Monday, October 24, 2016

Making America Great Again – For White Supremacists: Norm in The Wave

I've been reading too much right wing crap in the Wave, our local
Rockaway paper,  that doesn't get responded to. People are pushing local Republican candidates who must be held accountable for the fundamental beliefs of the party they are representing. No worries, Democrats also have to be held accountable for abandoning unions and the working class. Maybe this week's edition.

Published in The Wave, October 21, 2016
School Scope
By Norm Scott
I’ve always been bothered by the fact that there was never a mainstream presidential candidate that neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, white supremacist, racist, misogynists could feel comfortable supporting. Now, with Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, finally, our long national nightmare is over.

Now this is not to say that the majority of the 40 percent of the American public that still supports Trump are any of these things, but if I were a Trump supporter I would certainly think about what attracts people who wear white sheets and hoods when they go out to dinner to the candidate they support.

Since the Trump kitty-cat tape was released we have seen some Republican leaders abandoning Trump. I find that funny, given all the other negatives attached to Trump. I mean what’s grabbing a crotch or two - or 10 when you put everything in context? They bring up the past. Didn’t Bill Clinton do a lot of grabbing? They tied up the entire country for a year over impeachment over the blue dress. And they bring up all those Clinton women and how Hillary attacked their credibility. But when women come out of the woodwork Republicans tell us how they are either not credible or “why bring up the past” when they feel perfectly comfortable bringing up 30 years of the Clintons’ past with every single conspiracy “believable.” Hillary murdered people you know. And ate babies. And probably assassinated JFK when she was in high school.

When Hillary’s 30,000 email deletions are brought up we often bring up the millions of emails the Bush administration deleted to cover their war crimes. My Republican friends reply, “Why do you always bring up Bush” who drove this country into the biggest depression since the ‘30s with lies about weapons of mass destruction. Republican “values.”

You see, this is not just about the values, or lack thereof that Trump brings to the table but the general view of people who decide to attach themselves to the Republican Party, which is as far from Abraham Lincoln as we can get. Trump said he would like a Supreme Court judge like the late Antonin Scalia, known as someone who adhered to the original constitution. Remember Hillary’s somewhat dubious claim at the debate that she was referring to Lincoln’s public and private actions in getting the 13th amendment banning slavery enacted? Prior to that the constitution so revered by Scalia counted every black slave as 3/5 of a person for purposes of taxes and representation. Our white supremacist Trump supporters must be hoping for a return to the good old days when America was great and we had a fugitive slave act. The Republican dominated Supreme Court has already weakened the voting rights amendment until a right wing Republican court takes them away.

Republicans generally value the life of an unborn fetus - until the day it is born and then it’s “go screw yourself” especially if you are poor or Black. Read some of the letters in The Wave or other right wing articles. Let’s go back to the good old days where women used coat hangers to abort a fetus. "The poor live off us while the corporate welfare and enormous costs of defense and corporate welfare are good uses of our money." Republican “values.”

Republicans don’t like big government – or any government, especially when it comes to helping the poor. Unless they need the government to bail them out. Let’s get government out of our lives – unless it means taking away a woman’s right to choose or stopping gay marriage. Remember the good old days not all that long ago where it was illegal in many states for a black and white person to get married. Make America great again.

I have a relative who says we have to cut government, clearly thinking of that welfare queen with three kids living high off the land in the projects. When I point out that he works for a defense department major contractor that is almost solely funded by the government he goes silent. Republican “values.”

Republicans like war but not taxes that might pay for the wars they like – or even for keeping the trains running or bridges from falling down. Super Trump supporter, New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a paragon of Republicanism, a Mussolini wannabee, couldn’t keep the Jersey trains running on time. Starve the NJ transportation system while keeping the NJ gas tax 30 cents lower than the rest of the nation so he could say he didn’t raise taxes. It took a woman dying in the recent Hoboken train accident to shake this guy loose and pass a gas tax.

Republicans think global warming is a hoax. Gurgle, gurgle as sea levels rise and we set new heat index records every year. Republican “values.”

Trump humps coal, the dirtiest fuel that polluted so many cities for a century and killed thousands of miners with black lung disease. Hey, let every Republican Trump supporter replace the burner in their basements with a coal burning one as a way of showing support for the coal industry.

Trumpism seeps into the pores of American society. According to Slate.com, The Southern Poverty Law Center released a survey of 2,000 K–12 teachers. More than half of them responded “yes” when asked whether they had heard “an increase in uncivil political discourse at [their] school since the 2016 presidential campaign began.” Two-thirds of the surveyed teachers agreed with the statement, “My students have expressed concern about what might happen to them or their families after the election.” One-third observed an increase in anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiment…

As a Bernie Sanders Social Democrat (SD) I am not a big fan of the other party or of their presidential candidate. (By the way, an SD like Bernie is not a communist but a believer in multi-party highly regulated capitalist system with a high degree of government services like the opportunity for free college tuition, which I and my generation enjoyed at Brooklyn College in the ‘60s. But most of us were white.) I was going to vote third party, then moved to “hold my nose and vote for Hillary” and increasingly pro- Hillary as I watch Trumpism and Republican “values” in action. With all her faults, Trump and Republicans are making a candidate with massive faults look like Joan of Arc.

They say all politics is local. I wonder where our Rockaway Republicans stand on Trump and all the related issues to Republican “values.” If you see one of them around ask them.  

Norm blogs about politics and education and whatever weird thoughts come into his head at ednotesonline.com

 http://www.rockawave.com/news/2016-10-21/School_News/Making_America_Great_Again__For_White_Supremacists.html

1 comment:

Mr. X said...

Everyone harps on the personality and temperament flaws of Donald Trump. They call him a bully,racist,egotistical woman hating orange monster. WHAT ABOUT JUST FRIGGIN" STUPID!!! Can't his followers see that his poor judgement in regard to continually sticking his two feet in his very pouty mouth AND his refusal to heed sound advice from his own campaign people are partly caused by his stupidity. Man, the guy is too dumb to even smile. Any moron knows that if you are trying to win friends and influence people, a smile can certainly be helpful. Wonder if one can get into the Wharton School of Business if your father donates lots of money??? I mean HUGE,AMAZING, BIGLY sums!!