I invite you to engage in a thought experiment with me.
Trump and DeVos believe that our nation’s public schools, which have been a staple of our democracy are “failing government schools,” and they propose to hand out billions of dollars so that children can go to low-cost religious schools or Mrs. Smith’s Tutoring School or any place that wish to go.
Clearly they have an animus against public schools because they are operated by local governments.
What other government services should we put on the chopping block?
if the Police Department is not lowering the crime rate, why not replace this failing government service with vouchers for security guards.
If the Fire Department disappoints us, it must be because it is a failing government service, and everyone should get a voucher to buy their own fire protection supplies.
Surely a mercenary army would perform better than our own failing government military, which has been bogged down in Afghanistan for years.
Then there‘s our failing government highway system. Why shouldn’t everyone have their own highway?
What other services should be put on the chopping block? The Republicans would like for any and all of the governmental regulatory agencies to disappear. As well as all public institutions. I’m not sure how they envision what that might look like for real, though Afghanistan is a good model.
One of my friends who is retired from the military & who did 2 tours in Afghanistan tell his Republican & Libertarian friends if you don’t like govt. than visit Afghanistan & you’ll see what you get by drowning govt to the size of a bathtub.
Amen
You don’t have to fly to Afghanistan, just seek out your nearest gated “community.” Fifteen years ago I took a European physician on a visit with Americans in a gated community in Palm Beach Gardens. He was shocked when he saw the security at the gate and within the community. “What are they scared of?” he asked. “Everything and anything that intrudes on their world,” I responded. He said, “I saw things like this in Sao Paolo, I never imagined I’d see it in the United States.”
Turrentines are close relatives of African-American Turrentines. We have, over the years celebrated this tie as a part of trying to heal the fissures created by history. One reunion, I was privileged to ride with my cousin Lydia up the graveyard that brought us together. It was the early 90s, and building in North Carolina where she lived had begun in earnest. We passed a gated community, and she stared out of the bus sort of wistfully. “What are t hey scared of?” She said. The answer was obvious. They were scared of her and her family. She knew that.
I wish I could tell you I spoke some brilliant idea that made the moment work for everything. But my tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth.
I am so glad I made that comment so that I could read yours.
“Tongue glued to the roof of my mouth”- I was at a small dinner party and a prayer was given by the Catholic host. After he thanked God for the meal, he added , ” I pray my grandsons like girls”. His grandson was present to hear it. There were many rumors that the grandson was gay but, not out.
When people understand religion but, not love….
Media have identified the nuns’ habits at the Circleville, Ohio Trump rally. Media claims they have matched the photos to 3 women in a convent order in Newark, Ohio. “…every moment of our lives a ceaseless act of love to Jesus eucharist…”
Bishop Hebda in Minnesota wouldn’t allow priests to vote in a Democratic primary, might be seen as political.
I think the End Game is easy to see …
We need to recognize Corporate Feudalism is a distinct form of government that is presently engaged in destroying every sector of Representative Democracy as we once knew it.
But Corporatism plays by its own rules, and couldn’t care less about the rules of democratic policy making and execution. People keep being confused about that. They keep asking why corporate insurgents do what they do when the answer should be obvious.
The corporate pyramid schemers are not playing on the side of democracy. They do not play by the rules of democracy and they never will.
Exactly
Played to Pay
They are the players
We are the played
Naught but the payers
For deals that they made
SomeDAM Shave
The Game of Corporate Life (apologies to John Conway)
The game is clear
As day at dawn
But Life , I fear
Is too far gone
Who cares about democracy in the Trump camp?
The grand poobah knows all and will lead us
like the proverbial lemmings to the “promised land”.
As I look at the poll numbers and see how he could
win a 2nd term like so many others
i am SCARED TO DEATH.
HOW could so many Americans be so dumb.
An English newspaper printed something to that
effect when George W made it.
BUT
with the electoral college system the
will of the people is down the drain.
There’s this weird blindness in ed reform, that I think comes from the fact that they genuinely believe the people involved in charters and vouchers are better people than the people involved in public schools. “Better” as in more ethical.
Government contracting, which is what charter schools are and what voucher schools will be once ed reformers expand them nationwide, has NEVER been “pure”. It’s jammed with self interest and self dealing and cronyism.
Government contracting is as vulnerable to low quality and self interest and corruption as any public entity.
Why would they make this crazy assumption privatizing schools would be any different?
It must come from a belief that ed reformers are literally better people than people who work in public schools, because it surely doesn’t come from the US experience with government contractors.
What is the difference between a charter operator lobbying at a statehouse and a teachers union? Why do ed reformers assume one is pure and noble and the other is self interested? It’s just pure bias. It’s based on nothing.
What do we do if we privatize all the schools and they’re not “better”? Do we get public schools back? There’s no return from this decision. If we privatize public schools that’s it- we’re stuck with the ed reform recipe forever.
A country free of government services would be a free market free for all in which the strong and wealthy have the power, and the rest of the people are at the mercy of those in power. One thing for sure is that it wouldn’t be a cohesive democracy. Such a country would be chaotic and a grim existence for most of the people. Lawless Afghanistan or some type of serfdom might be a good comparison.
A functioning democratic government works better with a collectivist perspective in my opinion. It is based on the ideological notion that pooling resources will serve the common good. It is a basic value on which democracy is based. In this model the government is accountable to those it serves. It is still possible for capitalism to remain strong as long it does not harm others. We have crossed a line in our country where we are becoming a plutocracy. Most of Western Europe has managed to provide strong social safety nets for the people while maintaining a capitalist economy. The Scandinavian countries have managed to co-mingle the needs of their people and a robust economy with some protective regulations. We need an accountable government that works of, by and for the people, and no Supreme Court, corporations are not people despite your ruling.
From a political science perspective, all Republicans with the help of some corporate Democrats, and accelerated by tRump, we are living in what Sheldon Wolin called “inverted totalitarianism”.
https://www.salon.com/2016/11/23/donald-trumps-inverted-totalitarianism-too-bad-we-didnt-heed-sheldon-wolins-warnings/
“The elements are in place [for a quasi-fascist takeover]: a weak legislative body, a legal system that is both compliant and repressive, a party system in which one party, whether in opposition or in the majority, is bent upon reconstituting the existing system so as to permanently favor a ruling class of the wealthy, the well-connected and the corporate, while leaving the poorer citizens with a sense of helplessness and political despair, and, at the same time, keeping the middle classes dangling between fear of unemployment and expectations of fantastic rewards once the new economy recovers. That scheme is abetted by a sycophantic and increasingly concentrated media; by the integration of universities with their corporate benefactors; by a propaganda machine institutionalized in well-funded think tanks and conservative foundations; by the increasingly closer cooperation between local police and national law enforcement agencies aimed at identifying terrorists, suspicious aliens and domestic dissidents.
These are the circumstances and forces that helped to make Donald Trump’s demagoguery palatable to tens of millions of white American voters. And by extension, these are the circumstances and forces that Trump will command and expand while president of the United States.
Maintaining and expanding a condition of extreme political polarization has become the dominant strategy for Republicans.
The Republican Party has followed Grover Norquist’s edict to make government so weak it can be “drowned in the bathtub.” It has effectively broken the government and have refused to follow through on basic responsibilities such as conducting confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court and threatening that the United States would default on its financial obligations if Republicans do not get their way in Congress.”
Unfortunately, you have outlined most of the symptoms of our malaise. What’s the cure? Voting is a step in the right direction. I think Republicans are trying to take care of the “excess population” by ignoring coronavirus and holding super spreading events.
The symptoms of our Mayonnaise
Our current mayonnaise?
From sitting in the sun
For days and days and days
And rancid, by the ton
I just hope we can get some people in government who support and value public schools. Twenty years of allowing this ed reform echo chamber to completely dominate the K-12 public schools they didn’t and don’t use is enough.
No more hires out of the Bush-Obama-Trump reform club. If we wanted 20 years of Jeb Bush running US public education we would have elected him.
Jeb? George W. Bush preceded Barack Hussein Obama II. 😐
I appreciate your sentiment. And it is absurd. But I don’t think any of the profit seeking privateers would be persuaded by your comparisons. They do think everything should be privatized. Government is the problem, etc. We’ve been on this track since the ’80s. I thought the jig was up with the Great Recession. It’s pure zombie economics at this point. But climate change and global pandemic be damned, free marketeers keep the faith.
and it may be climate change bringing more pandemics which ultimately takes them down
Diane has called attention to the why care about “other peoples children” issue. Kinda like the obligation to wear a mask to protect others. I wrote this back in 2017. Seems ever more relevant as the everyone-out-for-themselves ethos has metastasized. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-we-should-care-about-the-education-of-other-peoples_b_593ea655e4b094fa859f1a49
Floyd Flake was a minister of a mega church and a huge advocate of charter schools. I was at an event at which he was the featured speaker.
I akse if he agreed that since public schools, in his words, “were not serving the needs of the community,” charter schools, run by local organizations, were necessary?
He agreed.
I aske whether he agreed that the police were not serving the needs of the community, in fact, were antithetical to the needs of the community.
He agreed.
I asked whether he agreed that we should support a local police force run by the community.
He hesitated, “That’s different?”
I asked “Why is it different?”
His handlers rushed him off the stage.
Floyd Flake is a corrupt preacher. ☹️
Floyd Flake was a favorite of the conservative Manhattan Institute. They dropped him out regularly to “prove” that white conservatives were not racist.
It’s too late for the Manhattan Institute:
https://prospect.org/blogs/tap/how-racist-are-republicans-very/
The police should be disbanded. 😁
As a point of fact – though I largely agree with you on the merits – there are towns that do ask if people want to opt into the fire department – and if you aren’t paid up they will let your house burn down.
Here is an article from 7 years ago that highlights that issue
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203961204577269591267553530
Thanks MD. 😁 Unfortunately, it has a paywall. ☹️
I heard AOC last night being hit with typical media questions that use Republican framing. When was the last time that Susan Collins or Lindsay Graham was hit with non-stop questions about how they support things that are different than what Trump supports and aren’t they being hypocrites that voters from either party shouldn’t trust because Trump is promoting exactly the policies they told voters they opposed? That is never the framework for how the so-called “liberal” media treats Republicans.
But AOC was brilliant. When she was asked about her differences with Biden she said one very clear thing (I’m paraphrasing):
I’d rather be lobbying for the progressive agenda with Biden, who is listening, than go backward with a Republican like Trump who has a completely different agenda.
Biden is not going to be Obama 2 because his VP is different and the progressive movement is different. That’s what both AOC and Bernie know and understand.
Our job is going to be significantly harder with a far right wing Supreme Court that will likely outlive many of us. That’s also what Bernie Sanders knew in 2016. But it will be easier than if Trump wins again and we have a far right Supreme Court that outlives our children and the right wing agenda is enshrined in permanent policies that make real democracy impossible.
I would love for AOC to run for president in 2024. I think it is highly unlikely that Biden will run again. Maybe a Kamala as President/AOC for VP in 2024 first.
But AOC understands politics in a way that so many idiots like Chris Hedges do not. It is the Chris Hedges who are the self-serving elitists, and AOC who is the future if we hope our democracy survives. Otherwise a civil war is likely.
AOC is one of the smartest people I have ever seen. Every time I see her I marvel at how brilliant and quick her mind is. You look at the insipid and stupid Jared Kushner and others who were educated in the halls of Harvard or Yale and you realize how many mediocre white men and woman have been given credibility by the degrees their privilege bought them.
Whew! I wasn’t sure if AOC would be old enough to run for President in 2024. But, I looked up her age, and found she was born on October 13, 1989, which would mean she will be 35 by November 2024. Hurrah!!
Amen, NYCParent! AOC is awesome! What a sharp, sharp mind! I just participated in one of Jane Fonda’s great Fire Drill Fridays Zoomcasts, this one featuring AOC. I agree. She is brilliant.
Great post, Diane!
Remember to set your clocks back. I mean, WAY, WAY back.
–Amy CON-ey Barrett
Set Your clocks back
Set your clocks
To Biblical hour
Crony-Barret’s
A Justice now
SOYLDST
Scared out of your living daylights savings time
BACK to the future. Way, way, way back!
–Amy CON-ey Barrett
Supreme Court Cheer:
Push em back
Push em back
Waaaaaaay back!