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I Like Beer
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| If Democrats lose the 2022
midterm elections, we will lose our democracy. |
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By
Debby Long |
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“I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade:
Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night.
Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad,
Find what occurred at Linz,
What huge imago made
A psychopathic god:
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return…" excerpted from his poem entitled September
1, 1939 - W. H Auden
 I often wonder if all of this can even be stopped. If we fail,
then there will be no nation left on earth to liberate us, to
return us to the decency of personal sacrifice that Lincoln
memorialized in Gettysburg in 1863. There will never again be
FDR’s “Four Freedoms” in America or anywhere else, ever.
I often wish that we could all return to the peace and
prosperity of the 1950s. Post WWII America reaped an enormous
harvest of highly trained scientists and a century’s worth of
brilliant artists, writers, and composers – all fleeing a
shattered Europe. These immigrants were acutely aware of how
tyranny takes hold and what it feels like to have no place to
hide. Necessity had turned America into the mother of invention.
And America with its pluralism; its tolerance, its rule of law,
and its “Singin’ in the Rain” optimism, was the real winner of a
century of unimpeded war that became the European abattoir of
grief and lost hope. And now, Europe’s abattoir has been
restocked with a new generation of wretches - human sacrifices
meant to soothe the insecurities of a psychopathic dictator and
his band of monsters.
A brief reading of the history of the European interwar period
between WWI and WWII describes everything that was not America
then or would become in the future. America, the creator of the
New Deal; America the economic savior of a collapsed Europe. And
following FDR’s “Four Freedoms”, it was the America of Harry
Truman and the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, NATO, and an
astonishing list of advancements in domestic and foreign policy.
This was the America in which I grew up.
If Democrats lose the 2022 midterm elections, we will lose our
democracy. We won’t lose just some of our democracy; we’ll lose
it all. We’ll lose labor unions, we’ll lose healthcare, we’ll
lose our voices. Joe Biden will serve out his term, but with
Republican control of the Legislature and the Supreme Court, our
“experiment in self-government” will end. Polls indicate that
this will be our fate in November.
Joe Biden is not a talented orator like Winston Churchill.
Neither was Harry Truman, but in 1948 Harry Truman made a
stump-speech concerning the Republican Party that won him
reelection. “Give ‘em hell, Harry” said:
“…Today the forces of liberalism face a crisis. The people of
the United States must make a choice between two ways of living
- a decision, which will affect us the rest of our lives and our
children and our grandchildren after us.
On the other side, there is the Wall Street way of life and
politics. Trust the leader! Let big business take care of prices
and profits! Measure all things by money! That is the philosophy
of the masters of the Republican Party.
Well, I have been studying the Republican Party for over 12
years at close hand in the Capital of the United States. And by
this time, I have discovered where the Republicans stand on most
of the major issues.
Since they won't tell you themselves, I am going to tell you.
They approve of the American farmer-but they are willing to help
him go broke.
They stand four-square for the American home--but not for
housing.
They are strong for labor--but they are stronger for restricting
labor's rights.
They favor a minimum wage--the smaller the minimum the better.
They endorse educational opportunity for all--but they won't
spend money for teachers or for schools.
They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine--for
people who can afford them.
They approve of social security benefits-so much so that they
took them away from almost a million people.
They believe in international trade--so much so that they
crippled our reciprocal trade program, and killed our
International Wheat Agreement.
They favor the admission of displaced persons--but only within
shameful racial and religious limitations.
They consider electric power a great blessing-but only when the
private power companies get their rake-off.
They say TVA is wonderful--but we ought never to try it again.
They condemn "cruelly high prices"--but fight to the death every
effort to bring them down.
They think the American standard of living is a fine thing--so
long as it doesn't spread to all the people.
And they admire the Government of the United States so much that
they would like to buy it.
Now, my friends, that is the Wall Street Republican way of life.
But there is another way - there is another way - the Democratic
way, the way of the Democratic Party.
Of course, the Democratic Party is not perfect. Nobody ever said
it was. But the Democratic Party believes in the people. It
believes in freedom and progress, and it is fighting for its
beliefs right now.
In the Democratic Party, you won't find the kind of unity where
everybody thinks what the boss tells him to think, and nothing
else.
But you will find an overriding purpose to work for the good of
mankind. And you will find a program - a concrete, realistic,
and practical program that is worth believing in and fighting
for.
Now, I call on all liberals and progressives to stand up and be
counted for democracy in this great battle. I call on the old
Farmer-Labor Party, the old Wisconsin Progressives, the
Non-Partisan Leaguers, and the New Dealers to stand up and be
counted in this fight.
This is one fight you must get in, and get in with every ounce
of strength you have. After November 2d, it will be too late. It
will do no good to change your mind on November 3d. The decision
is right here and now.
Against us we have the best propaganda campaign that money can
buy.
But we are bound to win--and we are going to win, because we are
right! I am here to tell you that in this fight, the people are
with us.
With a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress, you will
have the right kind of unity in this country.
We will be unified once more on the great program of social
advance, which the Democratic Party pioneered in 1933.
We will be unified in support of farm cooperatives, rural
electrification, and soil conservation.
We will be unified behind a housing program.
We will be unified on the question of the rights of labor and
collective bargaining.
We will be unified for the expansion of social security, the
improvement of our educational system, and the expansion of
medical aid.
Moreover, we will be unified in our efforts to preserve our
prosperity and to spread its benefits equally to all groups in
the Nation.
Now, my friends, with such unity as this, we can secure the
blessings of freedom for ourselves and our children.
With such unity as this, we can fulfill our God-given
responsibility in leading the world to a lasting peace.”
During Winston Churchill’s 1945 election, the editor of The
Times of London suggested that he campaign and then retire
gracefully.
Churchill replied:
“Mr. Editor, I fight for my corner.”
And, to a graceful retirement Churchill said: “Mr. Editor, I
leave when the pub closes.”
And you, Mr. Alito; and you, Mr. Gorsuch; and you, Mr. Thomas;
and you Madam Barrett; are stains on the face of America
jurisprudence - stains that cannot be removed unless you are
impeached for violating the First Amendment by foisting your
personal religious doctrines onto our secular nation and for
failing to recuse yourselves when adjudicating cases in which
you have a personal interest.
And Mr. Kavanaugh, the women of America will leave when the pub
closes. |
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