The SCOTUS just announced that, after slow walking a decision for weeks, that they will take on TFG’s claim of absolute immunity even though the Court of Appeals decision denying that claim was unanimous and has been called “masterful” by many legal experts.  They also continued the stay on his election interference trial, almost guaranteeing that he won’t go to trial before the election.  Trump wins again with his handpicked court.

Fuck me.

We all know there is a shortage of teachers, counselors, and administrators in the state of Texas. They have found a solution to the second group. They are allowing school districts to hire chaplains as school counselors. Since I have a masters in school counseling and have worked as a counselor for three of my 26 years, I thought I would walk us through this.

My masters program was 51 credit hours. That’s a long damn time. Most programs today are as little as 36 hours. Since most counseling students are current teachers, those programs usually limit you to six hours per semester. If you hoof it and press through the summers, you can complete the program in two calendar years.

Of course, back in the good ole’ days they didn’t put us in cohorts and streamline the process. Those 51 hours ended up taking me nearly five years. From there, I had to pass a certification exam and demonstrate that I had taught in the classroom for at least two years.

Counselors do so much more than just counsel students. They are responsible for the master schedule, they provide academic counseling to help students select classes, and help students apply for colleges, get scholarships and grants, and complete the financial aid form. Yes, they also counsel students and have to do so for students from all religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.

In addition to working as a teacher during the day, I am also a catechist at night and on weekends. That just means that I assist the youth minister with the confirmation program. In order to be qualified to do that, I have to complete a Safe Environment course every five years. They also do a criminal background check. That’s it. Otherwise, I just raised my hand and volunteered.

Obviously, my experience as a teacher and counselor comes in handy. I am able to assist with lesson planning and working with students with special needs. I certainly wasn’t trained at the church for that and I end up actually doing the training in an unofficial capacity.  One can certainly appreciate that anyone can become a chaplain through the simple process of completing an internet course. I would have to imagine that online courses from major religious groups aren’t far behind.

Meanwhile, no one has bothered to ask why there is a shortage in the first place. Counselor pay is unpredictable and woefully inadequate in many places. One friend I know took a pay cut to get a counseling position in another district. I am too close to the end to take a pay cut. Even a transfer for similar pay makes little sense. I’ve done this before. There is more stress, longer hours, and the stakes are higher. Why would I do that for the same money?

People like me bide our time and wait for the right opportunity to present itself. The difficulty with chaplains is that they don’t have this training or experience. They are short-circuiting the process and bypassing many of the steps that makes counselors good at what they do. Being a teacher made me a better counselor. I knew what teachers and students were going through.

One of the courses I took was called religious counseling. It essentially taught us the basics so that we would have a basic understanding of every major religion we might encounter. Are chaplains doing this? Are they doing any of it? As the law is written now, they won’t have to. They just has to produce a certificate that says they are a chaplain. Well, I guess I could do that. I’ve done that too for over 20 years.

How many times have California Republicans tried to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom? Five? Then, six times must be the charm, or so must think the organizers of the latest effort to recall this popular governor.

The last time this happened, the recall effort made it to a special election. In an off year. In 2021. During a global pandemic.

By law, a recall effort is allowed 160 days to gather signatures on their petition after giving notification. In 2021, a judge allowed Republicans an additional 4 months to complete their task because not enough people were going shopping at big box stores where petition gatherers are usually encountered.

Because of COVID.

And COVID was ironically the main issue behind the recall. Newsom was first to lock down his state to avoid filling hospital ICUs with afflicted patients. He was quite good at that. He was, however, remiss in masking up at a widely reported dinner party in an exclusive French restaurant amid the lockdown. Hence, their moral outrage.

So it was paradoxical that the very beef they had with Newsom, COVID, allowed Republicans enough time to gather the required number of valid signatures to hold a special election after four previous tries.

This Politico article spells it all out, but there is a flaw in their reportage. Politico assumes that the recall is meant to take place in the November election.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

See, Californians like Newsom for the most part. They also like their Cannabis. At the time, it was no coincidence that Cannabis legalization proponents managed to schedule a vote to legalize recreational marijuana during the 2016 Presidential General election, which produced the 3rd highest voter turnout by percent since 1976.

The Cannabis legalization issue passed.

The last recall of Newsom was a special election on the recall alone. Special elections are notoriously low turnout ones here. Lower than midterm election turnouts. Not so in 2021. Despite the pandemic, that special election had a 58% participation; a full 8% higher than the 2022 midterm election.

Just imagine the turnout if Newsom’s recall were to occur as an issue on the same ballot that TFG appears on as a Presidential candidate.

In California.

It is safe to predict that 2024 would be a Republican rout up and down the ballot.

So no. Newsom’s recall is doomed if it is on the 2024 General Election, and Republicans know it.

On the other hand, Republicans know that 2028 will be Newsom’s first year to attempt a presidential run. Getting him recalled in a low-turnout special election in 2025 would be the obvious gambit to damage his image. Chris Christie had his George Washington Bridge affair to end his winning streak. They hope that this will end Newsom’s.

Their issue last time was flouting his own mask mandate in a restaurant. This time, it is the current state budget shortfall. My guess is that they missed on both issues.

Next time, they might consider trying to impeach President Newsom for using excess hair product.

I know conversion is possible because I have gone through it personally. No, this isn’t one of those Saul getting knocked off the horse moments. I didn’t have a burning bush talk to me or have a near death experience. I don’t want to make light of those events because I am sure some people experience those things and they seem very real for them. Who am I to say different?

What I do know is that most of us don’t experience those things. So, conversion has to come from within. We need some kind of realization (or a ha moment) and then the courage and fortitude to actually make a lasting change.  Most people associate conversion with organized religion. Certainly, there are opportunities there, but it doesn’t have to be that way and while religion can be a catalyst for change, the change itself is graded and evaluated independent of that. After all, what good is going to church, praying, and studying if it doesn’t actually lead to tangible change in our lives?

What I have talked about before is a change of mindset from grievance to gratitude. I have been in a grievance state. When I was younger I completed my masters in counseling and wanted to be a school counselor. I did it for three years at the elementary level, but it wasn’t a good fit for me. I lost that job and had difficulty getting back into education. I spent an inordinate amount of time angry.

Why were other people getting opportunities that I wasn’t. I felt that I was a victim of reverse discrimination. I am a white male in a field dominated by women. When I was an elementary counselor I was the only male counselor in the entire school district. I had sunk into a mindset of grievance. That anger was also sifting out into my personal life as well as my attitudes towards other groups that seemingly got advantages. I was on the train to conservatism.

Part of the conversion happened because I got an opportunity to do what I am doing now. Part of it came because I had time to process all of the things that had happened and realized I had a huge role in my own fate. Part of it came in the wisdom of realizing that I had had opportunities given to me all while I seemingly was prevented from doing things.

Going from grievance to gratitude is hard. It takes a long time because wisdom absolutely never happens in the moment. It comes after reflection and some perspective none of us have as things are happening. This is why I can’t give up on people trapped in a grievance mindset.

The honest to God truth is that all of us have the capacity and justification for choosing either. We can point to crap that happens in our lives and shout, “it’s just not fair.” In many cases it isn’t. In many cases there are people less talented and proficient than us that somehow stumble their way into positions above us. As such, there are many of us that have earned that grievance and can wear it without any tinge of irony.

At the very same time, we all have something to be grateful for. If nothing else, we get the opportunity to wake up every day and make a new start. I probably get the opportunity to impact many more students than I would as a counselor. Whatever life force we choose to believe in, that force is wiser and smarter than we are. It knows where we fit best in this universe. Whether that is God, Yahweh, Allah, Krishna, fate, Buddha, or anything else we can name, we can choose to believe we are in the very best place. Obviously, truth is a four letter word, but perspective is not. Moving folks from grievance to gratitude sounds like moving mountains, but I am here to tell you it’s not only possible, but a necessity.

When your goal is to deprogram conservatives we must remember that it is a process like any other cult. It’s at this point that we have to remember that language is precise. So, let me start with a statement that will seem provocative, but makes all the difference in the world. Conservatism by its very nature is selfish. This doesn’t mean individual conservatives are selfish. Many are very generous individuals, but their generosity is usually focused on those they find worthy of that generosity. As an ideology it is built on selfishness and individualism.

So, when we look at memes that focus on how great things were in the past, the temptation is to focus on how things weren’t all that great for everyone. Unfortunately, this is a strategy that won’t work. They don’t care. So, telling them that life wasn’t good for women, ethnic minorities, or the poor really doesn’t phase them. Keep in mind this is about an ideology and not individuals. Progressivism is about the we and conservatism is about the me.

Step One: The politics of scale

A number of the issues many worry about simply don’t matter. Why are we spending so much time writing laws and spending column inches and television segments on this stuff? This simple answer is that it distracts us from the stuff that really matters. If I can make you worry about transgender girls playing girls sports then you won’t notice that my economic policies are driving you to your knees.

If one percent of people are transgender then 20 people in a 2000 student are transgender. If ten of those are boys becoming girls then how many of them are both able to transition before 18 and interested in playing sports. This is simple. Does this issue impact you? Do you have a girl in school playing girls sports? So, you take this approach and expand it outwards. How many of these hot button issues are both real and impact you personally? My guess is very few.

Step Two: Enlightened Self-interest

Remember that conservatism is inherently selfish. So, instead of focusing on someone’s notion of fairness we have to appeal to their sense of self-interest. If things were so good back in the 1950s then it is fair to examine why that was. Few of them know that the top end income tax bracket paid 91 percent. Of course, they weren’t paying 91 percent on all of it, but there were far fewer billionaires.

The vast majority of these folks aren’t earning 100,000 a year. The trickle down economic policies are killing them. It’s why their wages haven’t advanced. It is why costs continue to go up. Things like deregulation are directly responsible for these things. Conservative politicians decreased government investment in higher education and lifted the caps on tuition. We all know that this is more unfair for the poorer Americans and those from traditionally disenfranchised groups. They could honestly care less about other people.

Step Three: The we helps the me

Once you have figured out a way to get people to ignore bullshit issues and have helped them see how conservative economic policies have hurt them then you are ready to finish the job. Individually, we may care or not about others, but most progressives understand the notion that when more people do well then we all do well.

If everyone has access to quality health care then health care costs drop and productivity goes up. When people have good jobs their buying power goes up and they can afford to shop at our stores. Study after study demonstrates that when the disparity between rich and poor is tighter then the crime rate drops. Happier and satisfied people typically don’t resort to violence. Obviously, there will always be exceptions but when we recognize systemic racism, sexism, xenophobia as a threat to our collective well-being then we will have completed the transformation.

At CPAC last week, the Teabaggers of 2010 looked quaint compared to the insurrectionists and radicals of 2024.  The Crazy Wing and the Stupid Wing of the GOP have merged and the resulting zombie was on full display at what can only be dubbed Trumpfest.  One notable moment was during a panel moderated by Chief Shitbag Steve Bannon when QAnon enthusiast and Pizzagate influencer Jack Posobiec said,

“Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely.  We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this, right here.”

It didn’t stop there.  The speakers’ list was a rogue’s gallery of election deniers, white supremacists, criminals and crazies.  TFG co-conspirator Jeffrey Clark was a speaker, along Stefanik, Russian Agent Jim Jordon, Gaetz, Princess Nepotism Lara Trump, and other ne’er-do-wells spouting bullshit and pledging fealty to TFG.  Nazis mingled openly amongst the mouthbreathers, all convinced that Joe Biden is a criminal and the actual criminal, TFG, was unjustly being persecuted.

This is just a preview of the 2024 election year. I’m not looking forward to it in the slightest.