Politics Plus

There is hope for the United States of America.

Over the last few years, things didn’t look good. SCOTUS overturned Roe v Wade. TFG gained popularity while President Biden sank in the polls. The environment continued to degrade. Disasters and wars dominated the news. Nut jobs tried to pull off a putsch to prevent the results of a legitimate election from being made official. And just recently Hamas launched a brutal attack on Israel, which retaliated by bombing innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip and frustrating efforts to get humanitarian aid through to them.

Now the news is sounding a lot better. Voters in Ohio ensconced reproductive rights in their state’s constitution, while those in Kentucky re-elected a Democrat as governor. Virginia voters prevented a Republican trifecta, foiling Governor Youngkin’s efforts to outlaw abortion in that state. Candidates who campaigned on protecting abortion rights clobbered their Republican opponents. The Blue Wave in Virginia guarantees that their legislature will protect reproductive rights, at least in the foreseeable future. The anti-choice “victory” in overturning Roe v Wade is looking more and more Pyrrhic.

On top of that, efforts by the infamous pro-censorship group Moms for Liberty to take over school boards across the country were stymied. Evidently, enough voters saw through the parental-rights sheep’s clothing and beheld the hatemongering wolf underneath.

And why did these come about? Because millions of people refused to give up. Because millions of people in those three states got their butts to the polls and voted. This election cycle may indicate that We The People are not just slowing this country’s tumble into fascism, but reversing it and starting to restore genuine democracy.

This is no time for complacency, though – this is time for momentum. Our recent victories should inspire us to work harder in the next election cycle. 2024 is an important election since US voters will be selecting not just our Representatives and a third of our Senators, but who will occupy the Oval Office for the next four years. Biden may run for re-election, and though he has not been an outstanding leader he definitely has been better than his predecessor. We need to make sure the Tangerine Troglodyte is disqualified from running – democracy in the USA will not survive if he gains a second term. And if you think he can’t carry out his insane plans, guess again. Have you forgotten the coup on the 6th of January? He has a large enough base of fanatical followers that he could become a dictator.

While writing this essay, I learned that Rep. Brandon Prichard of North Dakota wants authorities in Ohio to overturn the recent election results. He claims that “[d]irect democracy should not exist.” This cannot be an isolated case. You can be certain that GQP candidates and office holders will want elections that give results they don’t like ignored.

Once again we need to Vote Blue No Matter Who. I hope that, by 2026, we can be more choosy and elect Democrats who truly believe in and support what that party is supposed to represent.

No doubt you’ve heard about Hamas’ recent savage attack on Israel. Which side do you take? On the one hand, Israel has the right to defend itself; on the other, they have been stomping on Palestinians for going on eight decades now.

Hamas is a terrorist organization, and I have nothing but contempt for terrorists. They are slaughtering civilians and have threatened to kill hostages. But Hamas did not arise in a vacuum. In order to understand why they exist and why they behave as they do, let’s back up and get a quick ’n’ dirty history of modern Israel and Palestine.

Even as far back as the 19th century there was talk of letting Jews have their own country. Jews view Israel as their Promised Land, belonging to them and them alone thanks to Old Testament legend. Yes, the ancient Hebrews lived in that region, where Solomon built his temple – but just because Jews of long ago occupied those lands, does that give them the right to claim them today, especially at the expense of those who had been living there for generations before?

Paging all First Nations and Native Americans!

The Palestinians were never compensated for their seized lands. Not the teeniest bit. They were simply ordered out of their homes. Then they were allowed some space on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but even there they are subjected to persecution and harassment. What land they are allowed to retain is little more than an open-air prison. Israeli settlers regularly bulldoze Palestinians’ homes, sometimes with people still in them. Jewish Israelis illegally settle in Palestinian regions, and though most nations acknowledge that these settlements are illegal, they do nothing to stop this land theft. And they can get away with such atrocities because Israelis and Zionists can always play the Jew Card and howl about how Jews have been picked on and persecuted for millennia.

If you dare to speak out against Israel’s policy of oppression and occupation, angry Zionists wrestle you to the ground and stamp you head to toe with swastikas. Never mind that you can easily be pro-Jewish and even pro-Israel but still oppose Israel’s inhuman treatment of the Palestinians. Hate the sin, but love the sinner.

Time for a thought experiment. Just imagine you are a member of an ethnicity that has been trampled for decades. Your great-grandparents’ land was stolen, their houses demolished after they escaped with just a handful of possessions. The people doing the trampling are a nation that has the world’s sympathy and powerful lobbies to guarantee it will receive plenty of foreign aid, while your people get only a trickle – if even that much. Your voices go unheard while you scratch out a living, dwelling in a shack and being subject to random searches and other forms of harassment wherever you go. You live in constant fear of being beaten or shot. Those who speak out on your behalf are quickly squelched and labeled bigots and hate-mongers. You hear numerous stories from your neighbors and friends about how your people are oppressed so hard they cannot stand, how they suffer violent discrimination. You often go hungry, not because your family cannot afford food, but because you cannot always get to a grocery store to buy comestibles thanks to frequent blockades and road closures. And at any time what little you have could be taken from you.

Imagine all of this has gone on and on and on, year after year, decade after decade. Imagine you have seen unarmed children, some of whom are related to you, killed by soldiers with military rifles. Imagine your entire village suffers collective punishment every time an angry teenager throws a rock at occupying soldiers or their vehicles. Now tell me you wouldn’t become a terrorist.

I am not trying to justify Hamas’ actions, now or at any time. All I am doing is asking that you imagine you were born and raised in what little territory Palestinians can still claim, subjected to what Israel regularly inflicts on them while the rest of the world pays barely any attention to their plight.

Already Israel has cut off all food, fuel and electricity from entering the Gaza Strip. They claim it is to stop Hamas, but this will harm innocent civilians who are living there. Israel could allow humanitarian aid to get through – when was the last time an Israeli soldier was killed by a loaf of bread? It is one thing to strike back at bloodthirsty terrorists, but allowing civilians to starve and freeze is another. Netanyahu could easily use the Hamas assault as an excuse for extirpating all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and possibly those in the West Bank region as well.

Not all Israelis and not all Jews approve of Israel’s cruel occupation of Palestinian lands. More and more, Jews and Gentiles alike are demanding justice in the Middle East, calling for Israel to acknowledge Palestine’s right to exist and accept a two-state solution. Hamas’ terrorist actions are unacceptable; however, Israel has been sowing dragon’s teeth for decades.

Whatever your reaction to the current Middle Eastern war, and to this essay, remember this: Never underestimate the will of an oppressed people to be free.

Our planet is getting hotter – there is no denying this. Disasters such as wildfires and storms are getting worse. The tragic fires on Maui are shaping up to be the worst disaster in Hawaii’s history as a U.S. state. Corals are dying, ocean water is getting warmer, arctic ice is melting. The gulf stream could shut down in a few decades, possibly a few years, though only time will tell.

We all know about how climate change is affecting weather patterns, leading to more powerful storms, larger and more frequent wildfires, rising sea levels, increases in droughts and famines. Viruses that have long lain dormant in arctic ice and permafrost will escape, possibly triggering new epidemics. You thought the COVID pandemic was fun? Wait till something even nastier sweeps through the population.

This past July was the hottest month in recorded history, at least since people have been measuring and recording temperatures. Meanwhile, the United States is experiencing a rash of mass shootings. Could there be a connection between record heat and record violence? Of course, it could be just a coincidence – correlation does not mean causation. However, weather does have an effect on human emotions and thought.

Increasing temperatures affect our reproduction – and doubtless that of other species as well. Hight heat makes pregnancy riskier, increasing the probability of premature birth. Also, heat affects the effectiveness of birth control, including condoms and the morning-after pill. This makes the battle for reproductive rights all the more important.

As usual, the ones suffering most from the heat and the other effects of climate change are the poor, the old, the young, and residents of developing countries. The wealthy can go pretty much wherever they want, while the economically disadvantaged are pretty much stuck where they are. And if they must leave their present homes, they have limited resources to travel; many have nothing but their own feet for mobility. Owners of boats that transport refugees often charge exorbitant prices for passage, and provide very little necessities, if any at all.

Already hordes of refugees are fleeing stricken areas, and sadly some countries are trying to turn them aside. Wars will erupt as nations battle over dwindling resources. Since more heat means hotter tempers, anger will flare into violence again and again and again. Not only that, people will fight to the death when survival is at stake.

Increasing heat hurts us all both physically and mentally. It is in everybody’s interest to do what we all can to curtail the effects of climate change. Even if we have passed one or more tipping points, we may be able to avoid the worst ones. This will happen only when cooler heads prevail – and cool heads are hard to come by these days.

This particular essay may not be up to my normal quality, but I’ve been feeling like [bleep] all weekend and had to get this out.

Democracy is not dying in darkness – it is being brutally murdered in broad daylight. And members of the general public are too busy playing Candy Crush on their phones to notice, or care.

Everywhere you look, democracy is in dire peril. This is not paranoia, but an inconvenient truth. Here in the USA, millions are conspiring to destroy the very foundations of this country. Book bans, restrictions on what children learn, squelching voting rights, chipping away at reproductive freedom – these are just a few of the ways people are demolishing liberty. India, the planet’s largest democracy by population, is suffering attacks on its system. Pro-fascism organizations are on the March, sometimes literally, across Europe.

In Atlanta, the local and state government are doing all they can to squelch protests against the proposed law enforcement training complex known as Cop City. People raising money to bail out those arrested for taking part in peaceful protests were themselves arrested. A petition calling for the general public to vote on whether or not to build the complex is being called into question, and city leaders are scratching for ways to invalidate it. This may sound like an isolated, local incident, but it is symptomatic of the many things wrong with our country.

Recently, the Knesset, the parliament of Israel, removed the power of review from Israeli courts on grounds of “reasonability” in light of the country’s basic laws. The measure passed 64-0 in the 120-seat body, with the far right-wing coalition of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu unanimously in favor and the opposition having left the chamber in protest.

The result? Utter chaos. Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets of every major Israeli city, sometimes blocking major routes. Police reacted with brutality, attacking demonstrators, pounding them with water cannons and even throwing burning wooden planks at them. Large numbers of military reservists have threatened to resign or refuse to show up for periodic training. About a week ago 10,000 reservists threatened to go AWOL, and before that 1,400 officers in the reserves, including 400 fighter jet pilots, claimed they would do the same. Israeli business are fleeing the country, taking with them expertise and money, and the Israeli stock market went into a tailspin.

Everywhere, it seems, right-wingers are advancing, destroying human rights, crushing opposition, turning back the clock. How is this happening? Is there a cabal of the ultra-rich backing them? Or has one right-wing movement in one country encouraged and emboldened others?

However, those who believe in freedom and justice are far from helpless. We have the power of the ballot box, the peaceful protest, the petition, the e-mail, the letter to the editor. And we don’t have to get the direct support of huge mobs – only a small percentage of the population has to get active. As Margaret Mead said, never doubt that a small number of thoughtful, committed people can change the world – indeed, it is the oniy thing that has. It took only a small number of thoughtful, committed people to gain women the right to vote, or to rid the US of the vile Jim Crow system, or to set India free.

Let us hope that is all we need to save democracy, not just in the U.S., but elsewhere.