@sistermoon I do apologize for my tone. I am as frustrated as you are, and that does occasionally leak through my posts.
On the other hand, it strikes me that there are far too many people who want change *now* and assume that since the current President is a Democrat, he can simply wave his magic Democrat wand and it will all change for the better overnight, and since he hasn't done so, then all Democrats in office are to blame for the failure to progress. I am tired of hearing what the D's have been unable to accomplish - without any hint of irony - much less recognizing that they can do nothing with the current situation in the Senate. How much reporting has there been on the successes of this administration? Where is the reporting/recognition that the deficit, which ballooned incredibly under TFG's administration, will be cut by over a trillion dollars by the end of the year? Why did no one talk about the Build Back Better plan except to complain that "it won't work" - except it did, and it has, and it will continue to.
Where are the positive things, i.e., the proper and swift COVID response; the incredibly rapid growth of the economy with unemployment numbers lower than they've been for over 50 years? Why do we not talk about those? It's almost as if mainstream democrats *want* the D's to fail, yet at the same time they bemoan how terrible things were (and would be again) under a Republican administration.
I realize that the biggest problem is the media. It was exciting for them under TFG because the stories wrote themselves! They didn't have to do any actual reporting or engage in real journalism to fill the headlines. They got lazy and complacent, and now that they have to work for it again, they're taking the easy way out and reporting only the negative things, which they got accustomed to doing under TFG because it was easy. It's always easier to see the darkness than the light, and for better or worse, the 24-hour news cycle in the media drives the narrative here and elsewhere.
As I said, I apologize for my tone, but let's please stop blaming the ones who are trying to help for being prevented from doing so by the opposition.
Right now, I feel like i can’t see beyond our noses. There are so many things that have the support of the majority of Americans, but being blocked by a minority. It is not fair, and sometimes I feel like we are screaming into the void.
That said. I have been clinging to a thought running around in my head about SCOTUS. Whether it is intuition or just hopeful thinking, I will not hazard to guess. But it is my little bit of light right now.
What the Alito draft has proven is that SCOTUS can choose to overturn any previous ruling. Alito could not come up with any real legal reason to overturn RvW, so he wrote a bunch of BS hoping no one would question it. Even legal scholars who read the draft indicated it was a reach (kind of like the fake elector scheme).
I believe that within a decade, these corrupt decisions will be overturned. I have to cling to that idea, that belief.
A lot can happen between now and 2032. But ultimately, that is the blink of an eye in universal time.
I think the SCOTUS ruling on guns, and whatever mess they make of Roe, is having the effect of waking people up to how crazy the court is. People on the right have been keyed-in to the court for decades, mostly because there's been such a focus on trying to move it to the right, but most others, including liberals, have been asleep. Even after Bush v. Gore (which was an outrage) most Americans approved of SCOTUS. That's changed, and that's a good thing.
We need to remember that the people who "open carry" are not all there, if you know what I mean. I don't mean legally insane, but think of the kind of personality that feels the needs to carry a gun around in public? I can tell you that if that starts to happen in NYC, or in other large metro areas where people aren't use to that nonsense, people aren't going to be too happy, and unhappy people fuel change. Change takes time, but it doesn't happen by itself, it needs a spark and some gas. SCOTUS is paving the way.
I live in NYC and I'm not feeling freaked out about the ruling. It's another brick in the new road we need to take and part of the "turning."
This tweet from Sherrilyn Ifill, President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, really resonates with me this morning, among all the tumultuous events happening around us:
https://twitter.com/Sifill_LDF/status/1540309888609443841
"Remember that we have never seen the America we’ve been fighting for. So no need to be nostalgic. Right on the other side of this unraveling is opportunity. If we keep fighting no matter what, take care of ourselves & each other, stay strategic & principled, & use all our power."
Yesterday I kept hearing Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in major op. 92- II, Allegretto pop into my head. I have noticed when I start to randomly hear this melody play in my mind, it can mean something ominous is about to occur. I made note of it.
Here is the song.
It does become a bit lighter after the beginning and at the end, the melody is repeated but altered a bit so it is less heavy. At least there is that.
But I only was hearing the beginning part yesterday which is the normal way I am presented with this song as a foreboding warning.
Lovendures, I love that movement known as a funeral march. And I can't help but think that you are tapping into the SCOTUS decision as a catalyst for the end of the era of despots. Napoleon had just been defeated in France and it was the end of a despotic era for him. Ironically, Beethoven had written Eroica (the third symphony) earlier as a celebration of Napoleon who many thought was going to be democratic leader to take place of the monarchy. But he turned out to be a despot.
Anyway, I think the SCOTUS decision is the beginning of the end for the Trumpian billionaire era, and your thoughts of Beethovan's seventh symphony funeral march reflect that it's going to be curtains for this SCOTUS and for Trump, the way it was for Napoleon.
@jeanne-mayell I really hope so. Even knowing today was coming, it feels unbearable today.
@jeanne-mayell Hopefully things turn around before uber conservative SCOUS and red-controlled states start banning contraception... there are already rumblings about that as the next step...
Regarding the SCOTUS's two decisions on guns and abortion, I keep thinking of my 2013/14 timeline visions that showed the crash in late 2019/2020 followed by a gradual spiralric climb to new life, new progressive government by 2028. Progress, as Obama said, is not a line. Nor is climate change. It's all a spiral and two steps forward, one step back. No one ever imagined in 1950 or even in the 1960's that we'd elect a black president in 2008. SO hang on. Keep the faith.
I know it's hard to have hope when we are in the midst of darkness. When I was sick earlier this month, I could not see myself getting better, but I did get better, and I even emerged from that illness with more clarity and light than before I got sick.
It is the same with our collective sickness. Each time we fall lower, we later emerge stronger, clearer and more determined. And the negativity causes more people to join the progressives.
Take stock of our collective, not just those in the dark. You are light, our community is light. And there are thousands of us. And there are millions more of progressive people working day and night for change. I don't discount the pain we are in, but it's going to be okay. I just know it.
I hope that this will somehow get the current jerks in the Supreme Court thrown out.