In the aftermath of the Paxton travesty

 

Sophie being cute. Photo by Jordan Burton.

But I also hope that folks across the country — even in “safe” blue geographies — are finally, finally, after years and years of ignoring the folks who’ve been making the argument, starting to understand that Texas isn’t an outlier, it’s a bellwether. It’s a miniature funhouse mirror showing us a terrible preview of what’s to come for our national political situation if we don’t course-correct (or, more terrifying but possible, can’t course-correct).—Andrea Grimes, Home with the Armadillo (Substack)

Sorry, but this is another political post. The dangers of too much power in any man’s hands has been on my mind for a while. As far back as Harry Truman, conservatives found the word “socialism” an enormous threat; for progressives today, the fear-laden word is authoritarianism: power in the hands of one person. Authoritarianism vs. democracy.

The facts are a bit scrambled, but in 2022 Elon Musk refused to let Ukraine use his Starlink communications system to coordinate a drone attack on a Russian fleet in the Black Sea. Ukraine and its allies were “concerned.” Musk claimed he averted a much bigger catastrophe—read a hint of nuclear revenge. Whichever side is right, the fact is that one man, holding the power of communication, may have changed the course of the war. And that one man was not a military specialist, not a government representative. Just a man who is incredibly rich and controls a major communications network.

We see these one-man power struggles all around us. Ron DeSantis has come close to devastating Florida with his strict laws enforcing what history is taught, what books students can read, who can vote, what rights women have, what medicine trained physicians can practice, who you can love and who you cannot, who can play what sports. Strangely enough, he has not carried his extreme control into the area of gun safety, and there are few restrictions on gun ownership. His never-ending grasp reaches into every aspect of every Floridian’s life--and he’s probably not done yet. Florida is suffering because of it—citizens, particularly physicians and college faculty, are leaving the state in droves. But so are LGBTQ citizens, parents of trans children, probably Black citizens. Economic results are also being felt, with DeSantis biting the hand that feeds him—the enormous Disney complex that hires thousands of Floridians and brings millions of tourists to the state. What advantage DeSantis sees in creating this 1984-ish society I can’t see, except that it outdoes trump and appeals to a narrow segment of ultra-conservative voters. Perhaps—oh, make that probably, there’s a whole lot of personal ego involved too. There’s been so much pushback out of Florida that I’m not sure how big his base in his own state is.

Greg Abbott of Texas is of course another example of a leader gone power-mad. Abbott came to prominence as the Attorney General who sued the federal government every day, a clear sign that he was not into supporting democracy. He has not only passed draconian laws concerning guns—no license, no training, young age limit for ownership, any kind of gun is fine, including concealed—but he too has unrealistic laws concerning abortion, voting, gay and trans students, book bans, etc. His inhumane and devious tricks at the southern border have brought him clashes with the federal government, but he remains defiant—while even young children die.

Texas and Florida have earned contempt from much of the nation. One could say they are laughingstocks, but there is nothing funny about the disregard for the individual human life. That disregard negates everything this country was founded on: the principle that all men are created equal. Those regimes definitely move us toward authoritarianism.

One can’t quite say that Paxton has that much power, but what his acquittal shows us if that if you are a useful tool to powers with money, you can grab onto power and hold it. Corruption, in favor of the moneyed few, gives Paxton his power, and in many ways, it’s as scary as the domination of authoritarians. Anyone with half a brain, watching even a portion of the impeachment proceedings, knows that Paxton was guilty. His own attitude and absence from the proceedings seem to indicate that he knew it didn’t matter. He was confident and, to our detriment, it turns out he was right. Corruption won out.

The former guy, as Joe Biden calls him, has long been a known admirer of authoritarian leaders, from Hitler and Mussolini to Putin and Kim Jong Un. What semi-saved us from some of his worst ideas was that he had a minority in the House. Democracy worked, to some extent. Trump is already spouting his plans for a revenge reign, should he return to the White House in 2024. And he has famously said that he listens to no one but himself. Scary words from an overweight man of questionable mental stability who has surrounded himself with corrupt advisors. What Joe Biden did when he first came into office was to surround himself with experts in many fields.

I watched a video recently by a reporter who toured Kevin McCarthy’s district, the farming heartland of California. It was scary. Almost to a person, voters said Biden was too old and they were thinking they would support trump again. The word authoritarianism means nothing to them. I won’t use Hilary’s term deplorables, but I will say they are among the uninformed who believe every bit of disinformation handed to them. Without questioning it.

I leave you with a scary thought: does the Paxton acquittal presage an acquittal for trump? I would hope not. Trump will be tried n a courtroom by a jury of his peers, not by politicians with political loyalty to blind their judgement. But in this day, no one can predict anything. I for one want to fight hard—against authoritarianism, against corruption, for democracy. Hope you’ll help. There’s no room for complacency now.

 

 

 

 

The oxymoron of war.

 

In many nations tonight, people are outraged that Russian planes bombed a maternity hospital in Ukraine. One case made headlines—a young mother-to-be, in labor, who died, along with her baby. The cry is that bombing such a civilian facility violates the rules of war. This heartbreaking case is classified not as a casualty of war but as a violation of the rules.

The idea of rules of war has always struck me as an oxymoron. We’re not talking about a chess game here—we’re talking about deadly combat in which lives are brutally lost. Who sets the rules? And who says whether you follow them? According to Wikipedia, violations of the rules of war include intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostages, unnecessarily destruction of civilian property, deception by perfidy, wartime sexual violence, pillaging, the conscription of children in the military, committing genocide or ethnic cleansing, the granting of no quarter despite surrender, and flouting the legal distinctions of proportionality and military necessity.”

Thos rules leave little leeway for what you can legally do in a war, but Mr. Putin seems to have violated most of them. Who is going to say, “Tsk, tsk! You know that’s against the rules.”? If you’re hell-bent on killing people and conquering another nation, why should you listen to rules? I’m sure authorities from the Nuremberg trials had a good sense of what to do and some success. I am less hopeful about Putin being brought to justice, and yet he is just as inhumane as the Nazi officers tried at Nuremberg.

Walter Cronkite, the late, great newsman who fought in WWII, once wrote, “War itself is, of course, a form of madness. It is hardly a civilized pursuit. It’s amazing how we spend so much time inventing devices to kill each other and so little time working on how we might achieve peace.”

One of the most poignant clips I’ve seen recently showed a young woman, dressed in outdoor gear, in an apartment clearly destroyed by bombs. The camera panned to show the extent of the damage, and it was horrific. But she sat, pulled protective blanket off a piano, and began to play an excruciatingly beautiful piece. The caption was something like, “One Last Time.”

We are horrified and yet helpless. We contribute to various welfare agencies—I sent money to the World Kitchen recently since Chef Jose Andres is feeding the thousands of refugees who stream across the Ukraine border into Poland. We pray, beseeching whatever god we pray to, to spare the Ukrainian people, recognize their courage, deliver them from evil. Our country supports them in every way possible, short of igniting WWIII, which no one, except perhaps Putin, wants.

And yet, we are helpless. Decisions are made by governments, and we can either support or condemn. My personal take is that it is a time for us to pull together, to condemn aggression and to support the best efforts of our president and his advisors, both in and out of Congress and the military. Others choose to disagree and blame him for weakness, for the high price of gasoline, for everything but the weather—and they may get around to that too. Many who carp and complain can’t seem to get beyond themselves to see that we are all in this boat together—what happens to democracy in Ukraine will eventually make its way to our shores. Indeed, we had a close call last November in the election and ever since while we combat the “Big Lie.”

To me, it’s foolhardy to grieve for what’s happening in Ukraine but take comfort in the fact that wars will always be fought on foreign soil, never make their way to the U.S. I wish I could feel confident about that. I may be in my twilight years, but I have grandchildren to whom I leave the world—and I want it t be a world of democracy.

Meantime, life does go on. Friend Subie took Jordan and me to the Fort Worth Club today for a pre-birthday lunch for Jordan. I couldn’t help myself. I sat there in elegant surroundings, eating a sophisticated lunch, enjoying the company of two of my favoirte people, and thought, “People are dying. They are hiding in subway stations and basements. They are dying in maternity hospitals.” I remembered seeing an old woman in Ukraine who said they just want us to pray for them, and then they want us to go on and enjoy life. I did what she said—it was a terrific, happy lunch, full of laughter. But always, these days, there’s that little cloud hanging over us. Or maybe it’s a big cloud.

The importance of September 12

 

Yesterday was a somber one for all of us. When September 11 rolls around, images shoved to the back of our minds swim to the surface again, bringing with them the horror that is beyond imagining, a horror that made daily life grind to a halt, a horror that most of us couldn’t really wrap out minds around. People posted what they were doing when they heard the news of the attack on the Twin Towers—from traveling abroad to sitting in a classroom. I was, no surprise, at home at my computer.

It reminded me of the reaction for years to the assassination of JFK. People recalled where they were, what they were doing when those shots rang out and the news first broke. I was listening to my car radio on the main street of a small Missouri town and wondered why those news guys couldn’t get anything right. And then they got it right. It’s hard for me to believe that a whole huge segment of our population, including my four children, were not yet born by November 1963. But they will remember September 11, 2001.

I read a post yesterday by someone who said he wanted to go back to September 12, 2001. Not to relive the horror but to recapture the unity of America on that day. Led by George W. Bush, who was not my choice for president, we came together to grieve and mourn but also to declare our faith in the American way, in the survival of democracy. (That I didn’t agree with Bush’s later retaliatory actions is another matter.) We will all remember Bush, with his megaphone, at the site of the destruction.

What we got yesterday in leadership was a president who sat with his arms folded in a belligerent, bored pose during the reading of names of the victims who died at Shanksville; he didn’t seem to know the words to the Pledge of Allegiance when it was recited. In stark contrast to all political candidates since 2004, he did not pull his campaign ads for the day. Joe Biden told reporters they wouldn’t get anything from him yesterday—it was a day to honor the dead and not to campaign. He pulled his ads.

Today’s America, as many bemoaned yesterday, is far different than it was in 2001. We are a nation almost brought to our knees by a pandemic that has killed 200,000 of our family, friends, and neighbors,  economic depression worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s, terrorists who turn peaceful protests in our cities into riots, and wildfires that seem to consume the western third of the nation. I wrote “almost to our knees” deliberately because I think we can still save America from those who lie to us, who put greed above human life, who are power hungry. We are too strong as a nation. It’s scary to be overly optimistic, but I have faith.

We bumped into another hardship of quarantine last night. My friend Jean came for happy hour—a delightful pleasant evening on the patio. Jean had had a down day, as many of us had, and we worked to cheer each other. As she always does, she said, “Just kick me out when you’re ready to cook dinner.” As it was, we didn’t have supper until eight-thirty, but that was another story and not all Jean’s doing. Later Jordan and I talked about it because our natural instinct is to say, “Oh, stay and eat supper with us. There’s plenty.” (There is always plenty!) But quarantine gets in the way. We haven’t invited anyone into the cottage since last March. With cooler weather coming, the patio will lose some of its appeal, and we’ll have to rethink that.

Having mourned once again yesterday, I think today is the time to recapture the spirit of September 12, a spirit of moving forward in strength, not one of defeat or anger or retaliation. I’ve been accused of always walking on the sunny side of the street, and I guess it’s true. Just call me Pollyanna.

 

The Super Tuesday Hangover

Warning: a political post.

The internet is full of disappointed people today who don’t like the way Super Tuesday went for Democrats. I’ve seen all  sorts of people bemoaning that Sanders is our only chance to beat trump, that Americans are choosing safety over change; that Elizabeth Warren has sunk to low number because the old white guys (and the media) are determined to ignore a female; that Joe Biden will lose us the election; that Mike Bloomberg just blew half a billion for no good. Tulsi Gabbard is the only candidate I have not heard defended. To my mind, none of that is true.

I think democracy worked just as it was supposed to. The people spoke and got behind one candidate. If Biden wasn’t your choice, so be it. That’s what the process is about, and I urge you to remember that deposing trump is more important than any one individual.

People voted for Joe Biden, in my opinion, because he is an honest, decent man who wants to return America to what not too long ago was normal—a society that valued morals and honesty and decency, that valued the poor and sick among us as much as the wealthy. Voters recognized that he has the experience and expertise needed to guide this country to recovery. Yes, he represents safety, but that is what we need as we recover from the destruction to all our values the trump administration has brought. Presidential historian Jon Meacham may have said it best: “The people voted for normalcy.”

So, yes, we chose safety over revolutionary change. I like Bernie’s ideas, and I think many of them will come to pass with time. But, now, we need to repair the country, to reunite it around traditional democratic (the form of government, not the party) values. Now is not the time to try to jam radical reforms down the throat of Americans.

To my mind, Bernie is not a team player. Wanting to run on the Democratic ticket, he has yet, after two presidential runs, to join the Democratic Party. Losing the lead in the primary, he was angry rather than dignified and gracious as were Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Bloomberg. He is an ideologue who wants to ram his ideas through. And I do believe that giving him the nomination would give trump a second term. Much of America is not ready for the radical change he proposes. They are frightened by the word socialism, even as they misunderstand its implications. Changing the world is not our need now: defeating trump is.

I am sorry that Elizabeth Warren’s campaign has tanked. She is bright and articulate, has solid plans and ways to implement them. She is passionate about our country and what she believes. Many today complain that the male dominated world—politics and media—have quashed her campaign.

Years ago, after I divorced, my brother suggested that I was too educated to appeal to most men. I was a white female with a Ph.D. I read an article today that suggested that is Warren’s problem—she is a highly educated, articulate, bright, self-confident white woman. Most of the electorate are not. You’d be surprised at how few among various electorates—black, Hispanic, white, Native American—have college degrees. They simply don’t identify with her.

For various reasons, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Bloomberg didn’t end  up with the votes, and there is no sense now speculating on why. I can see some reasons. But the big thing is to me that we owe them a huge debt of gratitude for doing the graceful thing and bowing out when it was clear their campaigns were tanking. Several pundits today said Bloomberg blew a half a billion dollars. Not at all. He boosted the Democratic campaign when it was faltering, he exposed trump’s weaknesses and failures, sometimes cruelly, and now he is putting his money and his organization behind Joe Biden. Buttigiest and Klobuchar likewise put their considerable followings behind Biden. I hope they find meaningful positions in a Democratic administration in 2021.

Be of good cheer, all of you who are moaning. Democracy is working, and I have high hope that we’ll oust trump, the president who is squatting in the people’s house.