it's objective of re-establishing firm control of government and society by White, propertied men.
-- Nearly half of adult American citizens sit out most elections.
-- The Citizens United SCOTUS decision essentially legalized large-scale political corruption by corporations and the ultra rich. Of course corruption takes two to tango, so we can assume many (if not all) of our elected representatives in Congress are also corrupt or corruptible, and that their real money is not to be found in promoting the common good, despite pretty generous salaries and benefits. Presumably, without this corruption, they might be able to do a better job.
No doubt, there are other important facts to be added to my list, but as time is running short for America, we need to decide SOON what to do about our situation, and then just do it. So, yes, we need to:
-- get out the vote;
-- call out every GOP lie and repudiate it loudly and repeatedly;
-- learn the art of the catchy sound-bite, even if it offends our sensibilities;
-- contribute time and MONEY to Democratic candidates;
-- NOT GIVE UP because this is all so depressing and because we haven't lived 60 or 70 or 80+ years just to see our beloved America taken over by a bunch of ignorant, malevolent racist yahoos, and because we all know the GOP doesn't really want to fuck with the stock market, and we'll all be dead before the worst of it.
-- put on our old no-nukes and peace buttons and hit the streets ready to resist if all else fails, as millions of warm Democratic bodies will outweigh the maga-morons in the final analysis, but sitting at home watching TV or glued to a smart phone weighs little or nothing.
IMHO, the best place to start would be for Merrick Garland to order the FBI to carry out mass arrests of the real planners (no, not the guy with the horns) and leaders of the Jan. 6th insurrection, and do it before Congressional hearings, not as a response to them. In fact, it irritates me no end that this has not already happened. If the Trumpies riot, Biden should call in the military to suppress and arrest.
Then arrest McConnell on general principle.
Then if Texas and Florida decide to secede, let them go. (I know there are some great Texans and Floridians who read the Letter and would hate this. Don't worry, we'll get both states back later.)
At the dawn of our peril, we awaken, seeing the carnage potential, and VOTE, as if our very lives depend upon suffrage. We awaken, called to the cause of democracy. Rising up, we VOTE.
If I recall, Steve Bannon has been saying for years that the goal is to burn everything to the ground. They’re not playing to the base, they’re executing the plan.
How about this as an ethics complaint:
I am a citizen of Iowa, a voter and a constituent of Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Joni Ernst.
I wish to raise an ethics complaint against them for failing to abide by their duty under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s prohibition of questioning the “public debt of the United States.”
Congress created the ‘debt ceiling’ years ago and we seem to be caught in its clutches repeatedly, more frequently of late. However, since the Constitution forbids questioning the debt [it does not forbid deciding how to create it, just deciding not to pay on it], it is unethical for members of Congress to vote to question the public debt and prevent the government from meeting its debts.
I am not certain of the exact form to use for this complaint, but as a constituent of two Senators who voted to question the public debt, I am certain this will suffice.
Government spending funds "tyranny"? Well... inasmuch as government spending pays the salaries of the Republicans who encouraged the January 6th coup attempt and are trying to ensure safe and equal voting rights, he's right.
I hope American corporations recognize the health, economic and political risks for their businesses and act against these authoritarian and anarchist Republicans by withholding ALL donations from those who participate in creating the chaos and tyranny.
Living, working and prospering in civil society carries responsibilities. We must all take responsibility and demand it of others.
For someone living in Texas, this was a difficult letter to read. Rep. Chip Roy is my representative and I really thought he hadn't drunk that much of the Kool Aid. This makes me realize how fast this insanity is spreading and how deeply this is affecting Texas politics. Are they really so scared of the extreme right-wingers that they have to become one? I wrote a letter to Rep. Roy and my Senators Cornyn and Cruz on stopping the dangerous political shenanigans of the debt ceiling and to get rid of it all together. How do I get back to the Rational World? What can I do to make a difference in Texas? Does the general public understand how close we are to the end of democracy? Yesterday I was encouraged by two things - 1) the NY Times and Washington Post articles by moderate Republicans saying vote democrat 2) that Taiwan is doing great things with civic tech which may the harbinger on how digital democracy will give us a true democracy rather than a representative one with tools that can help people develop consensus etc.
I seem to recall from the movie “Cold Mountain”? Which is about the Civil War a line “we got our war” said with a lot of excitement. That is not how the movie or war ended. We seem, or some never see the consequences of their actions. Some of it is willful blindness. Which is why studying history is so important. Not to predict the future but to helps us to see better.
Thank you for tying today's events in Texas to the past by teaching that the Fourteenth Amendment abridges the power of states. I am ashamed to say that I did not know anything about the Fourteenth amendment before you began writing about it and its relevance to the Southern secession.
It is here folks! NOW is the time. Early voting has started and the gears of elections are in motion. It is imperative to GOTV and help others do the same. Today I am grateful we have democrats in the house and senate because as last nights legislative agenda has demonstrated, our country desperately needs democrats to stay alive. And this applies to the state and local level elections. The margins are small and walls of defeat will spell disaster. I am taking action today and action everyday to get anyone I know to cast their ballot for democracy not authoritarianism. You can too. The time to take up arms is now … VOTE LIKE YOUR COUNTRY DEPENDS ON IT. God Bless my America too.
After decades of Worldwide scientific effort. Yacine Djibo reports in the October 10, 2021 NY Times that a successful malaria vaccine has finally been developed. As Yacine reports, malaria is a "preventable disease ... and yet around 400,000 people a year, mostly children" in sub-Saharan countries die from malaria. There is no cognitive dissonance nor any doubt about the use of this new vaccine in Senegal today.
Under the Articles of Confederation, there were 13 independent states associated in a confederation that severely malfunctioned. Ultimately, as a desperate resort, delegates came to Philadelphia to restructure this failing states amalgam. Technically the federal system that resulted was illegal because it lacked the unions approval required under the Articles of Confederation, but this was smoothed over by George Washington’s submission letter to Congress.
Subsequently the issue of ‘states rights’ has waxed and waned, with the Civil War being one dramatic result. Now it is a ‘pick and choose’ issue for a number of Republican states. Some of the same states that bleat about ‘states rights’ are first in line to demand federal assistance during floods, hurricanes, and other national disasters. These funds come in good part from the disbalance between taxes collected in some states, including New York and New Jersey, and federal funds provided to tax-deficit states, especially in the South. Also, ‘states rights,’ as opposed to federal laws and traditions, are being touted by Republican governors and legislators, as they assiduously act to make voting a Republican privilege rather than a constitutional right. The hypocrisy of this ‘states right’ assault on the right to vote is undisguised, as revealed in Republican strategy papers: to curb non-white voting in a desperate effort to maintain an electoral advantage in a country where the white majority of citizens is diminishing every year.
The ‘states rights’ issue over slavery resulted in a devastating Civil War. What will be the ultimate result of the current specious ‘states rights’ assault on the constitutional right of all Americans to vote?
As I read HCR's column today, I concluded the Republican Party has set out upon a scorched earth agenda. It may be a challenge to call an entire group of people "consummate evil", but Republicans in my eyes fit that depiction perfectly. The dark soul of Republican hubris is killing our Republic with intention.
After learning of the sudden, unexpected death of my sister this last Sunday, I am forced to contemplate how much longer I want to keep aware. She was a centerpiece of my now 77 years, with me from the beginning of my entry into this world. Nine years my senior, she never stopped seeing me as her "little brother", no matter my age. We shared so much in common politically, along with a lifelong love of Charles Schultz' "Snoopy". She, Bobbie, married her high school sweetheart in 1954. Her sweetheart is heartbroken; devastated.
So, I must ask myself: Is my civic interest worth it? I have followed politics since my days as a young Airman with the U.S. Air Force. This country has not, like a fine wine, improved over time. It has soured into a toxic vinegar, despite the technological advances and all the protests to the contrary. "Keep up the good fight", they say. To what end, I ask? I am simply one small grain of sand in a sea of humans. All my protests, my boasts of dismay, my hundreds if not thousands of letters written have been to no avail. I love our Republic. Yet, she too, is facing certain death.
Dear Heather and my LFAA friends -
Considering that the more radicalized Republican governors, legislators and judges are locking down their states, what are their residents in opposition to do - in particular with voter suppression, judicial decisions and executive edicts? Can the federal government be of much if any help to them?