Most of us, when we visit Washington, D.C., might go to the National Mall, the vast expanse of green lawn that stretches from the Washington Monument to Capitol Hill. It's awe-inspiring.
But for the super-rich, the mall is Washington itself, a place to shop for the things they want--tax breaks, regulatory "reform", judges, bureaucrats, and members of both houses of Congress. This inspires not so much awe as it does disgust.
When the likes of Charles Koch and Leonard Leo can seep into the judiciary and set up a conveyor belt of cases selected to challenge the right and ability of our government to govern, we are left to wonder if it is sufficient any more for us to simply wait for the great election wheel to come around again so that we can register our disapproval.
Currently, the party of Lincoln endorses the notion of a government of the money, by the money, and for the money. Some Democrats see that as the new SOP, and feel compelled to act accordingly.
Rather than a "standard operating procedure," we need an SEP — a standard ethical procedure — -and a structure that can and will hold our public officials to it. And the first order of business should be to get business money out of government and elections.
JEFFREY HOBBS, Springfield, Ill.
My sentiments were affirmed on 9/7/23 on “Morning Joe” when Mike Barnicle and other New Jersey participants cited the reality of our “political realm” is now poisoned with societal scourges throughout with the denials of citizens’ inalienable rights and humanity and a threat to democracy itself.
We have a governance that is now influenced by the Mafia, Hitler, Mussolini and outright “cult mentalities” throughout the entire nation. Never in my almost nine decades of life have I witnessed the disgraceful state of our union and the societal scum like Sen. Tom Tuberville’s misogynistic, racist mindset defy and deny the reality of the dangerous state of our nation’s safety and security worldwide with Tuberville’s arrogant, ignorant stupidity of defiance.
Our nation and a multitude of others throughout the world have and are being threatened by coups and other devious schemes by autocratic, fascist, dictatorial oligarchic thugs and a horrific threat to democracies and freedoms worldwide.
There is no question that there are multiple areas of society that have not dealt with a multitude of societal issues that continue to divide us via “hate, hell and harm,” as that’s what enables the status quo of “power and control” of human mindsets and behaviors that enable the continued corrupting and pillaging of “We the People.”
“We the People” shall not begin to bring about positive change in this world of AI and increased violence throughout in every conceivable context until we institute what Professor Peter Berger advocated some time ago that is missing throughout our society: accountability, shame, guilt and humility. This, of course, can be greatly enhanced with the attributed element of “personal identity” for every “human being” throughout the nation/word. It is the connective factor for every spoken, written communicative action of an individual and entity required within today’s poisonous corrupting misinformation world that has and continues to be a threat to our very existence via the loss of our humanity, democracy and civilization itself.
FRANK C. ROHRIG, Milford, Conn.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre rolls into Minneapolis, and, while at the Norway House on East Franklin, asks this question: “What happens to a world where a raw military attacks, simply to wipe a country of 40 million people off the map? If that is tolerated, we are descending into something very dangerous.”
Here’s a question for the prime minister: What happens to a world where only the lives of White people matter, while people who live in a democracy, that only they are worth saving, and not seen as expendable “war” meat, the way Muslim lives in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria are seen?
Does the West see only being non-democratic as the only requirement needed for innocent Muslims in the Middle East to be “war” targets? “We never should have attacked those Muslims” … “Oh, it’s no big deal, we’ll just say we’re spreading democracy.”
A combination of amazing chutzpah, idiocy and racism for Støre to not believe the world had already descended into something very dangerous, as the world tolerated 20 years of a superpower US military attacking Muslims who had no militaries at all.
Prime Minister Støre also said, “Ukraine’s fightis abolut the principles of the rule of law and the rule-based order.”
Ya, right. US flyover “wars” upon Muslims where US “warplanes” are in no danger at all because those being attacked have no air-defense systems, just hand-held weapons. Washington drops a million bombs on them — and this is behaving within the rule of law — go back to Norway; we have enough White supremacy around here already.
FRANK ERICKSON, Minneapolis, Minn.
Republican boneheads are now mentioning Donald Trump as a successor for Kevin McCarthy. And, true to form, der furor from Queens is gobbling it up and just posted a picture of himself holding the gavel under an American flag. Presumably, since the Republicans hold the majority in the House they can suspend the rule that prohibits an indicted person from holding the position of Speaker of the House. And if the Donald willed it, both Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise would step aside for him. Now, I'm not sure if this prospect is so ominous that it detracts from the entertainment value of seeing him in action as Speaker as he fends off prison. But does it boggle the mind any more than thinking of him back in the White House?
STEVEN ROSENZWEIG, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Wow Wow Wow! Three great articles in the 10/1/23 TPP that hit the nail on the head is a first for me. I really enjoy The Progressive Populist, but I must say the articles, “Truth: Mexicans Don't Set Your Pay,They Scoop Corn” by Art Cullen, “Is Irish America History Woke” by Gene Lyons and “Racist Designs Of The Big Lie Players” by John Young are a psychological coup de-tat that need to be published all across MAGA counties USA.
If I may be so bold I might ask readers of The Progressive Populist to read the enlightening book on race, “The Cross and The Lynching Tree” by the now deceased Distinguished theologian James H. Cone (1938-2018). Throughout the book I kept asking myself the question, How did all those persecuted Black folks keep their sanity? It definitely exposes their courage and resiliency under extreme odds.
LARRY GINTER, Rhodes, Iowa
In your 8/15/23 issue Ted Rall wrote about the difficulties third parties face in general elections. Ranked choice voting is one method that would help address those problems. Voters could vote for a third-party candidate as their first choice, another party’s candidate as their second choice, etc. If no candidate got a majority of the votes on the first round of counting, the one with the least votes would be eliminated, and those voters’ second choices would be counted instead. That would continue until a candidate reached a majority. That way no one’s vote would be “wasted.”
DALE ROLLINS, Tigard, Ore.
From The Progressive Populist, November 1, 2023
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