Friday, July 31, 2020

That Is No Country for Old Men


But it's not because Mitch McConnell doesn't trust the courts.  It's because their ideology insists government cannot help, and should not help.  Basically, it's because they are all Herbert Hoovers.

And lordelpus, but the situation is turning Joe Biden into FDR and LBJ.  Which, come to think of it, is a good thing.

The Senate is on a 3 day recess.  The CARES Act expires today.  Unemployment checks dwindle or disappear; evictions can start on Saturday.  The Congress is no closer to an agreement on what to do next.  And Mitch McConnell still thinks he's got leverage for another "tort reform" wet-dream from decades gone by.

I think our problem is in being ruled by old men who know only the dim past, which they want to recapture or hold onto and pin down the future with.  I say this as an old man myself.  But that broad brush indicts Joe Biden, who is showing signs of change and willingness to see the future as something other than preserving the past in amber.

Will these actions dislodge Mitch McConnell in Kentucky?  I don't know.  I'm not so sure John Cornyn will be removed in Texas, much as he deserves to be.  But I suspect many Republicans on the ballot in Texas will find themselves out of work in January.  Hope springs eternal.  The simple fact is we can't afford these troglodytes any more.  They've not only outstayed their usefulness (if they ever had any), they've become positive dangers to the national interest and the public good.  Some of them will still be with us:  I doubt Louie Gohmert is going anywhere, and Ohio seems to still favor Trump, so I'm sure his district is not yet embarassed enough by Jim Jordan.  But we have rendered them noisy nothings in the House.  We need to reduce Mitch McConnell to a back-bencher, too.  And one place to start is with Obama's suggestion:  get rid of the filibuster.

Yeah, I know Biden hasn't backed that yet, but that's a decision for the Senate, not the POTUS.  We could use a little more independence of Congress from the White House, a bit more shouldering of responsibility for governance.

Maybe by November we'll have held the GOP responsible for what it's done to the country, and it won't matter who trusts the civil courts, and who doesn't.

Winning hearts and minds, eh?
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