Each day a meme appears on social media implying that what the MAGAs are doing is okay because Bill Clinton did something similar. The memes don't bother to say whether it is true, whether Clinton "did" it, or whether Congress "enacted" it.
At any rate, this doesn't pass my Sainted Mother's "jump off a cliff" rule. Yes, "if all your little buddies were going to …." That's the one.
Oh, and by the way, am I the only one in the country that doesn't always believe in coincidences?
So far, the MAGA cult has followed the path of the most destructive fascist government of the last 100 years. It has demonized opposing political parties, spread fear and hatred of selected racial groups, suspended the rule of law, and effectively disabled congress, putting the future of America into the hands of one figure. Whether that figure is a sole leader or charismatic figurehead controlled by selected oligarchs is open for discussion, but it really doesn't matter. What matters is what is happening and what will happen.
If the model is followed, we should be on the alert for a couple of moves.
First, there a manufactured emergency will occur in resemblance to the Reichstag fire of February 27, 1933. The cult will use this as justification for martial law.
Next, the cult will cleanse itself of dangerous internal segments that would create friction to slow the progress toward final goals. Read about the June 30, 1934 "Night of the Long Knives" here. Purity is important to fascism and any friction must cease. A group that views its own goals as more important than cult objectives is expendable. It should surprise no one if this happens to be the religious fanatically followers largely responsible for the current darkness in our country. Having served their purpose, their power is no longer essential.
In the meantime, notice how mainstream media outlets are beginning to drift more in line with party dogma in order to preserve their existence. Or, notice how major institutions of higher learning are succumbing to the demands of the book burners.
Let us just hope that when it all ends, we will not be in the line of those forced to walk by and view the corpses and carnage march.
Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. Although his Nazi party was now in charge, he lacked dictatorial power. But next month a fire erupted in the Reichstag. Hitler blamed the Communists although many now believe the Nazis themselves did the deed. At any rate, the event resulted in Hitler achieving absolute power over German rule, including effectively abolishing congress.
If a modern cult wanted to use Hitler's playbook, it would certainly wish, as final step to power, the elimination of congressional power. Could it be done? Today, my state would guarantee six votes to allow the fatal act. All they would need would be a catalyst. Scary thought?
Yes, very scary. So here is my new motto for our country. Roughly? So long, it's been good to know you.
We read where a lack of education is causing our national catastrophe and is a part of the ruling party's plan. Maybe so. But I think that kids are learning. Depending on the source of their education, they receive such tidbits as:
The universe came about in six days at the hands of a mighty Deity of unknown origin some 6,000 years ago.
Gender is a meaningless designation that should left to the choice of a pre-teen.
Understanding computers is the dominant achievement of the modern world.
And many useful things about being a financial and social success in life.
What they don't learn is to cognitively process such questions as: If A equals B and B equals C, does A equal C?
TRANSPORTATION
More on my current readings on urban planning. Writer and planner Lewis Mumford once observed that transportation is simply a tool. It can be used to transfer goods from the farm or manufacturer to seller to buyer. It can be used to connect areas of commerce and trade and to connect cities for mutual benefit. It can be used for leisure, entertainment, and education.
Not so much these days
These days it is used to a great extent to support the exponential growth of entities that profit from its existence, primarily the automobile industry and the businesses that profit from highway and bridge construction or the production of fossil fuels.
It allows parents to choose the type children with whom their children will attend school.
It provides frontage and access for business, no longer neighborhood ones but city and regionally oriented chains and mega-facilities.
It is now a winding, slithering monster that controls our lives with scant regard for serving the overall public good.
Still on my mission to review thinking about urban planning since our legislature made such of an issue this time around. One thing that emerged to, perhaps, focus our attention. That is the new realization that there is more to urban planning than bike paths, pickleball courts, and roundabouts.
Now I'm Re-reading "Design With Nature" by Ian McHarg. The result? Reading it at my age makes me wish I had paid more attention when I read it in my 20s. For example, he wrote:
"Show me a man-oriented society in which it is believed that reality exists only because mean can perceive it, that the cosmos is a structure erected to support man on its pinnacle, that man exclusively is divine and given domination over all things, indeed that God is made in the image of man, and I well predict the nature of its cities and their landscapes. I need not look far, for we have seen them—the hot dog stands, the neon shill, the ticky-tacky houses, dysgenic city and mined landscapes. This is the image of the anthropomorphic anthropocentric man; he seeks not unity with nature but conquest. Yet unity he finally finds, but only when this arrogance and ignorance are stilled and he lies dead under the greensward. We need this unity to survive."
Hard to argue with that.
I'm not prescient, or smart, or highly educated. Well, that last I am by the standards of my state. But after the Covid epidemic slowed, and people got checks, my nephew and I decided that there was money to be made in day-trading stocks of sound, but undervalued, retail companies.
The decision rewarded us quite well. When, unlike Elon Musk, I decided I had enough, I ceased the enjoyment and concentrated on Life-Partner, her animals, and my guitars. By then, fixed-income vehicles had moved into yields of nearly five percent. Following conventional advice (I ain't smart enough to figure it out on my own) I moved us from equities (except for that little percentage on the top of the investment pyramid that can't hurt but might provide some fun in the autumn days of life) and sat back.
Now that America has chosen a band of thugs, charlatans, neo-Nazis, and grifters to run the three branches of government, I realize how temporarily fortunate I am. I say temporarily for I know I talk too much for them to grant me immunity for long. So these days I enjoy my good fortune and work on what I'll utter as my last when they line me up against the wall. I've narrowed it down to:
(1) Foxtrot Delta Tango
