A SMALL REASON TO BE THANKFUL

     The presidential briefings on Covid 19 have been temporarily halted. May this day be blessed! What finally stopped the president from trudging on with these extemporaneous displays of madness, was his spectacular plunge in popularity. Republican knees are clacking together as they see their party going down on the same suicide plane as Trump. It is they, the party leadership who will be held responsible. I will enjoy that moment, holding it close to my bosom until the twitch of life leaves me. Hold on,  NEWS FLASH! Trump changed his mind. We eagerly await more opportunities to witness Trumps madness. Some future day we may bless his disappearance from our political life.

     I am no fan of the Republican party. I was too young to remember the McCarthy era, but I know the history well. That seething belligerence has long hid in the shadows of the Republican party. It was also a part of the Democratic party during the Civil Rights era, but the leadership had long before shunted the Southern Democrats, the Dixiecrats, aside. Richard Nixon released us from the stink of white racists and rightwing nationalists, by inviting them to become Republicans. For many of those decades a more rational and sometimes moderate coalition held the Republican factions together and kept the crazies in a well appointed cage. A much better appointed cell than those poor children being caged in immigration jails can expect. Ronald Reagan embraced these people with the same degree of care with which we greet friends under Corona Virus.

     Then along comes the Teaparty. The christian zealots, the white nationalists, the Neo-conservative war mongers, and the Neo-liberal- libertarian economists, all found a way to coalesce. But that was not enough for the anarchist wing of the rightwing. 

     Steve Bannon, who applied the lipstick to the Trump pig, had been quoted that he wanted to "deconstruct the administrative state. He also admitted to being a follower of Lenin. No one at any level of the Republican hierarchy said anything. Well not much anyway, some actually did take a principled stand. They recieved bubkiss in return. The party of anti-communist, embraced a president, and both legislative leadership posts, which had recieved assistance from Russia. Only now has a bi-partisan admission of Russian efforts come to light. The party who talks about states rights has embraced a president who has placed his authoritarian stamp on every level of the three branches of government. They refused to convict an impeached president whose guilt was on display, but who had an Attorney General who seems dedicated to saving Trump at all costs. Some Republicans it would seem, have found their courage, or at least a smattering of it. Most, not so much. They are so captured by the tar-pit of business that it would be worse to them if businesses failed than if people died. People are starting to get nervous. The party that told us that government is a bad thing is showing us how bad it can be. They have embraced anarchy in the name of a president who lacks the discipline to know anything other than anarchy. What could possibly go wrong? It would appear to be the political example of Murphy's law: "everything that can go wrong has gone wrong." 

     I am not the person to give Republicans advice on how to extricate themselves from the hole they have dug, I would much rather push the dirt over them. But here are some teachable moments for people enjoying the dispepsia now cramping the GOP stomach.

1) Politics is the art of communication. Whether that art is a noble art or a black art depends on who you vote for. Both parties have practitioners of the dark arts of communication, but one party has the capability to question itself and one party lacks that ability to edit itself. Since the white nationalists have been joined by Christian zealots, gun nuts, and the Teaparty, the ability to communicate has been diminished within the GOP. Some who have risen to leadership positions want people willing to follow orders; there is no need for discussion. Some believe that repeating the lie will eventually lead to accepting that lie as a truth, the famous "alternative history". And some have had a questionable relationship to word usage and spelling, let alone any comfort with reason and logic, or science, for most of their lives. These republicans begat Iowa's Steven King, Texas' Louie Gohmert, and others. From that black pool we found ourselves with a president who can't spell and can't string a group of words together meaningfully without multiple repetitions. Two-thirds of the Adult population grimace in embarrassment every time Trump steps to the podium. The rest of the world enjoys our discomfort, or shake their heads in bewilderment. When a political candidate at any level seems crazy to even some in your party, you should listen to them. People of elite training or elite intelligence are not the same as people who are elite because they were born into the aristocracy. LEARN THAT DIFFERENCE!  

2) As important as the art of communication is, the pursuit of scientific knowledge is equally important. We should be  pursuing and honoring those who display an expertise at important public functions, and the ability to follow the clues of history. When we deny those things, we become the subjects of fools. Donald Trump is exhibit "A". 

3) Education is important in and of itself. It should not be required to "pay it's own way", as republicans like to say. We would be in as much danger if we allowed people to say that the military should pay its own way.

4) Disease inhabits areas where health, and healthcare, is compromised. A healthy population mitigates the damage of epidemics. Even now as we are self-isolating, Republicans are trying to weaken the already weak provisions of Obamacare. They are actually advocating opening the public square. Polls show that far more people are willing to continue social distancing. As this virus continues its course we may see more and more people who are willing to keep a social distance from such people. We may also see fewer of the kind of people who wish to sacrifice their lives for business. Darwin works, whether you agree with him or not.

     Sometimes you just need to allow a bad idea to die away. The Republican party as it developed after Richard Nixon is a bad idea.