Snake Oil for Sale

I find it amazing that so many people have been conned by this two-bit snake oil salesman who occupies the office of the President.  They have given their allegiance to someone who has no loyalty to any principles, shows loyalty only to family, and exhibits a strong affinity to authoritarian regimes, only because they wish to follow a bully from his demonic pulpit. 

Most politicians have to sell some "Snake Oil" in order to get elected. Pledging allegiance to a man with few (if any) principles wouldn't be too bad if he understood how power should be used, and that he was truly making America great again.   Instead, Trump is destroying the very things that helped keep America great in the economic world we shaped after World War 2.  

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In their effort to extract more wealth from the populace, our nation's elites have abandoned the most vulnerable in our society. Structural unemployment is damaging both rural and urban areas in America, as it is doing in the rest of the developed world.  And the populist insurrection that brought Trump to the White House is playing all over the world with "Yellow Vest" protests in Paris, Brexit in Britain, and the shift towards autocratic rule in Eastern Europe.  Trump is acting exactly as I'd want him to do if I were Vladimir Putin.  Every action Trump takes is geared to destabilize American political institutions, American social institutions, and American economic institutions.  It only makes sense for Trump to have done what he did, if he were a puppet of the Russians.

Sadly, in its leaders' lust for power, the GOP has lost its soul.  The base no longer cares about principles.  It is mostly a populist mob led by people who will deliver meager rations of bread and entertain them with meaningless political stump speeches geared to promote tribal identity.  The base has allowed its leaders to become irresponsible, enacting a so-called tax cut which is adding more billions to the budget deficit than if they left the tax code alone.  Even more important than this is their tolerance of a leader who shows them no loyalty as long as he is willing to pursue a retrograde social agenda.

Did the swamp get drained?  No, that was only a useful political slogan.  And yet, the base ignores the lack of progress in this area. I think this illustrates a greater social problem in our society. America has divided itself into haves and have-nots. It has also divided itself into well educated people and poorly educated people.  More importantly, it is divided into compassionate people and non-compassionate people. I feel sorry for those government employees not getting paid because of a pissing match between the House and Trump.  My Dad, however, has no compassion for them - he lived a hardscrabble life, and only has enough room in his soul to care only about himself and his immediate family.  Many of Trump's supporters are very much like my Dad - life has not allowed them the luxury of caring for others who are not doing well. 

Sadly, we have only ourselves to blame if this traitor is allowed to hold the office of the President much longer.  It is no longer a luxury to be well educated or compassionate.  The world has changed from a "Win-Lose" world into a "Win-Win / Lose-Lose" world, where education, communication, and compassion will be needed for future prosperity.  That means we have a choice: Continuing to let this traitor lead us astray, or to go in the opposite direction - where we can all work together to pursue common interests, making things better to pursue our individual interests as a result....

Politics will be the death of us yet.

As I write this entry, the partial US Government shutdown is in its second week.  This is an embarrassing shame for this country, as important government functions are not being performed, people are unable to earn a living, and those "essential personnel" which remain on the job are not getting paid for their work.

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Government shutdowns should be rare and short.  In the first 2 years of the Trump presidency, we have already experienced 3 shutdowns.  The first 2 shutdowns were relatively harmless, as they lasted less than a week.  However, this shutdown is going into its 3rd week, and shows no sign of ending.

The nation’s largest union representing federal employees filed a lawsuit Monday afternoon against the government, seeking damages for the roughly 400,000 federal employees forced to work without pay during the partial government shutdown. To me, having the government order me to work without pay is akin to slavery, and is illegal according to the United States Constitution.  But what would happen if a court were to tell these employees that they have the right to NOT work?

In the above case, the 2 plaintiffs work at high-security prisons owned by the government.  Could you imagine if all affected employees were to walk out, leaving prisoners locked up in their cells?  What would happen in a protracted mandated shutdown?  Would we leave the prisoners to starve?  But this gets even more interesting.  The Coast Guard is affected by the shutdown as well.  Could you imagine if they started selling drugs to pay their service members?  Being serious, I could imagine what could happen if the Coast Guard were to stop functioning, and this is not a pretty picture.  And what about TSA employees walking off their jobs? What about Air Traffic Controllers? Could you imagine what would happen to interstate travel and commerce if no one were able able to fly during the shutdown?

As usual, this shutdown hurts poor people the worst.  Many of us live from paycheck to paycheck, and are less than 3 paychecks away from total financial disaster.  The Federal Government has outsourced many of tasks once done by employees.  Unlike Federal employees, most contractor employees will not get back pay when the government is fully open for business.  How will they cope with the loss of 2 (or more) weeks of salary?  What would happen if this shutdown stretches into February?  We will likely see SNAP and WIC benefit funding stop.  What will happen to the affected families?

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I am not in favor of Trump getting any money for his so-called wall.  He is holding many Americans hostage against their will, pawns in the game of politics. He did this with DACA "Dreamers" and screwed them anyway.  What's to say that he will not do the same thing again?  Collateral damage is part of most wars, and this is a political war where government employees are needlessly being hurt.  I am hoping for a radical ruling in the above mentioned lawsuit, allowing ALL unpaid employees to walk off their jobs at will.

Maybe it's time for the people to fight back against a body politic that is out of control....