Month: January 2019

Let me start by saying that i HATE the two-party system. It, and corporate money, have, are, and will be the ruin of our democracy. I would love nothing more, politically, than to see a viable, national, third (& maybe fourth) party spring up.

That said:

A few facts: Trump won Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes, a state in which Gary Johnson got over 170,000 votes, and Jill Stein got over 50,000. Trump won Pennsylvania by fewer than 45,000 votes, while Johnson got 146,000, & Stein got 49,000. He won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes: Johnson got 106,000 and Stein got 31,000. If Hillary wins those 3 states, she’s President. You tell me, who do you think the majority of the Johnson & Stein voters would’ve voted for if those two candidates weren’t on the ballot? Those 3 states, in which Stein alone, much less Johnson + Stein, received enough votes to have given the election to Hillary, are why we are where we are now…PERIOD! (BTW Johnson alone, much less Johnson + Stein, also received more votes in Florida than Hillary lost by.)

So, Howard Schultz, I cannot say this plainly enough. IT AIN’T ABOUT YOU!! If you cost us the 2020 election, I will do everything I can to make sure that Starbucks never sells another coffee BEAN, much less cup, to a Democrat!! And Howard, we grew up together! I grew up in the same Bay View projects you grew up in. I went to the same PS 272 you went to (and I was supposed to be the Valedictorian, but my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Garner, took it away from me…long story.) So, up until this week, I was extremely proud to say that “Starbucks Guy” was my childhood neighbor (you’re a few years older, so no, you probably won’t remember me, but I’m sure some of the “Big Kids” I knew back in the day, knew you.) Don’t make me ashamed of our childhood “ties!” You wanna run for office, fine. Run for Mayor of Seattle, or Senator from Washington, or even Governor. Show us you can WIN an election, not just siphon off a few of the Dems votes. Show us you can cut your teeth in this new, political arena, but with significantly lower stakes. Show us you can govern effectively. (Hey, your successor at Starbucks, Kevin Johnson, wasn’t chosen just because he’s a “nice guy with good ideas” right? You picked someone who’d run a large company (Juniper) before, you know, with a track record of success…get it?)

Then, build a movement. Build a base, a party that has enough widespread support and gravitas to actually have a chance to win, nationally. Get like-minded elected officials to caucus with you. Pass some bills. Get a track record we can believe in. Have a platform that wins elections in swing states. THEN run for President, maybe in 2028. I’ll knock on doors for you! But if you screw this up in 2020. If you go Full-Nader, and Full-Johnson-Stein on us, WE WILL NEVER forgive you! Because at the end of the day, you have NO CHANCE of winning in 2020, but you have EVERY chance of determining who DOES win. Think about that. Is THAT the legacy you want to be remembered by?! You already cost your adopted city of Seattle its NBA franchise, the Super Sonics, (by selling the team to an Oklahoma City group). You’ve asked for (but not received) their forgiveness for that faux pas. Apologies will NOT be accepted this time either, bro’. Do the right thing! Run in the Dem’s primaries if you want, but do NOT run as an Independent. Nuff sed…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_States_presidential_election_in_Michigan

So, we now live in a time where there’s a website dedicated solely to American gun violence in the last 72 hours–updating daily: https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/last-72-hours

There are over 200 such incidents posted at the time of this writing. That’s obviously a crisis, a tragedy, and a sad commentary on society. But my question is, how many of these shooters, from the past 72 hours, were “undocumented aliens?” You know, the type that we shut down the gov’t for a month to protect ourselves from? As opposed to, you know, plain old American citizens, of whatever ethnicity, income classification, “appearance,” etc. That would sure be an interesting thing to know, wouldn’t it? Just askin’…

Little known fact–the longest border separating ANY two countries in the whole wide world is…our Northern border, which separates us from Canada: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-longest-land-borders.html So, where is the outcry for funding for a wall on THAT side, where, you know, the potential threat of infiltration is obviously the biggest. Just askin’…

Apparently, the Republican party has found a way to name members to 23 of the 27 House Committees for which they must do so for the new, 2019 Congressional Committees. The most glaring omission of the four unnamed Committees? The Intelligence Committee! (insert your own joke here) Actually, it’s not funny after all, because as Rachel Maddow points out, until they DO, the Committee cannot take ANY actions, including requesting the transcripts of all testimonies before Congress relating to the Russia investigation–which they would then be able to hand over to the Mueller investigation. That’s probably a coincidence, right? https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/republicans-slow-to-staff-key-committee-slowing-mueller-help-1432324163767

Just askin’…

Life support may be overstating things a little…maybe. But Democracy is far from getting a “clean bill of health” for certain. To be clear, this is wa-a-a-y too big to tackle all at once. But I’d like to pose a few thoughts, and open the dialogue–meaning that I want to hear what you think, too! But here are a few things I think we simply have to address/fix ASAP.

Voter suppression: I know it must be hard to see your side’s political future looking dimmer, the farther out you look. But this whole voter suppression enterprise is just so sad, to be honest. If your positions on key social and political issues are so out of touch with the looming majority that you fear you won’t get your way anymore, maybe it’s time to re-think your positions! Ask yourself, why do so many people disagree with you? What are you missing that they’re seeing? Voter suppression is just a trifling way to acknowledge that you know your opinion is losing ground, but you want your way to rule anyway, and you’re willing to do anything to keep the power. But we have to put an end to it, probably by coming up with some reasonable standards for identifying intentional suppression, and levying out some stiff penalties for examples of it (I’m looking at you, North Carolina 9th Congressional District). https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/28/politics/north-carolina-harris-campaign-emergency-petition-results-certify/index.html

I mean, this is the country of “Three Strikes and You’re Out” mandatory sentencing, right? We know how to put people away! (But it’s also the same place that said, repeatedly, and in no uncertain terms, that Opiod Addiction is a public health crisis, but crack addicts were menaces to society, so, maybe don’t get your hopes up too fast.)

Depleting/undermining the office you just lost: Similar to voter suppression in its thought process/origin–people who see the future turning against them, searching for ways to retain control/power. The playbook basically says: “If I can’t be Governor (or whatever office you just got ousted from) then let’s remove the power of the office so the next person can’t undo my efforts.” It seems obvious to me that a federal law forbidding new legislation on the role, authority, parameters, jurisdiction, and budgetary control of any office during the “lame duck” status between election day and the inauguration of the new elected official, would be prudent, fair and wise. (No. Car., Michigan, and Wisconsin, I’m looking at you…) https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/4/18123784/gop-legislature-wisconsin-michigan-power-grab-lame-duck

Election Day revisions: First of all, no more Tuesday Election Days: Seriously? Do I have to even explain this? Would you throw your birthday party on a Tuesday night? No. Why not? Because no one would come–it’s a work day, followed by another work day! So why do we still pretend there’s nothing wrong with asking people to spend hours either en route (right, North Dakota?) &/or on long lines to vote on a Tuesday? It’s ridiculous, and I don’t tolerate fools/foolish things well. Election Days (yes, plural) should be spread over a two-week period, culminating with a 48-hour marathon session from midnight Saturday morning, until midnight Sunday night. Every polling station in America should be forced to stay open for those 48 continuous hours. That would do a few things: 1) it would require more people  to volunteer to work, hopefully in 8-hour shifts, at the Polling sites (more people involved in any phase of Democracy is mo’ betta’). 2) It would allow people to take note of the line, and come back later if they want to! 3) It would drastically reduce the number of people who can’t/don’t vote because: they had to go to work; couldn’t find anywhere to leave their kids, were under the weather that day, etc. Way more people have time off &/or child care options over the weekend, than during the polling hours on a Tuesday.

Congress…grow a pair!: As much as I despise the seemingly inextricable gridlock we find ourselves in these days in Congress, I despise the concept of a monarchy even more! Yes, we need to re-learn how to reach across the aisle and find compromise for the greater good, yadda, yadda. But what we really need is a Speaker of the House and a Senate majority leader who aren’t afraid of the President when he/she is from your own party! We need a SOH and SML who, every time they hear a President–from either party–even think, much less talk (or tweet) about shutting down the Government, or about taking on enormous expenditures (e.g. new “carpentry” or construction expenses, you know, like building 1,500-mile walls), they step up to the nearest microphone and say, “Thank you, Mr./Ms. President, for your suggestion. But we’ll take it from here. We’re the body that passes legislation and approves expenditures. So, why don’t you go work on, I don’t know, foreign policy, like global climate change initiatives…you know, you’re Constitutional responsibilities, and let us do ours.” You know, instead of cowering in the corner and letting the President essentially Bogard their jobs/Houses of Congress on the public stage. I believe the phrase I’m looking for is “equal branches of government.”

That’s just a short list to start with about the health of our Democracy. There’s plenty more to be concerned about. So, what’s it gonna be? How do we salvage the notion of Democracy that was the underpinning of this great experiment in the first place? What do you guys think?