Right there with you. I have nothing left but contempt, disgust and loathing.
I hope the reporting about Merrick Garland being too timid and concerned about appearances to prosecute is wrong, because if the tables were turned, there would be a string of Democratic heads on pikes ten miles long by now. Who cares if it looks partisan. Seriously? It IS partisan. One party tried to violently overthrow our democracy.
If nothing is done, we will, in short order, be an iron-clad authoritarian nation.
@ana please note it’s a longer term “zen” - I haven’t had time to look at the immediate - but ignoring the news for a little bit sounds like a solid plan for most of us if we can swing it!
Oh yes, "longer term" is what I am thinking (or fantasizing) is the important stuff. The political posturing and fallout is best described in the Shakespearian fashion, as "a tale told" (or in this case, played out) "by an idiot" (or idiots), "full of sound and fury signifying nothing". That line keeps coming to mind.
@dannyboy Thank you for your encouragement. I really appreciate it and I’m so glad to hear that your family is doing well again. You know what? I also feel zen about 2022 elections. I feel very calm. Oddly enough, your comments made me think of something else: how does it feel to have a premonition about something really bad in the future? For me, those types of premonitions are filled with foreboding, fear and heaviness. I don’t feel any forebodings about 2022. Nada.
You’re right, we have to keep the 2021 elections in perspective and tune out the endless cable news drama. I’ve been revisiting the Messages to Humanity that Jeanne posted recently.
These were messages from spirit and they are all encouraging and uplifting. I think we received those messages for a reason, to keep us going through all the turmoil and drama.
Agree. The media is largely responsible for the installment of Twitler and Hillary Clinton's loss.
Like I said before, I am seeing an alarming number of articles from extreme right-wing sites show up regularly on MSM sites. Articles from Washington Examiner, for example.
Prime example of the right-wing spin of the media- the VA election was a blowout, and Dems should be panicking and hand-wringing, but the NJ election was "narrow" and a "narrow victory."
Who's pro-rethug? Not them.
You wrote that "people want a polished version of T's opportunistic politics." How will democracy survive that?
I think the question is "what IS a polished version of T's opportunistic policies?" - because it's not Youngkin. And how does someone polish it without giving up the endgame?
@dannyboy At the risk of being perhaps a bit too vulgar, there's an old saying: "You can't polish a turd." ?
@polarberry The part of me that believes in the power of a free press as the fourth estate is in constant struggle with the part of me that wants CNN, FOX, MSNBC and all the others to be cut from the power grid never to broadcast again.
Journalists today are not Woodward and Bernstein. Hell, in the 2020s even Woodward sits on dark secrets in advance of his book publication to sell more copies.
The Virginia election wasn't as close as the New Jersey election, but the top Democrats still really only lost by a few percentage points to the Republican candidates. It wasn't the utter defeat that Right-wing media or even the mainstream media make it out to be. Overall, it shows the electorate is still divided almost 50-50 by party lines.
While the Democrats could have done better and will certainly try to analyze what went wrong, we still have the RepubliCONS out there sparking fear, division, and culture wars. Democrats need to find an effective strategy to counter that just as much as putting the blame on ourselves.
Attached is an interesting, short analysis by Rachel Maddow on Tuesday’s governors races. Both Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states that hold their gubernatorial races the year following the presidential election. Rachel illustrated that for the past 30 years, the first year a president is elected his party loses the governorships in both Virginia and New Jersey. This year, however, that trend changed, because Murphy won in NJ.
In an earlier post we discussed Trae Crowder, the self-proclaimed, liberal redneck. Attached is the segment where I was first introduced to Trae Crowder. It was immediately after the 2016 election, and his humor lifted my spirits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DvNzdj529M
Got to see his Ivermectin video that you recommended -- really funny!
About Virginia. When I first heard that McAuliffe would be in the primary running for a second nonconsecutive term I got a sinking feeling and thought "oh no, another white guy trying to puff up his ego." Since this was before everyone was talking about the VA race, that's probably my most accurate impression of the matchup.
Increasingly the Democrats have to nominate diverse candidates to get people excited in off year elections, and I think that's one reason McAuliffe lost: he was just another white guy (who had already served as governor). Youngkin meanwhile was able to feed off the ambient atmosphere of unease in COVID America by rallying angry parents.
I don't live in Virginia, so these are observations from a distance.
Posted by @coyote:
Youngkin meanwhile was able to feed off the ambient atmosphere of unease in COVID America by rallying angry parents.
@coyote, I've resided in Virginia for 38 years, and all of your observations are 100% correct. The emotional charge that Youngkin was able to create with these parents was stunning.
I voted for a young female Democratic candidate in the Virginia primary, but I knew McAuliffe would win the nomination, primarily because he had the full backing of the DNC.
@theungamer, I've read that the Dems may no longer control Virginia’s House of Delegates. It looks like the best-case scenario would be a 50-50 tie in the chamber, but I believe several races are still close to call. If there is a 50-50 tie, I don't know how they will legislate. A tie vote in the House of Delegates equals a rejection of the proposal; the bill fails to advance for further action.
If a State Senate vote ends in a tie, the Lieutenant Governor, who will be a Republican in 2022, can break the tie. Currently the Democrats control the Senate, but only by a slim margin (21 Ds, 18 Rs, 1 Ind). One of those Dem senators sometimes votes with the Rs, which could mean a tie, thus allowing the Rep Lieutenant Governor to vote.
We'll just have to see how this all plays out here in VA. I'm still peaceful about it, despite my disappointment.
It wasn't just rallying parents about Covid mask and vaccine policies. It was stoking their fears about Critical Race Theory which isn't even taught in Virginia schools. McAullife made a gaffe at one point saying that he didn't think parents should be telling schools what to teach. Youngkin capitalized on this on one of his ads which was aired repeatedly.
Virginia also recently implemented transgender protections in schools, and there was a sexual assault incident perpetuated in a school bathroom by a gender-fluid teen ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/in-case-at-center-of-political-firestorm-judge-finds-teen-committed-sexual-assault-in-virginia-school-bathroom/2021/10/25/42c037da-35cc-11ec-8be3-e14aaacfa8ac_story.html) There was already backlash about the transgender policies from some parents. The news broke out in late October not long before the election so that probably only served to further rile up some parents in the PTA culture wars of 2021.
@melmystery I'll add, though it's been talked about, the messaging. In Michigan we have the Maddocks of whom Mrs. Maddock is the GOP Co-Chair with Ron Weiser. Weiser has gone quiet recently after some really bad publicity but Meshawn doesn't care. She eats it for breakfast. She's like that Honeybadger in that YouTube video from the early aughts.
Case in point, there have been events in Michigan that she holds up as evidence that everyone in the state is fed up. Some of the more recent ones have struggled to hit 100 people but regardless of small numbers, she's able to say "See? This is how people feel! You don't see anyone at the PRO MASK rally!" (despite the ridiculousness of that sentence - I mean, a "Pro mask" rally during a global pandemic?)
These people exist all over the country and serve two purposes.
1) Media attention - this is the crap that makes news and I'm tired of the media in general because of it.
2) Scare the people who might be inclined to hold a "Pro Mask rally" from having it for fear of retribution. Okay the Pro Mask rally is a bad example. It's happening across the country right now with school boards and the CRT discussion along with mask mandates. Anyone who shows up to these meetings to speak the opposing point of view are vilified - I wouldn't want to go either and I'm a life-long education advocate.
We need to send light and love to THOSE folks for the courage to help change the narrative!
And good god the packaging. What we can wrap under the brand of "Campbells Soup presents: freedom and liberty" while being truly, spectacularly horrible to one another - It's been suggested that our purpose is to spread light in this age, but I don't know about you - I'm just so damn exhausted.
Hi. I've been a long-time lurker but this is my first post. My intention is to add a ray of hope to this conversation. I live in Missoula, Mt - a blue dot in a sea of red. Montana has been red forever, but we have always had some blue - either in our state legislature or governor. There was always someone in leadership to prevent us from going over the red rails, until the election of 2020.
Every single branch of state government went red. Our now governor was charged with assault and still won the seat. I felt dismayed, angry, and afraid. Much of what I was afraid of happening, did. I often feel as if I'm living in a cartoon called, Crazy Town. Running the gamut from guns to wolves, they are making decisions and implementing laws that are detrimental, dangerous, and the opposite of everything I hold dear.
And yet, Missoula voted all blue for city leadership just yesterday. I wasn't sure we would, given the number of people who moved here during Covid. I wasn't sure we were still blue. But we are! There are people who share my values in this state and we will continue to strive for equity, the environment, and elevating consciousness. I bet there are people around you who share your values too, even if you're the minority. We need support, need to know we're not alone.
I am not passive. I watch the news, though I often fast forward through portions of it. I stay informed. I do my best not to get sucked into the low energy all around me. I can't change anything from that place. I'm turning to this forum, meditation, laughter, and catching my thoughts before they run away with me to the scary place - because that's what feeds my soul and keeps me optimistic in the midst of all this muck.
For those of you living in Virginia, it'll be OK - not good, but OK. I have hope for Montana - and the US. It's probably going to get a lot worse, but it will get better, eventually - we cannot give up hope.
We'll see what happens in 2024. Either there will be more blue here, or I might be moving. I'll know what to do when it gets here. What I know for sure is that I have a choice about how I feel inside, not by pretending, but by feeling all of it and trusting this Life Force we're all enfolded in. I know for sure that it feels better than focusing on all that could go wrong. For me, it already has gone wrong - and I'm OK. Look what we've survived since 2016! We're going to make it.