Author’s Note: I know many of you have expressed concern about Juanita. I got in touch with her yesterday. She is experiencing some health problems that she would not get into. They are not life threatening but she is taking a break from writing for awhile. I and the others will do the best we can to give you something to chew on until she feels up to giving us the same great content she has always given us.

I don’t know much. I studied political science in college, but as I am fond of saying, I have slept since then. However, I remember the concept of political parties and how they are supposed to work. Every party polices themselves and I suppose that’s the main problem. Politics works in fairly simple and predictable ways. Parties have platforms and they use those platforms to govern their solutions to our problems. At least, those are the problems they identify as our problems. Conservatives have identified border security as a problem. Obviously, we can get into any number of discussions as to how true that actually is, but let’s keep things simple.

James Lankford (R-OK) helped broker a deal on immigration reform in the senate. It is about as conservative as any deal anyone could imagine, Remember, the senate is Democratic. There was no reason for the deal to be as conservative as it was except for the fact that Democrats want to make a deal. It included aide of Israel, Ukraine, and Gaza, but otherwise there was very little most Democrats would want. Obviously, the House is more conservative in the Senate. It is where the so-called Freedom Caucus lives. They could take the bill and delete things they don’t like and add things they would like, but they have chosen to kill it instead. Why? Their fearless leader has told them to do so. We can’t solve our nation’s problems because if we solve those problems then we can’t campaign on them.

It is what happened next that kills me. The Oklahoma GOP voted to censure Lankford On the one hand, that means virtually nothing. A censure has all the weight of Barney Fife yelling stop in downtown Mayberry. It is the story it tells to all of us and their party members. He helped negotiate a deal and it was a favorable one to them. He is essentially being punished for governing. You may not like the deal he made. I get that. In that case you either simply vote no or you get involved and make the changes you think you need to be made. We don’t punish and scold people for governing. At least we don’t if we are a functional political party.

This is a good news and bad news kind of thing. We won’t have a deal on immigration. From the Democratic side, we can say at least we won’t have a bad deal. On the bad side, it means we will hear all kinds of crap about open borders, catch and release, fentanyl, and terrorists flooding over the board. It is all Brandon’s fault. We know better and we hopefully can get most voters to know that. Even if they believe the malarkey about the border being the wild west, they can at least get the idea that the Republicans killed their own bill. They would rather have a problem to point to than solve it. This is not how things are supposed to work, but then again I have slept since my political science classes.

A report came out recently about Lindsay Graham’s testimony to the Georgia grand jury. You are more than free to go down that rabbit hole if you like, but it will lead you to the same place we have been with all of these folks. They are on board and loyal until they aren’t. Usually that either entails them being fired or pushed out, but occasionally it happens when one of them finds themselves in legal hot water.

In the case of Graham, he spent months fighting off the Georgia district attorney. You couldn’t compel a sitting senator to testify. Donald Trump had immunity. He had immunity. His mee-maw needed him to wash her feet. He was due for a casting call at his community theater. Okay, maybe the last two were made up, but you get the general idea.

It wasn’t the testimony itself that was remarkable. We knew the truth and have always known the truth. I’m not crawling in the head space of any of his voters. I don’t know what they think they know and quite frankly I’m afraid to find out. However, I am reasonably certain that over 90 percent of those within the GOP that serve in office know exactly who he is and what he is capable of. They also know what he isn’t capable of.

For Graham, it was the reaction afterwards that was remarkable. He almost literally hugged Fani Willis in the hall outside the court room. He thanked her for allowing him to speak and get all of this off of his chest. So, let’s put some things together. He fought them tooth and nail to avoid testifying. He bad-mouthed them in the press and called the whole thing a sham. Then, he went under oath and confirmed everything they had said and even thanked them for the opportunity to say it. Just try to form your brain around that collection of facts.

One could be forgiven if they felt a desire to hitch their ride onto someone powerful. I can see it. Maybe there is a position in the cabinet for you. Maybe you can get on the most exclusive of golf courses or eat in the most exclusive restaurants. You get to stay at expensive resorts and live a life of luxury. Hell, you may even convince yourself you can do good by being in a position of authority. You can slide some good policy underneath the door when he’s not looking.

Yet, there is usually some loyalty that goes both ways in that situation. If I watch your back and run interference for you then you will do the same for me. That never happens in Trump’s case and it never has. That has been very public since 2015, but if you look hard enough you can see examples dating back to the 1970s. Everyone that deals with him personally describes this.

So, for those few demented or broken souls that know all of this and choose to flock to him anyway, we need to develop a distress signal. Maybe they can blink excessively or touch their nose in violent fashion. Give us a signal when you are in too deep and need someone to rescue you from your own avarice. On the other hand, staffers are already likely punching their nose because of his offensive odor. So, maybe they can grab their wrist or tug on their ear. I’m open to suggestions.

Tragedies follow the same formula. Someone gets themselves into an easily avoidable situation and suffers the ultimate demise. Usually the cardinal sin is hubris. Hubris can be defined as “exaggerated pride or self-confidence.” Nearly all of our tragic characters think of themselves as invincible for one reason or another. They are all tragically wrong.

There are any number of days that go by when I lose faith in the universe. The universe can be loosely defined by whatever cosmic force you choose to adhere to. Some traditions call it karma. Others say it is fate. The idea is that eventually everyone gets what is coming to them. That could be positive or negative depending on what we render.

That brings us to our ex-president. He has been found liable in civil court for sexual assault. He has a judgement against him for business fraud even though the total amount is still up in the air. It could be that he will end up owing upwards of 400 million plus in those combined judgments. That can seem like justice, but as we know, those numbers can seem about as real as Monopoly money. You have appeals. You have cries of poor. You have numerous delays and running out of the clock.

E. Jean Carroll might end up fetching a small portion of the money owed to her. After you consider the fees her lawyers will collect you have to wonder if she gets anything other than a symbolic victory. The same will be true for the state of New York. Meanwhile, millions of addle=brained meth heads will send in their five and ten bucks to shield their orange Jesus from feeling the effects of his own stupid crimes.

At each step of the way I have been overwhelmed. I never thought he would be charged with anything. He has found ways to weasel out of these things before. His life has been a life free of responsibility for anything. So, when asked how much jail time he will serve for his 91 counts I still set the over/under at zero with zero being the heavy betting favorite. I don’t know what the excuse will be, but I’ll bet it will be a good one.

The ultimate irony is that none of this needed to happen. He could have continued to live a responsibility free life well into sand trap induced dementia. He could have accepted defeat following 2020 and been a fairly benign figure in history. Most of the 91 counts are directly related to his inability to accept defeat. Some of them are loosely related like the documents case. Sure, the documents aren’t directly related to him refusing defeat but I’m sure he convinced himself they belonged to him because he was still the rightful president.

Even the Stormy Daniels stuff would probably have gone away if he had just walked away. Hubris thy name is Donald. I have no idea if the civil fraud case would have continued, but he probably could have stemmed the tide on all of his civil trials by simply walking away. You got to have a pretty big ego to be president. None of the other presidents have had trouble walking away. He is alone in that regard.

The hope here is that somehow the inability to accept defeat will bring it all crashing down on him. The universe demands it. Our collective sense of judgment demands it. Our own faith in the universe is at stake here. True accountability would be death in prison. Obviously, someone guilty of treason as he most certainly is deserves far worse, but I have to be consistent to my own convictions. I do not believe in the death penalty. So, I’ll take death in prison. Let’s go universe. Let’s get a move on.

For people from my generation, there was nothing quite like the show South Park. It is still going on, but like most things it has lost its edge after awhile. While the show centers more or less around four characters, the single thrust of the show seems to be the antics of Eric Cartman. The show’s creators (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) once called Cartman “the junk in everyone’s soul.” Nearly every episode has him doing something incredibly stupid, evil, or better yet, evil and stupid at the same time. He is incredibly manipulative, devious, and yet his plans usually always fail because he doesn’t know basic things that would be necessary to make such plans work.

For most of us that have watched the show, Cartman reminds us of someone we see in the news. Of course, the difference is that Cartman is a child and fictional. He has a plucky kind of charm even though there really are no redeeming qualities there. He is sexist, racist, and anti-Semitic and fairly obvious about it. I just can’t put my finger on who that sounds like.

We are usually shaped by those that we grew up watching on television. Our parents grew up watching Ronald Reagan in movies and on television and it made perfect sense that he should become president because people felt familiar and comfortable with him Fast-forward to our current generation and it makes some sense. We grew up on talk shows. Not everyone watched all of them, but between us we can probably recite memories of watching Geraldo, Sally Jesse Raphael, and Jerry Springer. The general idea about these shows follows a pretty precise formula.

Those talk shows provided for a pretty interesting dichotomy that I am sure is the basis of some pretty comprehensive psychological study. On the one hand, we enjoyed them because we could feel superior to someone. As messed up as our lives might have been or might be, at least we aren’t THOSE people. The ability to feel superior to someone is powerful and that power is pretty alluring to those that don’t have any.

The second part of that dichotomy is fact that a little piece of all of us wishes we could act like those people. The idea of telling people exactly what I think of them is alluring, but we know we can’t do that and maintain our careers or our relationships. These talk shows have found a magic formula that has us simultaneously feeling superior, disgusted, envious, and wanting more all at the same time.

The talk show generation is now in their forties and fifties. We are the prime age for most voters and provide for the base of people most likely to vote for the real life Eric Cartman. Younger voters don’t really get the whole talk show thing. They can stream their entertainment. They don’t have to worry about what is on the television at that particular time. They can choose their programming and they aren’t motivated by the same primal forces we were.

I think the biggest swing between 2016 and 2020 was the group of people that really didn’t agree with Trump but were oddly entertained by him. He said things we would never think of saying, but many secretly hoped they could. They felt disenfranchised from politics and felt the system had failed them. So, why not install the real life and adult version of Eric Cartman?

A majority of Trump voters would never vote for a Democrat and so you aren’t winning those folks over. However, enough switched because they saw what an Eric Cartman presidency wrought. They simply need to be reminded. As they told us when we were kids, “it’s all in good fun until someone’s eye gets poked out.” The pandemic wasn’t fun. Being a laughingstock around the globe wasn’t fun. Watching kids in cages and racists emboldened wasn’t fun. Eventually, you find something that touches on something that directly impacts them and President Cartman wasn’t good for any of that.

You might recall a dust-up over here on the Left Coast between the uber conservative Christian dominionist school board majority in Temecula Valley, California, and the community that they were elected to represent.

It’s what passes for MAGA news here in snowflake heaven.

The school board passed measures to, 1) forbid CRT instruction (where none existed), 2) forbid classroom display of any flag representing a particular unacceptable cultural point of view (gay pride), 3) oust a well-regarded and respected school superintendent, 4) decline to adopt an entire social studies curriculum because of an offending paragraph about a gay San Francisco County Supervisor who was murdered by a homophobic colleague, and 5) recently voted to require notification to parents if their child makes a change to their gender identity on campus.

This three-person board majority was foisted on the community by a local mega church pastor and his flock when they encouraged their neighbors to vote for “protecting parents’ rights and ridding schools of…left-wing indoctrination and pornographic material.”

Things change. For years, Temecula was regarded as a Libertarian heaven and is still represented by MAGAmaniac Darryl Issa in the US Congress. But population shifts and migrations have tempered the collective conservative angst in the local area, and people have been raising objections to the school board’s policies.

Their objections have now taken form in a successful recall petition to remove the board’s president, Dr. Joseph Komrosky. Per The Press-Enterprise via KTLA news:

“Riverside County election officials announced Monday, Jan. 22, that they had verified 4,884 signatures from voters in Komrosky’s district who signed recall petitions. That’s 604 more than the minimum needed to force a recall.”

They need to oust only one board member to break the 3-2 majority, but we now have a two-fer. It seems that another member of the trio, Danny Gonzalez, has announced that he has sold his house and is moving his family back to his 40-acre ranch in Texas (sorry Texas).

Unfortunately, the recall issue will not appear on the March 5 primary ballot since the publication deadline for that has now passed. It is now more likely to be voted on in a special election to be held between April 19th and May 26th.

A special election.

Turn out being what it usually is in a special election, I can’t imagine that giving Komrosky a farewell send-off is going to be easy.

I hope to be pleasantly surprised

I am but am amateur at this political game. I am what they call a support facilitator. I go into other teacher’s classrooms and work directly with students with disabilities. They could include learning disabilities or developmental disabilities. Occasionally, we deal with students with behavioral issues, but the other two kinds represent the bulk of what I do. So, when asked to come up with a national platform for the Democratic party I can only offer my best guess.

My platform is labeled, “let freedom ring.” Beyond the obvious what exactly does this mean? One of the things we have done as a party is cede way too many arguments to the right. I’ve mentioned these before and I won’t belabor them here. What we are in danger of doing is ceding freedom and liberty to them as well. There is nothing remotely freeing about what the Moms for Liberty are proposing. The so-called Freedom Caucus is anything but about freedom. This needs to be highlighted over and over again.

So, how do we do this? Simply put, take the words from their platform and simply use them against them and their group. Take what Moms for Liberty has to offer and completely tear it apart. At the same time you offer an alternative view of freedom and liberty. I think most of us here (with notable exceptions) would agree that it is the real version of freedom and liberty. Hell, you can bust out a dictionary to prove your point. How does your platform differ from those specific groups and from the Republican party in general? How is our platform closer to the vision of actual freedom and liberty?

One of the things I have talked about in the past is the idea of issue framing. I can’t take credit for it. It came from the book “Cracking the Code” by Thom Hartmann. Essentially, the idea is that rooted in every issue is a common story. Conservatives have just been better at this than we have. Get to the root of every one of their stances and you will see this story. It usually is centered on the idea of rugged individualism. You too can succeed if the damn government will just get out of your way and let you do it.

We need our own competing story. Our story has to have the true definitions of freedom and liberty at its core. Sure, live and let live is a simple offshoot of that. The idea that someone can be religious or not is basic. The idea that someone can be gay or not is basic. The idea that someone can live an alternative lifestyle or not is basic. We need to expand this outward. We need to describe how our health care system actually limits freedom. If the vast majority of bankruptcies in this country are caused by medical costs and debt then that system is antithetical to freedom. We need to free people from the anxiety related to crippling medical care costs.

That’s just one example. You essentially take this model and expand it outwards. It means simplifying issues and making it all about freedom. How does our plan make you more free? How does their plan make you less free? Millions of voters simply don’t understand how they become less free if they vote GOP. They think to themselves that they aren’t immigrants, women, people of color, or LGTBQ+, so why does it matter if those people have less freedom? In fact, wouldn’t that mean that I have more? Life is a zero sum game to them. You won’t catch them all, but you have to repeat the notion that less freedom for them means less freedom for all. Keep repeating that over and over again and give them examples. Then, we have a fighting chance.