One of the most absurd things I have seen in several years of remarkably ridiculous things is Ron DeSantis standing in front of his campaign banner. The banner reads “AWAKE not Woke." Apparently, DeSantis does not realize that “woke” is the past tense of “wake.” To be “woke”merely means you are “awake” and woke up... Continue Reading →
The Great Divide
A great deal of ink has been devoted to the fact that America today is deeply divided. Most people blame the problem on “partisanship.” Inevitably, each party has its extreme fringes. Yet our two major parties are no longer remotely comparable. Democratic “extremists” want to fund healthcare, education, and prescription drug relief. GOP extremists want... Continue Reading →
Hot Buttons and Lethal Outcomes
From a larger painting, Commiseration by Gilbert Schramm Over the last forty years or so, Republicans have built their election strategy around two hot button issues, banning abortions, and promoting gun rights. As a quick review will show, they don’t have viable policy on either issue. They simply use them to inflame emotions and divide... Continue Reading →
Democracy vs. GOP Malpractice: The Fight of the Century
The contrasts between Biden and the Trump/GOP administration couldn’t be clearer. In 170 days, Democrats have passed Covid-19 relief, vaccinated 65% of the population, brought unemployment down, kept the stock markets happy, created jobs, rebuilt important alliances, and partially restored America’s standing in the world. Meanwhile, Republicans have tried to block every effort Biden... Continue Reading →
Trump Leaves US in a Sad State
Today is Pearl Harbor Day. On this day in 1941, 2403 Americans died. On 9/11/2001, about 3,000 Americans died. In both cases, Americans pulled together to make sure this could not happen again. Huge effort and trillions of dollars were expended. How times have changed. Now, with a daily death toll rapidly reaching 3,000, we... Continue Reading →
Elections: Georgia on My Mind
Although I live in Oregon, on the other side of the continent from Georgia, I love Democracy, my country, and my state just as much as I’m sure Georgians love theirs. If I were a native of Georgia at this point, I would be outraged. I would be outraged whether I was a Democrat or... Continue Reading →
Proud Boys: Useful Idiots (The Other Problem with Racists)
Very recently a former high-ranking foreign service professional referred to Donald Trump as Vladimir Putin’s “useful idiot.” Every dictator needs useful idiots. Putin has Trump. Trump has the “Proud Boys” and other racists. Mussolini had “Black Shirts,” Hitler had “Brown Shirts,” Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic had their goons and thugs- all aspiring and practicing... Continue Reading →
A Realistic and Achievable Fix for the Electoral College
Almost every thoughtful citizen has realized by now that the current structure of the Electoral College is no longer really necessary or functional. Sadly, most of the proposals to correct the problem would require constitutional amendments or would be easy to defeat on constitutional grounds. They would either abolish the college or render it irrelevant—a... Continue Reading →
Thoughts on Progressive Democratic Messaging in the 2020 Election (…and into the Future)
This is the second of two posts which discuss the future of both the Republican and Democratic Parties. The first was titled “Withered Now: The GOP at a Dead-End.” This post deals with what I believe Democrats need to do as they go forward. In my view the Democrats are on the right side of... Continue Reading →
Withered Now: Dead-End for the GOP
This is first of two essays in which I discuss the way forward for both Republican and Democratic Parties. Part 1. Recently one of my readers suggested that I discuss what I think both major parties should do to address racism and other problems facing the US. I’m not sure that is quite the right... Continue Reading →
Mind-Cast 