What You Can Do To Help In Afghanistan, And Here

You don't need me to tell you that our withdrawal from Afghanistan is Topic A.  You also don't need me to tell you that taking apart the reasons behind its position in our national discussion are varied, and complicated.  I want to discuss them in detail but, unfortunately, do not have the time to do so today.

At the same time, I've always been a big believer that true, lasting, effective power is the kind that comes from the bottom up, and not the top down.  The people of Afghanistan have never needed the benefit of that power more than they need it now.  As tragic as the current state of affairs is, there is an opportunity to "build back better" by reminding the whole world that, to borrow a phrase, Americans can always plead "not guilty" in the court of world opinion when it comes to the charge of stingy aid for our neighbors.

I'll be back here in this space in a couple of weeks, and will attempt to do a more extensive job of unpacking my views on President Biden's decision to withdraw our troops, and the effects of that decision on various issues here and around the globe.  In the meantime, there are several ways that you, and I, can make an immediate difference.  Nineteen of them, in fact.

Please take a few minutes to read this article, and take a look at the various ways by which you, as a private actor, can make a big difference in mitigating the damage at the street and village level that the combination of our withdrawal, and the return of the Taliban to control of the Afghan government, will do for millions of Afghan citizens, especially for Afghan women and girls.

How much you can give is never a problem.  Making sure that you don't fail to give (and I have given) is essential.  Please get it done with the next 24 hours.

And exercising your giving muscles will be essential to meet the other challenges we face.

See you in September.

What The Pandemic Has Taught Us About Ourselves

What have we learned from the pandemic about ourselves, as a people?

Maybe that's a premature question, in one sense.  The pandemic is far from over.  Despite massive efforts at publicly-sponsored vaccinations and education, the COVID-19 virus, after a brief month of optimism about a fall recovery for the nation, has once again reasserted its power over our lives, our futures, and perhaps our national soul and identity as well.  Reported cases are on the rise in many states, hospitals in those states are overwhelmed with COVID patients, parents are anxious about sending their children back to bricks-and-mortar schooling, and all of us are wondering whether we will ever get back to any kind of semblance of "normal."  In short, the pandemic seems likely to be with us for many more months.  It therefore may not be finished teaching us lessons.

But make no mistake:  if you have a functional brain, senses to feed it information, and a willingness to learn something from combining those two things, it is painfully clear that the pandemic has already taught us a lot about ourselves.  And none of it is good.  Especially given the events of the past few weeks.

Take, for example, the impact on the part of America where COVID is as immediate as anything can be:  our medical system, which we like to think of as the envy of the world, but which is fact was already operating under tremendous stress even before the start of the pandemic.  Over the past month, that system has become filled with people who, days and perhaps hours before their admission, were denying the very science they suddenly needed so desperately to take advantage of.

It's not enough, however, to mock the hypocrisy of these people; it's far more important to point out the stress that hypocrisy has created for others.  Those who are exercising the "freedom" to defy science and common sense to own the libs are really owning the patients with other medical conditions who can't access medical care because of all the freedom-loving anti-vaxers who have jammed the ICUs of hospitals in their states, and deprived non-COVID patients of the freedom to protect their health.  Yes, even from cancer.  This influx of patients is also taking a toll on health care workers, even ones with years of experience in dealing with patients in crisis, as they see the deniers come in to the hospitals and demand the benefits of the medical science they formerly mocked.  

And what about our public servants, the ones we elect to put the public interest ahead of their private interests?  Far too many of them have effectively said to hell with public safety coming first.  Instead, their own desire for money and power has come first.  Rand Paul, the entitled twerp from the state that gave us Mitch McCONnell, this past week became only the most recent example of how this has worked in the pandemic context.  If you'd like a roundup, even if only a partial one, of these efforts, here's one that makes sure to include Paul.  And they're not being particularly discreet about all of this.  In the case of Jim Jordan, who's made it clear for years that he's a professional loudmouth, he's more than happy to say the quiet part out loud.

While they're at it, of course, they're not just helping themselves; they're also helping the array of private interests that got them their cushy jobs in the first place.  Take, in the case of Ron DeathSantis, the "governor" of Florida, his willingness to let the owners of private school systems profit from our current national misery, in more ways than one.  In DeathSantis' case, it doesn't stop with where the money goes; there's also the question of how it's going to be paid for.

And their response, to anyone who dares complaint about the rise in caseloads and the public profiteering off of it?  You can kiss that sunny Reagan-era hope, growth, and optimism goodbye.  The new message?  "Life's tough, get over it."    The statement from Marjorie Taylor Greene to be found in that link would be funny if it weren't so sad.  That she can't even see how her bizarre concept of "freedom" deprives others of their freedom from sickness without any choice on their part exposes the cruelty as well as the cluelessness that embodies what American conservatism has become.  You can rest assured, however, that life is not tough for those in the vast right-wing conspiracy.  Just ask Ted Cruz.  

You also see this cruelty and cluelessness in their response to the unemployment crisis created by the pandemic.  People are reluctant to go back to work because of child care issues.  But the right is pushing the idea that jobs are going unfilled because of supposedly "generous" unemployment benefits.  Anyone who has tried living on unemployment benefits (and I speak from experience, unfortunately) is more than happy to testify to their lack of generosity.  But that doesn't impress right-wing yakkers like Laura Ingraham, who thinks that what's needed is to threaten the public with starvation.  Go ahead and try public starvation, Laura; you won't like the results.

Truth to tell, no one should be surprised by any of this.  When a political party spends four decades systematically building up public mistrust in the government of, by, and for the people,  designed to protect and ensure public interests, what message can there be at the end of that process except "You're on your own"?  That they are saying that fearlessly and publicly out loud now should tell you something about their own sense of how successful they've been.  Here's an even more frightening example of how successful they've been at practicing divide-and-conquer politics.  

And, as I've said before, and will probably have to say many times more before it changes, all of this has been aided and abetted by the ongoing corruption of what's left of mainstream American journalism., which has so effectively merged with the conservative politicans that, like the humans and the pigs in Orwell's "Animal Farm," it is no longer possible to tell the difference.  But what about the handful of "good" journalists out there?  Can't we rely on them?  Well, we can rely on their willingness to try, but, unfortunately, we can also rely on the brazen cowardice of conservative politicians in pushing back against them, without any apparent fear of reprisals.  

We can also rely on the equally brazen dishonesty of conservatives when they try to explain the failures of "freedom" by blaming the recent explosion of COVID cases on immigrants.  All you have to do is to take a look at this map to see the ludicrous nature of this attempt at deflection.    If anything, one likely consequence of this crisis is that we will need an influx of immigrants to replace those we have lost.  

How can one best sum all of this up?  What have we learned about ourselves in the past 17 months?  I'll put it this way:  I contend that the impact of the pandemic has been devastating not only to America by itself, but also to the American impact on the rest of the world.

We are not the nation that won World War II and saved Western civilization through a combination of unity and self-sacrifice.  We are not the beacon of freedom and integrity that we like to think has made us the envy of the rest of the world.  And, most definitely, we are not an "exceptional" nation, congenitally impervious to the forces that have corrupted and destroyed civilizations that preceded us.  We are not demi-gods, any more than the founders of this country were.  We are the inheritors of a Republic that was bequeathed to us by an extraordinary group of individuals, and perhaps the most extraordinary thing about them was the fact that they were painfully aware of their own frailty, as well as ours.  That is precisely why it is important not to lose sight of Benjamin Franklin's words to the person who asked him what the Constitutional Convention had created:  "A Republic, if you can keep it." (emphasis added) 

As the pandemic has amply demonstrated, we are not a perfect union.  We are a nation charged with the responsibility to strive, at all times, to form a more perfect union.  That is not a discreet process.  It is, and should be, an ongoing one.  It's poignant that it takes an immigrant to point that out and put the sacrifices we are called to make now into perspective--especially a Republican immigrant.  Forming a more perfect union, and thereby rising out of the muck that the pandemic has exposed as characterizing our current status, is one that takes an ongoing process of renewal, including the acceptance of new arrivals who can remind us where we have been, and teach us where we need to go.

Frankly, too much of the corruption and betrayal of our better angels has been tolerated for far too long by those of us who strive to do the right thing quietly, and are fed up with those who noisily seek attention for themselves, and nothing else.  An excellent place to start would be by imposing a tax on the unvaccinated, so that we have a way of paying for the human and social costs of their narcissism.

It's past due time, in any case, for America to get well, physically and spiritually.  The harsh lessons of this period must be heeded, if we are to reclaim the place in this world we had once imagined for ourselves, and which so many around the world want us to occupy again.

America Needs More Cori Bushes

I wrote last week about the perfidy of the current Supreme Court in last Sunday's post, and no sooner had I done so then yet another example of that perfidy was brought to my attention thanks to the good citizens of Slate, another Web-based media outlet that practices better journalism than its MSM counterparts.  The Court's decision in the eviction moratorium case, effectively throwing millions of Americans into the streets with little or no notice, is yet another example of the right-wing majority's ongoing efforts to limit, if not destroy, the reach of the administrative state, given that the moratorium had been put into place by the Centers for Disease Control.  

It is, in other words, a part of the ideological war the Court is waging on behalf of the private-sector patrons and their public-sector servants, many of whom are landlords who want their rent despite the fact that their tenants no longer have the money to pay for it, and don't care about the fact that $42 billion appropriated by Congress for rent relief is currently stuck in bureaucratic hell.

The conservative project of taking over the federal court system is, inherently, an antidemocratic (as well as an anti-Democratic) project, designed to accomplish through judicial power what cannot be achieved by way of free and fair elections (which, of course, they have also worked to subvert).  In the end, it works as well as the willingness of their political opponents to put up with it.  And, given the passivity of Democrats in dealing with their opponents' subversion, I can't blame the modern conservative movement for calculating that its brazen efforts to build an autocracy for its own benefit is worth it.  

In the past, liberals have been deferential to arguments organized around concerns about process and fairness, to the point of looking away from the early stages of this brazenness.  However, the subversion is now so out in the open, lacking only an evil laugh to formally announce itself, that the deference has run the danger of beginning to look like cowardice.

Until, perhaps, now.

Congresswoman Cori Bush's willingness to dramatize the plight of the homeless, rooted in her own experience, by sleeping on the steps of the Capitol, was a reminder of what it means to serve the people by putting their needs ahead of playing the standard Washington-as-usual game, AND doing it without resorting to violence or fear in the process.  It was a perfect example of creating what the late Congressman John Lewis called "good trouble."  It illustrates the importance of not forgetting where you came from, or who got you there.

Perhaps more importantly, it worked.  It motivated President Biden to sign an executive order that, for the most part, extended the moratorium.  It's far from a complete solution.  But, save for Congresswoman Bush's willingness to go the extra P.R. mile when it comes to fighting for the sake of those who need her help the most, it's not clear that anything would have happened, and the homeless crisis in our country would have exploded to a level no one could handle.

What's particularly notable about Biden's order is the fact that, as even he conceded, it may not past constitutional muster should it, too, end up before the courts.  In some ways, this is even more noteable than Bush's demonstration on the Capitol steps.  Biden is, in many ways, the epitome of the cautious, process-oriented Democrat that I just wrote about.  That has been the case throughout his entire half-century in Washington, and it is certainly reflected in his unwillingness to make a big push toward ending or modifying the Senate's filibuster rule, to make the passage of legislation with a simple majority vote easier.  I may be overly optimistic, but this could be a sign that Biden is beginning to recognize the magnitude of the democracy crisis this county currently faces, and that the past is not necessary a road map to the future.

In the meantime, Congresswoman Bush has shown herself to be an example of the type of political leader we desperately need at all levels of government:  someone who is willing to put the needs of the people she serves ahead of her own personal convenience or comfort.  During my time working in Maryland state government, I had the good fortune to work for one such person:  Grace Turner, who was my manager during the time I worked as a contracts administrator for the Department of Human Resources.  

In her job, she had to cope with the needs of foster placements for children with an array of special needs (multiple ones, in many cases).  Many people would have thrown up their hands in the air and despaired of doing anything for these children.  Grace did not; she found placements for thousands of these children, and greatly expanded the range of foster care facilities in the state.  Children and adults in Maryland have every reason to be grateful for the life she lived so well, up until her passing in 2005.  And, both in the interests in full disclosure and illustrating her goodness, I was and am greatful to her for the extended amount of leave she allowed me to have during my late father's final months of life.

Grace would have been very proud of Congresswoman Bush.  As am I.  And, as I do, she would have recognized the need to make a maximum effort to put the needs of the people first.

In the meantime, perhaps we should all pray that Biden's newfound willingness to sail outside of his political comfort zone can extend to making more of a push toward filibuster reform, starting with the two Senators from his own state.

For his sake.  And ours.

Is Kavanaugh The Key To Holding Congress? Maybe.

Like many of you, I've spent a good deal of time over the past few months worrying about next year's midterm elections, and the very real prospect of Joe Biden spending the last two years of his term with a Congress effectively run by Donald Trump and his thugocracy.  It's worth worrying about, especially in light of the massive Republican project to take away the right to vote from various Democratic constituencies.  That project may backfire on the Republicans, and I pray that it will, but the reality is that a lot of progressive energy has been spent getting the current political configuration of the federal government, while a lot of retrogressive, insurrectionist energy has gotten fired up.  If the January 6 attack on the Capitol is an indication of anything, it is certainly an indication of that.

I'm hoping that I don't need to say anything at all to get people fired up for the midterms.  The prospect of Trump being effectively in control of the nation again should be enough to get the lion's share of voters to the polls in droves to vote Democratic.  But, I'm not as sure about that as I would like to be.  The catastrophes of the 1994 and 2010 midterms don't offer a lot of reassurance.

But there is something that ought to motivate progressives, even if nothing else does.  Something whose composition isn't as frequently shaped by elections as are Congress and the Presidency, because it is controlled by people who have been given lifetime appointments.

The Supreme Court.

Put simply, the Court in its current state is an absolute disaster.  It is controlled by six ultra-conservative Justices, three of whom were confirmed for their positions under the dodgiest of circumstances.  It believes that corporations are people, that bribery is permissible if it happens before an election, that all voters are equal but some voters are more equal than others, that racism effectively ended with Obama's election, that law enforcement officers are almost always reasonable, that the First Amendment allows the imposition of Christianity on those who don't believe it, that the medical profession has the right to medically rape women to intimidate them from getting an abortion.  Want me to go on?  Okay, just one more thing, since I brought up the subject of abortion.  Currently, the Court is considering a case from Mississippi that has been framed as a direct, explicit challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that held in favor of the constitutionality of abortion rights.

It is the highest court in the land.  Its decisions can be governed by precedent and logic, or by craven political considerations.  Currently, the latter is the case.  And, as a consequence, the highest court in the land is an absolute disaster.  As a court, and with regard to the impact on We, The People.

And, like it or not, this state of affairs is very much on the shoulders of progressives, especially the ones who decided that Hillary Clinton was so much like Donald Trump that they could take a flyer on their responsibilities as citizens and vote for Jill Stein, to say nothing of the ones who did the same thing when it came, earlier, to the choice between Al Gore and Ralph Nader.  Had Gore and Clinton been elected, we would have no reason to worry about the Court's composition.

But we didn't.  So we do.

But that's the past, however much it governs the present.  Progressives have belatedly responded to their electoral negligence by demanding a law expanding the Supreme Court and giving Biden and the current Democratic Senate a chance to pack the court.  Biden has responded by appointing a commission to look into federal court reform.  With all the other political issues on Biden's agenda, court expansion isn't going to happen anytime some.  And, on reflection, we may want to consider that to be a good thing; the tit-for-tat matter in which the Republicans could respond down the road speaks for itself.

However, there is something we can do.  Something very effective.  Something that might have a positive impact on next year's elections, and thus future federal court appointments.

We can, and must, demand that the Senate Judiciary Committee investigate the failure of the FBI to investigate the 4,500 tips it received on a tip line set up during the confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court, during which time serious allegations of sexual assault were made against Kavanaugh.  Rather than investigating any of the tips, the FBI sent them to the White House, where they died a very political death.

We can also, and must, demand that a full investigation be conducted of the sudden and complete liquidation of Kavanaugh's six-figure indebtedness prior to his confirmation hearings.  Who were the creditors?  How much did Kavanaugh owe?  And, perhaps most crucially, who did the paying, and why?  What did they gain from it?  What subsequent Court decisions were shaped by it?

And, once those investigations are completed, and depending on what they reveal, Kavanaugh must be made to answer for those revelations in Senate hearings.  If that in turn leads to impeachment proceedings against Kavanaugh, so be it.

All of this is well with the current power of the Democratic Senate.  All of this, if done, has the power to stop the relentless march of the Supreme Court toward becoming a vessel of complete corruption.  All of this, certainly, has the power to remind progressives of how much is at stake next year, and let them know that they can count on the current Senate majority to fight on their behalf.

Call your Senator.  Call the White House.  Tell them to get on this.  Right now.  Tell them to light a fire under Kavanaugh--and, in the process, light a fire under the voters they will need next fall.

NOTE:  this might be less of a story if it weren't for the reporting of progressive news outlets like Daily Kos.  Follow them, and support them.  They and other similar sites might be the only real journalism we have left.